Question about the Mitsubishi Pajero Metaltop

[J3cubfan]

Since this is what model number 150, I was wondering if any of the owners of the Mitsubishi Pajero Metaltop care to comment on how the kit behaves in terms of handling over grassy, dirt terrains?

Just curious.

John[]

[Shodog]

I have a Jeep wrangler and a Pajero XB that shares the same Cross Country chassis that the Pajero MT has. This is a great truck to have. They have limitations just like a 1:1 have. You have to drive them carefully for fear of damaging that great hard plastic body. I have an orion chrome stock motor and bearings through out. It has a lot of torque, enoough to pull wheelies with. It climbes very well. If you can't find a Pajero MT, you could pick up a Pajero XB and hunt for a body set on Ebay.

[Bibbo]

I have a Pajero metal top. I bought this car in Japan when it was new, I think I got it in 97 so it had been out for a while.

I was'nt into vintage Tamiya then but had always wanted a Hilux. I liked the Pajero because it was a good looking car that was in scale ( No oversize wheels ) like most of the cars I saw.

It does go well. Mine has a Sport Tuned motor and bearings through out. I have put the locked diff in the back because the last time I used it was last xmas when we had a thin layer of ice/snow on the ground. I went round the park over the road and could'nt belive the drifts I could do with the diff lock in. It was fantastic![}]

The car is good off road, but not fantastic. I don't have much experience of RC cars but I would say that the performance is "entertaining", but they can roll over a lot. I have a torque splitter coming for it so I'll let you know what it's like with that in.

If you are looking for one of these then I don't think you would be dissapointed. They are a good car that I think could become quite sort after in the years to come. I don't see that many around and they are a good looking car.

Basically, I'd say every collection should have one[]

[DJTheo]

Check my post about the XC-chassis at http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/topic.asp?...609&whichpage=2 , http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/topic.asp?...609&whichpage=3 as well some rides and pictures of a trial competion with them on my webpage...

Cheers

[removed-on-request]

i added about 1.5 pounds of lead into the chassis to keep it stable enough to drive.

[WillyChang]

quote:Originally posted by J3cubfan

...how the kit behaves in terms of handling over grassy, dirt terrains?

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John, Paj MTW is a great kit - quite simple to build yet has no need for any options apart from full BBs.

Handling limitations is mainly to do with the tyres... they are rock hard and will last a lifetime (your's, not the car's lifetime). They'll run well on tarmac doing 'scale' activities, but will bog quite easily on soft sand. There's totally no grip on wet grass and you'll be stuck even in any sort of incline. For a runner you'd be advised to glue the tyres to the rims too... otherwise even if they find enough grip on ground, they'll spin on the wheels. []

However the wheels are standard touring car size, so fancy hopups are available. For running, buggy 2.2" wheels and low profile tyres will fit on just fine and magnify your grip.

Body is, needless to say, Tamiya quality. It does make it a little top heavy and can turn turtle under sharp cornering. Its an ideal candidate for a fancy light kit and full detailing; pity the windows are too darkly tinted to see any interior you might wish to scratchbuild.

Rear diff can be locked on the kit models, and may be of help in gripless terrain. However if you're running on tarmac with locked diff then it might be best to leave the kit tyres unglued. Oneway "torquesplitter" does nothing to improve grip, only gives you 2WD brakes.

As for the suspension... CVA shocks are provided in kit & I'd run with hard oil and soft springs, let the car sag low as much as possible. (note: XB doesn't have oil shocks)

In all, a fun car to drive & well worth having.

[WillyChang]

quote:Originally posted by Furball2001

i added about 1.5 pounds of lead into the chassis to keep it stable enough to drive.

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Probably just as easy to tie on a 2nd battery for ballast above the first... plenty of room if you're not using MSC + double runtime too.

My Paj has had to run once with up to 42 nicads on board (yea, "forty two") to work its lightbulbs (head, tail & spots) and about 100 LEDs - everything wired with full redundancy and switched with a 3rd servo.

The whole thing weighed 5kgs, suspension sat on the bumpstops but the transmission didn't complain at all even going up and down a medium grass slope.

[DJTheo]

quote: added about 1.5 pounds of lead into the chassis to keep it stable enough to drive.

id="quote">id="quote">

quote:Probably just as easy to tie on a 2nd battery for ballast above the first... plenty of room if you're not using MSC + double runtime too.

id="quote">id="quote">

Don't need either, a guy in germany is making lead rings to use as inserts on the wheels for low center of gravity and increased grip, also nice alu wheels []

quote:pity the windows are too darkly tinted to see any interior you might wish to scratchbuild.

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Here is the solutuion, at least for the Wrangler:

http://www.vintagetamiyarc.com/rides/xcchassis.html

Cheers

[SJoerD]

[]

Wow, Theo, those look pretty cool! [8D] Even with a doggie in the back! [|)]

I actually never seen any of these around (excluding pictures that is). They don't seem that much of a commercial succes either, as it's not a racing car... [] I think this will be a collectors item, like the Hilux maybe? They look very realistic, I am impressed. **** you, now I want one too and that is going to cost me BIG! [] LOL

And my parents never like it when I see another car I like. [] One day I can't move around in my room because of all the cars! [)]

Sjoerd

[WillyChang]

quote:Originally posted by DJTheo

Don't need either, a guy in germany is making lead rings to use as inserts on the wheels for low center of gravity and increased grip, also nice alu wheels []

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How do you fit lead rings into the tyres? Pretty hard rubber.

Might be just as easy to buy 10 lbs of leadshot and pour it in, fill the tyres right up. Cheap and easily available at hunting stores.

Dunno how that'll affect performance and runtime though.

quote:Originally posted by DJTheo

pity the windows are too darkly tinted to see any interior you might wish to scratchbuild.

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Here is the solutuion, at least for the Wrangler:

http://www.vintagetamiyarc.com/rides/xcchassis.html

Nice Wranglers... but TWO women in each??

Y'all know what *THAT* means... = "don't touch!". [xx(]

[DJTheo]

quote:How do you fit lead rings into the tyres? Pretty hard rubber.

Might be just as easy to buy 10 lbs of leadshot and pour it in, fill the tyres right up. Cheap and easily available at hunting stores.

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The rings arent as big as the tires, they would be too heavy and the tires wouldnt deform at all afterwards. Its a greast solution believe me, filling up with leadshot would make them inflexible and propably cause alot of noise and imbalance vibrations when driving.

[WillyChang]

The farmers do it to their tractors down here... huge behemoths with 8 or 12 tyres weighing 8 tonnes, with the tyres filled with lead and water they weigh 20 tonnes.

[DJTheo]

quote:The farmers do it to their tractors down here... huge behemoths with 8 or 12 tyres weighing 8 tonnes, with the tyres filled with lead and water they weigh 20 tonnes.

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Yes but loaded tractors go usually max 30km/hand not 300 which is the scale speed of a 1:10 Pajero []

[J3cubfan]

The metal top seems hard to come by. I did find a RTR and it appears to be the same thing. Whats the difference between the Metal top kit and the ready to run, outside of it being preassembled?

John

[Shodog]

The difference between the XB and the metal top are that the XB comes with a different body and non-oil filled dampers. Otherwise everything else is the same.

[J3cubfan]

Cool thanks a bunch Shodog...[]

[DJTheo]

Think they have also different body mounts. Interestingly the XB doesn't have a manual in case you want to repair or service it... []

[WillyChang]

Working in tag with Theo:- XB has 4x bodyposts, the kit only needs 2 rear ones. The 2 extra front ones are on top of the fenders.

Kit has a "front lip" part screwed to the chassis tub that the body sits on. The hardshell is meant to be fitted 1st over the rear bodyposts, then 'stretched' over the front lip bit. Don't really need bodyclips on the rear bodyposts.

If you want to fit a hardshell to an XB you'll need to go source this little part from a spares sprue.`

[J3cubfan]

Well, I did it. I didn't buy the Pajero, but found an Isuzu Mu. It 4WD and am curious as to how this will operate. Hey at least it has a hard plastic body....

[WillyChang]

Good find! Mu is pretty much the same thing, does come in 2 variants though - with or without the lowrider kit. Just sacrifices some ground clearance for better stability.

[J3cubfan]

I am wondering how this will run. I've never owned a 4WD R/C car before. Did in real life but never used it.[] Is this a full time 4WD model?

[bholio]

I have the CRV. Mine is not that fast compared to my other cars, and it will tip over if you turn too sharply (take the mirrors off before running).

Mine is always in 4WD, no shiftable transmission or anything. There is an optional center-diff/1-way bearing hop up for this series of car which allows the front wheels to spin at a different rate as the rear ones in turns. In a real (1:1) 4WD car, this is a big deal. Not so sure about it's value in an RC car. Lots of these on diff upgrade things on ebay recently.

There is also an option to lock the rear differential. If your Mu is used you should check to see if the rear is locked and decide if you need it locked or not. There is an extra part in the kit which you insert in the differential which locks it. It might replace the 3 little triangular gears, or it might just sit on top of them. I don't remember. Some people also glue the diffs

My CRV is on of my favorite cars, even though I don't run it much. I'm sure you'll love that Mu.

[J3cubfan]

quote:Originally posted by bholio

I have the CRV. Mine is not that fast compared to my other cars, and it will tip over if you turn too sharply (take the mirrors off before running).

Mine is always in 4WD, no shiftable transmission or anything. There is an optional center-diff/1-way bearing hop up for this series of car which allows the front wheels to spin at a different rate as the rear ones in turns. In a real (1:1) 4WD car, this is a big deal. Not so sure about it's value in an RC car. Lots of these on diff upgrade things on ebay recently.

There is also an option to lock the rear differential. If your Mu is used you should check to see if the rear is locked and decide if you need it locked or not. There is an extra part in the kit which you insert in the differential which locks it. It might replace the 3 little triangular gears, or it might just sit on top of them. I don't remember. Some people also glue the diffs

My CRV is on of my favorite cars, even though I don't run it much. I'm sure you'll love that Mu.

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Hi thanks for the info. This is actually a NIB Mu, that I couldn't pass up. It's the cross country version which is a low rider. I am not too concerned with speed a this juncture. Thanks for the info.

Pictures to come soon.