neebie pulling out his old Madcap

[kongisking]

Hi all, Yes i know i misspelt newbie!!

I've been pursaded by my 6 yr old to bring out my MadCap from the garage and breath new life into her.

I know that i'll need to replace the battery as that's as old as the car itself which it is looking @ around 20 + years. it lasts all of 5 mins!! mind the kids have been playing on it most of the afternoon and having to give it a quick charge probably aint helping but it keeps them happy and i know i'm going to replace it anyway.

I'm all a bit confused on the old motor thing and what else i can up grade on it.

Any help that anyone can give me will be great. i'm learning as quick as i can, and am happy to learn all i can.

cheers

[TamiyaVancouver]

It would be worthwhile to strip it down and give it a cleaning and replace any of the plastic bushings with ball races (bearings). I believe that model has 10 of the 1150 sized bushings and 2 of the 850 sized bushings.

Since it seems to be running okay, perhaps you can get away with just a new battery. A 3000 mah Nimh battery would probably be great and will give you much longer run times. You can also get one with more capacity (3000+) if the price is right.

In time, it may be a worthwhile upgrade to ditch the mechanical speed control (MSC) and get an electronic speed control (ESC). This will allow you to ditch the 4AA battery holder and one servo which will save weight and also be more efficient reulting in longer run times and more linear power. A basic Tamiya TEU-101BK or TEU-104BK will do the trick and are fairly cheap since they come in most of the Tamiya kits now.

If you have any other questions, just ask.

Mark

[tamiya monkey]

Just a thought, if your old batteries are nicad's, does your charger do newer nimhs, if not you will have to either stick ti nicads or buy a new charger.

if your present setup/eletrics works ok then stick with it for now.

later an electronic speed control wil it run much better, another question does your radio gear (receiver have BEC written on it).

[kongisking]

Just a thought, if your old batteries are nicad's, does your charger do newer nimhs, if not you will have to either stick ti nicads or buy a new charger.

if your present setup/eletrics works ok then stick with it for now.

later an electronic speed control wil it run much better, another question does your radio gear (receiver have BEC written on it).

I will probably buy a new charger for the battery when i get it. just looked at my battery and it's only 1300 MaH so that could explain a bit around battery life and why when i was a kid would get annoyed around the 10 mins for a run time.

The receiver does have BEC on it is that a problem? will i need to upgrade this too!!

Don't get the 4AA battery holder thou? i don't have one of those on there?

have stripped it down as far as i dare at the mo. will need to get some grease me thinks, what about shocks? what parts can i replace them with they are a bit tired and non responsive,

Am really shocked how my 4 yr old daughter has taken to driving it round the garden this morning, first thing she said when she got up was can i go on the car daddy!

[merckx]

I will probably buy a new charger for the battery when i get it. just looked at my battery and it's only 1300 MaH so that could explain a bit around battery life and why when i was a kid would get annoyed around the 10 mins for a run time.

The receiver does have BEC on it is that a problem? will i need to upgrade this too!!

Don't get the 4AA battery holder thou? i don't have one of those on there?

have stripped it down as far as i dare at the mo. will need to get some grease me thinks, what about shocks? what parts can i replace them with they are a bit tired and non responsive,

Am really shocked how my 4 yr old daughter has taken to driving it round the garden this morning, first thing she said when she got up was can i go on the car daddy!

decent shocks make a huge difference to a madcap. if you dont want to go too crazy, just grab some inexpensive alloy ones from ebay. measure the eye to eye on the original blue plastic shocks, and try to get some of same or similar length. you may need to fiddle with the spring weights, my car runs best of the springs are quite soft. you could try the original springs on some new shocks as a starting point.

putting an alloy motor plat on it is a good idea also, particularly if you are planning on putting a faster motor in it. even if not, its a nice cheap and easy upgrade. again, check ebay, they are pretty common.

i put new style rims and tyres on mine, mainly because they are cheap and easy to buy. i have tamiya star dish rims front and rear, and tamiya dual block tyres.

the rest of the buggy is really best left as is, unless you want to go all out.

i have tamiya cva shocks on mine, original yellows...because i want the period correct look. however the more modern non tamiya alloy shocks i had on it at one point, actually worked quite a bit better. i have the cva sorted now though...its handling quite well.

i have a runner madcap that i really like to drive, its a. lot of fun.

[merckx]

oh yeah..and sealed bearings all round, if you have not already. big improvement, minor outlay.

[kongisking]

thanks for the tips. i might have to have alook at a few of those upgrades. the kids are loving it at the mo, so i think i'll be buying three kits to build with them. one each for all to do at the same time!! or one kid at a time, build along with dad jobbie!

[TamiyaDan]

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