959s

[Daves956 157]

I've got 2 ready to go finally, the body for the black one was pretty trashed when I got it. I was afraid of loosing bits and pieces or it whistling at me through the holes in the body. It's reasonable now but still needs a tail. I've never messed with this type before and have to ask if there are any quirks or known problems with them, hopefully you know what I mean, "that's not a defect it's a new innovation". I've checked to make sure they work and that's about it so far. They look fun and didn't want to find something the hard way. I've read a bunch but mostly it's all how to fix and that alone makes me worry about the gear cases.

[Gruntfuggly 562]

- The suspension arms are fragile - especially the fronts.

- The dampers are a nightmare

- The ball cups wear out so drive shafts disappear very easily

- The original bodies disintegrate just by looking at them

...quite problematic as a runner really.

Don't let me put you off though - they are fun!

How fast are you intending to run these?

[Daves956 157]

The guy I got them from mentioned the rear arms and are the funky dampers supposed to have oil in them? All I did was update the eletronics with ESCs and 15 turn motors. they don't do high RPMs so maybe they'll be ok. Somebody must have been staring at the black one, I've been working on that body quite a bit.

[caprinut 0]

Yup the dampers should hawe oil in them....

I enjoyed driving my Celica Gr.b (same chassis), really fun to blast down the street, let of the throttle, and make a sharp turn on the steeringwheel, get a powerslid and then jump on the pedal again..

Sadly a mate of mine did the same thing as above, only on rough tarmac and the car hooked and rolled badly, resulting in broken front gearbox mount.

Got a new chassis a few years ago, will restore it soon, just need a body..

[Daves956 157]

Ok. medium shock oil, ya right. The store had everything from 10 weight to up in the 60s in all shades of the rainbow. Do I pick it by weight or just by the pretty colors? They had blue and a sorta white to match 2 cars but no black.....hmm black 30 weight, will motor oil work? I'm kidding, but what weight is normal?

[gozone 30]

I think 30wt oil might be a bit on the thin side, and allow the piston to move too fast in the oil, not causing enough damping effect.. I would go for something like 50-60 wt oil.. (At least, that is what i will put in my Celica Gr. B when I wanna change the shock oil).. As it is now, it seems too soft in the shocks, and i guess it has the kit-supplied oil in them.

Actually, i might do it pretty soon, s snow is pouring down here now, making for a perfect rally scene. Oh, and when running the original MSC along with the Technigold, I guess it could make a funny mishap with the MSC getting stuck, and the car going out of control, LOL.

Cheers..

Michael

[viperchief 43]

Have you guys replaced the flex tubing on the dampers? I used tubing from my automotive brake bleed kit and it works fine! The tubing doesn't swell under pressure and is oil resistant! Thought I'd pass it along...

[Daves956 157]

I did some searching and the Tamiya stuff should be something around 900 for factory stuff. To make a long story short just drop the last digit and 90 is about right. As far as the original speed control and motor. I put the original ESC in the Hornet and it's just a touch better than the mechanical one. It's on forward or reverse and neutral off so I can see the problems there. I pulled both gold motors and put in new ones and use the golds to show what motor type I want. I really agree with changing out the old brown tubes and thanks for the tip on a source. Oh, I got a little tail today...Ok from the postman. I got that 11 dollar body off ebay for the tail and the body is good if you imagine it without paint. It's not hard to do since half the paint has already flaked off. I'm going to clone the tail since I don't know when I'll.... (insert thought here). It's still snowing here so all the Porsches are getting worked on.

[Daves956 157]

As far as issues with the complete car I found a do not do issue. I got the 3rd polycarbonate body off ebay for cheap and it needed stripping. I tried the oven cleaner and brake fluid with little results. Pure acetone softened it but not much. I stopped by the hardware store to see what else might work and picked up a can of Klean Strip paint stripper. I've used muratic and sulfuric acid on racing heads and that's for sissies. In maybe 2 minutes it was all over, it took off the paint and then it got aggresive. It says to leave it on for 15 minutes and come back to it, it was goo in a fraction of that time. These two do not play together at all. I saved my tail tho and it looks like a ***** body is needed.

[Daves956 157]

I got an interesting bit of news from ***** this morning. They sell a replacement body for the 956 on ebay for 29.99 and 5 bucks for the tail and 10 dollars shipping with 5 dollars for an extra part. However they sell a 956 body with tail for a Traxxas rally at 29.99 and it's the same thing. I asked about it and they told me to buy the Traxxas one, so I did. Nice of them to tell me. On a weather related thing, Denver has been an icy mess lately. The 959 is entertaining on ice but it made me wonder about studded tires, does anybody sell them for this car?

[markbt73 5316]

A friend of mine tried making "studded tires" for his Optima back in the day by putting small wood screws through a set of tires from the back. It helped on the ice, but I was always scared to marhsal it for him if he flipped it over. It also vibrated like crazy because it threw the balance so far off.

I keep looking at the little jewelry chain they sell in craft stores and wondering if I could make a set of tire chains...

[Daves956 157]

I saw a guy selling RC tire chains on Ebay. I chained up all four tires on a sports car coming down through Canada too fast in the winter one year. I know what they do to steel so I think I'll enjoy the 4 wheel drifting. Cut down thunbtacks evenly spaced maybe? still bad to pick up. I did worry since the car isn't waterproof, but it was ok. On an unrelated but really funny note, it made me remember that the Velenion systems in the 956s are waterproof. 10000 RPM racing slicks on ice and water, it didn't go far but the water burns were priceless.

[Daves956 157]

I was replacing all the yellowed dampener tubes with new stuff and realized that the drive shaft boots were the same size tubing, so I replaced them as well. I have 3 of these cars and they are different. 2 drive shafts are flattened steel and 1 has pins. All 3 of the front body mounts are different, 2 have riveted posts. One long and one short with lower spacers and the 3rd has screw mounted posts. None of this is a big deal but it makes you wonder.

[Daves956 157]

I've got 2 original bodies here not counting the paint stripping incident. I just recieved the one from ***** and it's much better. The originals are thin in all the wrong areas where this one is very well made and well worth the 39 bucks. Now that I see it I should have ordered two of them.

[dazaa 0]

I'd be careful running those with 15 turn motors and an esc without neutral. The gearbox was easily shed by going from full throttle to reverse with the technigold!

[Daves956 157]

All the ESCs in them aren't capable of direct reversing. They do have 15 turn motors but they seem pretty tame right now. I pulled the gold motors first thing since they didn't really do too well, in my opinion.