Sometimes it's just dumb luck. Martini Porsche 935 content inside

[NWarty]

Hey guys,

Did some more mechanical work last night and have some questions.

- This 58002 has a retrofitted Endurance blue-bell motor. It's a 540 and not the original 380. The right-rear aluminum bracing was cut by the original owner to allow this thing to fit. If I run a 7.2v pack instead of the intended 6.0v pack, am I going to run into any issues with the MSC blowing up or fuses deciding to give up?

- Also, my battery packs are mostly Deans connectors for most of my other stuff. What are folk's opinion on doing this to vintage stuff? The MSC currently has a female Tamiya connector (which is weird). She's not going to be a shelf queen and I do indeed intend to run her.

Completely tore apart the rear end and drive train tonight. Pulled the rear axle off and put it in a drill and sanded it smooth. Cleaned up the rear diff and greased everything. MUCH smoother now. Polished more of the chassis tonight, had to rebuild the A-pillar to line up correctly with the passenger door glass (the only original glass piece left), which is why it looks funky in this photo from earlier today and before it was all sanded smooth and puttied. Honestly, it looks like garbage in this photo compared to now. Will reshoot Gloss White once I get the replacement Glass in and everything lines up correctly. All the tires now have lettering done on them. I used the Pactra lexan paint from recommendations from others.

[NWarty]

Well, my Tamtech body set is not to be. Dang company didn't even have it in stock even though it said "IN STOCK" and allowed me to order it.

So, I'm in need of a Decal Set, whether vintage or Tamtech.

Also in need of a passenger door mirror and driver set.

[Grastens]

I hope you at least were fully-refunded. Something like that from the company is very unprofessional...

... though your restoration is quite the opposite so far! I really like where it is going.

[NWarty]

Thank you much Grastens.

Yeah, it's frustrating and I was indeed refunded. The issue I have is that it took them a week to figure out they didn't have it in stock and it took some prodding by me (putting in a support ticket) to ask if had even shipped. They responded two days later.

The hunt continues.

[SteveU30]

PM sent

[NWarty]

Building a new wiper arm and blade from Evergreen strip and rod styrene. Got to tweak it a bit and add a couple more things but pretty happy thus far.

Decided to polish out the only remaining original piece of glass, the passenger window. The piece was HEAVILY scratched and discolored. I took some 3M Rubbing Compound (for headlights) and hand polished the piece for roughly 30 minutes, going over it roughly four times on each side. Darned impressed with the 3M stuff and how it turned out.

[NWarty]

I was able to source another set of body parts, specifically the passenger mirror, wiper and driver.

I purchased the Tamiya 1/12 GT01 Porsche 934 RSR W Parts Tree, which is an exact match to the original 58002 W parts tree (only it's molded in black). The Q Tree for the 934 contains the one mirror that I needed. Sweet...

Keeping my fingers crossed this time with this order.

Also ordered a bunch of Tamiya 2mm screws and nuts to replace a couple that were missing on the battery tray.

[NWarty]

After spending a bit of time on the phone with my Dad last night regarding the integrity of the 540 endurance motor, I'm having to rethink a lot of things with this re-build.

The 540 blue bell motor has to go. After this many years, the commutator, armature and brushes are tired. It sounds tired, it runs tired. Given the limitations of the aluminum housing and its dimensions and retrofit by the previous owner, I'm looking at replacing the motor with a brand new 540 Sport Tuned since it will fit and give a little bit more in performance. In all honesty, the car is a bear to drive in its current MSC-3Speed configuration. Sure, it's pretty to look at, but it drives like a dog. So after A LOT of thought, I'm dumping the MSC/4 AA radio batteries/NiCd in favor of an ESC/lipo setup. I already have a lipo charger, lipo batteries and all the equipment, "So why not?" I asked myself. Also will be looking at upgrading the radio setup to a 2.4ghz system. Two-sticks are for my airplanes and helis only

My father and I agreed, it can still be vintage but utilize today's technology for a more enjoyable driving experience. In my opinion, I don't want to own something this special and stare at it collecting dust on my mantle; I want to drive it. I plan on keeping all the original parts, packing them neatly away so that if I ever decide to part ways with the 58002, its new owner and home will still have all the original pieces, motor and radio.

I may end up doing all of this, I may not. Don't know.

Just some thoughts.

P.S. Just realized I could leave all that gear in there and still run an ESC and have the looks of the old MSC and resistor

[stonestream]

Thanks for sharing the restoration of your Porsche with us.

I think it's a good idea to switch to a modern setup. The old 3 speed MSCs a really horrible compared to a modern stepless ESC. Maybe the Sports Tuned motor makes the 935 a little bit "overpowered", because the the chassis suspension isn't the best (like a "bouncing ball").

[Shodog]

Their really not that great of a runner. With no suspension on the front and the limited spring on the rear pod, going fast will make it almost undrivable.

I'd go with just a stock motor, an esc and a mini lipo from a 1/18 scale car to save weight.

[NWarty]

Stone and Sho,

Very good points and looks like I'll scale back to a regular 540 (little too aggressive with the Sport tuned )

I have plenty of lipo packs, so keeping it conservative shouldn't be a problem.

[NWarty]

Well, I got a little bit of an itch last night to do a test run. Charged up two old Thunder Power 2s 1350mah lipos to use. Worked flawlessly. Car has the right amount of speed and didn't proceed to shed parts during the two runs Plus, their smaller size and less weight makes a big difference.

Now to look at some ESC's.

[neverfollow]

Nice work, and thank you for your service!

[NWarty]

Many thanks Neverfollow!

Well, some good news. The store I ordered my parts from (driver, mirror, wiper and grills) in Japan shipped my stuff out yesterday! $21 USD shipped...AWESOME

Glass should be coming in this afternoon and will posts some pics up tonight. A HUGE THANKS to a TC member for their generosity New 2mm screws and nuts coming into today also.

Pic of the GT01 934 W Parts Tree. Identical to the 58002 parts tree (aside from the color of plastic).

Oh and by the way, I ordered a set of decals today too

[NWarty]

Decals have shipped and will arrive Saturday

Mail is running a little slow here so hopefully the glass will come in today

[Percymon]

Traxxas Xl2.5 ESC is a nice neat little unit - pretty cheap in the US too, especially if you find an ebay seller getting rid of stock (I won two separate items a few months back for $15-20 each).

Tamiyas Torque tuned motor would be an option - falls in between the stock silver can motor and the sport tuned. These are very cheap from ebay sellers like stellamodels or toysmisa

[NWarty]

Percymon,

Thank you much bud and I'll definitely check those out.

I was able to finally detach the roof mounted antenna base and sand down the glue. Also picked up some 3000 grit sandpaper to start wetsanding the body this evening.

[Shodog]

which decals did you get? the tamtech or a set of originals?

[NWarty]

Tamtech and I'm okay with that. Fortunately Tamiya USA had them in stock. Would love to have a real set, but hey, at least they are OEM

[Shodog]

I'm curious how they will come out. One of the main things that has kept me from building another 935 is applying those 30 year old water slide decals onto the body.

[NWarty]

Me too Sho. As they're vinyl, they'll be getting the old warm soapy water method when I apply them. Just concerned with the complex curve of the rear fenders. Rubber spatulas are great squeegies

[NWarty]

Alrighty,

Now the fun begins

Going to have to trim and few here and there, but I do love the quality of Tamiya vinyl decals

[NWarty]

Happy happy happy.

I few niggles here and there, especially with the compound curves of the rear fender and about .5cm short on the door. A wrinkle or two on the fender and some weird stuff under the rear brake air intake (due to the new Tamtech body being Lexan). But she's looking fantastic.

And yes, that's the original manual to the upper left

[BangkokBulldog]

That's looking great!!!

[NWarty]

Thanks Bulldog!

Little bit more to go. Got to shoot several coats of clear, install the glass and paint the mouldings, get the B-pillars finalized and new grills for the rear and other bits.