Egress & Avante 2001 revamp!

[kontemax 1725]

I used automotive abrasive paste. It's the white material that you can see onto my top deck in the previous pictures.

It the paste commonly used to polish the paint of the 1:1 cars.

Max

I was unaware that you could polish graphite... what product do you use?

[kontemax 1725]

Ok, with this updade I should finish the chassis.

The leftover parts to replace are the rear hubs. These hubs suffer of breakages where they are screwed to the arms.

Here the parts that will replace the worn out plastics. This was the first hop up that I bought for this project and it's the last I'm mounting, the Yeah Racing alloy rear hubs, a must have for every Avante or Egress runner.

I will use only two of these spacers.

After the hubs it's time finally for the rear CVD shafts.

But... Whats that all about then????

What is this???

What did I seen???

Doh!!!

I found a brass bushing in the rear end! How could be happened this?

Now I understood! That guy that I found watching and touching my Egress disassembled parts on my working bench at the track while I went at the toilet. He stolen my ball bearing and replaced it with this object. This happened years ago and I used the Egress without know it. This man, he said that was interested in my vintage model, he was interested in one of my ball bearings. It's incredible how stupid and petty the people is.

Now I need to open my magic box.

Et voilà!

My ball bearings box.

So I replaced all four rear ball bearing that are really worn out. I will use some blue shielded ball bearings.

I would like to remember that in Italy we drive on the dirt and not on the astro turf or similar surfaces. The sand, the debris and the dust destroy the bearings and the half shafts. This is the reason why the rear end of the Egress was disassembled on the track. In fact I was cleaning the shafts.

Et voilà, as beautiful as a painting.

All assembled. New screws, new nuts (that will be replaced by blue aluminum ones), new CVDs and adapters.

All assembled on the rear end. You can see my finger prints.

I like it!

Finally the chassis is completed.

Now the black beasts to restore:

These dampers are well worn out. The lower bushings are finished, the shafts move, the o-rings are dry rotten probably and also the top seals. I must buy some spare parts for them. I'm also thinking to re-anodize them. I don't know if I will do it. If I will do it what color to chose? Black? Gold? Blue? Red? Silver? Gunmetal?

Max

[mongoose1983 3335]

I like the alternate colors of your Egress Max. Oh, and that was a funny way to tell the story on how the bearing was stolen!

[kontemax 1725]

Probably this guy was missing a ball bearing and he took advantage of my temporary absence to scrub a bearing and replace it with a bushing from the dismantled parts of my Egress. When I came back I saw that he was touching my pieces but he had just finished having to steal and I did not notice the theft. I took the hub already assembled and I mounted on the model. The bush was on the inside so I did not see because it was covered by the axis of the wheel. **** thief!

Max

I like the alternate colors of your Egress Max. Oh, and that was a funny way to tell the story on how the bearing was stolen!

[kontemax 1725]

Anyway let's go on.

I disassembled the dampers today.

The situation is dramatical.

All four blue upper seals are dry, rotten and hard like stones. The are brittle and they broken in my hands when manipulated.

Now they are directly gone into the trashcan.

Now I undertand why the dampers lost half of their oil quantity.

I must buy new upper seals. Fortunatelly, with the Egress re-release, Tamiya solved the situation because until now there wasn't a compatible upper seal. The DF-03 red seals will do the job properly.

I will polish the aluminum wing stays and the shock absorber aluminum bushings.

You can also see the nylon ball connectors with the damper screws. I made some years ago these ball connectors to replace the original brass ones. These nylon pieces are not so beautiful to see but they work better than originals, don't have movements and don't wear. They are only dirty in the picture.

You can also see the Losi's springs, red for the front end and orange for the rear end.

The orange O-rings are almost new because I replaced them one of the last time I used the Egress but I will replace them anyway with new silicone ones. But the real problem is the white bushings.

The white bushings have two decimal of millimeter of movement on the damper shaft and three decimal of millimeter of movement into their location inside the dampers. This means that the total amount of movement is five decimals, half millimeter. In fact the damper shafts did move too much on their axis. So I must also replace these bushings but I don't know where I can find them and if there's something compatible and more precise.

I suspect that I must built them with a lathe. I own some more Hi Cap dampers to fit some of my models and almost all of them are vintage.

Many of these Hi Caps are new but someone is used and need to be restored. This could be a good occasion to built all these bushings which wear so easly.

These ones are a part of my Hi Cap Dampers collection.

The Hi Cap of this Egress are the most worn out of the entire collection. You can see the ruined bodies with scratches inside and out side.

Also the top caps are ruined.

They are badly worn out also inside the cylinder.

I will polish the inside and probably I will build also the piston plates at the lathe. Actually the piston plates have three or four decimals of millimeters of movement inside the cylinders. This movement, added to the lower bushing movement, make the dampers badly inefficient.
I will try to find some teflonized material, some nylon or something similar to build these parts.
Another desire is to re anodize the damper bodies to give them a better look. I'm thinking about the color and I would like dark bronze if possible. I would like also to coat the shafts with titanium nitride coating. The alternative is to find some already coated damper shafts that have the same lenght. Any idea?

Max

[Quandry 378]

You're too greedy with all those Hi Caps Max LOL

[kontemax 1725]

They are never enough!

Max

[kontemax 1725]

Planning to re-anodize the dampers.

It costs 40 € + shipping.

Has this a sense in your opinions?

Max

[Percymon 2184]

Planning to re-anodize the dampers.

It costs 40 € + shipping.

Has this a sense in your opinions?

Max

I'de be wary of sending alloy items for reanodizing , unless you know the exact alloy type and content.

I sent a set of Kyosho gold shocks for re anodizing and they were ruined, the chemicals almost dissolved the threads for the screw top caps - i could probably JBweld them shut and build/fill from the base (and they'd look fine on a shelf model) but I doubt they'd last long on a runner.

[kontemax 1725]

I believe this guys know what they do, they anodize for the public, it is their core business.

http://www.dedoracing.com/

The problem is the price.

Max

[Percymon 2184]

I believe this guys know what they do, they anodize for the public, it is their core business.

http://www.dedoracing.com/

The problem is the price.

Max

Not disputing the company credentials, they may well give a good result. Maybe I was unlucky, the company I used did anodizing work for all the UK based Formula 1 teams, so I thought I'd be safe.

I'd recommend you try to establish what series alloy the Tamiya shocks are made from - at least then you can have an informed discussion with your choice of anodizer.

[kontemax 1725]

Probably your problem was caused by the aluminum alloy.

Max

[Plopes 138]

Hey Max, RJJ22 had his Hi-Caps anodized on his Egress Black Special build and they came out looking good.

[kontemax 1725]

Hi Poples, yes I know, the model is great.

Probably I will not make them in black.

Max

[kontemax 1725]

Well, the threads are no more editable after 14 days so please be patients if you will find some errors inside.
I'm not English mother tongue so often I wrote English with grammar errors. In the past when I found them I corrected them now they will remain but let's go on.
I decided to make a good job on the dampers of my Egress. I decided to polish them to reduce and eliminate, where possible, the scratches and the dents.
I started with one of these damper and immediately I realized that this job is really hard and it took two days for the first one.
The result on the first one is far away to be perfect so I will redo it and I will polish it again.
Here you can see the difference between the scratched ones and the polished one.
I must do eight of them so, please, be patient.

Sorry about the poor quality of the mobile pictures but I lost the photocamera...

Stay tuned!

Max

[Percymon 2184]

Looking good, long process but the result is satisfying

[kontemax 1725]

This is just a passage to the anodization process.

Max

[bjorklo 1620]

Respect for having the pation for doing that. So you gonna get em anodized afterwards? If so could i ask what colour you are gonna get?

[kontemax 1725]

Currently the work is stopped because I have the bricklayers at home. All the collection (and parts) is moved away. Actually I don't know where the dampers are located now.

Anyway I will anodize them and regarding the color... this will be a secret to make a surprise.

;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

Max

[bjorklo 1620]

Currently the work is stopped because I have the bricklayers at home. All the collection (and parts) is moved away. Actually I don't know where the dampers are located now.

Anyway I will anodize them and regarding the color... this will be a secret to make a surprise.

;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

Max

Hope you get em done soon... Can't wait to see how they turn out.

[Tamiya Era 778]

Max@

This polished one is just Awesome....i am just imagining how it will look like on the Egress...will look so sharp and colorful

[Percymon 2184]

How is the polishing going Max ? - any update ?

[kontemax 1725]

I'm polishing like a slave. The work is very very very long and I must stop after every one because after every one the hands are dead and need to relax eheheheh!!! I have not the polishing machine.

Max

[Percymon 2184]

keep going, it'll be worth it

[matman 1499]

I'm polishing like a slave. The work is very very very long and I must stop after every one because after every one the hands are dead and need to relax eheheheh!!! I have not the polishing machine.

Max

You do have polishing machine YOU!! .. I'm sure it's going to look great .