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Astute restoration, with modifications

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Well, as some here may know, I won a bid on Ebay for an Astute. Paid a pretty penny for it, thinking it didn't need much restoration. I want to run this vehicle and really enjoy it. But, as we all know, anything plastic that's 20+ years old, is going to be very weak as a runner. Especially since a majority of the parts were weak when new.

So, with the help of our wise and helpful members, I started the restoration/modification process. My Astute is becoming a sort of Frankenstein with all of the parts I've been using.

Modifications are as follows:

New front and rear (to be installed)

All new ball bearings

A&L Lethal Weapon belt driven transmission

Super Astute front lower control arms

Stadium Blitzer front C hubs

F103 carbon reinforced front uprights

Dyna Storm turnbuckles for the tie rods and upper control arms

Super Astute G4 part for supporting the front suspension (waiting on parts)

TA-04 Pro steering linkage

TA-04 Pro aluminum servo mounts

Super Astute rear lower control arms

Stadium Blitzer rear hubs

DF-03 swing axles

Hi-cap front and rear shocks

Relocate battery position

New Kamtec re-pro body (waiting on parts)

Re-pro decals (waiting on parts)

Tamiya servo saver (waiting on parts)

Savox SC-1251 MG low profile digital metal gear steering servo

Carbon fiber plate for a custom made upper deck (waiting on parts)

Castle Mamba Max Pro 6700kv brushless system

Venom hard case 2s 5000 MAH battery

Replace as many original screws with black allen head screws as possible

Avante ball end connectors to be used as upper control arms front and rear

Well, without further delay, here are the pics I've taken so far. All were taken with my iphone, so please excuse the quality.

Here it is, as pictured from ebay

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And when it came home

2199BD3B-437A-43E4-8646-002018E5C5E6_zps

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Removed the MSC

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56BCD91A-EE7B-4E1E-8EA4-E8DC5F3E6E29_zps

Astute vs. Super Astute control arms with Stadium Blitzer C hubs and F103 uprights

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A&L transmission installation

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E2D43958-02B6-44C2-A524-172FAED205F0_zps

08618132-6CCA-4F44-BB0F-B89141333251_zps

0C66BE10-F0C9-41AC-B842-72C24126D197_zps

646147AA-6A62-40F3-BA25-0B88E1A63832_zps

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17FC668D-D7C2-425D-B184-14A5F39D32B4_zps

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CF76A858-4B49-406D-88FC-91EFEDE87920_zps

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CC56F85C-2018-4DBE-9FB3-6E6EDE47DA99_zps

0402EEDC-FE2E-4EB6-8165-FA8F075882A1_zps

4CC6DA88-520D-4D9F-A7A5-E070250164CF_zps

Old transmission removed

7062488C-E0CA-4B35-AE35-F5B885D9A687_zps

Side by side

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B84B965B-5033-41AE-AFD6-A4D524B111DA_zps

Mounted with new Super Astute lower control arms

ABD447F3-5B8B-42F7-AE5D-6A4955651A9A_zps

D796AE89-D157-499A-8510-F9F85572E96E_zps

Astute vs. Super Astute lower arms

2683F060-6D17-45AF-AD2D-CF59CDA97001_zps

With Astute rear hubs and links

93880902-BD81-499A-9C0B-D135E3F2D49D_zps

Stadium Blitzer rear hubs

F7D2ABB7-659A-492D-8C1E-AAFCFD10E358_zps

15552BCF-6B13-4EB8-ADA2-AC29C3EEA148_zps

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I must say, the A&L transmission really looks like it means business. Great quality of parts and hardware, easy assembly. Daryl at A&L was stellar. He contacted me immediately with the price and shipping quote, and I received it in less than a week. The instructions were kind of blurred, so I emailed Daryl. He quickly responded with the instructions in PDF form. A+ for Daryl.

If I were to have any complaints, it would have to be the color of the transmission, but that's really splitting hairs.

Ok, so here's more pics (glad dial up 56K modems are a thing of the past...lol)

Here I'm making a template for the upper deck

05108109-0D8E-458D-9596-C9BBAD0DCBB7_zps

Aluminum posts to support it up front

B3700E7F-A386-4896-B65C-49E15F098A6B_zps

A little spacer to get it level

D5DC14E3-3854-48CD-B677-9AFF092F9D94_zps

6F99C10C-ADB7-45B5-BCE6-E509BAE28EA5_zps

So this was my first idea for the battery, when I had planned to use an 8.4v hump pack

A5ACB31C-59BA-42C3-A046-EA83CCC7D093_zps

BC9CD814-C9D8-4E7D-8E3E-FF6C7EB64EE7_zps

Spaced out servo to accommodate the battery

73362665-3612-4064-A921-4B43EA472009_zps

But, that didn't work out as I desired, so back to the old drawing board

Lipo battery mounted with the original Astute mount, with a small aluminum spacer to take up the height gap

3D20EB33-1775-454A-9315-91E160F33C63_zps

Here I added the little nubs to the chassis to keep the battery from moving about

BC713C32-8C68-44EF-B4DB-81FAAA06888F_zps

I know the battery is pretty much fixed in place now, so removal will be a challenge, but I don't plan to run it through more than 1 battery pack at each outing. I usually go with 3 or 4 vehicles to keep myself occupied ;)

Out with the old...

18F7EA38-64FD-4C94-A44B-7562C322216A_zps

In with the new..

A0465DF0-7102-46F8-BF4A-AD98A4E3468A_zps

83D9218E-49B2-4FBA-884A-8CFD4143B890_zps

3DCE2E7B-CFA0-41EF-98F2-D78504C191D1_zps

D31E9B92-A399-49E0-9BE4-5033E192DE85_zps

Coming along

B6059250-1328-4254-AC2F-D91C2007719D_zps

EB2337D0-FEA0-41C8-BAA1-AFA9A17C2DE2_zps

0BE2A40A-B4FC-40E8-86FA-1881B528D3A5_zps

The blue transmission case was really bothering me, so...

D6727232-D11A-4CBE-90E7-A1F33EE40566_zps

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E793BD15-2C5B-471F-B636-75F7F0242740_zps

I tried Mad Cap uprights from Team CRP, but they are flimsy compared to the F103 carbon reinforced pieces

E8BD17A3-9105-4D44-AFCB-DD21C253E2EB_zps

9F39C4BC-5E46-4937-AE14-C870AFC096B7_zps

5CCCFC61-0F61-4BFF-A550-84C0560C4BD9_zps

So the F103 uprights stay on

2EA13367-F580-4A2F-9BAC-4A0F615401A4_zps

Savox servo installed with TA-04 Pro aluminum servo mounts

39234425-9A34-46D7-9A3A-D92EB4F690C8_zps

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man have you been busy! this thing is going to be mental when its finished.

I am loving that lethal weapon gearbox, is it a "power clutch" one? when you look on the website it says the 108 and 208 both come without a power clutch, but there is $38 of a difference in price. what one did you go for?

those super astute arms look much better than the stock ones.

I will be watching this one to the end!

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Thanks Dave! I went with the power clutch version. I noticed that as well, and mentioned it in my email to Daryl.

The uprights are nearly identical.

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Here, I decided to make a support for the transmission to the chassis

98C34E1C-309E-4A2C-A9C0-4C76C5F41801_zps

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I reverse engineered the front sway bar so that I could retain it. Not sure how effective it will be

A6440D8A-3EBC-4A62-947B-28E5DB5D9C45_zps

For the rear upper control arms, I kept the original set up, with some modification to make them work. I'm a fan of the 80's Tamiya over engineering and wanted to keep it somewhat vintage

2A22674A-A03C-42FC-BE36-8DC433D54DC9_zps

I used the front control arm posts at the rear

1F840EAD-B6D7-4898-B56B-D1216E13B131_zps

And the inner end of the original front upper arms because I needed the bushing for smooth movement

2A6FBE24-1A54-4DA8-ACD0-BF190DD50D8A_zps

A bit of a stretch for that link..we"ll see how long that stays on ;)

7E2DBAD7-0740-4EF8-9A50-ED3D152667B8_zps

I put ball bearings in the steering linkage and then proceeded to replace the ball ends to eliminate any chances of slop in the steering

3D7854E3-B22D-409C-A37C-6FB2C7D2F91F_zps

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And then the 20+ year old plastic cracked ;(

78F317E1-FA8E-4E0E-897D-73D3E18830A8_zps

Then I found that my TA-04 parts car had a nearly identical set up (Astute to the left)

8D6AF5FF-E7AB-40EB-B337-CD0CDD9F03F5_zps

They sit a little higher, so I had to use shorter posts for my upper deck

63FA62F8-6E89-4061-B6FE-88D1BA1AE963_zps

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Here the body is on, and you can notice the body sits a little bit higher because of the upper deck posts (upper deck not on yet), but I don't think it's going to be a major issue

98F170E6-117C-4A86-BBEF-523368A1D495_zps

More pics to come..as soon as I get more parts delivered!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

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Keep in mind that Re release Top Force has the same steering cranks.

Max

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Thanks Max. Actually, I have a great deal of thanking for you. Your Astute write up helped me a lot during this build.

You wouldn't happen to know what tree from the top force the steering cranks are in, do you?

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Thank you.

I just finish to write the 3th part and now I'm working on the images of the article.

Will post it very soon.

Anyway the Top Force part with the steering cranks is the J Parts.

On the Astute/Super Astute is the D Parts.

Max

Thanks Max. Actually, I have a great deal of thanking for you. Your Astute write up helped me a lot during this build.
You wouldn't happen to know what tree from the top force the steering cranks are in, do you?

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Great thread and great job also, I'm really enjoying this too! Some outstanding ideas there along with the all important upgrades for an Astute runner. The Lethal Weapon trans and custom upper deck really take this build to a new level. I hope you do overcome the upper deck to body clearance issue, it would be great to see that work out for you.

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Excellent stuff. Btw, did you know there are alu uprights available for the 103 so they should also fit the Astute. I have a pair on my Hornet.

Edit: added a pic of my Hornet with the blue alu uprights :)

IMG-20130803-00646.jpg

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I love this thread already - a lot of neat ideas and new parts. That fan out back on the brushless motor looks menacing!

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Update:

Today I installed the Dyna Storm turn buckles, Hi-Caps, rear tires, made some new upper control arms from Avante ball ends, and made some damper tower braces. This Frankenstein Astute is beginning to look like a 2wd Avante now, lol.

So here's how it was after initially modding the front suspension

5FF5716C-FED6-49A1-9A01-5AC3DBE88226_zps

Dyna Storm turn buckles

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Side by side

CECD9CF5-B79B-4C28-AAF7-AF8CC63CB8BF_zps

Fitted

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The steering linkage before

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And after

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I had extra turn buckles from the set, so I proceeded to the rear of the vehicle

Right side before

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And after

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Left side before

03769737-58FF-4348-BFDF-1E037EC2C70D_zps

And after

37FDAFDF-C8C3-4ED2-9B1C-705C038CD6DC_zps

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Last view of the original yellow dampers

4178922B-D0E0-4A22-9CB9-F2641EE89F14_zps

AB8DAA32-BCF2-42CD-B985-30FD3B2C320B_zps

Letting the air bubbles out

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Mounted

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Made a damper brace with an extra turnbuckle

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Old rear damper

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Original vs. Hi-Cap

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Mounted

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Damper brace

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ADE8FBD6-9678-463E-90A6-38C7D4EFF2EA_zps

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I was looking at my Avante, and the gears started turning in my head..I wanted to somehow fit the upper arms to my Astute, and still retain the links in the rear. Re-used the original 4mm rods from the front and rear upper arms (with some slight shortening) and came up with this.

From this

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To this

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IMG_6718_zps6100cce0.jpg

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IMG_6721_zps1482a971.jpg

I used the rubber bushings from the original dampers of my Avante to take up some space, and possibly cushion articulation

AEE1F21B-D5A3-4FC7-AA9F-4191A7EB91F8_zps

IMG_6723_zps425aba5a.jpg

And at the front (before)

IMG_6724_zps3028621a.jpg

IMG_6725_zps447dc929.jpg

After

IMG_6726_zps461a1c25.jpg

IMG_6727_zps69d598e2.jpg

IMG_6728_zpsbdbd3839.jpg

And that's it for now...not bad for a Sunday morning :)

I know I'm adding more weight to the chassis by adding all the metal parts, but this guy should have plenty of power, and I think I may need the weight to keep it controllable.

Thanks for viewing!

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If I can I would give you some advice about all the errors you are making (Imho) on your Astute.

- You don't need the braces between top ends of all dampers. You are only adding weight and turning the body more and more difficoult to "extract".

- You are putting braces where you don't need them in the rear suspension adding weight and making the car heavier. In the rear upper arms you don't need them.

- You are not putting braces where you need it. You must make a brace between the rear upper arms or you will break the rear shock tower base.

- You are using oversized and heavy upper arms. You should use 3 mm turnbuckles (better in titanium) and a 4 or 5 mm bal joints. Aluminum joints are heavy and will wear quickly and 4 mm upper arm rods are futile and oversized, too big, too thick.

- You are making the wrong thing with your rear hubs. You added objects (damper bushings) between the rear hubs and rear upper arms reducing clearance to the rear dampers. When you will use the car the lower rear arms will flex and your upper arms will touch and ruine the rear damper cylinders.

At contrary you must add clearance with smaller and thinner upper arms. You will add some more clearance making the rear tower brace and cutting away a piece of rear hubd where you screw the ball joint.

- The double brace for the tranny will not work because the columns where you screwed them are too long and will flex. This is useless weight.

- The top chassis plate is useless because the flexible chassis helps to have a "softer" car to drive.

- At last you don't have the only brace you absolutely really need: The front brace. Without this brace your front end will break in 30 seconds, more or less.

My two cents.

Max

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Max, I'm still waiting for the super astute g part for the front.

I'm not worried about weight, the brushless set up in it will have more than enough power to make it go. Also, I do not race professionally.

The upper arms work well in my Avante, why wouldn't they work well here? Also the Avante has the braces between the dampers.

The lower deck has plenty of flex in it, I thought flex would be a bad thing.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

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I also not raced professionally my Astute but I used it a lot on the track and I can only give you my experience, expecially on the front brace:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/pictureframe.asp?t=n&id=img24_24102012042021_10.jpg

and the rear brace

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/pictureframe.asp?t=n&id=img24_24102012042021_7.jpg

that are a must have if you want to save your Astute parts.

And keep in mind the clearance with the rear shocks or you will quickly ruine the rear dampers.

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=116410&sid=24

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=116641&sid=24

As I said my two cents. ;)

Max

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Thanks again Max, much appreciated.

I plan to fix the clearance issue at the rear dampers, and install the super astute g part up front. I have all of the mad cap front parts like you've installed, but just haven't installed them yet. I wanted to retain as much original astute as possible, even the wacky engineered rear upper arms.

The brace at the rear upper arms looks easy enough to make, and makes a lot of sense to have. Thanks for that pointer.

And I appreciate your 2 cents! ;)

Thanks again

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Hey mate. Im loving this build. So many cool things happening to this astute. I never figured out that ta04 steering parts would work with it!

For the tranny brace I actually made one from a flat piece and ran it across to the rear bulkhead. It also helps torsional rigidity of the rear end.

Also be careful of the amount of dogbone plunge you get into the A&L out drives. I advise putting some o-rings on the rear shock shafts to help reduce/slow the up travel. If the suspension hits full up travel the dogbone will try and spread the outdrive apart and potentially break it

Totally agree about Darryl and A&L. The tranny is awesome and Darryl is great to deal with

Best battery holder for the car is the super astute one. I noticed you did the same thing I did and spaced the servo forward and ran a short servo. This gives plenty of clearance to run full stick lipo. Stick with the rear setup with the metal chassis posts, I ran the rear battery hold from the super astute and cracked 2 of them

Good luck with it mate. Im enjoying all the interesting things ur doing to it

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Thanks Jesse! Your comments and advice are greatly appreciated. I do have a small o-ring in the diff out drives, and currently fitting the super astute battery holder. I'm almost done with the project. Just waiting on the servo saver (of all things), and the re-pro body. Can't wait to take this thing on its maiden run!

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those avante rod ends go really well with the hi-caps, I might have to steal your idea for mines :ph34r:

is that lethal weapon gearbox plastic?

I can see my astute getting some money spent on it after reading this thread.

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Thanks Dave..the lethal weapon gearbox is plastic.

I've done a couple of more things to it the other day, just haven't gotten around to posting them.

I just put up a video on my YouTube channel, testing it out and the radio gear. Battery is weak, and you can still see the tires balloon. I have a feeling this franken-stute is going to be very quick. I'm glad I'm adding weight to it. Oh, and please don't mind my dogs barking in the background. :)

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