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RMR110

New Australian member and my Rough Runner resto.

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Hi all,

I have just rekindled my RC passion after rebuilding my Vintage Rough Rider, and as i had relied on this site for the knowledge i no longer had, i wanted to share what i had done, and hopefully contribute to the body of wisdom on the site.

My Rough Rider was bought as a present for my birthday in 1980, and after i left home for Uni it stayed in its box for the next 30 plus years. So i am probably one of the lucky ones in that i still have my 1st and only Tamiya. I remember the original build, the painting and anticipation of getting to run it first time, only to send it careening backward into a wall and smashing up the rear cage. At the time i lived in Asia, then moved to provincial NZ with my parents before we returned to Australia, so there was a period where i couldn't access any spares or even knowledge (pre-web for you kiddies in the front row). This only dawned on me when i wondered why i hadn't replaced some items, or left some relatively simple things unfixed.

The spur to get it out from its cupboard location was i had decided it would be a father /son resto project and on my sons birthday we carefully took it down, open the box, unwrapped the tissue paper, and started to assemble it so we could take an inventory of the needed parts. In the waiting period, my Sons generous Auntie decided she wanted to make a splash and offered him the chance to forego future presents for a few years, in return for a big gift now. I now think its a big win:win as he ended up with a tough-as-nails Traxxas Telluride, and i ended up with a new project (and a more sympathetic driving style) and we still get a shared interest.

I wanted to share the unboxing and in another post, will detail the mods I've now made to improve stability, drive-ability and performance. I've linked to the images on Flickr so hopefully they display ok.

19493755589_baeac2db87_c.jpg

Original box kept everything together and protected

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I still had the original Tx also

19654328976_4cf13a667b_c.jpg

All wrapped up,

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i'd had the smarts to remove the tyres so they didn't flatspot. Original battery can be seen, plus my box of spares and tools.

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The chassis was ok but grimy, and all the broken parts i couldn't afford to repair or didn't know how to fix were still broken.

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I believe this was a "mod" to keep the balls from popping out of the arm sockets ;)

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A home made servo saver horn after i couldn't replace it locally at the time.

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The AA batteries are new, but all other electrics are 1980's new!

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Assembled and in its faded glory

I was waiting on a new battery assuming the old NiCad was stuffed, when i stumbled on a charger with the Tamiya connector. On a whim i connected the battery and let it charge for about 6 hours and was blown away that when connected the whole system ran fine (slow, but fine). That gave me the confidence to move forward with a Brushless conversion knowing that the servos had survived the ages, the Tx/Rx still worked ok, and the rest of the electrics werent corroded beyond repair.

This project has always been about getting a vintage much loved buggy into a state where it didn't embarrass itself and would let me share quality time with my son. That's why you won't see any detail about repairing the body shell, or getting period correct tyres or wheels. But......recognising the historical value many attach to the Rough Rider, all mods i have planned or have already been done are non-destructive with the aim that it can be returned to its factory self by the next person. Any pieces i removed or were damaged, have just gone into the box for the next owner (although there are no plans for a sale while she's a healthy runner !! :P ).

Cheers and thanks for YOUR help in getting it back to a fit state.

RMR110

PS i had a chance to get it onto the beach soon after i got a new battery Motor and tyres, and uploaded it to YouTube. Unfortunately while this was the best footage, it was also when i had removed the body shell and in my haste to hit the beach before we lost the light, i didn't put it back on, so she's in stealth mode.

Edited by RMR110
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Cheers thanks. I know that this discussion thread celebrates the awesome jobs people have done on making their SRB's look period correct, with amazing details so i hope I'm not crashing the party by showing my build on a more tatty model that's aiming for current day driveability and performance. After another session on the beach today, i think that's definately its happy place.

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G'day RMR,

As mentioned already above, super cool username. Synonymous with the Rough Rider for sure.

One of the box art pictures I have stared at for hours is that of the Rough Rider. I love how the artist has captured the Sand Blaster Jr's, and all the sponsor decals on the buggy. It just looks so right, so off-road.

I think I was just as excited as you to see it being unwrapped from the tissue paper. Great pictures and great detailed writings to go with them. Thanks for taking the time to share. The vid looks like you were having fun too. I hope you and your son share heaps of battery's together over the coming years. No doubt the next generation has been hooked already, such is the allure of R/C.

Top post mate, lookin forward to reading and seeing more.

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Welcome and nice vid, I am jealous that you have owned that rough rider since new......

Was that the NSW coastline?

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Hi Smoothee,

thanks for checking it out. I think I've been surprised at how getting the old girl back on her feet has taken me back to my youth, and how proud i am to see it ripping up the beach again. To Snappy, yes the video was shot on the beach at Port Stephens on the NSW coast nth of Newcastle and the sand was that slightly wet big grain variety that let the buggy float across the top without bogging down and spinning. I will post up some of the changes I've made recently that culminated in a few on-road drag races with my sons Telluride (8.4V 4WD using a brushed motor with 17T pinion /76T spur combination) where we dead heated a few times. Not bad i think for a 35 year old runner with 7.2V NiMh, the ESC set to limit the initial punch to protect the drivetrain, and it being 2WD.

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Hi ,

while i only just started posting, i have been absorbing as much knowledge as i could about vintage Tamiya buggies over the last few months, and wanted to share what i discovered and what i have done in the hope it will help some others.

As i returned to this buggy at the same time as my son got his 1st hobby grade offroader from Traxxas, i had been impressed by the stability and speed of a modern RC so hoped to get mine on the path to that same standard. My plans were to;

  1. replace worn bits with re-release items
  2. Improve stability ( it rolled over in corners too easily)
  3. Give it back some performance "sting" while respecting its 35 year old internals.

Stage 1 - replacement parts

During the replacement process, i discovered some things i hadn't read elsewhere, so thought I'd document everything here, and hope that at least some of it is new information, and can help the next person avoid my mistakes;

  • Replacement rear bumper/cage fits vintage SRB chassis although needed some light filing to get screw holes to line up (perhaps my rollbar is bent).
  • Front suspension tower (Tamiya calls it the L & R front axle) lined up fine with some casting differences, but nothing that changed any functionality
  • Front wishbone arms fit fine, BUT seem to have a different geometry as once installed, contributed to far more camber (new one on top, vintage on bottom)
  • 19067260344_5d42090353_c.jpg
  • The old ball plates will fit the new arms, BUT the new ball plates won't fit through the hole on the old arms, as while they have the same external dimensions, the ball head sockets are bigger.
  • The new ball connectors are bigger and have different thread dimensions also so new ball connectors need to be ordered at the same time as the arms and plates.
  • The new uprights are the same length etc but look thicker in the steering part (hidden in the picture below).

19068918413_35b502cb17_c.jpg

Image shows a new upper arm installed with a vintage lower arm

  • Old and new servo saver parts are interchangeable so i only used the bits i needed, and left the rest on their part tree.
  • Until i learned to decipher the size codes in the manual i ordered online several connectors, screws, and common items that i could have substituted from brands available locally. This cost me time, and then frustration if i realised i should have added something else to an order I'd just waited 3 weeks for from Japan.

Stage 2 - stability

To improve stability i decided to start with tyres as while i had 2 sets of original rears i knew they wouldn't last if i went to brushless. The fronts were worn so needed replacing also. I reasoned that by using wider tyres, i'd gain some extra track width and stability. A quick trip to my LHS let me realise that nobody stocked tyres that would fit the original rims and i could see that online sellers were pricing them as vintage collectibles so decided to explore a set of modern tyres and rims. I spent hours upon hours trawling the web trying to track down dimensions and offsets from different brands and scale. It became clear that if i went to a 2.2 size i had heaps of options on rims of varying colour, width and offset, while tyres to suit could come in a range of diameters and widths, plus profiles, tread shapes and compounds. It was a no brainer compared to the cost of period correct rubber and while the pictures may make them look huge, in the flesh they look well sized (sort of like how today's cars look right sized on 18" rims where 30 years ago most were sold with 13" rims that now look quaint)

The biggest hassle was going to be the need to adapt something to use the 12mm Hex these rims needed. In the end it wasn't so hard. I had ordered replacement buggy champ axles as a backup, and when they came i saw they already had the pin setup needed to use a hex adapter, so the rears were sorted. For the front, i experimented with flanged bearings on a 12mm hub (I originally wanted to have the 2nd bearing on the wheel face, but without a drill press, i let the drill bit wander and stuffed up the centering so settling on the pictured setup of 1 in front the other in the back of the hex, until i install the new 2.2 front wheels i have with bearing wells molded in. On the front i use a spacer and a standard wheel lock nut reversed to make sure it bites enough thread, done up until there is just enough free rolling.

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The pictured setup uses some inexpensive HSP rubber and rims, that has shown very little wear. The rear wheels are about 15mm diam bigger while the fronts aren't much different but quite a bit wider (~28mm vs 15mm on my worn ones) for better bite. They fronts are from a 1/16 truck, so would be harder to find replacement rubber for, so will be replaced shortly with a 2.2 rim I've found. I've also calculated the rolling distance at ~15% more per rotation at the rear, so with a new motor and the stock offroad gear ratios, it still manages a decent turn of speed, and has torque a plenty for the beach.

The additional upside of the new tyres is the increased ride height that lets it track better through footprints on the beach or offroad obstacles. The picture below shows its increased clearance.

19694393211_43fd7918d5_c.jpg

In the next post I will show the suspension and chassis upgrades i made to keep it better tied down, then what was needed to get the brushless system setup on vintage radio gear.

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Well done on keeping it so well preserved.

I'm sure there are other members that wish they still had their first RC car, complete with box etc.

Interested to hear what suspension and chassis mods you have done.

Although vintage radio gear scares me nowadays! :lol:

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Well done on keeping it so well preserved.

I'm sure there are other members that wish they still had their first RC car, complete with box etc.

Interested to hear what suspension and chassis mods you have done.

Although vintage radio gear scares me nowadays! :lol:

OMG!! your alive :P .. Hows it going ?.

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Hi Falcon#5,

thanks for the interest. I'm also pleasantly surprised at how well its stood the test of time and figure its because it was in a box all this time away from UV, plus the quality of the original plastics and castings. I fully expected that the old FM radio would be a problem, but apart from some interference when I tried to relocate the Rx (fixed by returning it to the nose of the radio box), it has been perfect. I guess because I'm not running it at a track full of others, and everyone nearby who runs a car has 2.4Ghz I have yet to experience any real interference.

I created a separate thread on the wide track chassis I made (see here) as I thought it might appeal to more people than just a thread (this one) on a new member.

Edited to show the chassis photo

19718100565_2c47c0d20c_c.jpg

When I've taken some more shots I'll post up on the suspension changes also, plus I'm still grappling with a front axle extension (the CRP one looks good, its just stupidly expensive for a small part when I try to get it shipped to Oz) to allow me to run some new bearing enabled front rims and tyres.

Cheers

RMR110

Edited by RMR110

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OMG!! your alive :P .. Hows it going ?.

Hey! Been busy with life and haven't had the time to play with my toys :lol:

Back into it again, but not sure where to start with all my new projects. :o

Hi Falcon#5,

thanks for the interest. I'm also pleasantly surprised at how well its stood the test of time and figure its because it was in a box all this time away from UV, plus the quality of the original plastics and castings. I fully expected that the old FM radio would be a problem, but apart from some interference when I tried to relocate the Rx (fixed by returning it to the nose of the radio box), it has been perfect. I guess because I'm not running it at a track full of others, and everyone nearby who runs a car has 2.4Ghz I have yet to experience any real interference.

I created a separate thread on the wide track chassis I made (see here) as I thought it might appeal to more people than just a thread (this one) on a new member. When I've taken some more shots I'll post up on the suspension changes also, plus I'm still grappling with a front axle extension (the CRP one looks good, its just stupidly expensive for a small part when I try to get it shipped to Oz) to allow me to run some new bearing enabled front rims and tyres.

Cheers

RMR110

Hopefully you get the stub axle situation sorted easily.

What wheels are you going to run?

Still can't believe no one had used RMR110 as a user name earlier! B)

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RMR,

Fantastic story and resto project. Welcome aboard!

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RMR,

Fantastic story and resto project. Welcome aboard!

Cheers thanks, I gleaned a lot of info when I started the resto about 2 months ago, so wanted to share what I'd managed to do as its a little more "bush mechanic" than some of the other builds.

Hey! Been busy with life and haven't had the time to play with my toys :lol:

Back into it again, but not sure where to start with all my new projects. :o

Hopefully you get the stub axle situation sorted easily.

What wheels are you going to run?

Still can't believe no one had used RMR110 as a user name earlier! B)

I have to agree about the username, as i was sitting looking for inspiration with the buggy in front of me, and was pleasantly surprised that my 1st choice was available..

For the front wheels I found a JConcepts wheel with a good offset online,19570306678_9a20bb640d_m.jpg and then coincidentally found a pack of 4 of these in the dump bin at my LHS19758309055_ccb284a5bf_q.jpg

Both will take bearings front and rear, although the black ones need a 12mm Hex on the back, but I've made those now anyway.

I still haven't decided which to go with as they are different widths. Here is the same tyre on each compared to the stock

19097254403_d1486ee6d4_c.jpg

19718174305_1691cb8fbb_c.jpg

Edited by RMR110

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Welcome RMR110 to the site .

Yeah cool vid ,I come from Port Stephens originally Karuah ,but live on the NSW / VIC border now .

Can I ask in the first pictures you posted I noticed a small box with a car image on it in the corner of the box beside the tissue paper (Matchbox car sized box) what is it ?

Welcome again mate .

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Can I ask in the first pictures you posted I noticed a small box with a car image on it in the corner of the box beside the tissue paper (Matchbox car sized box) what is it ?

Welcome again mate .

Hi Swarm,

i had to look twice to see what you had asked about and then checked it out and found it was an old box with some tiny lights but no car inside. I like the additional information that the De Tomaso it was modeled on was from Itary ( :blink: )

19575626119_a8fa083bf6_c.jpg

Edit: You made me curious what the lights were, so has anyone seen these? Were they an early version to run behind the standard SRB lights?

19755185412_ff155dc21b_c.jpg

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Great to have another Aussie member on Tamiyaclub ;) I hope your Rough Rider Resto project goes well !!

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I still haven't decided which to go with as they are different widths. Here is the same tyre on each compared to the stock

Interesting to see how the tyre sits on the different rims.

Made a decision yet? :)

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Interesting to see how the tyre sits on the different rims.

Made a decision yet? :)

I will use the white wheels i think as i like the slightly taller but narrower appearance for those tires Thats unfortunate as for the rear I prefer the black Proline's as they have a wider offset which sets the tyres further out and helps the coilovers work better.

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Here is the all white option.

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Here is the all black option.

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So until i have a better option it will be a zebra for a while.

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I will keep the black front rims and get another set of tyres so i have 2 complete sets for sand or dry surfaces.

This combination of new rims and tyres won't please the vintage purists but it makes me happy and that's what counts so long as i own it :D

cheers

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My they are big spark plugs your putting in the old girl (Last pic)...Hope she can handle the upgrade :) at least they are the brand as the sponsored decals on the Rough Rider (NGK)

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