FALCON

[TheFalcon]

New to the club / old man! rekindling his youth with a Tamiya! Built a car as a kid but thats long gone. This is a runner bought of ebay. I would like to clean up. Can anyone advise in order the type of tasks to complete in restoration? I am having a problem viewing the manual on the web page for this car?

Can someone also explain how to make a battery discharger?? so I can see what the old batteries are capable of when charged from flat (i understand this helps?). How long do new batteries last for for reference?

Thanks.

[Shodog]

Basically to restore a car, you tear it down, clean all the piesces then replace anything worn or broken on the build up. Batteries generally don't last that long. New 1500MAH batteries can be bought for $10.

[pleiku68(2)]

And how many times have you done this to the Falcon Jim??Did you ever fix yours ??.LOL jerry

quote:Originally posted by Shodog

Basically to restore a car, you tear it down, clean all the piesces then replace anything worn or broken on the build up. Batteries generally don't last that long. New 1500MAH batteries can be bought for $10.

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[HunterZero]

The manual on this site works, it just looks like the preview size of the manual front page is missing. The other pages seem to be all there.

Main points to look for when restoring a Falcon are...

* Drive shaft dogbones/cups, clean out all the gunk and check for excessive play/wear. Lubricate joints lightly with some oil, and flush/reoil every run (motor spray oil is good for this). Grease tends to attract grit and turn into a sandy abrasive paste.

* Front chassis/bulkhead seems to be broken easily in a crash. Check for damage.

* Cracks in front/rear suspension arms around screw pins or on rear where suspension attaches to trailing arm.

* Gearbox - clear out old grease, clean gears and regrease lightly.

* Speed control - If you're using the original mechanical speed control, use switch lubricant on the contacts.

* Front wheels - check for wear on upright axles.

I would also ballrace the entire car, since the stock Falcon ran on awful plastic/metal bushings. Takes 11 x 1150 bearings and 1 x 850 bearing.

The rear suspension on these cars is pants, it is really hard to get it working properly. I'd setup the rear damping on the Falcon to use soft damper oil, the softest damper piston setting, and normal (thin collar) or soft (no collar) spring setup.

- James

[Shodog]

quote:Originally posted by pleiku68

And how many times have you done this to the Falcon Jim??Did you ever fix yours ??.LOL jerry

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Easy tiger, I did it once when I installed the bearings for my son. I tore it all aprt and trimmed the excess material from the parts trees. I replaced all of the less than stellar screws. Then the Falcon had a dissagreement with a fence and it got busted. I have all kinds of cool stuff for it. A thorp Dog bone set. A front aluminum skid plate and all the new parts for the ones he broke. The thing is that my son is having more fun with the T3 that I bought as a replacement. Eventually it will be sold off to help finance a hotter motor and esc for Bryant's T3

[Scorpn]

Hiya,

Just to add to the others Front Bulkhead mounts and cracks in all the suspension components are baaad

Also Midnight pumpkin or lunchbox springs in the really soft rear shocks work wonders - reduces the bounce right down!

[GPZ1000RX]

The easiest way to make a discharger is to get a (non quartz halogen) car headlight bulb, wire a suitable connector to it, link the two bulb filaments so that they are in parallel.

Plug bulb and battery together and, voila, your fully charged pack is now discharging at about 6amps.

You can wire up as many bulbs as you like in parallel, but be careful, the bulbs get hot enough to burn skin and melt carpet, and Tamiya connectors don't like constant high current, the WILL melt if you over do it!