Granddad Stinky's Holiday Buggy. From where it went wrong!

[Granddad Stinky]

[Granddad Stinky]

I seemed like a good use of the blue LEDs on the loom.

 

[Granddad Stinky]

[Country Mike]

Love drastic re-engineering!

[Granddad Stinky]

7 minutes ago, Country Mike said:

Love drastic re-engineering!

It's a kit of parts, with an instruction book as a guide.

It's a bit like having a real car, accompanied by the Haynes book of lies.

[Theibault]

You might as well fill in those holes in the body now. Would look so much better.

[Granddad Stinky]

1 minute ago, Theibault said:

You might as well fill in those holes in the body now. Would look so much better.

It's on the menu, just looking for a suitable mesh. Tried a sieve but it wouldn't flatten without unraveling.

[TurnipJF]

The aluminium mesh sold by Halfords for car body repair works well. That is what is covering the vents on my Mad Bull shell.

[GregM]

Hey Stinky, I like what you did there with the shock tower bracing and the cover for the car's backside. I'm not that keen on the blue LEDs, but guessing from what you did so far, I'm sure it all will finally come to a beautiful result.

Keep the build pictures coming!

[Granddad Stinky]

When I ordered the new set of Abismal shocks, I poached the set I had on the DT-03, and they work a treat.

Now, the replacement shocks have arrived, same length etc, and I've tried to fit them on the DT-03.

The two fronts feel like they're filled with liquid glue and the backs feel like the have water inside. You can easily see the difference if you dip your finger in the shocks. That's one FAIL to Abismal. I have a variety of damping discs to fit but can anyone advise on an oil to use. I'd like to at least start with the same oil in all four.

Yours irritatedly.

Stinky.

[GregM]

I had always bad luck with prefilled aftermarket shocks, that's why I'm using Tamiya CVA dampers whenever possible now <- Lesson learned.

Tamiya yellow shock oil 400 #6435033 is an intermediate to soft oil and comes packed with most of Tamiya's kits. I strongly recommend this as a starting point for any Tamiya entry level car, but you can try other brands silicone shock oil with the same viscosity.

E.g. what I buy is REELY shock oil available at Conrad Electronic, since it comes in larger sizes and uses the same viscosity number scale as Tamiya.

[Dojo Dave]

1 hour ago, Granddad Stinky said:

When I ordered the new set of Abismal shocks, I poached the set I had on the DT-03, and they work a treat.

Now, the replacement shocks have arrived, same length etc, and I've tried to fit them on the DT-03.

The two fronts feel like they're filled with liquid glue and the backs feel like the have water inside. You can easily see the difference if you dip your finger in the shocks. That's one FAIL to Abismal. I have a variety of damping discs to fit but can anyone advise on an oil to use. I'd like to at least start with the same oil in all four.

Yours irritatedly.

Stinky.

Extra virgin olive oil. 

[Granddad Stinky]

4 minutes ago, Dojo Dave said:

Extra virgin olive oil. 

Seriously? 🤔

[Granddad Stinky]

How does CPS relate to "w" in oil viscosity?

[Theibault]

16 hours ago, Granddad Stinky said:

It's on the menu, just looking for a suitable mesh. Tried a sieve but it wouldn't flatten without unraveling.

Mesh? For what? I'd use some plastic plate to fill in the holes.

[ThunderDragonCy]

2 hours ago, Granddad Stinky said:

How does CPS relate to "w" in oil viscosity?

On my associated oil, 30wt is 350cst, 40wt is 500cst. 22.5wt is 238cst. Tamiya kit Soft Oil is 400cst or approx 34wt. 

I had this same problem with Absima shocks. Tried drilling pistons, all sorts. Went back to CVAs in the end.

[GregM]

I used a stainless steel sieve for the mesh. Seems like I was lucky, since it flattened rather neatly.

Some hobby shops might carry mesh sheets that are easier to work with.

[Country Mike]

On 2017-5-15 at 9:40 PM, Granddad Stinky said:

It's a kit of parts, with an instruction book as a guide.

It's a bit like having a real car, accompanied by the Haynes book of lies.

Haynes books are awful now. We had em good bitd.

[Granddad Stinky]

9 hours ago, GregM said:

I had always bad luck with prefilled aftermarket shocks, that's why I'm using Tamiya CVA dampers whenever possible now <- Lesson learned.

Tamiya yellow shock oil 400 #6435033 is an intermediate to soft oil and comes packed with most of Tamiya's kits. I strongly recommend this as a starting point for any Tamiya entry level car, but you can try other brands silicone shock oil with the same viscosity.

E.g. what I buy is REELY shock oil available at Conrad Electronic, since it comes in larger sizes and uses the same viscosity number scale as Tamiya.

So Reely 400 would be a good starting choice?

[Dojo Dave]

11 hours ago, Granddad Stinky said:

Seriously? 🤔

There's a guy on here that did am experiment with all different house hold oils gave them funny names to make it all official. Search it... kinda cool actually 

[GregM]

6 hours ago, Granddad Stinky said:

So Reely 400 would be a good starting choice?

Yes - at least for Tamiya CVA dampers

- Tamiya 50519 front and 50520 rear for full sets including a wide variety of mounting hardware, springs, adjusters and 2-piece pistons covering pretty much any Tamiya buggy chassis. Has red silicone o-rings (the good stuff!). The price might seem to be expensive for plastic oil dampers, but with all these pieces included that you would otherwise have to source seperately (costly!!), it turns out to be a pretty good bang for the buck if you do the math.

- Or Tamiya 54567 all around. Is more affordable, but lacks mounting hardware, has only one set of springs, and the pistons are 1-piece metal, so you can't change the discs. Has black o-rings. Suitable for Tamiya DT-02 and DT-03 chassis.

[Granddad Stinky]

Thanks for all of that!

I'll order some 400 and go from there. I don't think The Chancellor will go for yet more springs! If all else fails, I can add some Evo-Stick to thicken it up. 😂

 I've still got the CVA shocks from the DT-03 kit, but with black rings. I didn't get on with those very well, I had clearance issues with the larger screw top. They didn't like the GPM shock towers or they made the springs foul the suspension arm.

[nowinaminute]

11 hours ago, GregM said:

 

- Or Tamiya 54567 all around. Is more affordable, but lacks mounting hardware, has only one set of springs, and the pistons are 1-piece metal, so you can't change the discs. Has black o-rings. Suitable for Tamiya DT-02 and DT-03 chassis.

They fit the DT-01 fine too!

The only downside like you say is the metal pistons, you change oil weight or drill little holes in the discs though. I wish they did a few more sets like that in different lengths, bargain way to get some decent shocks.
 
I got a set from RCmart for about £16 delivered, at that price it was even cheaper than buying Absima shocks! You used to be able to get Tamiya stuff even cheaper from Banzai hobby but I think all the other resellers complained to  Tamiya and Tamiya stopped supplying them.

I would say the Absima ones are ok with better oil in though, same story with the HSP type ones from ebay, the often turn up only half full with goop, just filling them with simple old olive oil improves them dramatically!

 

[Granddad Stinky]

I stripped the new set of Abismals this evening, more black marks!

I poured the oil into a small pot. The rears had the viscosity of WD40, the fronts were like squirty honey. Then I noticed that even if I stirred it up, they separated, one floating on top of the other. Mineral and synthetic I presume. The rear pistons had two tiny holes, the fronts had no holes at all. I figured that my smallest drill (1.5mm) would equal the other two in the rears, so I drilled them.

I managed to salvage some oil from my CVAs and refilled with that and had miraculous damping. I think I'll might go one stage thicker than Tamiya soft yellow but I'll run it a few times first.

My first set of Abismals were great, straight from the packet. This variation is really bad quality control.

[GregM]

It's great to hear you got your Absima dampers in working condition now.
I had similar experiences with cheap REELY alloy dampers for 1/10 buggies and monster trucks I bought a few times. They came with inconsistent fluid level, the oil itself was thick like honey, and the springs were very stiff. They felt like they were meant to be for cars a couple of pounds heavier. Needless to say, I had to get rid of the supplied oil (which had a very nasty stank to it) and re-use the springs from my Tamiya kit.

I guess the Absymal Absima brand isn't called like that for no reason, is it?