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gary1365

Vintage Thunder shot restoration

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The vintage thunder shot I got of ebay arrived today. It came with a msc, silver can and vintage futuba radio gear and servos it also has some spares and the original manual. The body is very untidy I doubt I can do much with it. 

The msc didn't work and the futuba tx doesn't work but the servos are good so I'm keeping them. I replaced the silver can with a speed passion 10.5 t and a tble02 esc. So far I've rebuilt the shocks and gearboxes. I replaced all The stupid plastic bushes with bearings. The chasis tub is broken where the front gearbox screws on so I've ordered a replacement from Tony. I need that before I can rebuild the rest. I'll post up some pics soon. I didn't take many anyway. 

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Right I finished rebuilding the thundershot this morning so here's a few pics. I didn't take very many pictures as there's nothing exciting lol. 

Here we are stripped down.

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The damage to the chasis tub. 

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Gearboxes cleaned up and rebuilt all with new bearings. 

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Front gearbox and steering all fitted onto the new chasis tub. 

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Rear gearbox on.

 

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All coming together now.

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Modified the msc mount to fit a modern esc.

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Esc and radio gear fitted and wiring tidied and esc cover fitted.

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I think I need a new body the one with it is completely done

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This is the vintage futuba radio gear that came in the box. The msc is actually still working it just needs a solder. It even came with the original manuals for the model and radio equipment. 

 

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It's part a5 not b8 I think b8 is the rear part it's the front I need.

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I have designed a Super A5 part that I got at Shapeways and run on my Thunder Dragon. You need the M05 chassis suspension shaft kit to get 58.5mm shafts to fit in but it's bigger and stronger than the original. Let me know if you want one and I'll get a price off Shapeways. 

For new shells I have Team Blue Groove repro Dragon shell which seems OK.  Not fitted it yet but was only £30. 

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I ordered a new a5 off eBay as well as an a5 steel reinforcement I'll see how I get on with that. I think I need to play with the suspension a bit. It's a bit understeery but snaps to overseer easily. It seems like it might grip roll very easy. The rear springs might be a little too stiff.

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I know the rear springs seem hard, but they need to be with the inboard spring mounting. I have the terra scorcher wide rear mounts which are better and even now I wish I had the original hard springs still. I do run 8.4v pack so it's a heavy old vessel though. 

A rear anti roll bar will help your handling issues I think. I picked up a vintage thundershot one but the bar is like 3mm thick. Way too stiff. I found the rear bar off my DT03 fit so if you have that kit just get some ball connectors and m3 threaded bar and rod ends and make your own. 

Can't help much beyond that as I converted to dual front shocks in the 90s 😉

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I think the damping is too light too. It's got 2 hole pistols and 45wt oil. I'll have a play with it when the new a5 parts come. I want to convert to twin front dampers too at some point but I'm in no rush. I want to keep the yellow dampers too so I'll have to watch out for yellow CVAs. 

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Had a proper bash at the playing fields today after fitting my new a5 and what a fun chasis. I think I had more fun than with the dt03. The only problem I'm really having is it keeps grip rolling on grass I have to slow way down to turn on grass. The front end has too much bite on turn in I think. On gravel it's fantastic apart from the front bounces quite badly but I think twin shocks might help that. 

The other problem is I'm having is constant thermal shut down with the 10.5 t motor. I've ordered the tble fan kit but it might not be enough. The car came with a 17t pinion so I might need to drop a tooth or 2 I'll see what happens when the fan kit arrives. I may even go down to a 13.5 t motor. I'll figure it out later.

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17t is massive! I have a 14 in mine and on 10.5 is still flew. Fan defo needed on TBLE02s for 10.5t. Plus grass is hard work for the motor. I got at rw 32dp pinion. Quite loud but works fine.

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Thats what was in it when it came and it was running a 540 silver can lol. Yea mine is pretty loud too but I'm not worried. I wonder if the 17t wasn't letting the motor get to full rpm it accelerated fast but the top end seemed a bit slow. Slower than the dt03 with a 10.5t motor and a 19t pinion. I'll get a smaller pinion ordered. 

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I'm still getting thermal cut outs with the fan fitted it must be the gearing I'll have to order a new pinion. 

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Regarding broken a5 parts, as a stop gap, remove the top half of the A5, in place of the top half use a rear b8 part in its place

Now when theres an impact to the bumper it wont break because its not connected (a wheel impact is though)

This mod is in mud4funs showroom and my favourites section

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My new pinions arrived today and I fitted the 13 tooth pinion. I ran down at the playing fields on a combination of grass and gravel and only had 1 thermal shut down and that was right as the battery pack was running out so that seems to have solved that problem.

I'm going to have to play with the suspension setup as I'm constantly rolling on grass. I have to crawl round corners on grass. It's good on gravel it will grip or slide at will.

I need to check the steering. I fitted a kimburugh servo saver today and now the steering is intermittent. I'll have to check the mechanism for binding. It could also just be the 80s vintage servo isn't up to the job any more lol.

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Right I haven't had the time to spend on rc as much as I'd have liked between work and real life. I have been chipping away at this project though.

The driver is nearly finished I just need to clear coat his helmet and paint his face.

I've finished the body shell. After much painful deliberation I opted for a thundershot body. I can't decide what to with decals through. I went with a white and navy blue scheme with a gold stripe I was considering some gold decals I'm just not sure.

I also need to raise the body slightly it fouls on the fan on the tble esc but it shouldn't be hard to shim it up a little.

Also can anyone recommend me a wing that fits nicely.

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Took the thundershot out bashing yesterday and a screw backed out of the front wishbone. I lost it and a driveshaft. Can you get a pin kit to replace the screws. 

Got the body fitted up it isn't so pretty after a bash about in the gravel lol. I'm not sure what to do with decals.

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wow I've never lost a screw pin on a Tshot (in over 80+ hours of running), terra scorcher screw bag has lower outer screw pin hop up using eclip, I don't use it because its easier for maintenance as is

maybe the hole in the blue arm had been stretched somehow?

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I had loads of trouble with rear screw pins backing out. Replaced them with 48.5mm suspension shafts. Don't have the part number to hand but they're gold so probably TRF and expensive! I replaced my front ones with my Super A5 3D printed part and the 55mm shafts from the M05 shaft set. Can get you a price for the Super A5 if you message me. 

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I ended up going full black alloy A5 part. I had the brace and got a bit carried away at a skate park and broke the plastic A5 part still. Full alloy isn't cheap but meant I only had to buy one more time and not worry about it breaking. That and I will now no longer being running it in skate parks :) nice work on the restoration!

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Lovely job Gary on the TS... I'm about to do a strip down on a used one too... it's mucky n grimey as badword.. was sold as a display model... it must've been on the very top shelf as the dirt was hiding a broken chassis where the rear gear box attaches, bent rear Braces at the back of the rear gearbox and I just spotted another chassis crack at the front gearbox joint :(

Did you say you bought a new chassis from Tony?

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