A little bit of madcap madness

[Tommyh89]

Well I guess a introduction as this is my first post, and a little thread at the same time!

Recently acquired this cheeky little madcap! If I’m perfectly honest I’m 50/50 as wether I should keep it or move to something I know would be happy with a brushless set up! But the lure of a vintage tamiya racing about with a brushed motor is twinging in the back of my head. In fact I found a 17turn lrp motor in the loft! 

It will be a work in progress thread and I’ve been scouring the forum for info already as I understand the diff can be the issues on these! She’s quite grubby so due a full strip down and clean up and a good service. Maybe that will make me want to keep it?! Who knows  . 

Body shell hunt will also be on the cards and a few repos have popped up on the good old eBay! 

If anyone has any further thoughts or advice, I’m all ears! 

 

 

 

 

[Ann3x]

Madcaps are really common, they sell in decent condition on ebay for 40-100, yours is a little.... tired .... and has some weird mods (rear rods, roll cage,

They handle ok and were decent club racers in their time (if a bit understeery due to the battery too far back). The gearbox is the weakness as you say, I think anything powerful and youll have a melted diff. Options to "fix" this are:

• Run a silver can (or equiv), a light car like the madcap will do fine with a gentle motor
• Fit a super astute TTC (cost more than the car but is a solid transmission)
• Fit a new, modern transition (hack the chassis to fit a decent modern transmission like an associated, losi (/whatever))

Just be glad your talking about a madcap - it CAN use that transmission ok (with care and sensible motor choice), the same tranny is there on the kingcab (with big wheels! Setup to jump!) - now that isnt pretty.

[Tommyh89]

I have managed to find this little beauty in storage. 17 turn so hopefully nothing that might not fry the diff!

I will be stripping the diff just to check over everything. It feels a little tight on one wheel,so suspect somethings up! Have seen the Tamiya single ball thrust bearing option.53136 Is that worth while? Anything that improves the durability a bit! 

I think at some stage someone’s tried some sort of anti roll linkage at the rear. Interesting little set up! 

 

the more I look at this thing the more I feel bad for not cleaning it up now! 

[Ann3x]

With that tranny, you fix one thing, something else breaks. It's just fundamentally flawed.

[Tommyh89]

1 minute ago, Ann3x said:

With that tranny, you fix one thing, something else breaks. It's just fundamentally flawed.

Fear this may be a slippery slope for the old girl! But surely that’s half the fun giving it a go! 

[Ann3x]

Well, it isnt a shelf queen is it - not got a lot to lose and long as you dont sink $$$ into it.

[NitroNutz]

You would be surprised how some models clean up.  I have what I call the Bath of Shame. its a little tub with water, laundry detergent and model fuel. especially for metal parts you can soak and clean pretty good.

Ive got a Madcap decal sheet if you`re interested

[Tommyh89]

6 hours ago, NitroNutz said:

You would be surprised how some models clean up.  I have what I call the Bath of Shame. its a little tub with water, laundry detergent and model fuel. especially for metal parts you can soak and clean pretty good.

Ive got a Madcap decal sheet if you`re interested

Let me know what you’d be after for it as it will certainly need a shell! I was very close to selling this but I can’t bring myself to do it! So the project goes on! 

[chickenman242tk]

Looking at your pictures I'd say it has some astute parts fitted , the rear hubs aren't madcap hence the extra link on top.

To simplify it I would look for a new set of c parts

[NitroNutz]

I have it on ebay for 49.00, here is a photo

16 hours ago, Tommyh89 said:

Let me know what you’d be after for it as it will certainly need a shell! I was very close to selling this but I can’t bring myself to do it! So the project goes on! 

 

[kontemax]

On 12/12/2017 at 9:38 PM, Tommyh89 said:

I think at some stage someone’s tried some sort of anti roll linkage at the rear. Interesting little set up! 

It's not an anti-roll set up.
The Madcap lower arms are soft and they bend, expecially the rear arms.
When the lower rear arms bend the upper rear arms touch the rer dampers, scrubbing them.
What you see are braces to fix the problem.

 

Max