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seanmcd

Looking for off road chassis for old Porsche Bolink Body

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I have this old Bolink 2387 Porsche Rally body:  https://imgur.com/a/HT2Tm

 

and I would LOVE to find a 4wd chassis that will fit this thing.  Can anyone help!?!

 

The wheelbase is about 10 to 10 and 1/8 inches

 

Front fender width is about 8.5 inches, and rear fender to fender is nearly 9 inches.  

 

What could I get as a good electric 4wd more off road than not chassis (with available parts and isn't insanely expensive) to fit this thing!?  Doesn't have to be perfect but most things I find that match the wheelbase just don't seem wide enough, or the wheels seem like they will look to small.  Any help is appreciated!  My history in RC is from the distant past, and involves a Cox Turbo Scorpion buggy, and then a Tamiya Bigwig.  I always wanted a dang 959 Rally and I hope they re-release that one day!

 

 

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That should put it at 257 mm wheelbase, 216 mm front width, and 229 mm rear width. You could probably choose from any standard Tamiya touring chassis and make up the width using different-offset/width wheels and hex adapters, as well as possibly longer axles. That will require experimentation, as the widths for your shell are a bit unconventional, but between wide tires, offset wheels/adapters, and long axles, between 25/40 mm can be made up.

What will be interesting is the hood height on that shell, as chassis with long-stroke dampers might not fit.

All that said, the XV-01 is a popular off-road choice, being optimized for all-terrain driving.

Looking forward to the build!

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My immediate thought would be the recent MF-01x chassis... the box-spine design is very strong, and the wheelbase is multi-adjustable using different length chassis blocks/spacers - the maximum combination included in the kit is 254mm*... (see note below)

 It also uses the typicial M/TL/WT suspension arms, so you can mix and match components for the track width (and extra suspension travel) too - which is pretty much what Grastens suggests above...

*You we also need a longer drive shaft between the two gearboxes - but that's a simple 5mm diameter rod with a hole through each end for pins.

The MF-01 chassis also has angled front shock top mounts, keeping the front end low for the Porsche bonnet; and finally it also has a rear mounted motor for authentic rear-engine handling.

I'm sure you could make that work for not too much money - that's what I'd use!

Jenny x

note. I built a short wheelbase vehicle using the MF01x chassis a while ago, and took that opportunity to measure the length of each block to help work out various wheelbase combinations - link: Here. Therefore, if you used the front and rear subframe assemblies plus 3 x 29mm length chassis blocks, you'd get a 258mm wheelbase which is closer still to what Grastens suggested.

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Most of those bodies back then were designed with pan-car chassis or buggies in mind. Much wider than a modern touring or M chassis, so those are out. Yes, you could buy 18 different parts trees and get the parts you need to cobble together something, but in my opinion, that's the wrong way to go.

Considering that it is a vintage body, and a rare one at that, I think it deserves (nay, demands) a vintage chassis. Or a re-release of one. If it were me, I'd put it on a nice short-arm RC10 chassis, but you want 4WD.

Sticking a ruler on my two vintage 4WD buggies, it looks like a Kyosho Optima might be the closest fit. You'd need to play with the wheel offsets, but the wheelbase is 10 1/8 inches and the width axle-tip to axle-tip is right around 8 1/2 inches. Nice lay-down front shocks for the low-profile nose as well. Not cheap, but a very nice, strong, excellent-performing chassis.

A Tamiya Hotshot or Boomerang might work too, but they're a little bit wider axle-to-axle. Considerably less expensive, though.

Or, like I said, forgo the 4WD and use an old RC10, which is probably what Bolink sized it for.

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+1 for a vintage chassis for this superb body

This bolink porsche body is one of my favorite bodies. Back in the day when they were newly available I bought several of them to fit on my tamiya frog. The red one was raced to pieces, look at the decals from the porsche 959 !?:o?. Next was the Jaegermeister livery, i still have that one, the decals were brought together from different decal sets i had in my sticker file. Last photo shows the original frog, the first body was made for, now restored and waiting for that unpainted bolink body.

That CRP front bumper follows the lines of the body nicely, Body is mounted with velcro. Also in the rear, there you can see an aluminum part from a Hotshot i think as adapter for the body mount to the gearbox. Everything was done over 30 years ago!:D

RIMG0513.JPG.37daa277ac1a4f3eada7c04230a253bf.JPG

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RIMG0519.JPG.bf440bf16e8c3d40ba149cc3d776c448.JPG

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Oh wow love those photos a.w.k.!  I think that's the first time I have seen the body in action. Thanks everyone for these suggestions - I have a lot of ideas now.  I would have never pictured a Frog under that body!  Starting to picture an AWD buggy under mine... hmmmm

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Would some combination of TA01/TA02/DF01 kit fit? Wide arms from the buggy would probably be too wide, but strapped onto a short TA02 shell with touring car shock mounts and mini shocks you would get a pretty low profile 4wd chassis.

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On 12/27/2017 at 4:02 AM, JennyMo said:

My immediate thought would be the recent MF-01x chassis... the box-spine design is very strong, and the wheelbase is multi-adjustable using different length chassis blocks/spacers - the maximum combination included in the kit is 254mm*... (see note below)

 It also uses the typicial M/TL/WT suspension arms, so you can mix and match components for the track width (and extra suspension travel) too - which is pretty much what Grastens suggests above...

*You we also need a longer drive shaft between the two gearboxes - but that's a simple 5mm diameter rod with a hole through each end for pins.

The MF-01 chassis also has angled front shock top mounts, keeping the front end low for the Porsche bonnet; and finally it also has a rear mounted motor for authentic rear-engine handling.

I'm sure you could make that work for not too much money - that's what I'd use!

Jenny x

note. I built a short wheelbase vehicle using the MF01x chassis a while ago, and took that opportunity to measure the length of each block to help work out various wheelbase combinations - link: Here. Therefore, if you used the front and rear subframe assemblies plus 3 x 29mm length chassis blocks, you'd get a 258mm wheelbase which is closer still to what Grastens suggested.

So with the MF01x I need to buy a particular drive shaft to get up to 254mm ?  The chassis itself can extend that far with the included parts otherwise?  Is it easy to widen the track?  It just might work and if not it still looks like a fun chassis to bash around with.

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10 hours ago, seanmcd said:

So with the MF01x I need to buy a particular drive shaft to get up to 254mm ?  The chassis itself can extend that far with the included parts otherwise?  Is it easy to widen the track?  It just might work and if not it still looks like a fun chassis to bash around with.

 

Hi Sean - yes, as I recall Tamiya sell three different length drive shafts for the MF-01x, and the longest is for their 239mm wheelbase. However, as I mention in the link in my post above - you can easily make a longer/custom shaft yourself with either a piece of 5mm diameter rod and drill a hole through each end, or quite possibly use a TL-01 drive shaft (257mm wheelbase) with or without modifying that?

As for the suspension - it uses the same wishbones and dog-bones as a number of other M-chassis and TL/WT etc. So using (for example) Baja Champ wishbones (and/or different uprights/stub-axles/hexes) on the rear might well give you the extra width you need.

Obviously this is if you particularly want a modern 4x4 chassis (that you could hop-up) with a rear engine, a la Porsche Carrera 4 - from a budget and simplicity point of view, I do like what Markbt73 and A.W.K suggest above, and perhaps use a more typical RWD buggy chassis - you might find something like the DT-02 Holiday Buggy would fit under there nicely, and those are available for less than £80 for the complete kit these days.

Jx

 

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Gotcha - ok I read that wrong the first time :) Yeah I do like that MF-01x but I think it would be a stretch (no pun intended ;) ) to make it work.  Down to the xv-01 and yes that DT-02 buggy looks promising as well, although I was hoping for awd.  Thanks again!!

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Hello all and a happy new year!
As marktb73 already said this body was designed in the 80ties with buggies in mind, i dug out some 80ties buggies of my restoration queue:


First a Kyosho Scorpion, fits perfect, width f / r ok, also wheelbase ok:

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Second Kyosho Optima, wheels coming out of fenders, front width maybe a little bit to much, wheelbase should be ok:

RIMG0584.JPG.9bc76a20be23f114599c4af641aa7781.JPG

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Third is a Tamiya Boomerang, wheels coming out of fenders, front not as much as with the Optima, wheelbase should be ok:

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Fourth is a Tamiya FAV, fits perfect, width f / r ok, also wheelbase ok, and you get a cage and driver for free, but  you only have to find a solution for the front spring rod that is poking through the hood when the spring is compressed..B)

RIMG0600.JPG.24df9044c359ffae4c58f23c6847518a.JPG

RIMG0601.JPG.63a72ed3f18cd2b2c7d894609e8d3af0.JPG

With the possibilities above i would say AWD may be a bit to wide in front, RWD should be ok

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Do you have the parts to switch the boomerang to 12mm hex and stick some touring car size rally wheels and tyres? Smaller, narrower wheels might sort the look?

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21 hours ago, a.w.k. said:

Fourth is a Tamiya FAV, fits perfect, width f / r ok, also wheelbase ok, and you get a cage and driver for free, but  you only have to find a solution for the front spring rod that is poking through the hood when the spring is compressed..B)

RIMG0600.JPG.24df9044c359ffae4c58f23c6847518a.JPG

Ha - I really like that idea - like you say, you get a cage and driver already included! If you replaced the front uprights/shocks with something more traditional, it ought to be an excellent option, with some lovely scale details too!

Jx

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