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Thanks, all for inviting me into the Tamiya Club......

I have been in the process of moving the past few weeks and re-discovered my old Hornet packed away in a box of stuff. It originally had a yellow body (photo 1)

and a stock 540. I eventually put all ball bearings in it and a "Black Magic" Associated (I think) motor.  After cleaning it up and finding all the missing parts, unfortunately I discovered that the original Airtronics radio bit the dust. So I decided to restore it with a new twist......

I always liked the look of the Grasshopper 2 body-and so I stuck one on the old chassis (photo 2) -it fits perfectly after drilling 1 hole in front of the Grasshopper 2 front post hole. And it goes well with the Hornet nerf bars.....

Now she has a Sport Tuned 540 ready to go with a new set of tires (photo 3). The Black Magic motor still runs-so it'll be a decent spare......

I'm just waiting for a new Tamiya ESC and some new rear shocks.......Thanks, everyone, for taking a look......

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Good looking Hornet.. my first car was the Grasshopper and always wanted to upgrade it to Hornet specs as a kid but never had the chance.  That was the only car I let get away from me but plan on restoring an original in the future.  Are you going to get oil dampeners for the fronts?

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The kind of treasures you rediscover when moving :).

Nice body although I do like original yellow+black stripes one too.

 

What kind of rear shocks are you going to use and do you think the front needs oil shocks too?

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I have ordered some rear oil shocks that are Tamiya CVA units. Hopefully they will fit.....

I would love to get some oil shocks for the front. Does anyone know what ones will fit?

This project is starting to cost more money than simply getting a whole new kit-but it's the fun of bringing an old Hornet back to life.

Thanks for any info regarding front Hornet/Grasshopper shocks.

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1 hour ago, TurboTimmy said:

I have ordered some rear oil shocks that are Tamiya CVA units. Hopefully they will fit.....

I would love to get some oil shocks for the front. Does anyone know what ones will fit?

This project is starting to cost more money than simply getting a whole new kit-but it's the fun of bringing an old Hornet back to life.

Thanks for any info regarding front Hornet/Grasshopper shocks.

Turbotimmy:

Tamiya CVa Short Shock Unit and some extra brackets will do:

 

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Well, looky here....

Seems when I took my HornetHopper to the local hobby shop for a new servo,everyone wanted to see a vintage Tamiya.....

It got quite a few compliments-but when we examined the chassis more closely, the right side upper shock/body mount simply fell apart!!!

The store employee seemed very embarassed, as if it was his fault-but of course it was not-simply 30-plus year old plastic that was hammered on......

I have ordered a new set of mounts-and CVA shocks will replace the worn out original rears.....I'll keep y'all posted.

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Here are the new CVA Short shocks....they were easy to build and fit like a glove. I needed to improvise the mounting on the bottom, so I removed the original shock plates (which were also about to break) and simply attached the shocks right to the gearbox housing, using the original plate mount holes. These units are only about 2 or 3mm longer than the stock shocks, so it was no problem. 

Hopefully the front shocks will arrive soon.......

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In that video the front A arms on his GH2 are different than on a GH/Hornet. The damper attachment on the arms are totally different. Do GH2 arms fit on GH/Hornet?

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I don't know-the control arms on the GH2 obviously have shock mounts right in the arm, eliminating the need for a bracket. I am going to try the Mini Shock kit on the front of my Hornet. Thanks for the response.

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Here are the Tamiya Mini Shocks on the front.......

The stock friction shock bracket was too small for the new shocks, so a quick trip to the local hardware store solved the problem......

Two small brackets and some little bitty screws (and nylock nuts) made up the difference in length.

Now it goes like stink with the Sport Tuned 540 and the shocks on their softest settings-for now.

Total cost for the modification-under 6 dollars......

Time to find a BMX track to really let it fly.......

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good way to get around the front shock mount issue....... youll want to swap the rear tires soon if youre running on asphalt too as they become slicks rather quickly.  Oh and pics of the old motor you had in it? Also might be interested in it if youre getting rid of it as I have a thing for vintage motors....... (I'm weird like that).

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Here is the old one-it was a "Black Magic" 540 that I probably got at a hobby shop. It was advertised as a step up from the standard Mabuchi-and someone told me that it was an RC10 motor-even though it is obviously not a Reedy.  Anyway, it ran pretty good-and it still runs now. It was sitting in a box for the last 20 years or so still attached to the Hornet. It will need new leads soldered to it, and a cleaning. And oh, by the way, I just got some Grasshopper rear tires for all-around running.

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On 5/6/2018 at 2:52 PM, TurboTimmy said:

Here is the old one-it was a "Black Magic" 540 that I probably got at a hobby shop. It was advertised as a step up from the standard Mabuchi-and someone told me that it was an RC10 motor-even though it is obviously not a Reedy.  Anyway, it ran pretty good-and it still runs now. It was sitting in a box for the last 20 years or so still attached to the Hornet. It will need new leads soldered to it, and a cleaning. And oh, by the way, I just got some Grasshopper rear tires for all-around running.

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certainly different. I havent seen anything like that before. Sucks I cant take the rotor out of the motor to cut it and make it like new.

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Finally-the finished (for now) project.......

Looking back, I could have saved some cash by simply buying a new Grasshopper kit-but I wanted to revive my Hornet and upgrade it.

She has her new Grasshopper wheels n' tires so I can run it on more surfaces. I always preferred the look of the original Grasshopper tires.

So now I have a Hornet/Grasshopper hybrid. GrassHornet? HornHopper? Anyway, it's one of a kind-Grasshopper 2 body-vintage Hornet chassis-ball bearing set-Tamiya Oil shocks all around-Sport Tuned 540-Grasshopper 1 wheels/tires-Tamiya ESC.......I found an inexpensive Traxxas TQ radio and my local hobby shop dude got me a Futaba servo......

Overall, a fun project-and a perfect way to re-invigorate my interest in the hobby......

Next-I'm seriously looking at an NSU TT kit to run on pavement.......My wife wants me to get a Lunchbox. So I have some "sympathy"........!!!

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL HOBBY SHOP!!!!

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Hey, I've been using GrassHornet for a couple years now, name's taken! ;)

Looks great, would love to see some pics of it running. It seems your list of future cars is already growing, your bank account is soon to be in trouble. It's a fun way to go broke though, enjoy it.

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Well, so much for an original Hornet chassis........

She found a curb-my own **** fault for not being careful.

A new one is on the way-only 14 bucks.....

I also have new control arms...... So I got a new "Horn Hopper" anyway, as it turned out.

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Ouch! The old chassis plastic may have been brittle. At least spares are easily available. Fix it, break it, fix it, break it...that's what this hobby is all about, right?

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I might just turn the old chassis into a pavement runner after I JB Weld the thing back together. Any ideas as to how to do this? Tires? Wheels? Body?

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