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Hotshot Vintage Racer

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Hi Everyone.

I am rather new here, and somewhat ingorant on modifying the older Tamiya cars.  I just got a Hotshot off of the eBay to convert to a vintage racer.  I do know that it won't be fast, but it will be a lot of fun.  Anyway, I am looking for recommendations on how to modify the car to get it running well on the track.  It already has been modified to have 4 shocks, so we are good to go there.  I am going to see if I can replace them with some Tamiya aluminum dampers.  Does anyone know the correct sizes?  I just see "long" and "short" mentioned.  Would the shocks from, say, a TRF201 or TRF211 work?  I am planning on brushless with a max of 13.5 to race in the 4WD stock class near me.  Would that be overkill for the gearboxes?  Also, what should I do to get 2.2 wheels on there?  I have heard mention of a 12mm hex conversion, but I am not sure what to get.  I was planning on using Tamiya Star Dish or Dark Impact wheels.  What hex adapters would work with those?  

I know it is a lot of questions, but any suggestions would be great.  I am just going out there to have fun, so mods that improve reliablility and consitency are the ones I am seeking.  Thanks for any help you can provide.

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Just an hour ago @Jonathon Gillham was talking about 13.5 being suitable for a basher.  He races too.  And he's got a Boomerang.  So for racing with brushless, he's the man to talk to. 

12mm hex is one of the most abundant thing.  You will find it in most newer Tamiya cars.  But if you can't find it, ebay sells them for a buck for a set of 4.  Search "12mm hex" or "12mm hex adapter."  The cheapest is 76 cents for a set of 4.  

For thickness, 5mm is the most common size.  That will do fine.  I think Hotshot could use 6 or 7mm too because those red triangular things are a bit thicker than regular 12mm hexes.  But I don't have them to try.  7mm thick hexes could widen the track about 1/8th of an inch. (Would that be cheating?)  Since they are cheap, you could spend like $5, and get 3 sets of different thicknesses and see what you like. 

[The tire I tried on is from DF02, but it should be the same size as DF03]  

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I run a 13.5T Trackstar motor in my Boomerang without issue. Timing on the motor is almost at max and I'm running the biggest pinion. With the larger wheels you may need to drop a pinion, just take 15, 16 and 17T pinions with you to try them out and check the temps. The Trackstar motor won't be competitive for racing though, you'll want to look at one of the newer motors. I run Orca Blitreme in my 4wd stock buggy which runs well, others at my club run Fantom, R1 Wurks and Orion. This is 17.5T but 13.5T is a big class in the US and so the 13.5T motors will be good too.

There are some cool looking chassis kits out there for ths Hotshot, someone linked them the other day but I can't remember the site now. They are still available though.

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It was this thread, check out the chassis and it tells you where to get them from too. Pretty sure they do a Hotshot version of the chassis 

 

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I have that chassis on my watch list on eBay.  :-D  

Thanks for the info on the motor.  I'll do some research and go from there.  I may just do the 17.5 Turnigy motor to start (since I have one) until I get more consistent with the car and then move to a good 13.5.  

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