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Scott_CT

Bringing my Striker back to life

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So a couple weeks ago my parents were visiting and my father mentioned starting to clean out their house as they are getting a bit older.  He mentioned the 2 shelves of R/Cs that I have in their basement and asked what I was going to do with them.  I have not touched these in close to 20 years, possibly longer.

That inquiry led me to this forum.  Now I have a crazy itch to bring them back to life, especially my first car, the infamous Striker.  I have a pretty good recollection of where it stands but started checking around the web for the availability of parts even before I have it back in my possession.

Found a NOS chassis on eBay the other day but lost out at $50 usd.  Good thing I am pretty sure the chassis I have is in good shape.

I will be making the trip down to central NJ in the next couple of weeks and will bring everything home with me to start the resurrection.  I am not a highly technical builder but am going to try to make a real attempt to build a really good looking car instead of the stock white.

Some parts that I can think of off the top of my head that I had on it when it got put away

rear tires and wheels off a Fox

front tires and wheels Sand Blasters off of a Brat

metal dog bones and axels 

i threaded a second set of springs inside the stock springs to assist with the too soft front suspension.

Thats all I can think of right now.  I will update once I have everything at my house.

Let the journey begin.......

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Love the Striker. I've had one since I was in my late teens and had a blast with it but broke the chassis several times. Many years ago I found a hobby shop that was clearing out their Tamiya inventory and they just happen to have a bunch of Striker parts so I bought  pretty much everything they had. I ended up throwing everything in a box and it's been sitting on the shelf in the basement for close to 20 yrs untouched. With all of these Striker threads poping up, it's making me want to get down there and get started on it. 

I'm looking forward to your build. 

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I'll be watching for updates Scott, hope done photos turn up soon with some cool ideas for yours. 

MCI can custom colour your decals for you so the sky is the limit.

I want to see you metal dog bones and axles!

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IF I can make the project work I already have some ideas for the color.

i want to say that the dog bones and axels came out of a friends wrecked Falcon.

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I will be heading to NJ this weekend to pickup all of my RC stuff (I have an MRC MT10M also).

i have been out of this hobby for so long that it is becoming abundantly clear that there are a ton of things that I no longer know.

Things I can already see me needing advice on

Batteries— (last time I had the car running we were still using nicad.  I doubt they will even take a charge at this point.

Motor.—I have the stock 540 and a 540 Sprint.  My plan is to have a good looking runner not a shelf queen.  Not sure I want to go ESC yet.

Bearings—.  I am seeing a variety for sale with a wide range of prices.

Paint—. What kind of primer and paint is safe for a Striker body/chassis?  I have a color in mind and am pretty sure Tamiya does not offer it.

i am pumped to get this going over the next couple weeks. 

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Any car paint rattle can should work ok as you intend to run it anyway... a nice white or grey  car bumper primer paint spray can would be good enough.

Ive just got a nice can of automotive candy red waiting for my next Striker build when I get a chassis!

You can stick with Nimh batteries they can make the Striker brisk enough with a silver can or a Super stick motor if you want to treat it a bit but other faster brushed motors are readily available.

A good easy to use ESC is a Hobbywing 1060 which runs brushed motors like the silver can etc and Nimh batteries as well as lipo if you choose in the future... its waterproof and comes all presolderd with a Tamiya plug and motor bullets ready to go.

Ive put a 21t ( or was it 23t) brushed motor in my Orange Striker and indoor testing makes it wheelie from standstill

So come on... what colour is yours going to be?!?!?!? ;)

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I really want to go a nice dark satin blue with silver and grey.

already ordered a bunch of parts that started to arrive yesterday.  Will lay everything out once I have it all at my house but think I might be able to build 2 when all is said and done.

 

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Soooooooo... I am at my parents house picking up my old cars (thanking my lucky stars that mom didn’t throw my stuff away years ago) and discovered that I was not nearly as organized 25 years ago as I am today.  The good news, I have 3 useable chassis and 2 usable bodies.  I also discovered why I put it away all those years ago.  I must have wrecked it hard and broken both the chassis and the shock tower.  I must have ordered the parts tree that contained the shock tower from MRC but what they sent me was the one for the Sonic Fighter and I did not have usable front shocks at the time.  So more good news, the chassis and body that are currently assembled appears to have never been run.  Shock tower and lower control arms are brand new.  The bad, wheels and tires are in rough shape.  I am pretty sure my radio will work but it is old school crystal type.

thinking I might be investing in a new radio.  This restoration is already costing more than the car did when it was brand new and I haven’t even turned a screw yet.

i will sort through everything in the next few days and figure out the next steps.

parts are starting to arrive but some of them may take weeks as they are coming from overseas.

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Finally started to get things laid out

here is what I am working with (I also have another brand new chassis)

 

41359278-200E-4E2B-9965-2AD20756FBDA.jpeg

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I will easily be able to build 2 complete cars.  I already have new servos and will be picking up ESCs for both.  One will be built from almost completely brand new parts and will not be run overly hard.  The other I predict will end up needing chassis repairs as I intend to relive my mid teens again.....

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