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nowinaminute

What's the best setup for Hotshot suspension if you insist on keeping the stock setup?

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Let's say you're in love with how the stock system looks, you accept that it will never be as good as a Boomer or Bigwig etc but you want it to be as good as it can be. Is there an optimum setting to be found in terms of pre-load, oil weight etc? 

Asking for a friend :unsure:

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Change the shocks to something better than the stock if you want better suspension rebound and improvement.

Change the spring and oil if you want to keep the original look. It should help a little but won't really make a big improvement since the suspension design of the Hotshot is really crappy.

The reason why Tamiya redesigned it with the Hotshot 2 is because of the flawed design of the first release. Single or mono shocks on independent suspensions isn't a good idea especially for buggies. For pan or F1 cars, it will work but not for cars that does a lot of action on and off road. 

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Yeah, I'm agreeing with Nicadraus, here.  

There is nothing much you can do aside from changing oil.  The rear shock is okay.  It's weird how it works.  Not as good as independent shocks, but for what it is, it's usable.    

The front is the sillier part.  Instead of pushing the spring from the center (yellow arrows), it's squeezing from the bottom (the blue points), like an accordion.  It looks cool.  It still works to some degree. But doesn't work as well as it should.    

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There is quite a bit of slop from the suspension and the sway bar too.  So... the suspension works little bit even when the spring isn't moving at all, lol...  But the spring rate is fine, in my opinion.  Since it's supporting both wheels, it has to be strong. 

It's changed from the Fox and Boomerang, Hotshot II, etc.  The spring is properly compressed from the center. 

On that note, the Boomerang's lower arms might fit. (I haven't tested it) 

Even if you got a red shock, it won't look quite like Hotshot.  But if your friend really wants a properly working mono-shock, Boomerang lower arms might be the best bet.  

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Thanks guys, I'm aware of the accordion thing, a real face palm in design terms. I was just curious if it was as close to being optimal as it could get already or if there was any room for improvement.

....I mean my friend was curious...I didn't buy one when I was half asleep the other night.....no sir.

I've watched plenty of videos of them and for all their flaws, they still seem to work somewhat effectively off road for bashing, the suspension at least moves!

I *think* the Boomerang just has little extensions fitted to the arms to give the more effective shock mount, changing that would be easy but like you say, that distinctive looking shock with the off centre mounts is a unique part of the visual identity of the buggy. I don't think Tamiya ever made a red CVA either? I guess I could paint one but I'm not sure how well the paint would take. 

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I actually love the way the Hotshot rides with the monoshock suspension.  At lower speeds there's a very special way it seems to soak up undulations in the surface.  The biggest flaw (as already mentioned) is the off-centre mount for the shock, it causes the shock to bend and binds movement.  Eventually the front shock starts looking like a banana.  I got given a used Hotshot in the 90s but never got it to drive due to that broken front shock.

Retrofitting later arms or making adaptors to fit a proper shock is probably the best option if you want to keep the monoshock.  Turnigy do a range of alloy shocks with red details that really suit the Hotshot colours.  Actually I have a set of Turnigy shocks on my Hotshot, but it has the four-shock conversion that I bought in a moment of madness (after racing it at the Revival in 2016 and realising I wanted four-shock tunability).

 

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Just missed this vintage hopup on eBay by seconds 😫

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F283557071490

Anyone have any experience with it? I have no idea if it was any good but the fact someone else swooped in makes me think it might have been decent. Does it do anything that cannot be replicated by other means?

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I've not seen that fitted but AFAIK it goes across the top arm mounts to reduce play and reinforce the front of the car from breaking apart in a crash.

I'm pretty sure Full Option have made up a batch of alloy braces and I'm pretty sure they're selling them at the Revival this weekend for £22 each.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/IconicRCSales/permalink/2216647975243175/?sale_post_id=2216647975243175&rt=11

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11 hours ago, nowinaminute said:

I don't think Tamiya ever made a red CVA

Talking out of my bum here!

They made red CVA dampers for several models including Hotshot II and Super Sabre.

It still wouldn't look quite right though. I'm thinking either keep it looking stock or I might as well go the whole hog and fit 4 dampers.

I wonder if I could fit a red CVA and then dissect one of the stock dampers and stick the parts onto the CVA, purely as a cosmetic "fascia" like when Hannibal wears that guards face.

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3 hours ago, Grumpy pants said:

I’m pretty sure you can dye the CVA shocks if that helps at all. 

I've read about it too but people seem to have mixed opinions, I guess I could try dying a bit of parts tree first to see how it takes.

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I'm raising my hand as one of those mixed dye guys.  

Dye works best if the base is white.  When you dye a yellow part red, you'd get orange.  Even transparent part won't look quite right.  I dyed milky white nylon with yellow dye, it looks murky dirty yellow.  I could call it a success, but, it left something to be desired.  So I have a mixed feeling about it. 

The red CVA from Hotshot II could be mounted (with new arms that has longer scissor-squeezers).  But it's relatively hard to come by.  And it still doesn't quite have that original Hotshot's unique look of "using a winch as a suspension."    

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Guys I just tried the old 850 bearing on the outdrives trick but the outdrives were too far out to fit the e clips on. Am I missing something? I'm sure this worked on my Boomerang. I checked and doubled checked the inside bearings were inserted fully. 

The little channels the clips fit into weren't protruding past the inner bearings.

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4 hours ago, nowinaminute said:

Guys I just tried the old 850 bearing on the outdrives trick but the outdrives were too far out to fit the e clips on. Am I missing something? I'm sure this worked on my Boomerang. I checked and doubled checked the inside bearings were inserted fully. 

The little channels the clips fit into weren't protruding past the inner bearings.

It works on original HS-series models, but unfortunately not on re-res. Thankfully, the e-clips stabilize the shafts a bit better than the c-clips do, so the originals need the extra 850-bearings more than the re-res do. Still a pity.

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On 23 July 2019 at 10:33 AM, Juggular said:

 

There is quite a bit of slop from the suspension and the sway bar too.  So... the suspension works little bit even when the spring isn't moving at all, lol...  But the spring rate is fine, in my opinion.  Since it's supporting both wheels, it has to be strong. 

It's changed from the Fox and Boomerang, Hotshot II, etc.  The spring is properly compressed from the center. 

On that note, the Boomerang's lower arms might fit. (I haven't tested it) <<<<<< Same lower arms , Just need the boomerang B 10 / 11 Part's . 

Even if you got a red shock, it won't look quite like Hotshot.  But if your friend really wants a properly working mono-shock, Boomerang lower arms might be the best bet.  

 

 

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Predictably, the Hotshot is still in a state of half finishedness.

Same for pretty much every project I've ever posted about on here! :(

I'm starting to accept I most likely have a combination of ASD and ADD.

A delightful blend of obsessive acquisition and hoarding combined with poor attention span.

I seem to find some focus about once every 6 months, work on stuff prolifically for a few months and then lose momentum again.

How many other people get this?

 

 

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1 hour ago, nowinaminute said:

Predictably, the Hotshot is still in a state of half finishedness.

Same for pretty much every project I've ever posted about on here! :(

I'm starting to accept I most likely have a combination of ASD and ADD.

A delightful blend of obsessive acquisition and hoarding combined with poor attention span.

I seem to find some focus about once every 6 months, work on stuff prolifically for a few months and then lose momentum again.

How many other people get this?

yep, that is me to a tee! My daughter was diagnosed with ADHD a year ago and the initial questionnaire she took resonated a lot with me.  The prepare lots and fail to finish is common with her and me! I think the key is recognising/accepting certain behaviours, like some projects will take a long time, and that you will eventually come back to it. 

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