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SuperJoeUK

CJ7 Super Wheelie Golden Eagle - Running like its 1984

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Hi,

First post :D I think  I uploaded the image correctly lol.

my son got a drone recently but it’s been so windy for the last few weeks we couldn’t fly it. 

So I dug the old cars out of the loft and got this running !

The original msc was missing, fairly sure it melted back in the early 90’s. So fitted a new esc, stripped it all down and cleaned / regreased it. Chucked a battery in and it works like a charm. Been driving my old midnight pumpkin too and this is faster and has WAY more sensitive steering.

First go out I let go of the throttle, then turned it like I would the pumpkin. It instantly tried to do a right angle turn and rolled like it was auditioning to be an extra in the next fast and furious film !  Not breakages at all though, tough little car.

Love seeing it running and looking so good again.

one issue the back tyres are shot, need to find something else, closest I’ve found so far are rear grasshopper tyres. They fit but don’t look right. Can anyone suggest an alternative ?  Thanks.

JJ

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20 minutes ago, SuperJoeUK said:

rolled like it was auditioning to be an extra in the next fast and furious film !

:lol:

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22 minutes ago, SuperJoeUK said:

They fit but don’t look right. Can anyone suggest an alternative ?

They do turn up on eBay . What about Frog etc spike tyres , nearer to your originals than GH tyres ;)

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Whoops sorry I did mean to say hornet not grasshopper :blink:

So yes your right hornet / frog tyres !!

Cheers !

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No worries , I hope you find some , you could always repair your originals if they aren't too far gone , would probs ok for an occasional light runner .

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I believe Subaru Brat tires would fit better the dia of the wheel.

Oh, and that's a very nice Marui Jeep!!

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Cheers !

Actually the hornet tyres fit perfectly, took it into al’s hobbies and the guy in there put a hornet tyre on one of the rims. Diameter was spot on. Just the look that was the issue. Think brat tyres have a slightly larger diameter ?

The old tyres have a flat spot, I guess sitting in a loft in the same position for 25 years getting hot and cold with the weight of the car on them took it’s toll. Pumpkin tyres were the same but far worse. All four had gone, but they were easy to replace.

I was thinking of soaking in warm water for a bit might reshape them. Or perhaps tyre foam to hold the shape, (trouble with that there is a thick plastic ring inside the tyre). 

And then I noticed the cracks in the sidewall where the flat spot is :(

Still going to try and save them for the stock look. But a new set for some light running would be nice.

 

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6 hours ago, SuperJoeUK said:

Think brat tyres have a slightly larger diameter ?

Hornet tires are 1.5, Brat tires are 1.7. I think I've seen a CJ7 with Brat tires somewhere decades ago.

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Cheers for the link.... Guess you can’t log into NL eBay with a U.K. account :(

flat spots and a few minor cracks, oh cool, which tyre foam did you use ? Did you take the hard plastic ring out of the tyre ?

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Looks great, these Marui super wheelies are really fun, and good for scale builds and super detailing too. For running I would stick with a standard silvercan and get some tyres that are more easily available and you can save the original tyres for shelf etc.

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Thanks for responses, been on holiday with no WiFi :o

When I got back there were some new Hornet tyres waiting for me, just fitted them. Don’t quite fit fully on the rims on the outside (they do on inside) should do the job for some light running !

it still has the stock motor from the 80’s, appears to run fine. But as you mention winniez I am tempted to put a stock tamiya can in for running.

 

sorry Kev the rev, was it your eBay auction ?

1C0F967A-3227-418E-85E0-CCFA4575086D.jpeg

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That looks nice . The eBay auction wasn't mine , but the sale was with 'best offer' option , so maybe the tyres could have been gotten a bit cheaper ;)

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Ah, I was thinking of contacting the seller and asking if he would take lower and put them back on buy it now...

BUT..... I just won a dual ridge auction..... And boy can you get some bling for those.  :rolleyes:

hhhmmm will keep an eye out for more !

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Hhhmmm    The CJ7 should run off a 6 volt battery, the ESC is new so that's not an issue, but I did noticed the motor was pretty hot the other day after running a full 3500Mah Nimh.

Now I have the Dual Ridge... I could put a better motor in that as it's a lot slower than I expected. I swear my CJ7, Lunchbox and Pumpkin are faster (in a straight line). 

Then I could put the stock 540 tamitya motor in the CJ7 as I don't want to damage that vintage motor, perfect !

Now that's proper man logic to justify buying more stuff :ph34r: 

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I would imagine that the heat from the motor was down to the fact that it is now being asked to run for nearly three times longer per charge than it would have been back in the 80s, when it would have been running on 1200mah packs.

I used to have a Marui Toyota Land Cruiser, which as far as I am aware was identical to the Golden Eagle apart from the shell. We used to run that with 7.2v "humpback" battery packs and the Land Cruiser was designed to run with either with those or 6v packs. I know that the Land Cruiser had a specially added bulge in the body above the rear battery tray to accomodate the "hump" in the humpback pack if you wanted to do wheelies. I can't remember if there was a similar spot in the mouldings to clear the hump above the battery tray in the middle of the car or if there was just enough space there anyway.

The Marui wheelie jeeps came with a 540 as standard, didn't they, so fitting a new silver can shoud make performance a little better (a new one should be better than one that has been in the loft for decades), but it shouldn't make much difference.

The front and rear tyres on the Marui Jeeps were slightly different diameters. I have been watching out for some too, out of interest (I have a Marui Hunter and I believe they use the same rears) and although the fronts occasionally come up on eBay, the rears hardly ever do, presumably because they get used harder. Not sure what the situation is with relative rim sizes for Tamiyas and Marui Jeeps, but I know that after my Land Cruiser got crushed under a car, I was able to take the rear adapters and wheels from my LC and use them on my Grasshopper. This means the swap will also work the other way, so as long as you use suitable adapters you can use Hornet wheels, 2" rims from the Wild One, 2" rears from the various Tamiya shaft-drive 4WD types, 2" hex-fitting rims and even hex-fitting 2.2" rims, with all the tyre options that gives you.

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Hmm. After some research ot seems I was talking out of my hat about the special moulding to provide clearance for the humpback pack on the Marui Jeeps. It seems I was conflating it with the Tamiya Wild Willy, which did have a fuel tank moulding behind the empty seat to provide clearance for the hump when the battery was in the back for wheelie purposes.

We did used to use humpback packs in our Land Cruiser, though, as we didn't have any 6v packs. Maybe we only used to use it in non-wheelie mode (I did think the wheelie mode was a bit daft, given that you couldn't do anything else when it was set up for that), although I'm sure we tried it at least once.

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Cheers ..

Yeah I don't think a hump pack will fit in the CJ7, the floor of the body sits flat on top of the battery tray. Where the drivers feet are is directly above the battery tray.

I used a 6V Tamiya racing pack back in the day, looked a bit like this...

Related image

 

In fact I still have it, not tried charging it for over 30 years though !

The Nimh I bought recently seems a tiny bit smaller than some other 7.2V batteries I've had and it JUST fits in without having to bend the plastic.

Yeah I think it's a stock 540 motor, there are no markings on it, but the instructions mention a 540. Although to be honest it does not need any more performance, in 'racing' not wheelie mode you can't turn it at any speed (on a grippy surface) as it will just roll. A faster motor and it will be rolling more than driving :blink:  I only wanted to change it so I didn't damage the original motor (And I'm not sure why that's even a worry, it's only a bog standard motor !!)

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You may be right on the battery packs. After talking to my Dad (who was my mechanic back then) he thinks we may have made up some 6v packs by taking apart some old humpback packs and resoldering them. I still seem to recall it being quite quick, though. For the brief period we had my Land Cruiser (before my mate trashed it beyond repair under a car) we used it mainly on concrete, where it handled surprisingly well. I remember after it got broken that the rears were a favourite on the Grasshopper, too.

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Doesw anyone here definitively know if there is a difference between the front and rear tyres on the Marui CJ7/Land Cruiser Jeeps, and if so how you can tell which from which if you've only got one pair?

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3 minutes ago, Yalson said:

Doesw anyone here definitively know if there is a difference between the front and rear tyres on the Marui CJ7/Land Cruiser Jeeps, and if so how you can tell which from which if you've only got one pair?

I've got a manual for this car , I'll check later and see if there is an answer

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There is a difference . The front have a smaller diameter than the rear . No sizes given so you have either a pair of front or rear  . Another member here will probably have the sizes to confirm . Member MRMARUI22 may be able to help with this :)

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