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Problemchild

NDF-01 Refurb

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Saw an NDF-01 Nitro Thunder on the bay and made a cheeky offer 

it’s on its way from Central Europe to the U.K. 

aVK6PMF.jpg
T6Wj8fR.jpg

 

and got some replacement parts on the way too 

1jaFpi4.jpg
 

as it seems the bottom of the car are the worst :)

 

I’ll strip it down, work out how it works and then reassemble and give it a really good tidy up 

can’t wait 

 

JJ

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Love these cars and in my humble opinion they are vastly underrated as runners. They do tend to bottom out a bit but otherwise very good. I have the complete set in my collection (plus a few extras!). Parts are pretty much still available but factory painted bodies are thin on the ground. The unpainted shells are still easily got. The usual items that break on these are:

Engine pullcord, easily got but nearly always broken

The fuel nipple on the top of the fuel tank snaps off easily, be very careful pulling old tubing off!

The rubber O-rings on the suspension break down and will probably need replacing 

The springs that the above o-ring goes through can get damaged if the car has a hit at high speed.

Missing screws! They are a pain to strip and lots of bits tend to be missing or left off.

Look forward to more pictures.

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I have to say it’s in excellent condition 

bar scratches on the bottom, the rest of the car looks great I’ve not done anything on it today bar hang it with brothers and sisters 

PVgc4ba.jpg

5YL2wR3.jpg


JJ

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Here are some pics of some of the details of this car 

 KOKoHej.jpg
5WSuwUe.jpg

FOm1LDv.jpg


and there is only a little bit of damage 

LJG6zd8.jpg

But overall this NDF-01 is a bit of a beast 

thing like the upper and lower arms are like nothing I’ve seen on a tamiya before 

MdlJBXO.jpg
 

Plan is to strip completely and replace the tired chassis and engine plate 

JOn7Cxx.jpg

got new old stock chassis and what may be a repro part?

starting point remove fuel tank and tidy all that up 

WwhlZ7v.jpg

all in good order - just needs stripping and cleaning and reassembling

jimQ5j1.jpg
 

then I was able to remove the exhaust system which is only held on by the rear support and a spring that goes all the way round the engine 

B8c0Ufx.jpg(Seen here just under the cooling fins)

Again it just needed a clean and Tidy 

fcYLzjX.jpg

This leaves this side of the car with only the engine in place 

047pYbq.jpg

 

JJ

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The other side of the car is the servos and radio gear

this is the throttle / brake servo

zYmpSMZ.jpg

(I’ll talk about the brake system in a bit)

the 2 x servos and the rub for the radio gear are all part of a sort of servo deck so easy to remove and clean it all up

zwMddhE.jpg

and here with the servo deck removed 
T89Xv2d.jpg
 

with all that out the way I was able to remove the deck that covers the front and rear prop shafts and then remove the central bulkheads that hold the main drive cog and the brake system 

APi2mLF.jpg

The brake is metal bar top right actuated by the throttle servo (which also actuated the throttle valve)

the 2 central bulkheads removed allow the whole central shaft to be removed and the engine plate to be unscrewed from the chassis

Ov0G2tZ.jpg

 

from left to right we have...

prop shaft to front diff

bearing for front central bulkhead 

Drive gear 

brake disk

bearing for rear Central bulkhead 

prop shaft to rear diff 

 

in the rear central bulkhead is where the braking system is 
 

gbd0ZLR.jpg
 

this consists a shaft with a cam on it that is linked to the servo (runs top to bottom)

this cam pushes a small piston (just visible)

then there are 2 brake plates that the brake disk fits between (only 1 fitted in this pic but you can see the wear surface)

 

and here are all the parts 

FMlWqMd.jpg
 

JJ

 

 

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Looking good so far. Which part did you think is repro? I dont know of any NDF parts about that are being reproduced. If you need any single parts rather than whole parts sprues ask me as I may have them.

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Oh cool - thank you 

I’ve just ordered the bottom black scoop thing and front bumper ;)

air filter on its way
 

the metal engine plate doesn’t look OEM

 

JJ

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Yes that pretty much gets destroyed doesn't it!

I would say its OEM, certainly looks ok and has the right sticker etc. NDF parts are plentiful generally so wouldnt be much money in reproductions yet.

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3 hours ago, Problemchild said:

The parts I’m buying are cheap enough :)

tyres - are front and back the same size?

 

JJ

Yes

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Done some more work today 

ybyilVL.jpg

engine cleaned up and ready to mount on the brand new aluminium engine plate 

And the new chassis 

C0Mg1jg.jpg

and bringing the 2 together 

zzhJQ6w.jpg
 

Then I removed the front suspension - this can be done just by removing the 2 pins 

fdeiGm9.jpg

MGhcQdJ.jpg
 

then the whole front end (excluding front diff) sort of folds off.

the front is held together by a large spring 

zw05XAg.jpg
 

I cleaned up the upper and lower arms and cleaned the UJs and the bearings then re-oiled with high speed sewing machine oil.


then the front diff just comes out with 2 screws each side 

VHDXMoH.jpg

and clean with a toothbrush and transfer into new chassis 

T6AgLE8.jpg
 

JJ

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The rear set up is a bit harder to remove 

2 x 35mm threaded screws, 2 x screws and a massive long one that goes through a metal pipe hold the back end on

4iNvOeQ.jpg

(2 x 35mm already removed)

the black section holds metal pins for the bottom arms and the red bits for the top arms.

j8Ps74F.jpg
 

(you can see better above)

And then removing the 3 screws the other end and it all comes off

OfWbNuo.jpg


remove the suspension and toe arms and I split the back end into 3 parts

hpsidYw.jpg
 

I put the middle section in the sonic cleaner and cleaned the other bits with the toothbrush and cleaned up the bearings and UJs and re-oiled.

wIcvLyE.jpg

GSbSgUr.jpg
 

once cleaned I reassembled it all on the new chassis 

5d8hW3I.jpg

and with a few spare mins reinstalled the body mounts 

3MIPrc3.jpg
 

JJ

 

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1 hour ago, acprc said:

Yes

And if I was to start this car - I’m guessing I need a glow plug device?

any info around this would be great 

JJ

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Wow, pillow ball front end, cool.

yep you’d need a glow igniter. These are available generally in a “Nitro starter kit” which will include an igniter, fuel bottle, glow plug wrench and a couple other tools. 

I would also look at a spare glow plug or 2.

As for fuel, I’m not sure what’s available where you are but I’d imagine a 15 - 16% mix would be sufficient, @acprc will be able to be more specific I’m sure.

Welcome to the world of Nitro 😎

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Yep as @mtbkym01 mentions a nitro starter kit is a good starting point until you know what you need otherwise.

Any 16% fuel will be fine, it doesn't need anything with a higher content.

I tend to use OS A3 and A8 plugs for my runners, they are reliable and work well. The A8 is what I use nearly all of the time but in colder weather swap to the hotter A3 plugs.

I would also get some after run oil. You remove the glow plug and put a few drops into the cylinder to help stop condensation/damage between runs.

One more tip, never leave fuel in the tank, run the car till it is used up.

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This little buggy has be really intrigued, i love the fact that it’s got PBS, just like my 1/8 Mugen stuff

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Just now, mtbkym01 said:

This little buggy has be really intrigued, i love the fact that it’s got PBS, just like my 1/8 Mugen stuff

Very much underrated in my opinion. 

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im loving it 

im not going to be running it much tbh I just want to start it 

any guides on starting and tuning?

 

JJ

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1 hour ago, Problemchild said:

im loving it 

im not going to be running it much tbh I just want to start it 

any guides on starting and tuning?

 

JJ

Reset everything back to standard and follow the manual. It should have everything you need. You wont need to break the car in.

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On 3/31/2020 at 9:57 AM, acprc said:

Looking good so far. Which part did you think is repro? I dont know of any NDF parts about that are being reproduced. If you need any single parts rather than whole parts sprues ask me as I may have them.

Hey - I’m after the big o-ring on the front of the car? not looked on eBay yet and tbh I prob have one in the plumbing box but do you have one?

 

JJ

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1 hour ago, Problemchild said:

I don’t have a manual - only the PDF 

https://www.tamiya.com/english/rc/rcmanual/ndf01.pdf
 

JJ

Hi, yes these have two manuals a Maintenance one (the one in the link) and an Operations manual. Tamiya don't list the second one but I have a copy here. I will try and scan some of the more important bits. There are about 8 pages worth having.

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46 minutes ago, Problemchild said:

Hey - I’m after the big o-ring on the front of the car? not looked on eBay yet and tbh I prob have one in the plumbing box but do you have one?

 

JJ

I will check but I dont think so, they nearly always need replacing as they perish.

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