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Mardave Marauder Restoration

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I decided there are a few cars I should try out. Equally though I also decided to not collect lots of cars so I am selling stuff running stuff selling stuff....

To that end comes the Mardave Marauder. People of a certain age remember these. My first experience of a radio controlled car was a Porsche. If I remember correctly the controller had a single click button that when clicked and held the car would go in reverse and turn, let go and it went straight and forward. Around the same time there was this kid who had this amazingly noisy, smelly, fast radio controlled car that he used to run outside his house and which he started by inverting his bike, spinning up the back wheels and banging the car on. It was many years later that I realised this was most probably a Mardave Marauder.

I like simple RC stuff that works and that is the spirit of the Marauder. Ive looked at them on ebay over the past few years but never got one until recently. Below are the pictures, there where three things that made me want this messy looking car.

1) Metal Gears all round. I have heard of people stripping the main drive nylon gear on their first run. As I absolutely will be running this I did not want it to end in tears 2 mins in.

2) The base of the chassis was not all drilled with holes. So many people have added stuff and removed stuff and re-drilled engine mounts etc that many of the cars I see look like swiss cheese.

3) It came with a nearly new looking set of rear spiked tyres

It only had three photos on ebay, I asked for more and then bought it. Seller shipped it immediately and I am very pleased. Along with the car I have more spare suspension and steering parts than I know what to do with, along with a set of red front wheels and various RC car paraphernalia. It comes with an old steerwheel 27mhz tx, two servos and a receiver. Also was a card folder with the young chaps notes from 1990 along with the Irvine 20 engine manual and parts of the Marauder manual.

I love these metal cars, back when I first restored a Sand Scorcher, I realised that with a few mins wet n dry and a pit of polish metal is amazingly renewable stuff.  The bodyshell is in pretty good condition.

I've begun the strip and clean - more on that later. I was pleased to see an airfilter ziptied on the engine, also a crap trap filter. Also the car looks complete. The engine does turn over in my hand, but I am not confident that it will have any life left, but who knows? The chassis was/is very bent at the front but a little persuasion with a rubber mallet and it straightened quite well. I am unsure what version this is, it seems to be V1 wheels and foams but that's as far as Ive got so far, going to try and find online manuals and check for details.

Here is what we have so far, looks like its been near a saw mill :)

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Looking good , free dirt too ;) . It is an early version with stick on foams . Later models had beadlock rims and spiked rubber tyres . Lot of different styles of rims through the years   spoked style , & flat style , different colours , white , yellow. There is an option rear damper plate that allows the use of oil dampers  and option front bumper  . 2 different body shell shapes. I'll send a link over later which I think will be of interest and has lots of info and a basic manual . 

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Had one of these many many years ago. The open gear box affair ,is very hard to build : ) and shim : ) : )

This must of put so many people of IC cars years ago, Airplane starter with solid rubber ring was used to start the thing! Starter would shoot one way,car the other!

PLUS the normal IC starting issues newbs have, Then the 27meg IC induced runaways!! Great fun OR was it????

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Yes , great fun starting these . I used a starter box which was a plunge platform so a bit more controllable - just a bit though . Nothing like the pullstart or roto-starts of now

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Thanks Kev, based on the two manuals mine is a 1989 version. The key points being that I have ballraces on the gearbox input shaft and dimples in the rear half axles. I have ordered a set of Schumacher Full Spike Rear Tyres for the front wheels which are very similar pin pattern to the Original Mardave rears.

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That’s a beauty, do you run it or is it a display model?

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Just now, hedge said:

That’s a beauty, do you run it or is it a display model?

Not yet...I have only just completed it hedge.

The restoration is on my YT channel....here is Part 1....

Feel free to subscribe 😁👍

 

 

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Part way through the resto and the front tyres arrived. Very pleased with these, they look almost identical to the originals on the rear. Lucky for me the rears where in the sale as you only seem to be able to get front wheels so that would have meant modding right at the start. You can also see how little run time the rears have had.

 

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17 hours ago, HornetRacer 1971 said:

Not yet...I have only just completed it hedge.

The restoration is on my YT channel....here is Part 1....

Feel free to subscribe 😁👍

 

 

Your chassis looks unused at the start! Mine was so bent I needed to do some research to figure out what it should have looked like! I guess you know by now that the "burn marks" on the fuel tank was in fact perished rubber bands used to secure the tank to the frame - no expense spared here.

Did you manage to disassemble the engine? Ignore just seen you did... I tried on mine by there was absolutely no way the fly wheel nut was coming undone. So I took another good look at it a decided to just leave it for now and see if it will run. If it doesn't then I think we would be looking at an alternative engine as I have not seen any Irvine 20 ABC piston/liners come up for sale.

Anyway dont blame you for not running it as the condition is mint. You can live yours through mine lol :)  

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2 hours ago, hedge said:

Your chassis looks unused at the start! Mine was so bent I needed to do some research to figure out what it should have looked like! I guess you know by now that the "burn marks" on the fuel tank was in fact perished rubber bands used to secure the tank to the frame - no expense spared here.

Did you manage to disassemble the engine? Ignore just seen you did... I tried on mine by there was absolutely no way the fly wheel nut was coming undone. So I took another good look at it a decided to just leave it for now and see if it will run. If it doesn't then I think we would be looking at an alternative engine as I have not seen any Irvine 20 ABC piston/liners come up for sale.

Anyway dont blame you for not running it as the condition is mint. You can live yours through mine lol :)  

The only reason I haven't run it yet is because I haven't had the time.....I will run it occasionally.

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So on closer inspection the Irvine 20 has an Aircraft carburettor. It’s an ABC but the question is will buggy fuel be ok or should I use aircraft fuel? Also I normally run OS#6 plugs in land craft and OS#8s in aircraft...

I don’t really know enough just that my Aircraft engines insist on Aircraft fuel which has different oil ratios.

the other issue would be that there is no RPM / throttle stop screw but seeing as the Marauder does not have any brakes I am thinking this should be ok as I can set the travel to keep the throttle open a bit and use trim to shut off the engine.

hmmmn what do you think???

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Use 30% Nitro buggy fuel......cars generally use a lot higher nitro than aircraft. I think it helps them because the throttle gets used a lot driving cars, but I fly flat out almost all of the time and hardly use throttle really when I fly.

The carb is the Jetstream which is superb. And yes it is for aircraft. I have over 10 Irvine engines and they are wonderful engines. In aircraft I use the principle of up to 0.40 cu in use 10% nitro, over 0.40 cu in use 5% nitro. Smaller engines need nitro as each intake of fuel is a smaller measure, and thus the nitro really helps the fuel burn well in smaller amounts. 

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I was just thinking the same about use. Cars are on off whereas aircraft are flat out from start to finish. I’ll just use my 25% buggy fuel.

All that said I am not too optimistic that there will be any compression left but who knows might be lucky. Anyway the rate I am going should get to run it by the weekend. 

Thanks for the post

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On 8/13/2020 at 1:01 PM, KEV THE REV said:

Nice . I.i.r.c. the Cobra rear tyres fit Marauder front 

Thanks for this, I got hopefull, then had a quick scoot around the Mardave store and there does not appear to be any tyres available for the cobra.

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On 8/13/2020 at 9:25 PM, hedge said:

So on closer inspection the Irvine 20 has an Aircraft carburettor. It’s an ABC but the question is will buggy fuel be ok or should I use aircraft fuel? Also I normally run OS#6 plugs in land craft and OS#8s in aircraft...

I don’t really know enough just that my Aircraft engines insist on Aircraft fuel which has different oil ratios.

the other issue would be that there is no RPM / throttle stop screw but seeing as the Marauder does not have any brakes I am thinking this should be ok as I can set the travel to keep the throttle open a bit and use trim to shut off the engine.

hmmmn what do you think???

Seems I was mistaken, in the folder of information I received there where two sets of instructions for the Irvine 20, I had assumed that the chap had photocopied the originals to keep them safe while fiddling with the car, I was wrong. The instructions are identical except for one extra Image. There is an exploded view of the Jetstream (ty @HornetRacer 1971 ) Carburettor that is labelled

Irvine Jetstream 20/25 Carburettor (Car)

 And there is no throttle stop screw!

I then remembered that all the parts where in an Irvine engine box so just looked at that and it states - you can just make out MkII. I did a quick google but nothing turned up. However is the box is the box for the engine then it appears I have a MKII. One last identifying item that I have never seen before

It has a plastic rear crankcase backplate!

There is no instruction between the two instruction sets about what the factory needle reset is, thankfully in the folder of information the chap had written a note back in January 1990 that at 2 and a 1/4 turns the engine was still a little rich, so I will start there.

We will see later today if it all runs.

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Chassis restoration is done, its not perfection but its much better than when it arrived earlier in the week. Got to love that dustbin silencer!

Shortly after taking these photos she fired up and did a lap of the garden. Too early to tell if the engine is OK, but at least its not a total brick. Will take it down the club later today or tomorrow and give it two to three tanks worth. Thinking on the body now and what colours to try I quite like the original yellow and also the 1990s box art version. Not good at painting but ill give something a go :)

I've used low spec servos, slow and around 3kg of torque such as 99% of these would have run BITD, may upgrade the steering to something more modern if I feel it needs it.

For now I will run as stock, there are a few mods such as rear dampers, front dampers and a brake, may do these, may not.  I have a few old magazines and there is a front suspension mod from a reader, they also mention an earlier magazine post about the rear suspension, I am sure if I look hard enough I will also find the brake mod.

I believe the previous owner has modified the silencer and put the back pressure tube on it - not 100% sure, but it does look a bit home made, albeit very well done.

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So we fired it up and had a bit of fun racing around the field. The sound is quite raw - I like it, the dustbin muffler is just an empty box with no baffles. 

The front wheels where flailing around, think I need some new ball joints to tighten it up a bit. 

Then it stopped and would not start again until it cooled, and then only for a bit. Got home and again it fires up but it had a poor response to accelerating. I have played the tune up and down. The fuel tank is sealed and holding air. I think it’s compression. 

I googled and was unable to find a single hit for Irvine 20 piston and liner. So I’ll think on it overnight but I am tempted to do the jubilee clip/ plumbers clamp re-pinch. Read a lot about it and seems it’s an option. Considering there are no other options I think I will try it. 

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Sometimes the muffler can get choked up with unburnt fuel / oil if the car is idled or run slow for a length of time , and , just generally built up from your fuel sessions . Try tilting the chassis to the exhaust side so it can drain out . Use some after-run oil to keep the carb and cylinder free of oil gum

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15 hours ago, KEV THE REV said:

Sometimes the muffler can get choked up with unburnt fuel / oil if the car is idled or run slow for a length of time , and , just generally built up from your fuel sessions . Try tilting the chassis to the exhaust side so it can drain out . Use some after-run oil to keep the carb and cylinder free of oil gum

Already leaked all over the desk :)

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So I’ve held off on the engine something does not add up. I could be wrong but it seems to have compression. I ran it yesterday and it was wonderful! The noise is close to a 4 stroke and it pops!  It’s wonderful :-) 

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So after the run on Friday it would not start again. When I got home I removed the engine and had another look at it. What struck me was the colour of the fuel that “poured” out when I removed the back plate, it was a grey colour. So I decided I had to remove the camshaft and get the bearings out. I stuck it in the oven at 150 degrees for 10mins and then with a lot of effort I was able to remove the nut holding it all together.

I also have some RTV on the way as I think the engine is not airtight around the carb. 

My hope is that the fuel is contaminated and / or the glow plug is suffering from fouling added to slight air leak all of which Is contribute to starting issues. Who knows, but at the very worst it will be like it is now but with new bearings.

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