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Cameron PS

2020’s Motors For 1980’s Cars

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Hi Everyone,

I’m new to this group and this is my first post. Can you suggest or point me in the direction of a modern motor for my two 1980’s cars?
 

I have a 1985 Fox that I’m looking to drive over moderate terrain at less than top speeds. I also have a 1986 Toyota Celica Gr.B 4 rally car that I am looking to mostly test drive on carpet/gym floor terrain. Both are getting new 7.2v NiMH batteries and lubricants etc.

I have 540 Technigold and Technipower brushed motors from their time but I’m thinking of keeping these offline. 

I built and enjoyed these and a few other Tamiya cars between 1985-‘90 and then set them down until now 2021. The Fox was well enjoyed and taken care of. The Celica was only used once before a rear wheel part broke. I’ve recently found the parts to fix it, but back then it seemed harder to get and my Fox was more forgiving to run. 

Thanks!

PS. I am loving catching up on the last 30 years of Tamiya RC. I recently did my first build since then with my son on a Grasshopper 2.

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Are keeping the old mechanical speed controllers or upgrading to an esc?

Id probably go with a stock silvercan to start with of maybe a Torque Tuned for a bit extra.

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I think I will upgrade to a modern esc speed controller on both of them. Maybe the Hobby Wing QuicRun WP 1060 60A or QuicRun 1080 Brushed Waterproof 80A. Do you suggest one over the other, or another esc speed controller for this?

Thank you for the motor suggestion! I see the Tamiya RS-540 Torque-Tuned Motor 54358

Thank You!

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As Superluminal posted, I too would just stick with a silver can or Sports Tuned at best, but run a ESC.   If you want a decent amount of power from your silver can you can update your battery to Lipo instead of NiCD/NiMH.  That alone will give you a large bump in power for longer peak performance run time.  

These vintage cars were not designed to handle brushless motors's large amount of torque so you might end up breaking the drivetrain..which if you don't care or want to use as excuse to purchase a new car, give it a shot I guess.  

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+1 on the torque tuned. I put one in my vintage thunder shot and it’s too quick. I needed to pinion down and still it’s too quick. The torque tuned really woke up my thunder shot. 

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That’s helpful! Yes I wouldn’t want to run too much power for what the cars were designed for. Both the Technipower and Technigold still seem to work. Is there any reason not to use these motors that powered the cars?

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15 hours ago, Cameron PS said:

That’s helpful! Yes I wouldn’t want to run too much power for what the cars were designed for. Both the Technipower and Technigold still seem to work. Is there any reason not to use these motors that powered the cars?

Money.  Those motors are hard to find, as are their spare parts.  Shelf them and save for future reference.  Run silver cans/lipos in your rides and you'll have plenty of performance for those chassis.  Saying that, I'd still open things up and inspect and re-lube the drivetrain and add bearings if not done already. 

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I’ve been having fun taking the car apart and rebuilding it. Is there a good place to find out market value for ‘80s motors (and parts) other than eBay/auction site listings?

Unrelated to the origin of this thread, I’ve also been looking through the web archives for information about the Celica Gr.B and I mostly come up with people talking about its twin Porsche 959.

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