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TheGizmodi

Vintage Wild One - upgrades? Restoration tips?

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I just picked up a vintage Wild One to add to my collection. It's got a rere body on it and brand new replacements wheels but other than that is in good original condition. I am planning on taking things apart, cleaning it up and getting it in tip top shape. Any tips on restoring? Any upgrades worth doing while its in pieces?

Anyone got a link to the instructional manual?

Appreciate it.

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Thanks for that. As mine is the original, it still has the Manual Speed control! lol probably going to swap it out so I can run it properly!

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I do not know about the plastic used on the WildOne's tub, but if you plan on cleaning it I suggest NOT using any dish soap or any soapy water as it can discolor the black to a white ugly faded color.  (You can fix that by polishing the faded plastic using a dry paper towel, but it takes A LOT of elbow grease).  

When I restore M38's, I only use IPA (70-90%) for cleaning and disinfecting black plastic parts.  The rere WildOne I restored had no issue with IPA.   

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Thanks that's some good advice! I tend to use IPA for most things so glad to hear it won't hurt things.

Ok, stripped it all down and degreased everything to inspect it. Looks like it has some damage on the gearbox mount (stripped / cracked thread) so I've sourced a vintage replacement. The shocks all leak and from what I understand they are difficult to refurb as the seals are part of the cylinder and put in at the factory.

This is going to be a resto-mod runner anyway so I'm going to source new aftermarket shocks. The question is what size do I get? 80mm? 90mm? 75mm? Are the fronts the same as the rears etc?20210807_180222_HDR.thumb.jpg.20e11f5808e63836ceb61e6455178d85.jpg

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Here's a thread of my WO rebuild. It's also a vintage but I added some modern touch into it. Feel free to ask questions if you may. I'd be glad to help. :)

 

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Thank you, that was a good read!

Finally completed a mini-restoration today.

Went with a modern HW 1060 ESC, kept the original steering servo (but have a new one on hand)

Radiolink Receiver.

Washed, degreased, polished, re-greased... Have some front shocks on order as these ones are leaking and a new vintage gearbox case as there is a split in one of the mounts. Painted up the driver to be a little more neutral and easy to see.

20210808_144047_HDR.thumb.jpg.3d21092e49a4363630a42e0b4fdcf5f4.jpg

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Looks great with the Fox Goldie’s. Ray typically wears a full face helmet, looks like a Scorcher driver in there?

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You don't see many with gold wheels , but it did feature in the period Tamiya catalogue with these wheels and looks great . The W/O is one of my all time fav Tamiyas

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9 hours ago, mtbkym01 said:

Looks great with the Fox Goldie’s. Ray typically wears a full face helmet, looks like a Scorcher driver in there?

Yeah I noticed that when looking at box art for driver colors, seems like its a sand scorcher or the like replacement head. I will have to see about picking up a new one! ;o)

I like the gold wheels too, seem to complement the box art color scheme too. Appreciate the kind words.

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Replacement shocks arrived. Went with the clean look internal spring dampers in silver. They offer a nice resistance / absorption without being too aggressive and are definitely 'minimalist'. I'm sure they aren't to everyone's tastes but these are exactly what I was going for!

20210810_145656_HDR.jpg

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Ok quick update...

Sourced a vintage parts tree with gearbox case, suspension arms etc . So will use those to rebuild it as new. Also have a Hopup set of universal shafts (frog) to upgrade running gear that will go in too. 

Ill update later in the week with some progress pics, should be very clean once done. 

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@TheGizmodi I like your front damper setup.  On my rere I removed the red collar (spring height perch) as it was not only an eye sore since mine is painted olive drab, the car was over sprung.   I even dumped out the oil because the damping was also too firm.  I mean if you think about how well the FAV runs with literally no damping on the front, the car is so light it only needs minimal spring rate and damping.

The rear on mine is still over sprung, not sure whether they are originals or aftermarket as I bought the car second hand.. was a shelf queen in like-new condition.  But at least it drives well, so just kept it as it is right now.. 

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On 8/18/2021 at 9:57 PM, Willy iine said:

@TheGizmodi I like your front damper setup.  On my rere I removed the red collar (spring height perch) as it was not only an eye sore since mine is painted olive drabe, the car was over sprung.   I even dumped out the oil because the damping was also too firm.  I mean if you think about how well the FAV runs with literally no damping on the front, the car is so light it only needs minimal spring rate and damping.

The rear on mine is still over sprung, not sure whether they are originals or aftermarket as I bought the car second hand.. was a shelf queen in like-new condition.  But at least it drives well, so just kept it as it is right now.. 

Both the front and rear shocks of the WO are definitely not made for this chassis to be honest. The rear is too hard. Tamiya should have included a softer spring set as option. While the front shocks just makes the car bouncy. That's the reason I replaced mine and did several trials before I could match the perfect shocks for it. 

First try were these:

80mm

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85mm

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The front was too stiff the rear was also stiff even with the collar all the way up. 

Second try...

90mm in front with soft springs and added spacer to shorten the travel (The shocks came with 3 sets of springs)

Odvbb4ih.jpg

IxHAjk3.jpg

80mm at the rear (transferred from the front)

Front was still to high. Shortening the travel just made the shocks harder.

Rear made sense. Just perfect

Final set up:

80mm in front (identical to the rear) but cut1.5 turns off the springs and added 5mm spacer (shorten the travel) and used shrink tubes to avoid blocking the oil flow inside.

51337902756_de050477ea_b.jpg

Suspension travel now is so much better and works great. I also added 45grams of weight up front in the chassis to keep the nose down for better steering traction and front damping.

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ok some updates:

After stripping things down last week it was obvious the gearbox had some damage, multiple stress cracks, and a chunk missing on the mounting hole to the body. Ordered a new vintage one on the sprue, came and it had a slight chunk missing in the seem on one of the halves, seller was top notch and found me a replacement free of charge and it arrived a few days ago. It was a full vintage sprue with suspension arms, gearbox case etc.. So I swapped over the gearboxes as well as the front suspension arms for the new old stock parts. While I was at it I had previously ordered an upgraded set of universal shafts (Tamiya Hopup 53908) and so swapped out the old hex arms. I also managed to find the correct head for the driver, and will be painting that tomorrow! I also stole @Nicadraus idea of a rear flag! Just as a template to see what it would look like!

Almost done with it now, I swapped out the HW 1060 ESC for a Tamiya TBLE-04 I had, it fit better and the wires were a tad longer so I could route them the way I wanted.

Almost all vintage restoration except for the body shell which came with it (and the new front Shocks)

20210821_191215_HDR.thumb.jpg.fb75a155121b6a57496eb5dccb1e9274.jpg

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Beautiful restoration so far.

I have a recently acquired FAV (documenting in another thread ) that I am starting a cleaning and restoration on.

I have a few general FAV gearbox questions someone on hear can hopefully chime in on.

The cases and all the internal gears are fine, a little caked in old, hard grease. But, once I got that off I found no damage on the diff or spur/counter gears. The original stock aluminum pinion was worn to point of being sharp, but the nylon spur appears undamaged. 
So, here are my questions. 
1) do you recommend the low 15T or high 18T ratio 

2) is 32pitch “close enough” or do I have to  source true .8 mod?

3) what grease do you all run? 
I have the internals cleaned bare, so I have no issues with mixing incompatible greases

Any Adobe or opinions will be balked. Thank you 

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@Dakratfink I use the standard tube grease included in Tamiya kits.  I don’t over use it, just enough to get an even wet coat.

For brass bushings and metal bearings, I use Liberty silicon oil available on Amazon.  

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3 minutes ago, Willy iine said:

@Dakratfink I use the standard tube grease included in Tamiya kits.  I don’t over use it, just enough to get an even wet coat.

For brass bushings and metal bearings, I use Liberty silicon oil available on Amazon.  

My $.02 ( when though I’m the one posting the question in the first place ) I have been using Using the following on past builds 

I have a mil-spec silicone grease that is used on surfaces that contact plastic and rubber on military aircraft. (It is similar in consistency to the little tubes of Tamiya grease in kits ) I use this stuff on plastic and nylon and Marine Grease on metals to metal ( like in the driveshaft hexes on the FAV ) 

just wanted to see anyone else’s opinion on these 

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On 9/14/2021 at 12:15 PM, Dakratfink said:

1) do you recommend the low 15T or high 18T ratio 

2) is 32pitch “close enough” or do I have to  source true .8 mod?

3) what grease do you all run? 
I have the internals cleaned bare, so I have no issues with mixing incompatible greases

1) I prefer 15t, but if you use mildly stronger motor 18t should be fine too. 

2) 32 pitch, 0.8 mod, close enough. 

3) I use plastic safe Teflon grease on gears.  For 3 gear transmissions, grease doesn't make a lot of difference.  But Konghead has a lot of gears.  I used this grease on gears.  I also re-lubricated bearings with lighter machine oil (similar to Liberty oil).  I used differential clay in the diffs.  I can use my thumb and index finger to turn one of the drive cups and turn the motor.  It does hurt my fingers a bit, but it's readily doable.  And aluminum pinion lasts longer on Teflon (PTFE) grease.  

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Tiny bit goes a long way. (Below is fully greased)

ItuZ7BQ.jpg

Little too much, but it's okay. 

aftb5MR.jpg

I'm using Teflon grease because I build dozens.  But for the most part, Tamiya ceramic grease is fine. A bit abrasive on aluminum pinion, but it's okay. 

Sometimes I see people using automotive grease instead, but that's bad.  If you gunk it up like this, any gain from the bearings is killed off.  Also oil-based automotive grease can crack the plastic gearbox as well as gears.  

3cncBwZ.jpg

 

On ball diffs, I use faucet grease.  I suppose it can be used on gears too, but I have Teflon grease for that.  

YiFE5DS.jpg

This is also rubber and plastic safe.  The consistency is similar to Tamiya ceramic grease, slightly tackier, so it will slow things down a bit.  I don't use this on gears. I use it between two halves of the gearbox to make it splash proof.  If I want it off, it wipes off easily.  Something like this is used on pool drain plugs.  I imagine it could be used to protect rubber and plastic on aircrafts.  

So yeah, I think it can add protection if the old plastic is whitening after washing. (I mostly use alcohol to clean too, but it's good to know that I shouldn't use detergents on old plastic.)

 

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