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TAZ-NZ

My Grasshopper Ii Project

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I'm slowly making progress on Grasshopper 2, I had to go and take one of Tamiya's simpliest chassis and make things complex.

Since I last posted pictures of my third shock mod here,

I've upgrade the shocks to Yeah Racing Aluminum Items, 70mm on the front 90mm on rear, and an 80mm internally, I still need to fill them all with oil.

I've rebuild and ball raced the transmission and replaced a bent rear axel, I still need to shim the diff, there is more play in it that I would like currently.

I've fitted a Dynatech 01R motor just yesterday, I figured a black can motor would look better, and it's nice to have a little bit of vintage tamiya in the mix, I've got new 17 turn rotor assembly and 5 spare sets of brushes on there way, I'll probably try and pick up another 17 turn rotor, and replace the bearings in the future.

I've centered the steering servo, mod the chassis to suit, I also upside the steering ball end, rod ends and steering rod to stronger items, I still need to mod the servo mounts to lower the servo more inside the chassis, to give me a little more clearance on the steering arms.

I've made a aluminum shelf for the ESC to mount to, it's made out of an old blackfoot under tray.

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Still on my to do list are:

Paint the body and the chaissis, the body will be dark metalic silver and the chassis I'll just paint black to hide where I modded it to center the steering. (I need to pop out to my LHS and get some paint first).

Fit the wheels and tires once the new wheels get here, the front should go straight on, the rears may need some mods to work. (I'll probably paint them to match the body.

Fit the raidio reciever and hook up every thing to it, I also need to get a standard size battery pack all mine are hump packs currently for my blackfoot and mudblaster.

Fit the new bumper and apply orginal decals.

I'm currently waiting on the wheels and new front bumper to arrive.

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Nice progress report - keep us informed :) Colour choice sounds fantastic - I bet it'll look great with those blue shocks.

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Nice progress report - keep us informed :huh: Colour choice sounds fantastic - I bet it'll look great with those blue shocks.

Thanks for the comments, I'll be posting more updates even if this isn't the post popular thread on the site, I think it should look good when it's done, I figure the blue shocks will go well with the blue in the decals.

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Its an excellent project, I really like it!

thanks

There is something appealing about taking a "low end" tamiya and hopping it up to the extreme :unsure:

In my mind it's more fun and more of a challange, to take a "low end" kit and make it run well, than it is to take a highend kit and replace everything with bolt on aftermarket parts.

Just needs to go brushless now ;)

Don't think for a minute the idea of running brushless didn't cross my mind, but by the time I had that Idea I had already purchased the ESC.

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thanks

In my mind it's more fun and more of a challange, to take a "low end" kit and make it run well, than it is to take a highend kit and replace everything with bolt on aftermarket parts.

Don't think for a minute the idea of running brushless didn't cross my mind, but by the time I had that Idea I had already purchased the ESC.

Having fitted a 13x2 to my G1 im thinking about 17t is more than enough.

im interested in copying the third shock mod though looks like a good idea.

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Having fitted a 13x2 to my G1 im thinking about 17t is more than enough.

im interested in copying the third shock mod though looks like a good idea.

Yeah I think 17t will be enough for me two, and it's a vintage 17t so it's problably a little less insane than the modern ones.

If you have any question about the third shock mod, hit me with the them. From looking at images of the GH 1 chassis, it look like there is plenty of room to fit the mod.

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The wheel finally got here today, They're Imex 2" vintage items design for an RC-10, 1" wide on the front, 1.5" on the rear. They're wrapped in vintage 2" Pro-Line Striker tires.

So once again I have a rolling chassis, I need to make adaptors for the rear wheels, as currently there is no way to transfer power to them from the rear axels.

I've also fitted a vintage Parma front bumper design for a Grasshopper or Frog, needed a little modding to fit, but I think it looks alot better that the ugly stock item.

Anyway here are some more pictures (sorry about my bad photography)

gh2-1.jpg

gh2-2.jpg

gh2-3.jpg

Starting to look like something, I'll probably pick up some paint over the long weekend.

I still need to tweak the steering servo high and clearance to give me travel.

I've go a couple of ideas for some extra detailing to the body, but only one I sure about so far.

(edit) Since posting this I've insert some black speaker mesh (like the image below) behind the air ducts holes in the body, to give the feeling they are covered with grills.

istockphoto_1433889_speaker_macro_background_rough_textured.jpg

I'm thinking I'll use a modified Brat driver torso & arms with the stock grasshopper head/helmit mounted on it, and mounting it the chassis. This will hide the third shock mod and the radio gear better, and should look a lot better the having a head and shoulder screwed to the top of the body. It also means I can fillin the screw hole in the roof before I paint the body.

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