Hot Trick Stuff Yokomo Dog Fighter YZ834B
Hot Trick is my favorite aspect of vintage rc cars. They were a small company from the eighties that made some really cool hop ups, but just could not make it in the long run.
The parts are quite rare nowadays, and sought after by many.
This old Yokomo is one of my favorite Hot Trick conversions to date. While these hop ups can do very little to make it a competitive car in todays rc world, they make it look very nice indeed.
I am almost finished with this. I have an aftermarket body, identical to the original and 4 aluminum wheels for it.
If you look in my showroom, you will see the original car that I bought, to strip of the parts. The thing was nasty! Rusty, dirty, grimey. Just about everything was broken, but- I was able to get the four aluminum wheels, aluminum shock collars and stops, rear anti roll bar, some old radio gear, and some gold annodized aluminum, Hot Trick, front lower arms. As well as some miscellaneous bits that were still salvageable.
So, after I cleaned all the parts I wanted to use, I set forth to constructing this little devil.
I had a new, HT, tri-dir comp, heavy duty chassis plate, which I began with, and started by attaching the gear box. The chassis actually comes with aluminum stand offs for the gear box.
Before I attached the gear box, I replaced a bunch of the internal stuff with new parts that I got from my friend Vaughn Peters. From him, I also got a brand new roll bar and a bunch of other miscellaneous bits.
Next came the roll bar and rear arms. I chose to stick with the stock roll bar. For some reason, I like the way the stock one looks, over the HT version, which is just too boxey. You can spot that roll bar from a mile away, and know exactly which car it is.
The rear arms were fitted with HT fiberglass stiffeners, which are screwed right to the outside and inside of each arm. Supposedly, this eliminates any flex in the arms.
From there, I attached the new aluminum rear bracket, which I searched for and found on ebay. To this, the gear box hooks into, and I then attached the anti roll bar.
Next came the shocks, which are brand new Kyosho 88's, thanks to no other than Mr. Shodog, who gave me one hell of a deal on them. To these shocks, I put on the aluminum collar and stop, which were salvaged off the original car.
Moving on, I installed a new set of HT aluminum body mounts. These come with velcro which you put on the side of the aluminum, and put the other piece on the inside of the body.
Next the front end parts. The gold aluminum lower arms which I salvaged from the old car, were installed, and then, instead of using the HT, upper arm kit, which I did not have anyways, I used some Tecnacraft turnbuckles I had, and put the same Rocet City style ends on (which are what the HT arm kit comes with) and I was golden.
Next, I slipped the chain over the gears, and mounted the whole front end assembly to the chassis plate.
A large Associated shock for the front end, with gold annodized collar and stop.
Next, I took a Hot Trick 'High Voltage Soccer Bumper Kit' and yanked the aluminum bumper blank out, and carved it up a little, using my large, table mounted belt sander. These bumper kits are usually found on ebay, quite regularly, and generally speaking, hardly anybody ever even bothers bidding on them. The little secret is the fact that you get this beautiful red annodized aluminum bumper, which you drill out for your particular need, and you get a giant piece of Kydex to fashion any shape you want, to attach to the aluminum piece.
UPDATE: I picked up a Hot Trick front dual shock mount off ebay, and will be using it, instead of the mono shock. I will be mounting some Associated shocks on it, that I stripped the gold annodization off of, and polished.
As you can see, I still have some work to do. Steering linkage will be with the same titanium Tecnacraft parts as used for the upper arms. As soon as I find some tires, I will mount them to the aluminum wheels I have.
After all the chassis parts are secured, I will drop in the old radio gear. I have some ancient speed controller the original car came with, which I cleaned up, and even had some nice red annodized aluminum, HT heat sinks. Im sure the esc is junk, but it will be good for show.
And finally, the last thing will be to pain the body. I think I may just leaveit clear, or accent some parts of it with red, so the guts can be seen.
More pics to follow after completion.
Comments
egandolfo
This is amazing!!!!
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