TOPIC:

eddrick wrote:

See what you mean about the rear arms etc, & now I've seen the pic, I remember now... (Haven't seen one up-close since the early/mid '90s!)

Sideplates - 18swg was a guess... how thick are they? (Was thinking same thickness, stiffer material).
As far as "How to" goes, I was kinda thinking "Too much effort to do on the mill", & I'm pretty sure that if you were careful enough, a bit of drawing around what you've got would probably be good enough. If I were gonna do it, it would be a drilly filey job. Something flat & stainless from Poundland might be a good starting point....

Looking at the pic of gears, the diff pinions look like they'd get awfully close to the spur, or is that just the pic angle? You don't suppose they could be twatting it, do you?

That was spookily accurate guess - I just measured it at 1.2mm ... I just assumed it was thinner

re the gears, that's not how they line up once the gearbox is bolted up, I think the spur gear is upside down in that photo

Yeah, I do creepy things like that from time to time, most spectacular was that Quattro radio box lid!

Yeah I started to think that, but doesn't the small part of the spur gear run on the diff gear, which would put the O/D of the spur in close proximity of the diff/outdrive components (Trying to visualise it), could there be a worn/missing spacer on the spur shaft, letting the spur wander & get tangled in the diff bits?
Just trying to come up with ideas but too lazy to go look at the manual!

eddrick wrote:

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Just trying to come up with ideas but too lazy to go look at the manual!

TBH I don't think we need to look much further than old plastic, + reversing back then nailing the throttle to provoke a wheelie ... repeatedly /

I doubt if anyone cares, but I did take a closer look at the motor that originally came with this ... the endbell is identical to an HPI motor I already had.

From spinning it up on a battery, by the pitch of the noise I would guess it's a 27T. There seems to be very little resistance to me turning the shaft though - meaning not much power in the magnets - so I would guess this translate to less torque than an average silvercan. Whether that's because it's been overheated in the past or because HPI 27T motors are a bit crap, I don't know

It really wouldn't surprise me if it werte originally badged HPI, Annsmann or some other make, I'm still sticking to the idea they all came from the same factory in china. Like you, I usually spin an undefined motor up & listen & have a feel of the magbet resistance to get some idea of what performance to expect, & both the Annsmann motors (That look identical to offerings from HPI) were slower & weaker than a standard Mabuchi, & they were supposed to be a 21T & 23T tuned motors. You'll find the same motor in those cheapy tyre inflators & some travel hairdryers too.

Often wondered about the whole magnet strength thing - yeah it makes sense that more magnetism means more attractive power & theoretically more power output from the same electrical power input, BUT how much power is lost because of the more powerful magnets resisting the rotor spinning within them? It works both ways, are we kidding ourselves? Valid arguement for the use of brushless, where the magnetic effect is a carefully timed event rather than being present all of the time.

On a similar note, I recently noticed HPI are selling an ESC which is identical to what HSP supply with their cars, except obviously the HPI is more expensive. I have to say though, the ESC itself seems to perform ok, even if comes across a bit "plastic xmas shop"

The M3 rod ends I got from BlackSmith Products on eBay were total garbage - one fell apart while I was fitting it I feel quite justified in naming & shaming as the promised 50% refund has yet to materialise ...

.. but I think I've finally got the servo saver sorted out - with Mardave parts







Near diff & spur gear arrived from Japan, they seemed to fit all right, but felt a little tight once I'd clamped the sides on. I gave it a quick test run but stopped when smoke started coming out - note the melted gearbox slag top centre in the pic ... I fitted the diff the other way round & it seems ok. ... I blame the manual, at first the gearbox is upside down, then inexplicably rotated in the next step, so it's easy to get it wrong.




For an "easy" build, this car has pissed me off inordinately, but at least I can call it finished now