Parts Prep - day 1

Now that the car is a basket case, it is a good time to start working on the individual parts and functions. Last night was the recovery of the front bottom plate. Yep, that is the original Optima plate, this one from the parts bins. I prefer this part because the slotted holes were not countersunk. This will making chain tension adjustments much easier. Here is the "before" shot of the front end:



Notice the steering linkage resembles that of the Ultima with the floating beam connected to the tie rods. The beam is carbon fiber shimmed with washers and attached with kingpin bolt. The rest of the linkage is stock original Optima complete with the posts that are attached with the M2,5 screws. When I disassembled the car, the bolt on the saver side [left] broke and was stuck in the aluminum tube. Sorry to say I didn't have any spares so a little fabrication was necessary. I decided that I could change the design a bit as this car has a solid chassis rather than the rails. I will be counterboring the fixed steering pins into the chassis. The aluminum strap normally on the Optima is not needed. Here is a shot of the steering linkage with the new pins and special washer:

The new pivots are made of brass and the small brass hex pieces are washers for the flathead screws. Nice thing is, the hex is 1/4"; the clearance is appropriate between the two parts; and the fit is just about perfect. A dab of bicycle bearing grease and all is good. Notice the large washers... these are used to preload the servo-saver spring. There is a servo-saver on the servo itself so this is just gravy. Here is a closeup of the pivots assembled:



Now to add the tie rod assembly:



And finally a shot of the assembled linkage: [tie-plate present only for stabilizing the assembly]



That pretty much does it for the steering linkage. Nice smooth action, solid and extreme range. So far so good.

The tape that was used to seal the front case was quite stubborn. It took some serious convincing to remove, but the effort was well worth it. You will notice that the cases were modified to account for the mono-shock. This leaves a hole that needs covering. As this build progresses, i will see if there is a better way to deal with this unwanted feature. Here are a few shots of the cases and the salvaged bottom plate:




Notice the difference in the setscrew sizes for the a-arm shafts. It is good to know that a case can be salvaged buy tapping out the hole for the next size setscrew. I may go back and make them match.

The bottom plate was pretty rough. It has seen quite a few high flying jumps but overall, it was in pretty good shape. Kyosho had put forth several thicknesses of this part. This one is 1,5mm thick. The previous one was 2,0mm thick. I also took the hammer to lowered portion of the plate where the chain-guide use to be. This can be flat in this application. This also makes the underside flat. If you look carefully at the image, you will also see where I files the transition of the chain from the differential stamping to the flat part. That should help save a chain or two. Here are some pics of the bottom plate after bead-blasting. Cleaned up pretty nicely, don't you think?




Looks like I will be following up on the rest of the front assembly in the next few day. This means that chassis mods are coming soon. Stay tuned.