The front and rear a-arm plates were also blasted to complete the set. ...And you're saying "...what about the motor plate?". I think that the motor plate is best left as-is since the motor and mounting screws need to slide back and forth, which requires a smooth surface. The heatsink interface too needs to be smooth. Therefore, these last few parts should complete the sparkly icy gray aesthetics of this buggy:
And I've decided on the front diff gears; I'm using the 18T/Nil combo when I rebuild it. Reason being, you really don't want to underdrive the front end of a 4WD buggy. This would be worse than trying to drive a 2WD car, which, I for one, can't drive worth beans. Perhaps someone will correct me on this, in which case I have plenty of new spare 19T gears that I will include in the kit. Either way, you have to disassemble the front end to make the swap. One of the reasons for this decision is the rear Diff. Take a close look and wonder at its uniqueness:
Indeed, that is a dual chaindrive rear ball differential... quite custom. The teeth and belt gears were machined off of the Optionhouse ball diff and stock chain gears were machined to slip right onto the housing. A little superglue and wallah, dual chaindrive ball diff! Yes, I like having a ball diff on the rear of a high speed road buggy. It guarantees having drive on the outside wheel in case the inside wheel gets a little light. Not so for the front end. I like to leave the front wheels very independent with a smooth free running set of bevel gears. Just to be clear, I've decided to bring this car back to its glory as a dual chaindrive Optima Mid Hybrid. This will keep this car absolutely unique to every degree in the Kyosho line.
I have also been a bit worried about what to do about a ESC. At one time, I loaned the ESC, a Novak all custom wired for this buggy, to an old race partner. Somehow I ended up with 3 other speed controllers in my box... an old Futaba with reverse, no stickers; a Tekin that looked pretty much toasted with wires missing and such; and a Tekin TSC 411P with Torque Control. It must be an early model as it didn't have the fuse built in. It is wired with compatible connectors and the control wires can easily be modified. Luckily I could easily discern the Novak receiver's pinout... as this is hardwired with a flying lead. This is the unit that I will use:
I charged a 7-cell battery pack and loaded a set of AA's into the old, beat up Magnum Senior radio. It took a little convincing, but the radio finally decided to behave. I think I need to make a remote battery cable for it if I don't want it glitching out on me. The radio has more buttons and knobs then I ever wanted. I adapted the ESC control cable to the receiver with a set of pins; plugged in the battery; and turned on the radio and the ESC switch... and crossed my fingers no smoke escaped from the electronics. I waited to plug in a motor so I commenced with dialing in the steering. I was anxious to see how well the new linkage would work. With much fiddling and fondling the radio knobs, I finally figured out what did what. Here is a shot of the setup:
I was really happy that the ESC powered the receiver properly and supplied power to the servo. Here is the steering linkage in action:
Next, the motor test. I wasn't sure what the blinking radio power indicator meant... this radio is a 3-channel radio for gas systems which has a warmup switch. The motor was acting a little weird when I first plugged it in. Then I figured out what the proper setting should be... the light should be on solid by turning warmup off... DUH!
It didn't take much to dial in the ESC and the radio for the motor. The brake trim is a bit touchy but all that will be dialed in on the road. I ran it on a modified "green" motor; an old Rev Tech maybe. Not wanting to throw a winding or stress the brake FET, I decided to just chill it and be satisfied with the fact that I have a functional setup for when the car is complete. I'll post the radio here just to archive the knob's positions for later:
One of the things I haven't been able to show you is the battery position. I learned a long time ago on another Optima that a lengthwise battery makes the car very stable in corners... stick to the ground, so to speak. This car can hold a 6-cell or 7-cell pack. The 6-cell is a normal stick, while a 7-cell has 3 cells side by side in the middle. I haven't seen this configuration in a commercial pack, but it is quite easy to make. Once I get around to running the car you will see what I mean, but for the meantime, this is the motor end of the battery holder. That's right, the battery lays right on top of the chain groove in the chassis:
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