Who into R/C cars? And not the Walmart RadioShack ones?

[MadPlumbarian]

Well, just like the question asks, who’s into them?
I have three, all pretty much antiques but they have some history behind them, one I bought back in like 95, and it’s a 1/8th scale 4wd nitro never really got into it but I so wanted something I didn’t have to keep recharging the batteries, like the old grasshopper I had before that, I don’t know where that disappeared to but I still have the radio just not the receiver? The other is an old simple one I bought the kids which also didn’t get much use, cause we ended up moving and it sat in storage, yet when we moved a neighbor heard I was into r/c and took me to his storage and asked if I wanted his old car, and I said sure, it wasn’t till later when I realized what it was, not only was chain drive that went down the whole car which made it 4wd, but it was also 4ws! I was like oh wow! Now let’s not forget the guy who gave this to me was like in his late 60’s, my first non-RadioShack car was a grasshopper, dinky freaking motor, but upgraded that and put a 50k rpm motor in and that thing would blow the doors off anything, now I had something simpler but a little out of date, no radio, no batteries, but tons of extra parts! But it got pushed aside, but I want to like take this thing apart and clean it up, and rebuild it, put some up to date stuff in it, new tires, new motor, new speed control, unlike the servo ones, and get this thing back up and running, I have a hockey rink right across the street and that would be total fun to speed around in! What I’ve come up with is I believe it’s a 85 Kyosho Gallop, and here’s a pic next to I forget what it is, but it’s the one I bought for the kids way back,,
JR

[Aloha]

  Excellent project.  I never owned one nor have much to offer but I do like seeing them hauling tail.  Some of those drivers are pretty incredible.  I can't wait to see you ripping up that hockey rink. 

[Farmer X]

I've had a few over the years. Probably the best I ever did was a Tamiya Super Shot that was mostly complete. It had been mostly assembled, but I never ran it. I sold it for $200. Not too bad for something I pulled out of a dumpster!

[Aloha]

I'd say.   

[MadPlumbarian]

Dang it’s been that long, I guess time really does fly! Anyway I just wanted to see if anyone was into them, I’m really thinking of taking that one apart and rebuilding it, but I’d need a few things to update it,, let alone have to fully clean off the desk which is COVERED in junk! But it would give me something to do and keep the mind clear, even if I just took it apart, cleaned it part for part, and then reassembled it,,
JR

[AzteCypher]

I have an HPI Savage Nitro that I haven't used in about 3yrs.  I need to make time for it as it was so much fun.  It ran liked a pissed off weed whacker.

I got this RC Truck for my son 2yrs ago and we haven't run it in a while either.  It's time to dust them off.

I know mine needs a new gear and probably a new hose and glow plug for good measure.  And now that I think about it, a new battery pack as well as I bet the old one won't hold a charge anymore.

[MadPlumbarian]

The whole reason I got a nitro was because I used to get so tired of charging those battery packs, you’d get like 15min of run time then have to switch it out for another 15min if that, at least with the nitro all you had to do is refill the tank, the only thing that drove me nuts was the upkeep, it was like one problem after another, so I pretty much gave up on it,
I’ll never forget my first “real R/C” car which was a grasshopper, the only thing was it came with a dinky 10k rpm motor which had no umph! So I went to the shop and looked to see what they had and I saw this one and all I saw was 50k rpm! I was drooling , the only problem was the diameter of the original motor was like 1-1/4” and now this monster was like 1-3/4” and the gear that was on the motor was only like 1/2” and now with the larger size motor it moved the gear farther away from the main, so it wouldn’t touch, so I had to change it with the proper size only thing was they didn’t have it so I had to wait like 2weeks to even try the new motor out, but when I did get it, woof, I was on summer break and I flew out to Arizona to spend like 3weeks with my grandparents and my grandfather was into r/c but the RadioShack dinky no power or speed ones, so I wanted to show him how much better these were, so, I raced him, they lived in a retirement community and being in a mid summer the whole park was gone on vacation, so we had the whole street to ourselves, so, we placed our cars in the middle of the street and said first one down and back wins! Ready, set, GO! Only thing was I didn’t move, he was saying are you going to go or what? He made it all the way down to the end of the street before I even took off, he had to move all the way over to one side of the street, and then loop it allll the way to the other side of the street, so I was like alright, let’s show him how it’s done, I pulled the trigger and spun the tires, I got half way down and he passed me on the way back, so I’m flooring it, I get to the end slammed it into reverse as it was still going and turned the wheel, so it quickly did a 180 and then slammed it back into forward, I ended up passing him like 9/10th of the way back and smoked him! Oh was he pissed, he was so mad that he slammed his car into mine, he hit my car so bad that it dislocated a gear in the gearbox, so I had to disassemble the whole thing and realigned everything, oh did he have a smile though! So yeah I got to get back into these things, especially with the hockey rink across the street, heck there were what looked like a father and son over there yesterday..
JR

[BlindFarmer]

I have an Element RC Gatekeeper crawler. It has beadlock wheels, General Grabber tires, front and rear diff locks, led light bars. It is fun around the farm.

[MadPlumbarian]

Oh nice, now by read diff locks, does that mean the differential locks not having to power it and it doubles the rpm to the other side giving it twice the speed or it locks the wheels?
JR

[BlindFarmer]

Oh nice, now by read diff locks, does that mean the differential locks not having to power it and it doubles the rpm to the other side giving it twice the speed or it locks the wheels?
JR
[/quote
It locks the left and right axles together. This makes it true four wheel drive. All four wheels are powered. An open differential sends power to one wheel, most pickup trucks for example. The diff lock connects the left and right side together so they spin at the same speed. The downside of this is pour turning radius. The upside is much better traction.

[MadPlumbarian]

Ok, gotcha, thanks!
JR

[MadPlumbarian]

Ok, yesterday I was just thinking about the large 1/8th scale 4wd nitro buggy I have, and I was like the only big problem I have with it is the engine, so I wonder if you can convert it over to electric? Sure enough I looked it up and many have converted nitros over to electric, so I started ,, so I have the one real old one that I can rebuild and clean up, that I can probably use the radio and servos off of the 1/8 nitro buggy, unless I want to put a better speed control in, and as for the buggy I could use parts off of the other car I have, like the radio, speed control, and servo, I mean I could use the motor but I’d probably have to get a new one, the same with batteries,,I mean, I spent a fortune on this buggy back in the 90’s and it probably has less then a total of 2hrs of runtime on it, all because I kept having so many nitro problems, so if I converted it to electric I wouldn’t have to worry about the nitro and just have to recharge the battery every time,, here’s a crappy pic,,
JR

[AzteCypher]

I hadn't thought about seeing if I can convert my HPI to electric.  I need to pull it out of moth balls and give it a good once over.

[MadPlumbarian]

I hadn't thought about seeing if I can convert my HPI to electric.  I need to pull it out of moth balls and give it a good once over.

Yeah, I just never thought of it and yesterday it just, click, why not just make the expensive buggy work, and easy to use?   so I looked it up and sure enough many people have done it, here’s a pic of someone’s 1/8th scale buggy before and after,, so it is possible!
JR

[D-Eg]

Been known to play, both gas and lectric... like slots and trains too. 

[MadPlumbarian]

Dang nice collection!
JR

[D-Eg]

I got into it for the grandson. We were racing at an indoor track weekly and then our shooting league moved to the same day, and we have missed going lately - it is a good time though. I am the pit-boss, and it can keep me pretty busy. Not sure where you are in the world, and I am not from there either, but Omaha has a great RC facility if you ever get by there stop in. 

[MadPlumbarian]

Just like the profile says: location: Michagin, out skirts of Detroit, I’ve never been to a track, I’ve only ever driven them around where I’ve lived, I used to live in a trailer park which was just a simple circle, now that we moved there’s a hockey rink right across the street, neither my wife or I drive because we both have a seizure disorder so we’re very limited on able to do things, our son has only had his license for a year so he can take us places but again still limited and since he never really got into r/c so I just never “really” got into it, anyway, now that there’s a place for me to drive one right across the street in the rink, fig I could get back into it..
JR

Here, that’s how far I’d have to go and what I could race around in,,

[D-Eg]

good deal - they are fun and when I take the gassers out, the neighborhood kids like to watch.

[MadPlumbarian]

Grasser, not an 80’s electric grasshopper model?
JR

[D-Eg]

I have Nitro (gas) and Electric ones in cars, trucks, and boats. Advantages and disadvantages to each of course.

[MadPlumbarian]

Each has an advantage, the nitro you just keep refilling it unlike having to wait and recharge, yet then you have to worry about the clutch and the plug, yet that r/c has the oil shocks, aluminum frame, an is a 1/8 scale, thus why I was thinking to turn it into an electric, not having to worry about the nitro crap, just have to recharge and play when wanted, plus you also get reverse..
JR

[D-Eg]

Mine have reverse. Generally, in a road race you are not supposed to use reverse anyway though, you are supposed to turn it off. Gas and Electric can both use oil filled shocks - it can really get very-very technical. As for gas and just refilling - true, but we have several batteries and a few multiport charging systems. We break stuff with some regularity. One word of advice - if you get one you really like, snag parts while you can, it is common for them to discontinue production and you will find yourself scouring the net looking for parts and pieces. I just stock up when I see parts hit the market. Also, one thing that you will run into is, for example, ball joints - they will strip the ball joint (which is metal) out of the plastic component. I save those plastic parts, fill them with JB Weld, make sure you work the air out, and drill and tap them for the next crash. I will buy a used beat-up rig for parts too. 

[MadPlumbarian]

Well yeah on the oil filled, that’s why I said not the Walmart or radio shack r/c cars, where once you break something that’s it or you can’t upgrade parts, plus I don’t do all those jumps like at the tracks, up like 3ft yet a 15ft jump then slam on the down side of the next jump, I only did that in the real thing once back when I first used to drive,,
JR

[D-Eg]

Ha - too funny.

I guess I do need to correct one thing about parts. If you are not going to competitively race and you are mostly looking for a yard rig - I would recommend Traxxas. Traxxas, although it is not the rig you would carry to the racetrack if you're looking to bring home the trophy, they are very good about keeping parts available.  I have two 4X4 rigs, a Nitro and an Electric and they are both fine trucks. We mostly do competitive car racing on road tracks. We even get down to setting the caster and camber and balancing the tires, we certainly clean the tires in-between each race.

[MadPlumbarian]

lol, no lie, I was giving a bunch of friends a ride home cause it was the last day of school and we went to a tech school so we had to bring our toolboxes home, needless to say it was a pickup and only had room in the cab for two others, the third kid sat in the bed along with four toolboxes,  I didn’t even know where I was going and I was going a little too fast even the other kids said to slow down, I just stepped on it, oops, all I know is I saw the kid in the back go up, then disappeared, then came back down, “thud” needless to say the toolboxes were under the bed cover then so was his legs, they didn’t like the toolboxes, ouch!
The nitro I go is still in like new condition, yet I got it back in like 95, I mean there’s not even a freaking scratch on the under side of the frame, idk what the name of it is, I’ll have to take a few pics of it, only thing is it’s in the garages loft, that and it’s like -2f out with a windchill of like -17, so I really don’t feel like spending much time outside, it’s bad enough I have to take the dogs out,, but there is a pic back like on post 8, the whole reason I got into them was not that it was nitro, but the fact that you can replace parts with others, I mean it can be totally diff, so long as they fit, I mean heck they can even not fit and you can customize the cars parts to even make them fit, unlike a fancy RadioShack car which my grandfather had and thought were the best, lol
JR

[D-Eg]

Ya too cold for messing with RC's outside. Hunker down and sharpen a knife or two.

[MadPlumbarian]

It hit 25°f, that and I had to go get dinner out of the freezer, which is in the garage so I grabbed the nitro r/c and brought it in,, only problem is being an 1/8th scale it doesn’t really fit on a roll top desk! Oh well it will do,
JR

[D-Eg]

Oh, nice rig. Ya, they can take up a lot of space. That looks like an HPI, but can't tell for sure. It's ready for the snow! Do you treat the engine after you run it?

[MadPlumbarian]

Thanks, no that engine hasn’t run in over 12yrs, thus why I want to convert it to electric, I’m just trying to figure out what’s what, cause my first “real” r/c car was a grasshopper, total crap motor and I went and got a 50k rpm motor and that thing was WOW! But we’re talking back in like 92? So I have no clue what’s new I have another newer 1/10 scale but again the motor is crappy, but I can’t buy anything expensive being on a set income, so I’m trying to do my research,,
JR