Final Assembly

"The end is near!" ...so the morbid and the doomsayers say. But also those on a quest... being left with mixed emotions of gladness and sadness all at the same time.

The facts are clear; all the prep-work pays off in the assembly process. First we used medical fabric tape to close up the hole on the front differential case: Great stuff!



Next, push in the shafts holding the a-arms in place and tighten the set screws. Remember that the front shock was air free? Well, it seems pretty good for now.



Same for the rear suspension; add pins, and washer shims as required, and bolt on the shock and control arm plate. Note that the shock mount is not per the original Optima Mid design as it is now one large plate. Oh, I also made a wing in the meantime... you'll see more of it in a minute but I did install it once the plate was installed to the differential case.



A cursory check of the control arm lengths, front and rear, show them to be in a reasonable starting position. When we dial in the car we'll see what needs changing.

Next is the battery hold down. This is one of the stock Optima zip ties for the battery holder. One end is routed through the chassis and held just in front of the steering servo...



...The other end too is routed through the chassis and then the screw and post are inserted to hold the battery in place. The recess in the chassis keeps the battery from sliding forward into the front side brackets.



The orientation of the battery in such a fashion is great from a high-center CG point of view. It makes body roll much more consistent in high speed off-road cornering. A trick I learned from another custom Optima project.

The rear shocks were not quite as nice to me and really screamed "Rebuild Me!". So here you have a unique look at some rare shocks. These too came from the mystery 4WD kit. These feature a removable seal end, shoulder washers (2), and o-ring seals (2). In the top of the shock is the common bladder for pressure relief for the shaft volume. One feature I remember putting into this car was a beveled split washer below the piston. There is no free play between the shaft and piston.



Not having any shock oil, and not even knowing what weight I'm going to need, I opted for household oil for the time being. It felt pretty good for getting a few rides in. Notice that I moved the shocks bottom pivots back to the a-arms. If I do move them to the knuckle, I'll need to lengthen the shock bolts on top.



Then comes the true button up... adding the motor. I picked my green Rev Tech(?). I have an old motor plate that is meant to let air flow through the motor but not blow chunks into the gear cover. The o-ring closes all openings. I also picked a relatively small pinion because I suspect this is a pretty low wind motor, like 14 or 15 turn.



After letting the double sticky tape cure overnight on both the chassis and the ESC, the two came together for a very tight bond. This was pretty simple. Remember that I picked the location pretty carefully so it won't interfere with the motor as the pinion or spur gear gets larger. The motor wiring came out sweet and simple!



Here is a shot of the car with wing and wheels. The wing has some plastic wing mounts and some thick piano wire. The wing itself is aluminum with a single bend. This is a very solid solution. The tires have barely been run but I suppose that they will wear into slicks pretty quickly.



I still need to make a 7.2v pack and modify the ESC control connector. In short, this car is just about ready to roll. The end -IS- near :)