Parts Prep - day 5

Having concentrated on the main chassis long enough... and not having any epoxy on hand... I decided to do some work on the business end of the car: the suspension.
These things look so simple when they are in one piece. Funny just how much makes up the driving end of the typical RC car. Here is a shot before disassembling the suspension...



...and after



Much of the magic in this car is in the front suspension. The carbon fiber mono-shock adapter plates just begged to be mounted to the Maxxum long a-arms. The wing-mounts on the back are for hard stops at full sag.



And the steering knuckles were reversed [L<->R] so the steering arm allows for maximum steering angle, or in other words, smallest turning radius.



The a-arms and the pivot are completely stock. No carving or tapping. They are completely independent with regard lo left and right. Not so for the steering knuckles. These are ground for maximum clearance both at the universal joints and at the a-arm. This is so that the full motion of the a-arms can be maximized for the mono-shock arrangement. For the most part, it is a pretty simple modification on the surface, but as you have already seen, the front gear case had to be modified for the shock, and you will see how the gear case bottom plate is reinforced for the rigors of racing in a few more days.

By the way, I failed to mention my ball bearing lube of choice: I've been using ProGold Lubricant's ProLink chain lubricant for bicycle chains. In the cycling world, this is the "go back to" lube of choice when the new fad fades. I've found this lube to be quite effective.

Back to the car. On the rear suspension, there is often quite a bit of play between the a-arm and the knuckle. This is where a handful of 3mm washers can be quite useful to take up some extra slop in the system.



In this case too, the rear a-arms are fully stock, unmolested Turbo Optima a-arms. I did decide to move the shock balls to the knuckle for better cornering. In general, I will be lowering the car's stance to make it more stable in high traction cornering. If I'm not mistaken, I think I have a short-shock carbon fiber shock mount that would allow for the Kyosho Gold short shocks to be installed in the back. If I'm not careful, I'll be searching for an on-road body soon! For now, I have the custom carbon fiber shock mount and control rod stay. There are plenty of options for dialing in the wheel's attitude.



As for those shocks in the image, these too were from the mystery 4WD. Notice that both ends can be removed. I've put Kyosho's Gold shock plastics and springs on these shocks as well as new red rod ends from the original Optima's red shocks. These shocks still need to be rebuilt once I figure out what to use for shock oil. Here is the same shock on the front suspension...



Funny thing is, the front shock is still air-free/leak-free. I have a feeling the oil's viscosity is just a little too heavy for on-road use. I'll probably save the shock work for last.

If you look carefully at the image, you can see the grinding done on the steering knuckles.

I went through the hunt for good rod ends. I seem to have plenty of usable rod ends in the bone pile. I also found the left & right handed turn buckles for the back.

One of the wheel bearing needed replacing and the universals were still in pretty good shape. That is one item I haven't seen show up on eBay... dog-bones and universal shafts for Optima. Does anyone know if later Kyosho models use compatible universal joints that are readily available? I may just have to learn how to re-join the ends of the shafts I have in the bone-box.

Next I need to commence with completing the chassis. We are not far from the assembly process. Stay tuned!