MDifficult’s E82 1M Coupe & Ariel Atom 3
Discussion
Slightly unusual update this time - been doing a full nut & bolt rebuild of an ex-Colin McRae Impreza that’s been hiding untouched in my garage for 20 years!...
Sadly, this one is 1:10 scale
(if you want actual ‘full size’ car updates, look away now - and please forgive our less-than-professional 'project' table cloth )
20+ years ago my trusty Tamiya Impreza blew it’s speed controller. I put it away on the basis I would get around to fixing it pretty quickly... but thankfully I had the good sense to put it away in an old military chest which has protected it through multiple house moves, garage clearouts etc. I decided a few weeks ago on a particularly rainy Saturday that it would make a great project for my 9 year old daughter and I to work on together, getting it back up and working.
After checking the car over, I put together a list of replacement parts we’d need, some fun ‘hop ups’ to do, and a few other sensible modifications to make on the way. The helpful folks over in the ‘Scale Models’ forum had some suggestions - really useful considering I’ve not touched an RC car in over two decades!
With an order placed with an online model shop, my Junior Mechanic and I sat down to start disassembling the car to it’s component parts…
A was pretty amazed with how well it had survived. No leaking batteries and thankfully no particularly brittle plastics. Considering how hard it had been used in my youth, even the gearbox internals seemed in great condition..
Pretty quickly we had the car into it’s component parts, all cleaned up and ready to be rebuilt.
But first… we needed some goodies!
For the uninitiated, this is.. (clockwise from top left)
1. Speed Tuned Gear Set (more speeeed)
2. Metal bearings (car had plastic as standard)
3. Grease (for reassembly)
4. New 2.4Ghz radio system (I couldn’t believe how cheap, small and high quality this stuff is compared to ‘back in the day’)
5. Mica Blue paint (All those years ago I was in such a rush to use it I never finished painting the spoiler & mirror)
6. Electronic Speed Controller (again, such high quality and low price compared to Y2K)
7. Steel Pinion gear (to replace the crappy alloy one the kit comes with - a known weak point)
8. New battery (so cheap!)
9. NOT PICTURED - New wheels and tyres (originals had perished) and oil-filled shocks (awaiting delivery)
With all this gear in place, some instructions on the iPad and an increasingly capable Junior Mechanic keen to get started, we commenced the re-build… starting with the steel pinion...
Ridiculously few screws required to put this very basic kit together… (note the use of a magnetic tray… got to teach Junior Mechanics how to do a job properly!)
Sexy new gearbox parts installed. This is the kind of ‘Hop Up’ I lusted after but could never really afford as a teenager…
New radio gear and speed controller. They’re so small compared to the old stuff the chassis is half empty! Once the wheels were on, it was time for the traditional ‘living room floor’ test...
With the test completed (and the chair legs suitably bashed) it was time to add the rest of the parts, the body and new wheels. Our masterpiece was finished…
And how does it go? Like a stabbed rat! We’ve already had a right laugh blasting it up and down the road and around the local park. We’ve still got to paint the spoiler (in our cardboard box spray booth) and are waiting on the arrival of the oil-filled shocks which should help cure the rock hard suspension but otherwise... it’s cracking!
For any of you with young kids - I can’t recommend this kind of project enough for getting kids interested in the basics of mechanics. Even a simple RC car like this is remarkably representative and my 9-year-old is now fully versed in the language of bearings, gears, drive-shafts, steering arms, springs (and dampers), motors and differentials!
Anyway, that's probably more than enough on silly nostalgic RC cars! Back to the 1:1 cars soon
Sadly, this one is 1:10 scale
(if you want actual ‘full size’ car updates, look away now - and please forgive our less-than-professional 'project' table cloth
)20+ years ago my trusty Tamiya Impreza blew it’s speed controller. I put it away on the basis I would get around to fixing it pretty quickly... but thankfully I had the good sense to put it away in an old military chest which has protected it through multiple house moves, garage clearouts etc. I decided a few weeks ago on a particularly rainy Saturday that it would make a great project for my 9 year old daughter and I to work on together, getting it back up and working.
After checking the car over, I put together a list of replacement parts we’d need, some fun ‘hop ups’ to do, and a few other sensible modifications to make on the way. The helpful folks over in the ‘Scale Models’ forum had some suggestions - really useful considering I’ve not touched an RC car in over two decades!
With an order placed with an online model shop, my Junior Mechanic and I sat down to start disassembling the car to it’s component parts…
A was pretty amazed with how well it had survived. No leaking batteries and thankfully no particularly brittle plastics. Considering how hard it had been used in my youth, even the gearbox internals seemed in great condition..
Pretty quickly we had the car into it’s component parts, all cleaned up and ready to be rebuilt.
But first… we needed some goodies!
For the uninitiated, this is.. (clockwise from top left)
1. Speed Tuned Gear Set (more speeeed)
2. Metal bearings (car had plastic as standard)
3. Grease (for reassembly)
4. New 2.4Ghz radio system (I couldn’t believe how cheap, small and high quality this stuff is compared to ‘back in the day’)
5. Mica Blue paint (All those years ago I was in such a rush to use it I never finished painting the spoiler & mirror)
6. Electronic Speed Controller (again, such high quality and low price compared to Y2K)
7. Steel Pinion gear (to replace the crappy alloy one the kit comes with - a known weak point)
8. New battery (so cheap!)
9. NOT PICTURED - New wheels and tyres (originals had perished) and oil-filled shocks (awaiting delivery)
With all this gear in place, some instructions on the iPad and an increasingly capable Junior Mechanic keen to get started, we commenced the re-build… starting with the steel pinion...
Ridiculously few screws required to put this very basic kit together… (note the use of a magnetic tray… got to teach Junior Mechanics how to do a job properly!)
Sexy new gearbox parts installed. This is the kind of ‘Hop Up’ I lusted after but could never really afford as a teenager…
New radio gear and speed controller. They’re so small compared to the old stuff the chassis is half empty! Once the wheels were on, it was time for the traditional ‘living room floor’ test...
With the test completed (and the chair legs suitably bashed) it was time to add the rest of the parts, the body and new wheels. Our masterpiece was finished…
And how does it go? Like a stabbed rat! We’ve already had a right laugh blasting it up and down the road and around the local park. We’ve still got to paint the spoiler (in our cardboard box spray booth) and are waiting on the arrival of the oil-filled shocks which should help cure the rock hard suspension but otherwise... it’s cracking!
For any of you with young kids - I can’t recommend this kind of project enough for getting kids interested in the basics of mechanics. Even a simple RC car like this is remarkably representative and my 9-year-old is now fully versed in the language of bearings, gears, drive-shafts, steering arms, springs (and dampers), motors and differentials!
Anyway, that's probably more than enough on silly nostalgic RC cars! Back to the 1:1 cars soon
I'm sure he has to employ thickos With the impending Sunday Service at Denbies, this Saturday morning was the perfect opportunity to give the GP a really good clean. Thankfully, there's not much of it and it was in a pretty good state before I started... which meant I managed to get it finished and back it the garage just before the heavens opened!
Sunday morning, MrTouring and I set off for Denbies. Given the option of M3/M25
or M4/M25 we decided to take the roundabout route via the Hindhead tunnel. From Reading down to Alton, then Hindhead, then cross-country to Denbies. The GPs not much fun on motorways and it gave me the excuse of getting to listen to his V10 M5 Touring at full chat... twice. Not sure my ears will be the same again 
Not only was the Sunday Service a great opportunity to prove to Ben that I was taking good care of his car, but it brought about another cracking coincidence. I hadn't parked up for 2 minutes when a guy called Darren introduced himself as the GPs original owner. It was Darren who purchase PFO from BMW/Mini and then traded it, and it was picked up by Ben, who sold it to me. So not only have I traced the whole cars history but it turns out every owner was a PH. Good news.
(Darren was also really helpful in explaining a few things about the car's history, including the crack in the front grill that I dealt with a while back - seems an errant pigeon decided it fancied a head-butt). Cheers Darren!
The Sunday Service was great, good venue and beautiful weather. Thankfully the damp field firmed up in the sunshine and getting out was a lot less perilous than getting in.
Stupidly though, I'd forgotten to take any pictures (too busy gawping and suffering crippling car-envy), so on the way home we stopped for a quick photoshoot. I think they make quite the pair
Sunday morning, MrTouring and I set off for Denbies. Given the option of M3/M25
or M4/M25 we decided to take the roundabout route via the Hindhead tunnel. From Reading down to Alton, then Hindhead, then cross-country to Denbies. The GPs not much fun on motorways and it gave me the excuse of getting to listen to his V10 M5 Touring at full chat... twice. Not sure my ears will be the same again Not only was the Sunday Service a great opportunity to prove to Ben that I was taking good care of his car, but it brought about another cracking coincidence. I hadn't parked up for 2 minutes when a guy called Darren introduced himself as the GPs original owner. It was Darren who purchase PFO from BMW/Mini and then traded it, and it was picked up by Ben, who sold it to me. So not only have I traced the whole cars history but it turns out every owner was a PH. Good news.
(Darren was also really helpful in explaining a few things about the car's history, including the crack in the front grill that I dealt with a while back - seems an errant pigeon decided it fancied a head-butt). Cheers Darren!
The Sunday Service was great, good venue and beautiful weather. Thankfully the damp field firmed up in the sunshine and getting out was a lot less perilous than getting in.
Stupidly though, I'd forgotten to take any pictures (too busy gawping and suffering crippling car-envy), so on the way home we stopped for a quick photoshoot. I think they make quite the pair
MDifficult said:
Slightly unusual update this time - been doing a full nut & bolt rebuild of an ex-Colin McRae Impreza that’s been hiding untouched in my garage for 20 years!...
Sadly, this one is 1:10 scale
(if you want actual ‘full size’ car updates, look away now - and please forgive our less-than-professional 'project' table cloth )
20+ years ago my trusty Tamiya Impreza blew it’s speed controller. I put it away on the basis I would get around to fixing it pretty quickly... but thankfully I had the good sense to put it away in an old military chest which has protected it through multiple house moves, garage clearouts etc. I decided a few weeks ago on a particularly rainy Saturday that it would make a great project for my 9 year old daughter and I to work on together, getting it back up and working.
After checking the car over, I put together a list of replacement parts we’d need, some fun ‘hop ups’ to do, and a few other sensible modifications to make on the way. The helpful folks over in the ‘Scale Models’ forum had some suggestions - really useful considering I’ve not touched an RC car in over two decades!
With an order placed with an online model shop, my Junior Mechanic and I sat down to start disassembling the car to it’s component parts…
A was pretty amazed with how well it had survived. No leaking batteries and thankfully no particularly brittle plastics. Considering how hard it had been used in my youth, even the gearbox internals seemed in great condition..
Pretty quickly we had the car into it’s component parts, all cleaned up and ready to be rebuilt.
But first… we needed some goodies!
For the uninitiated, this is.. (clockwise from top left)
1. Speed Tuned Gear Set (more speeeed)
2. Metal bearings (car had plastic as standard)
3. Grease (for reassembly)
4. New 2.4Ghz radio system (I couldn’t believe how cheap, small and high quality this stuff is compared to ‘back in the day’)
5. Mica Blue paint (All those years ago I was in such a rush to use it I never finished painting the spoiler & mirror)
6. Electronic Speed Controller (again, such high quality and low price compared to Y2K)
7. Steel Pinion gear (to replace the crappy alloy one the kit comes with - a known weak point)
8. New battery (so cheap!)
9. NOT PICTURED - New wheels and tyres (originals had perished) and oil-filled shocks (awaiting delivery)
With all this gear in place, some instructions on the iPad and an increasingly capable Junior Mechanic keen to get started, we commenced the re-build… starting with the steel pinion...
Ridiculously few screws required to put this very basic kit together… (note the use of a magnetic tray… got to teach Junior Mechanics how to do a job properly!)
Sexy new gearbox parts installed. This is the kind of ‘Hop Up’ I lusted after but could never really afford as a teenager…
New radio gear and speed controller. They’re so small compared to the old stuff the chassis is half empty! Once the wheels were on, it was time for the traditional ‘living room floor’ test...
With the test completed (and the chair legs suitably bashed) it was time to add the rest of the parts, the body and new wheels. Our masterpiece was finished…
And how does it go? Like a stabbed rat! We’ve already had a right laugh blasting it up and down the road and around the local park. We’ve still got to paint the spoiler (in our cardboard box spray booth) and are waiting on the arrival of the oil-filled shocks which should help cure the rock hard suspension but otherwise... it’s cracking!
For any of you with young kids - I can’t recommend this kind of project enough for getting kids interested in the basics of mechanics. Even a simple RC car like this is remarkably representative and my 9-year-old is now fully versed in the language of bearings, gears, drive-shafts, steering arms, springs (and dampers), motors and differentials!
Anyway, that's probably more than enough on silly nostalgic RC cars! Back to the 1:1 cars soon
I've got one of these in the cupboard! Sadly, this one is 1:10 scale
(if you want actual ‘full size’ car updates, look away now - and please forgive our less-than-professional 'project' table cloth
)20+ years ago my trusty Tamiya Impreza blew it’s speed controller. I put it away on the basis I would get around to fixing it pretty quickly... but thankfully I had the good sense to put it away in an old military chest which has protected it through multiple house moves, garage clearouts etc. I decided a few weeks ago on a particularly rainy Saturday that it would make a great project for my 9 year old daughter and I to work on together, getting it back up and working.
After checking the car over, I put together a list of replacement parts we’d need, some fun ‘hop ups’ to do, and a few other sensible modifications to make on the way. The helpful folks over in the ‘Scale Models’ forum had some suggestions - really useful considering I’ve not touched an RC car in over two decades!
With an order placed with an online model shop, my Junior Mechanic and I sat down to start disassembling the car to it’s component parts…
A was pretty amazed with how well it had survived. No leaking batteries and thankfully no particularly brittle plastics. Considering how hard it had been used in my youth, even the gearbox internals seemed in great condition..
Pretty quickly we had the car into it’s component parts, all cleaned up and ready to be rebuilt.
But first… we needed some goodies!
For the uninitiated, this is.. (clockwise from top left)
1. Speed Tuned Gear Set (more speeeed)
2. Metal bearings (car had plastic as standard)
3. Grease (for reassembly)
4. New 2.4Ghz radio system (I couldn’t believe how cheap, small and high quality this stuff is compared to ‘back in the day’)
5. Mica Blue paint (All those years ago I was in such a rush to use it I never finished painting the spoiler & mirror)
6. Electronic Speed Controller (again, such high quality and low price compared to Y2K)
7. Steel Pinion gear (to replace the crappy alloy one the kit comes with - a known weak point)
8. New battery (so cheap!)
9. NOT PICTURED - New wheels and tyres (originals had perished) and oil-filled shocks (awaiting delivery)
With all this gear in place, some instructions on the iPad and an increasingly capable Junior Mechanic keen to get started, we commenced the re-build… starting with the steel pinion...
Ridiculously few screws required to put this very basic kit together… (note the use of a magnetic tray… got to teach Junior Mechanics how to do a job properly!)
Sexy new gearbox parts installed. This is the kind of ‘Hop Up’ I lusted after but could never really afford as a teenager…
New radio gear and speed controller. They’re so small compared to the old stuff the chassis is half empty! Once the wheels were on, it was time for the traditional ‘living room floor’ test...
With the test completed (and the chair legs suitably bashed) it was time to add the rest of the parts, the body and new wheels. Our masterpiece was finished…
And how does it go? Like a stabbed rat! We’ve already had a right laugh blasting it up and down the road and around the local park. We’ve still got to paint the spoiler (in our cardboard box spray booth) and are waiting on the arrival of the oil-filled shocks which should help cure the rock hard suspension but otherwise... it’s cracking!
For any of you with young kids - I can’t recommend this kind of project enough for getting kids interested in the basics of mechanics. Even a simple RC car like this is remarkably representative and my 9-year-old is now fully versed in the language of bearings, gears, drive-shafts, steering arms, springs (and dampers), motors and differentials!
Anyway, that's probably more than enough on silly nostalgic RC cars! Back to the 1:1 cars soon
NeilAndHisMini said:
Got your PM via email but can't find any way of replying.
Definitely still interested in a GP2 meet up, if you need any help, let me know. Also know a couple more who might want to come as well, and just the guy to take the photos.
Cheers Neil, got your reply. I'll put a thread up soon and pop a link to it here too. Definitely still interested in a GP2 meet up, if you need any help, let me know. Also know a couple more who might want to come as well, and just the guy to take the photos.
For any GP2-owning lurkers, here's the thread: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Had a great run-out in the Mini this Sunday as I took my old man to watch the BTCC at Thruxton. Great racing, glorious weather, plenty of incidents and less than 5 minutes queuing in and out.. couldn't ask for more.
Nearly had a heart-attack on the way out though..
Walked back to the car after the last race, but would it unlock? Nope. Totally dead. Not a dicky-bird.
I was just about to panic when I noticed the car had somehow gained a tax-disc while I'd been watching the racing.
"Hang on a minute.... this isn't my bloody car!"
Turns out, this fella had parked his GP about 15 feet from my car and I'd been trying to get into the wrong one!
Thanks Mr OV13VTJ for the Sunday afternoon heart attack
Nearly had a heart-attack on the way out though..
Walked back to the car after the last race, but would it unlock? Nope. Totally dead. Not a dicky-bird.
I was just about to panic when I noticed the car had somehow gained a tax-disc while I'd been watching the racing.
"Hang on a minute.... this isn't my bloody car!"
Turns out, this fella had parked his GP about 15 feet from my car and I'd been trying to get into the wrong one!
Thanks Mr OV13VTJ for the Sunday afternoon heart attack
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