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Archive for the ‘Egress’ Category


10 Mar
2011

Boom! DF-03 Shocker Oil Seals Fit!

Yep, found a perfect fit!

I’ve got a DF-03 Dark Impact with upgraded shocks as my play car, so I thought to myself ‘hmmm, would the seals from my standard shocks fit the Hi-Caps’ so I routed around my loft, found the originals and boom, they fit like a glove.  My shocks are now oil filled, looooovely.  New photos to follow real soon, I just need to set the car up in a nice spot.

Catch you soon.

Mike.

7 Mar
2011

Darn Hi-Cap Oil Seals…

Damn, those oil seals that I picked up where the exact same style, but about 1 mm smaller and thus, drop down the cylinder rather than perching on top.  I’m now totally lost as to what to replace them with…so for now, they are going to stay empty.

So, if anyone out there reading this knows of any seals that will fit these Hi-Cap Dampers, then please take pitty on me and either leave a comment or drop me a mail.  Any and all help is GREATLY appreciated.

4 Mar
2011

Argh, more bits needed!

I stripped down the front and rear suspension to find that my damper seals have all dried up and cracked, bummer! So in minor desporation I tried out some other damper seals from other Tamiyas I have knocking around…no joy, they’re all too small and a different shapes.  I have however seen some on eBay which look like a match, so stay tuned to see if that’s another £5 down the toilet ;)

Yesterday I had to buy the Avante 2001 ball connector bag and bushings bag as it turns out this car of mine has all manner of odd parts used in replacement. Grrrr.  And if you’re wondering why on earth I need the bushing bags from the 2001, its because I’m having to make a mod of my own to this car to allow it to mount the suspension to the whishbones in the same way as the 2001…why?…because those darn Egress suspension mounts are THE rarest part.  Double grrrrrr.

Aaaaand lastly, I was in a real pickle with the dastardly 3×42 countersunk screws that hold the backend together, as the heads got rounded off getting them out, only for me to realise that only two cars made by Tamiya have EVER used those screws…and you cannot get hold of the associated screw bag for love nor money.  But open some insanly long winded research, I found out that the last 2mm of these screws isnt essential, and that HPI make packs of 3×40’s…and you can get 10 for £3, job done :)

I just need to the bits to get here so that I can continue…new update soon.

2 Mar
2011

Bringing it all together…

I havent posted for a while as I’ve been bringing everything together that I’d been working on since the beginning.  So the chassis, front gearbox, rear gearbox, rear stabiliser, rear wishbones and rear wheel hubs are together…and man does she look sweeeeeeeeeeeet! I think the thing that pips it for me so far are those blue ended adjusters, ooooh momma those things just scream Egress to me, I bloomin loved popping those on.

And now, after all this time, I’ve now confirmed that this started life as an Avante 2001 (he sobs).  I’ve only now learnt about the carbon fibre/FRP chassis difference of the Avante 2001 and the Egress…and she came with an FRP one, the final nail in the coffin to confirm how she started out in life.  And to make matters worse, the new chassis I bought was obviously the FRP one too, so while she looks shiny and new, she isnt going to be 100% Egress.  But what the hell, I’ve enjoyed this process more than you could possibly imagine.

Actually, to break it down, she really is a total hybrid…

  • Avante 2001 chassis
  • Avante 2011 plasitc parts
  • Egress Gears
  • Avante 2001 front diff
  • Egress front and rear wishbones
  • Vanquish motor plate
  • Vanquish screws

Hmmm, she’s no pedigree lol.

3 Feb
2011

Building up the chassis

This is the first exciting part! Staring to stick the chassis together.  Its only the main two plates, but what the heck, its nice to see some actual progress!

2 Feb
2011

Research…is this actually an Avante 2001?

Well, that dastardly spur gear led me on an interesting path of discovery.  It turns out that this spur gear is the one from the Avante 2001! Hmmmmm, seems strange.  My initial thought was that maybe the previous owner had upgraded the Egress to have some of the improved Avante 2001 features, but I’m now thinking that maybe this car is actually an Avante 2001 with Egress bits on it, rather than the other way around.  Hmmmm.  Luckily, in one of the other parts auctions I won, it included the original Egress set up, including the ‘one way’ spur gear bits, so that’s been dropped in instead…and in a total moment of madness, I picked up a full NIP Egress plastic gear set, so the whole caboodle is being replaced with new parts…nice :)

30 Jan
2011

The Rear Gearbox – Time to get my hands dirty!

Initially I was going to be a big girl and not strip the gearboxes down, but then thought to myself that, that wouldn’t really fit the bill on a full restoration, so I dove in head first!  Initially I just stripped the gears out and started to work on the casing.  It was thick in over 20 years worth of grease, oil and general crap, so I knew that this would need some serious effort to bring back to new.

First off I used a load of WD40 to breakdown the grease on the casing, inside and out.  With the WD40 doing the hard work upfront, I then got a red hot bucket of water at the ready and new bottle of the world’s greatest de-greaser…fairy liquid.  Why Fairy?  Well, back in my biker days a mechanic once told me that the best way to clean and de-grease a messy bike chain was to use a mix of fairy and WD40.  This technique saw me good for many years, and I knew it’d work here too.

So after 15 minutes hard scrubbing, the casing was gleaming like new.  Magic.  Coupled with the loooooovely new motor plate I’d picked up (yes more spending) it was looking beautiful.

Now onto the gears themselves.

As you’d expect, more than 20 years of grease and dirt is going to be pretty messy, so there were no surprises here (or where there? Find out more on that later in the post).  I pulled every bit apart and treated it a good long soak in a bath of WD40, followed by a toothbrush clean up and dry off.

The bearings now move like silk and everything is nice and shiny.  All ready for re-building, re-greasing and dropping back in.

So, out comes the Egress manual.  Everything is going back together as expected.  But hold on, what’s this? The drive gear parts I have don’t match up to the instructions? What the hell?

25 Jan
2011

Rear Stabiliser and Mount

With my new rear carbon mount in hand, it was time to clean up the stabiliser parts and get that looking nice and new.  I pulled this section apart, grabbed the Peek (http://www.tripeek.com/) and started cleaning and polishing.  Man I love Peak, that stuff is the shit.  Just look at the photos below, beeeeautiful.

Shiiiiiiiney, mmmmmm, nice!

Mounted on the fresh new upper chassis deck, this is looking real nice!

In all its glory…man this car is going to be one shiny puppy when she’s done :)

22 Jan
2011

New Chassis…Grrrr

Yep the chassis is in a right old state.  All those years of racing, dirt, grit, oil and abuse have left it rather tattered.  And worst still, the end tip where the under-cowl mount connects to, its snapped.  Arse.

A solid clean up did little to lift it, so I’ve caved in and bought a new one.  Top and bottom pieces, brand new, £25 delivered.  Steep?  Not sure, but damn they look pretty.  Add to this the big Egress parts auction I won, including carbon bits, I’m staring at some lovely new pieces to build this baby back up.  And yes, she’s turning into a veritable money pit…but boy is it fun!!!

20 Jan
2011

A Madcap? What the hell is that doing here?

Yep you read it right, there is a Madcap in our midst.  ‘Why?’ I hear you ask, well, there’s a good story here.  I was again browsing eBay, when low and behold there before sat a mint, restored, unpainted Madcap with ‘upgraded wheels’…HOLY SHIT, not just upgraded wheels, but the bloody Egress wheels and brand new rear tires!!!! Rrrrrresult!  Bought.  The car was for sale for pretty much what the wheels were worth, so it seemed daft not to buy it.  If you’ve read the about page, you’ll know that I used to race a Madcap and fancied getting one again someday, so this was hitting two birds with one stone.  Magic.