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Archive for March, 2011


28 Mar
2011

BF8 (4305247) & BF9 (4305246) Front Damper Mounts!!

Ooooooooh momma, they’re here!  The rarest parts of the Tamiya Egress are here, fitted and looking TOTALLY awesome…she’s completed! Well, the chassis is completed, but by the Gods that’s a great feeling, and its taken just over 3 months to do it, fantastic!

So, I’ve had a few mails regarding the BF8 (4305247)  & BF9 (4305246) front damper mounts, so before I go on, take a look at the photos’s below, you’ll see my lovely new mounts fitted and looking pretty darn amazing.

Now here comes the big announcement.  These mounts have (no surprise) cost me a small fortune, but not for the reasons you think.  I decided to take a leap of faith and looked into the feasibility of getting them reproduced at a local steel working company…which turned out to be pricey, but just about doable.  The only caveat to that, was that I would need to sell quite a few of them to make my money back.  I’m hoping that this isnt going to be toooooooo hard, as I know folks out there really want these, so hopefully I can shift a few sets on eBay and at least cover my costs.  As you’ll see that they’re as near as dammit to the originals.  There are a couple of microscopic differences to the originals, but I only spot these differences as I have an original set on another Egress to compare them too…and I’m a perfectionist, so I spot everything.  But once mounted, man, you’d never know.

Take a look at the comparisons below:

So please bear with me while the rest are made and when they are, I’ll post them up on here with a link to eBay.  And dont worry, I’m not going to try and shaft everyone with these, I’m simply going to be asking for £8.99 per pair with free shipping.  Which isnt bad to say the originals go for SILLY money when they appear on eBay.  I think the last one I saw was just BF8 and it went for over £30!!!  Crazy.

18 Mar
2011

Wheels on!

She’s ALMOST there now! I was waiting for some 3mm spacers for the upper front shock mounts and a metal wheel hub, which have now arrived!  So the only thing that this chassis is missing now is the lower front shock mounts, which will be here next week, wahoooooo!  Oh yeah, and the bodyshell and decals of course ;)

As you’ll see from the photos she’s resting her lower shocker arms on the wishbones, but for the shots, that’ll do nicely.  You’ll also spot that she’s sporting the closest thing to an old school Dynatech I’m willing to pay for, a Sport Tuned motor! Looks beautiful and I can almost convince myself that its a Dynatech ;)  And lastly, look at those beautiful front springs! Oooh momma they’re pretty.  They’re microscopically thicker, and wound up tighter than the originals, but the colour is a perfect match! Nice!

I’ll keep you posted on the BF9 lower shock mounts when all 70 of them turn up :)

16 Mar
2011

The Chassis is Almost Complete

I’ve been rather busy since my last post and should have done a few in-between steps really, but I got carried away ;)

Since the last post I’ve almost completed the chassis! And found a out a few handy things regarding hard to find parts too.  Firstly, take a peek at where she is now…

As you can see, she’s almost done now. Just a few bits left to bolt on.

The font end obviously missing the shockers…and the ever elusive BF9 front damper mounts…but I have some news regarding those! More to follow.

And the all important and equally rare, rear wing mount.

So, which parts have I found that are rare? You’ll notice the rear wing mount is now present which was never on the car originally.  This part is actually a genuine Egress mount, but what I have learned is that the Egress’s rear mount is the same as the Top Force Evo (which I’ve just bought myself, that’s how I found out) with the only difference being that there is no bend in the Top Force version…but a vice and hammer would fix that!  So if you’re on the hunt for a rear wing mount for your Egress, grab a Top Force Evo one and bend it yourself.

Front gold coated springs.  Yep, you cant buy these, anywhere as nobody has them, full stop.  The rears are available on eBay, but not the fronts.  Well, in a run of good luck and some random eBay searching, I found that Tamiya still make some springs in EXACTLY the same off gold colour!! They are slightly different in shape, but colour wise they are a perfect match! Photos to follow.

Aaaaand lastly, the dreaded BF9, damper bag exclusive front shocker mounts.  Well, you look around the web and you’ll see, these are THE rarest parts on the car, but I’ve managed to come across not one set, not two sets, but…35! And now your saying ‘how the hell?’ well, watch this space as I’ll reveal all real soon and will be linking to eBay where you can buy a set.

Ok, that’s all for now.

Mike.

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.