Peter.Steele

So I'm (relatively) new to RC. Ipicked up an old RC10T at a yard sale the other weekend, and I've been having so much fun with it that I decided to get a nitro car as well. I didn't want to put toooooo much money into it, so I went looking on eBay, and bought a Kyosho rally car. I've got all the electronics for it already - the guy took his radio / servo gear out of it - but I don't know what it actually is. I guess I bought it more off brand name and price than anything else. (When I was a kid, all the cool kids had Kyosho, Tamiya, or Team Associated. I was stuck with Radio Shack. I wasn't cool. )

Anyway. Please help me identify what I've actually bought. I don't have it in hand yet - these are the only pictures that I've got. I know the body isn't the right one for this car. It's got a GX-15 engine in it. It looks related to the Inferno TR-15, maybe ... but I can't really tell for sure. The only gold anodized Kyoto chassis that I've found information on is on the Ultima Pro, and this ain't it.

ASSOCIATED_DRIVER

I think you are correct. It is an Inferno TR-15. It appears to have some custom metal plates on it.

Peter.Steele

Yeah, I'm pretty sure now that it is a TR15 ... those silver plates on the front and rear were throwing me off.

Hm. Now to find a body that fits better ... or suspension that will fit inside the existing body ...

The_Collector

Somebody actually spent the money and bought the option gold "hard" chassis plate. Those body mount plates are custom for the body. My best guess for the front shocks are Duratrax golds, hard to tell from that pic though.

Peter.Steele

I know that at one point there was a rally car version of the tr15. Is there a kit to convert this to a more car-like appearance? Shorter control arms, something like that, so that everything fits under the fenders, or maybe just a wider body?

Also, I'll have some better pix in a couple days...

The_Collector

This should help. The shorter suspension should put the wheels under the body.
[link=http://www.ripmax.com/Images/PDF_Files/Exploded_Diagrams/Expl_TR15-Rally.pdf]Exploded view diagram[/link]

Peter.Steele

Okay, got the car yesterday. Finally. My own stupid fault, really - I didn't think to check the tracking number. turns out it's been sitting at the post office since last thursday waiting for me to come pick it up!


We know that it's an Inferno TR-15 now - Kyosho has verified that as well. However, there's some decidedly non-standard appearing stuff on it. I know that it's had some mods - the air cleaner says 'OS Super Air Cleaner 102' on it, and the front / rear shocks aren't the same either.

Everything feels solid on it. The front right control arm has been repaired rather than replaced, but it looks like it's more solid than the original would have been - looks like the previous owner took two pieces of aluminum tubing, filled them with JB weld or something similar, and then slipped them over the whole length of the control arm. Looks prettttttty damned strong to me.

Engine feels like it's got plenty of compression when you turn the flywheel. The pull start thingy needs to be replaced, though. I took it apart, and the problem was that the clockspring was broken right at the center. I tried re-bending the end and putting it back together, but it just doesn't want to go back together. If I can find one for sale - just the starter, not the whole engine - I think it'll be worth a few bucks to avoid the frustration and cursing of messing around with that spring.

I think that instead of buying new suspension bits to bring the wheels in, I'm going to just make a new body with wider fender flares that will accommodate the wider suspension of the buggy. I'm thinking something more like this: http://www.saab900enduro.com/

Here's some more pictures.