The_Stuff

Well as luck has it, Ihad to cover for a friend at work today, but it seems to have been fate. A gentleman gave me a gift. It was a box of "toys that the kid doesnt play with anymore". Well inside this box was 2 Tamiya Fox's. One is complete, other is pretty much all there except some little parts! There is also a 75mhz AMradio for the complete one, except the battery pack is missing for it... There was 2 battery packs in the box though, a 8.4v tamiya stick pack, and a 7.2v tamiya stick pack. no clue if they are any good though. probably original batteries. there is an old school 12v dc charger aswell.

enough jibber-jabber, here is the pictures. What do you guys think?i know its in rouuuuggghh shape, but if it works, might use it!

disjaukifa

My Feedback: (14)

Dude I am so envious of you. I never owned a Tamiya Fox, but it was the RC Car I ever used and I loved it. I used to go to my friends house and play with his Tamiya Fox for hours.

I swore I would one day get one but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Great find.

-Disjaukifa

nitroade

I am jealous! Definitely worth restoring. The Fox was so cutting edge in its day.

Jeremy Z

That is one sleek car. I wish they'd re-release it. That is the one I wanted but couldn't afford when I got my Falcon.

Have you seen what those go for on ebay? A MINT.

You have an ideal set-up there. You can leave one as a shelf queen, and make the other one a runner. It may cost you for the parts, but may be worth it.

disjaukifa

My Feedback: (14)

Hey,

If you don't want the hassle of restoring it I can take it off your hands . Joking but regardless you got yourself a nice little gem on your hands, like Jeremy Z said, it might cost abit for parts, but it will defiantely be worth the money restoring it .

-Disjaukifa

The_Stuff

ya, i see one on there for 444$ CAD. but that is new in box.

far as i can tell the motor on the complete one is shot, wont move hooked directly to a battery, but still turns by hand. judging by the parts from the one that is apart, i can make it go again. think i will strip the radio out of another truck i have and use it on this. wish i could find a battery pack for the radio, thats a golden oldie!

i was going to work on it today but no time, see what happens tomorrow!!

and yes, this is a one in a lifetime find! i always drempt of finding a tamiya semi truck this easy, but hey, im happy with a fox!

mazdaprotege4

My Feedback: (32)

Very nice find (you can't beat free stuff).  I had a Falcon a while back and those old Tamiya Buggies are actually really fast.  It should be a fun restoration.

The_Stuff

hmm well i am at work today, wondering if anyone has any resources they could link me?
 I am really needing to find some info on the radio more then anything. it is a hi-tec hp-2tx75d, which brings 1 result in google that is expired >.>

also i know i will need some bearings/bushings. the fronts are bushings and wore pretty good!

Jeremy Z

I'm pretty sure the wheels use standard 5x11 bearings. Except for transmissions, they all used 5x11 back then. I can't help you with the radio.

I just got an email notification that I had been outbid on the Fox, and that the auction is over. My bid was $50. Final bid was $325. I don't want one THAT badly, hehehe.

The_Stuff

lol nice job on the bid!

well its been fun today, suspension on the complete one is full of cracks, parts one is good cept 1 shock brace on lower arm, so i switched it all out, bearings are better, suspension is better, and the shafts on the old one were worn and grooved a bit.

got enough bushings for the fronts to have the proper amount now, but might need some bearings there later, i took the body top off the parts one and replaced it on the complete one, the radio antennae mount was broke on one side.

took pics of the insides to, was pretty much completely dust free! 2 servos in there, one for steering and one to control the old style speed controller! both are hi-tec as well as the receiver.

oh and the original rear assembly to was full of carpet fibers and that had siezed the bearings in it to. so i changed out the whole rear end assembly! much fun!

as for radio, i have a Traxass radio, reciever. do you guys think that would work? or would i have to bypass that second servo hooked to the old skool speed controller?

disjaukifa

My Feedback: (14)

I think I know where a battery tray for the transmitter is. Let me do some looking, I think I know where you can get one.

-Disjaukifa

The_Stuff

omg! if you found one that would rock!! I'm kinda between a rock and hard place, i got the original radio, no battery pack, a traxass radio, batteries dead and no way of charging them (home made battery pack jobie) and i got my radio for my semi, but i would have to pull alot of wires and unstick the reciever from the truck and re-program the controller for the Fox...



also, pictures.
Ioriginally was just going to slap the motor in the complete one and run with it, but after examination, the rear end was full of stress cracks and the bearings were not good. also because the bearings were not good, it had wore the shafts...


Aka, Carpet runner, shag carpet runner


When i noticed the "spare" rear end is in better shape


pulled the rear assembly off and changed over any good items to then "new" one. (after i changed out some knuckles and so forth already..


Insides of the "DUSTPROOFCOVER" that tamiya says. well after 20 some years, yeah, its done its job!

vintage!

one servo to steer, one to act as the ESC!


and back together it went!



put the second one together as much as i could

what is left of the electric parts from the spare. looks like it has been robbed for parts before!

The_Stuff

Okay.... problem. took the esc out of the semi, a nice 2.4 ghz radio, and bam... problem.. notice the leads for the servos and the battery?they are DOUBLETHICK!! i have to either fix the radio or put new guts in it

Jeremy Z

I don't really understand your last post. If the leads are double thick but the plugs are the same size, you're still good to go. They probably just used thicker insulation back in the day because thermoplastics weren't as advanced 25 years ago.

Are the plugs different?

Funny thing, I bet you could still sell that parts Fox for a good bit...

The_Stuff

ya the plugs for both servos and the battery in on the receiver are both thicker length and width wise. just a hair or two wider that it wont go in any way and allot thicker. if i had a new servo lead available i would take a side by side picture for you. so unfortunately the fox will be sitting a bit longer. probably until i can either find a battery pack for the radio (which still cannot find anything about it on the internet at all) or find another vintage radio/receiver package to replace the one i have now. Once i get this fox up and going and know everything is okay, i might sell the parts fox. it is almost all there. it has no radio guts other then the one pic i have earlier, has no motor, and one front wheel has the nut stripped and will not come off, but i dont think that is too much of a problem cause it is on there good. Also needs one front screw/bolt thing to hold the suspension on. i guess it does not have the tie rods for the steering as well. heck i might even trade it for a good working vintage radio that will work with my fox...

Jeremy Z

Can you take a picture of the battery pack for the radio?

Seems like it wouldn't be hard to build one...

You might get in touch with red scholefeld over in the Batteries and Chargers forum. I bet he can custom build one for you at a reasonable price. Isn't it just the typical 8AA shape? Even 8 AAA?  Then, all you need is the right connector. You could take the leads from the old dead pack (if you have it) and solder it to the newly built pack.  Or, you could open up the radio and solder another connector in.

This sounds like an easy problem to fix, with just a little bravery and skill with a soldering iron.

The_Stuff

well this is all i know, it takes a battery pack that fits in here, there was no battery pack with it or telling what voltage etc it is. i still cant find anything. even emailed hi-tec

Jeremy Z

That will be an EASY one, glad you posted the pic.

Do you have Radio Shacks up there? They sell 8AA battery holders that hold the batts. in two rows of four, and their output contacts are just in position to mate with the contacts pictured in your radio.

Go buy one, load it up with AAs and you're good to go.

If you don't have Radio Shacks, you might have something equivalent, and if not, it should be easy to source one through ebay or something.

The_Stuff

radio shack is now "the source" by circuit city up here. we have one in my town but its a joke. ill try it still.


EDIT: okay, its no longer a circuit city, and they dont have any battery pack stuff... so im back to square one.


Edit 2:jerry rigged in a 7.2 v battery and it works!! well for now anyhow!

Jeremy Z

It won't be with the battery packs. It will be with the circuit components, in the big drawers.

This is what you're looking for:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2062251

The_Stuff

exactly what i need! the 7.2v pack just doesn't make it work right all the time.

Jeremy Z

Transmitters that ran on 8 cellsare looking for between 9.6 (if you use 1.2 V rechargeable batteries) and 12 V (alkalines), so I'm surprised your 7.2 V solution worked at all.

You should be able to find one of these locally.

If not, you can probably find a used Traxxas TQ radio system for pretty cheap. A buddy of mine says he picks them up on ebay for $10+/-.

86waterpumper

Cool looking foxes! Man those things are tight inside that dust cover aren't they? This is why I decided to make mine a shelf queen even though it's not in pristine condition. I just don't want to be constantly having to dismantle the thing!

Funny you mentioned running a tx off 7.2 volts. I recently got a old tamiya bearhawk and it came with a oldschool futaba tx I didn't have the right battery for. Iused a futaba rx 4 cell aa pack to power it! It actually will run off 6 volts HAHA crazy :P

The_Stuff

ya it barely ran. the power guage on it was at like .... 2. and yeah, i need to get the correct thing for it. maybe if payday gets around i will try to get something done.

Jeremy Z

Dude, the thing is $1.89.