Frederik_b

Thanks Preston! Excited to solder it on and cut the opening on the floor underside to reveal the tunnel!

Haha! Lars you're the man, you always guess what the part is before it is bent to shape.

Thanks guys for following along!

Frederik_b

Update! I cut the tranny tunnel hole roughly because I tought I'd solder it from under. Was a mistake, I should have soldered from the top all the time.



I thought I'd use strong magnets to hold the piece in place while soldering...



Did not work very well, after a few seconds of heating the magnets lost their magnetic properties and the piece moved around. So I removed the magnets on one end, keeping only the other ones on the end not being soldered. As usual the first side I made is crap and the second is better. The top of the tunnel was reajusted for better fit but was still not right enough for the solder to sip in so the top is pretty much not soldered..

Fugly side:



Better side:







Motor sitting by itself on crossmember (not fixed yet):










All in all I learned a few things and it does not look very nice but it seems pretty solid. Would have liked to have it soldered nocely all around but I guess I'll do better next time with the rest of the tunnel...!

Lars from Norway

Maybe you should have used a couple of small bolts to fix the tunnel prior to the soldering instead? Might be a tip for your next soldering job And just fill the holes after you have soldered the parts together. You know i love this project!

Frederik_b

Yes the bolts would have yield a much better result I believe, actually I thought of using small rivets and grinding them down once soldered but could not find the smaller sized 3/32" rivets. The screws would have helped push the piece in place... Maybe I should just desolder it, clean and re-do, I might end up doing just that, with three screws holding everything in place. I could also readjust slightly for better contact in the upper part. I'm not sure if the screws will get soldered in place though (maybe not, it is stainless).

Thanks for the comments Lars!

Lars from Norway

God! i hate inches. Give me mm please, lol!

Sounds like a nice plan to re-do the job and to get a clean new surface on the upper firewall, What if you soldered it from the underside, letting the tunnel run through the chassi having the lips on the underside?

Frederik_b

Mmm if I de-solder it I will certainly mock it up from under to see how it would be. Nice idea Lars, would make for a much nicer seam from inside I believe, and would hold itself in place easier. Thanks for the tip Lars!

Frederik_b

I have just received a new set of mini wheels intended for Tamiya M chassis cars, and while my current favourite wheels were the 4 spoke with staggered offsets, the mini size (tire size) really seems to be the proper diameter for these Escorts... I also like the white 5 spoke look, I have seen quite a few Escorts with this type of wheels, more of a modern look though.






They leave less room for the brakes up front though... The calipers won't fit with mini wheels. If I can find a way to custom make some tires for the 4 spoke wheels and end up with smaller diameter, same as the mini tires, I think I'll have the perfect setup. I am thinking of hacking the semi tires, get rid of half the sidewall, and wrap them around the 4 spokes. I would overlap the plastic sidewall integrated into the wheel. Ideas and ideas...


Edit: I added a pic of the 4 spoke to compare the tire diameter :

Lars from Norway

You have too many ideas! I think you could have made seven different cars out of them The best looking rims i have used with my 1/10-Escort is some Minilites made for M-chassi, just the perfect size.

Frederik_b

You are probably right hahaha and I did not include pics of all the wheels I bought lol I have only 2 1:10 kits, and this escort, but way too many wheels and tires

I also like the mini size, they are the closest for size. Offsets are kind of low though (well low in terms of RC, high if you speak actual car offset lol!)

Frederik_b

I de-soldered the tranny tunnel and adjusted it a bit to make it fit from under instead of inside. And I started with the driveshaft tunnel too, I will somder it all at once to make it easier. For now I am installing just s few bolts to hold it flush with the floor and help to solder, then I'll buff the bolts off. Would have taken mor pics but the phone was full... Here is what I am at now:

Lars from Norway

I like what i see! Looks very nice and flush now. I think it will turn out very nice!

Frederik_b

Thanks Lars! Yes I think it will be much better that way. So glad I decided to switch to a sheetmetal floor instead of the aluminum rails!

Also I still need to replace the screw and nuts with larger screw threaded in the frame rails like you suggested, it's just that I have bigger tasks to do for now on the build, once I get the main parts all done I'll fine tune the whole.

I ordered a new shell for an upcoming build, a Pandora Toyota Starlet not sure when I'll start that one though, it's not in the project pipeline yet

Frederik_b

Small update! Spent a few hours on the tunnel. Here is a pic of how crappy it is before any type of cleaning... At least it seems like the solder sipped in nicely for most of the joints:





And a few pics after some cleaning, not done yet as there are still quite a few big blobs of solder that formed on the inside, I'll use a small spherical cutting head on the dremel to complete the cleaning:









Not very nice but it'll work!

rnemovr

So how much does this thing weigh so far?

Frederik_b

Last time I weight with all parts that I could see I'd put on it (battery, motor, tranny, servos etc) was around 4 lbs but I added a couple pieces since then. Not sure where it will end up but I think it's not too bad considering my Tamiya TB-01 Rally is 1.8 kg (which is pretty much 4 lbs).

rnemovr

Not bad

Frederik_b

Did some work tonight but hit a pretty big setback... I lenghtened the driveshaft, that part turned out ok. Problem is the driveshaft sits a bit too high in the tunnel and hits it at the back near the diff when compressing suspension... That is mostly because how high up the output is on the tranny. I lowered the tranny as much as I could, but still had to make a hole to clear, not sure how I'll solve that down the line but for now it's just a hole...








Here is a shot with shell, now that the tunnel is all there, with driveshaft and motor secured:









I'm not very happy that I've not noticed this would happen, but that's ok and part of the fun I guess lol... So that's it for now, tonight was mostly head scratching and cursing

Lars from Norway

You haven't run into a problem, just a challenge! Make a little bulge and call it a day

Frederik_b

Yes now that the initial "doh" moment is passed I don't feel that bad about it, I'll make some kind of cover with a bulge for it! And call it the driveshaft tightening aperture lol

Yesterday I made the hole in the floor for the other front wheel so both wheels can turn full lock now and I also made two little mounting brackets for the steering on the struts, so for the first time I now have a full standing chassis with the two front wheels linked together! And not crossed eye all the time haha


I also slapped on random springs (too stiff) in the front, it was a good feeling having it standing by itself like that, and be able to roll it around the place!

Frederik_b

Some short vids! Don't mind the squeaking noises, I need to put spring seats up top of the struts so the springs does not sit directly on the inner fender lol


http://youtu.be/wQv2DZSHsYk http://youtu.be/hyhNZDxUVUo http://youtu.be/4A8Ty_ttfVA

Frederik_b

It seems the losi xxx springs are just right, maybe a tad high but it might settle down when I am done adding stuff on the chassis:








And a video of the travel, seems good! It's got quite some droop too!




http://youtu.be/06qPIEUwObA

Frederik_b

Update!! So I was scratching my head at how to do a better steering slider thingy instead of just the brake line piece which was a puzzle to mount to the chassis, being round. I wanted to drill a piece of aluminum but did not have the right drill bit for the steering steel pin size. But I do have 1/4" drill bit, the outer size of the brake line so I am using the brake line piece as the sleeve into a solid block of aluminum cut to shape:







I made a rough but straight cut with the handsaw and sanded until the size was just right for the pin to slide in:





I turned that large screw into a small guide pin that screws into the steering shaft:










And the more I think of it the more I like this size of these tires and wheels, it is very very close to what these cars actually had:







So that's not a whole lot of update but I hope you like it!! steering is more solid now and it will be much easier to bolt on being square!


Now I need to do the cables attachments. They will likely attach to the base of both 5mm balls on the steering rack, so they will be coming from the center and pulling on their respective ball lol

Lars from Norway

Marvellous, me thinks! Those wheels has the very right diameter also, very nice.

Frederik_b

Thanks Lars! Short and quick update, I made a skid plate, and attached the steering thing to it. You might notice the steering block is now at an angle, this is after I discovered it slides much better with the pin upwards than towards rear or front, so having it angled makes it slightly better without having to re-do the whole thing, amd also brings the block up a bit, which improves the steering geometry (I had bump steer because of the steering links angle).

In the process I also flipped it front/back so there is now room behind the block to install the cable mechanism. Edit: sorry the iPhone is temporarily out of service (my 1yo boy out it in the toilet) so these are iPad pictures, quality is not good:








http://youtu.be/fmykr2cuCsU
http://youtu.be/lVT5MK1kglI Thanks for looking !

Frederik_b

I finally mocked up the styrene bits Prestonlal made for me on the MK2 shell!! After like one or two years I mocked it up on the shell with tiny dots of hot glue, to see how it would look standing by itself and not having to hold the pieces myself I think it makes the rear end alive! The no wing and no bumper rear is kind of boring but it is much better like that! Thanks again preston for making them, really appreciate it!


While at it I also put a few spotlights I had laying Not quite big enough compared to the real thing but still cool me thinks!








And yet with another set of tires :





Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I really want to get back to it now, just need to work my schedule a bit and make up some time for hobby!