Old Kyosho cars and what to do with them - restore or ditch
 

Recently, while visiting my childhood home, I brought all my old RC cars out of the attic. I figured I'd try to introduce my son to the world of RC. I mean, it's a fun hobby and it can be very rewarding!

The stuff is 30 year old vintage/old school Kyosho. I have an Optima and a Kyosho Racing Montero. The Optima is incomplete. However when I stopped building it in 1988 I upgraded it to the gold chassis, belt drive, an all ball bearing kit and had some more things it needed to make it a complete car. It needs the radio plate, shocks, the body, and other assorted small pieces. Then I'd need a battery pack, charger, probably a new motor, and a radio. It probably qualifies as a bit of a basket case.

The Kyosho Racing Montero is complete but it has a Pulsar 2000 AM radio transmitter and receiver. You can imagine the amount of chatter and interception the servos have when you turn it on. Sometimes it just has a mind of its own and the servos will activate or even worse the channels will get switched.

For the Montero I was able to get the OS Max .10 FSR-B to start and run for a very short amount of time. I used very old nitro fuel (Cox Super Power fuel for an old .049 182 Skylane I have). So I bought a new glow plug, new 10% nitro fuel, and fuel lines. The engine still would not run for more than a minute no matter what needle adjustments I used. The manual I found online said 3-4 open turns of the needle. The OS 10 FSR-B only had an idle set screw but no low speed idle adjustment screw.

I believe the engine may be shot. I don't think there is much compression as I was able to turn the flywheel easily with my fingers when the glow plug was installed. I ended up disassembling the engine and then checking the pinch of the cylinder. It did not go through the top of the cylinder/piston sleeve. However, the piston may have been damage when I removed the sleeve. Regardless, the motor will not even start now with a #8 glow plug that glows bright red and does not dim when you try to blow it out. I disassembled it today and the wrist pin for the piston had two small white caps that fell out. Bad news for sure.

I realize parts for the Montero are basically non existent. All that can be found are bearing kits but I don't need those. When I started working on the buggy a few days ago, I had to fabricate the output clutch shaft from a metric machine thread bolt that the pinion gear attaches to. Even if I were to buy a new OS Max .10 FSR engine from an auction site, I might be running the buggy on borrowed time since any breakage would require more fabrication.

My question to the forum is what is the opinion here? Ditch both cars or try to work with what I have? I could repower the Racing Montero and get the remaining parts I need for the Optima (I know the Optima was just reissued for 2016).

If the general consensus is to try to restore these cars, I would guess I'd need to get a 2.4 gHz radio as well as look to a brushed or brushless motor for the Optima. I'd also need to decide on what battery type to use for car. I'd also have to get another engine for the Montero which I've found for 75 bucks NIB.

I'm just wondering if I'd spend more in restoring this stuff than if I went out and bought a modern day RC car.

I know nothing about nitro. I used to think I wanted something nitro to work on, now I pretty much gave up on the thought of it. Brushless motors and LiPo batteries are to thank :cool:.

I do know I would get the Optima up and running (was it ever running?). Depending on what the incomplete Optima needs, maybe it's more feasible to get a new kit. If they don't mean much to you, sell them, and get something new. If you're like me, you'll have sellers remorse, and be wanting your RCs back (especially the Optima ;)).

Rusty,

Nitro definitely has a fun factor. For me though, it reminded me of how temperamental those engines can be. One minute they run, the next they don't. Then you spend a ton of time trying to get it to start again. Also the Racing Montero was a messy little buggy. Fuel spilled out of the tank a lot and the engine exhaust spewed oil. My workbench is covered in nitro fuel after working on it. Part of me wants to try to get another engine for it and see if I can get it running reliably. But the parts just don't exist. Also it was not a high end car back in the day. It was an intro level buggy to nitro.

The Optima ran once from what I remember. It was fast and ultra quiet with the belt drive and all the ball bearings in it. All it would need are a few things to complete it. The beauty of the Optima is that it isn't disassembled and in pieces. But it would need modern day electronics.

I would restore them and keep them. While they won't make great regular bashers because of parts availability, it's nice to pull a childhood memory off the shelf every now and then and take it for cruise a down memory lane. I do this with my Hornet and my RC10. For "daily bashing", I think in most cases you'll find it easier and more cost effective in the long run to get something that parts are still currently available for.

Yeah the more I search on new RC buggies/trucks/cars, the more I think that the cost of the resto is the best way to go for myself and to get my kid involved. An OS .10 engine, NIB, is 75 bucks on an auction site. A new radio, battery, and misc parts for the Optima would run less than 150. It seems to be the way to go for now.

I do like the new RC cars that are out there and I see myself getting a modern day car/truck soon. I'd love an Axial or Tamiya CC-01/CR-01. A re-issued Bruiser would be sweet but that is just because it was THE vehicle no kid could ever afford. Also it would be sweet to have a TMaxx, or something from Associated, or....well the list goes on and on.

I need to get some pictures posted of what I have. I'll do that for the forum.

I also checked the dimensions of the Montero and I think I could put a Tamiya FJ40 body on it. A nitro powered FJ40 seems like a cool little buggy that might be a one of a kind.

Here are photos of the cars. The wheels/tires on the Optima were some I bought to put on the Montero. I swapped them just to see what they looked like on the other car.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193971 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193972 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2193973

Very cool.

Turbo Optima shocks would look good on the Optima. They're a lot better shock if you drive the car much. Love those old optimas. Still have mine.