Just found some of my old cars.
 

I Just thought I'd share what I've found this morning. These cars were put away in the early 90's in my mum and dads old barn. I've just pulled them out and I'm planning on resurrecting at least some of them, so any help pointing me in the right direction for parts and advice would be very appreciated.

Firstly is my Yokomo Super Dog Fighter YZ870. I used to race this car as a 10 year old kid (now 36) and would love to get it back up and running.
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The second car is an Optima Mid. I can't remember exactly which model this is but it has aluminium shock towers if that helps? I would also like to get this one back up and running to use at various meetings.
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The third car I believe is an original chain drive Optima? It has manual speed controller and the red collars on the option house shocks if that makes any difference.
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The fourth car is an early Hotshot.
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The fifth car is a Schumacher Top Cat.
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Unfortunately I had a terrible addiction to taking things in bits as a small child but I do have a big box full of various bits and pieces to go with the cars, so fingers crossed most of the stuff is in that.

Lol. Wish I could find my PB MINI MUSTANG and swb Cat. Its a nice find that buddy

Nearly enough pay for a bmax43 if that lot was sold i reckon. ;)

If he sold all that you could probably get 2

I'm want to run the Optima Mid at some indoor events like Worksop. Old school's cool ;) From memory I think it's a Turbo S/W base but I'm hoping someone can confirm this? I just don't want to order the wrong stuff on ebay.

The Mid seems to me like a regular one, so that version that comes with the white body and orange/yellow/red/black striping. I don't see any of the Turbo's upgrade parts, no stabilizers, no turnbuckles, just regular tie-rods. The rear shock tower is probably from the Lazer ZX series it clearly isn't stock. But it's SWB for sure. Hope the rear diff and idler gear are still in good shape, those can be pretty shot on a well used car.

got load of schumacher, yoke and kyosho spares, got lists in the for sale section, im not expert tho so part numbers would be needed :thumbsup:

Yeah after a bit of research it looks like an early standard Mid. Can you still get the rear diffs and idlers or are they like hens teeth?

I've still got the yokomo manual so I can hit you up with part numbers :thumbsup:

rear ball diff sprockets are cheap, but the geardiff sprocket is expensive. The middle gear you have choices of buying original, pargu2000 aluminium or mine in hard plastic.
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Take apart the rear gearbox and have a look at the sprockets. I recommend a thorough cleaning of all the gears, inspection, and if usable, regrease and re install. If your vintage meet is indoors, you should only need the lower belt cover. If its outdoors get the complete belt covers from TBG.

Thanks for the info. I'll strip the gearbox down this weekend and post up some pictures and see what you think.

There is a 4th option for the middle gear, Thorpe also makes one. It would be great if someone stepped in to make a replacement gear diff sprocket. But if the current gears are not too worn, cleaning and re-grease will do. Looking forward to the pics.

Houston we have a problem!!

I've just stripped the gearbox which was absolutely packed full of 25 year old dirt including small stones. It has a gear diff which internally is fine but the gear on the diff is worn along with the idler.

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What are the best options from here? I see ball diffs available but are parts for gear diffs non existent?

This is the joy of restoring these old cars.
Now the hunt is on, I've spent hours and hours searching out old and very hard to find parts. It's like winning the lottery when the bits finally arrive that gave takers so long to find.

optima
 

That's what I want for my mid the chassis protector mine broke

I've bought a NOS rear ball diff so that's sorted until I can get find the parts for the gear diff. I just need the rest of the gears now.

I'm going to strip and clean the car over this weekend. I can see there's going to be a huge parts list and many hours trawling through ebay. I also noticed it must have had the anti roll bars at some time as the mounts on the front arms are still there. I'm sure the lad who originally owned this car told me it was a Turbo but unfortunately he's no longer here to ask.

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Does anyone know what this rear tower is?

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The normal Mid comes with mounts for front stabilizer. So that's not only on the Turbo. Just check if the front has dogbones or universal joints. The Turbo came with UJ's.

Rear shock tower looks Lazer ZX to me

It's a standard mid. No UJ's.

Hmm, that would indicate a Turbo, or it was installed later as upgrade. Still odd there are no turnbuckles, just normal tie rods...

optima mid
 

Looking at the gears and the gearbox, this is my csi verdict.
You used too much grease internally. Also because the drive line wasnt sealed , all the sand stones and dust went in the gearbox. I wouldnt normally say this, but the gears look like they can run at least another 10 packs.
Why not use zippo and clean all the gears and gearbox, grease with hobby grease then reassamble.use a tissue paper and a small - screwdriver to clean in between the gear tooth.
Or if you can wait for new gears,then wait till you get them.