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  #1  
Old 21-07-2009
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Default Mardave Cobra Stuff / Discussion

Hi All

Ive recently got ahold of a a Cobra and am keen on getting it running and racing it at my club.. (I like a challenge). I have got a few questions I'm keen to ask though.

As far as I remember the shocks are oil shocks? If so how do I open them?

Will any spur just fit?

Is there a GRP chassis? The Aluminium one just seems like its ready to bend at the drop of a hat.

And any tuning tips?

I'll post pictures once I get the shell painted.

Cheers
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Old 21-07-2009
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You might want to give this site a look: http://www.planet-venom.co.uk/
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Old 21-07-2009
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From what I remember the shocks unscrew from the bottom.
Can't remember about the spur gear but the good news is that Mardave have re-released the Cobra so all the parts are available.

Fibrelyte used to do carbon fibre parts for the Cobra, including the chassis, shock mounts, etc. However, you'd have to really love it to spend that sort of money on one.

Never ran one so can't help with the setups I'm afraid.
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Old 21-07-2009
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Get hold of Chris Wilkinson at Mardave as he has recently redone bits for the Mardave.

I'd love to see it do well
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Old 21-07-2009
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there will be a 2009 cobra released very soon! many parts uprated and brushless ready
if you cant wait he still makes and sells the cobra se new direct from Mardave.
You can also get a whole new slipper set rather than fixing the old confusing one!!
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Old 21-07-2009
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I'll be interested to see what the 2009 edition is like. However I want to see what my old school one will achieve.

As to brushless ready, what really would you need other than Universal drive shafts? I Intend to Run a brushless in mine anyways.

For the 2009 one the chassis is the big thing that could / should be changed.. and the shocks.
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Old 21-07-2009
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2009 one isnt much different from the one you have, maybe a sliper clutch and a anodised chassis which would be stiffer than the yellow standard one. Get some ae shocks or losi ones as the std mardave ones leak.

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Old 21-07-2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by westie View Post
2009 one isnt much different from the one you have, maybe a sliper clutch and a anodised chassis which would be stiffer than the yellow standard one. Get some ae shocks or losi ones as the std mardave ones leak.

are you on about the one due sep/oct time with a revised diff(at last)
turnbuckles and a host of improvements over the recently reissued se?
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Old 21-07-2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by qatmix View Post
I'll be interested to see what the 2009 edition is like. However I want to see what my old school one will achive.

As to brushless ready, what really would you need other than Universal drive shafts? I Intend to Run a brushless in mine anyways.

For the 2009 one the chassis is the big thing that could / should be changed.. and the shocks.
the old cobra gearbox and diff dont like brushless, infact the diff with no plates was/is the achillies heal of the cobra
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Old 21-07-2009
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What exactly was the problem? I remember them being ok with a 17t motor back in the day. Although I know brushless motors have a lot more overall torque.

Also looking at this one, it seems to have a slipper of sorts.. (and carbon fibre shock mounts) Although I cant work out how to add a spur to it atm...
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Old 22-07-2009
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if you've got the slipper you may be ok, but the diff has no plates and the bosses wear quickly and bang goes the diff( ive had a new diff fail within one heat running a 19t motor), the top shaft in the gearbox is not the greatest with brushless either, a couple of people i know who run them with ezrun systems had some new alloy ones made to stop the wear.
It can be done but you'll have to call upon your own modelling skills
I was going to get myself a new cobra last week but after speaking to Chris at Mardave decided to wait for the next couple of months for the the new with all the old little niggles sorted and ready for the next 20 years!!
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Old 23-07-2009
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Cool its great seeing these old buggies being used again in anger.... would love to see some pics of your Cobra Gatmix

Unless you are planning on driving your Cobra flat-out into a brick wall you shouldn't ever have any problems with the Dural Ali chassis bending (unless it has been already bent by the previous owner) I have seen them bend - but these were cars that had been really abused.

Similarly - we would regularly run 12turn motors without any bother.... though not sure how they would stand up to something like a 6.5 brushless? The Diffs did need re-building regularly to keep them smooth/ish but the complete units were so cheap - I quite often brought one rather than the individual diff parts.

I also ran the standard shocks - with carefull assembly they can be made to work rather well with minimal leakage Yes Kyosho Option House or AE RC10 shocks were better but I couldn't afford those back then.

Set-up wise - 30wt oil all round with Schumacher long Blue springs on the rear & Schumacher med Yellow springs on the front, ride height with wishbones level & a couple of degrees of neg camber all round was always a good starting point

I managed some decent results with my old Cobra - especially indoors, the main weakness I felt with with the car was that the gears inside the gearbox were too course & limited the stop speed.... which is why I adapted a Losi XX gearbox to fit

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Old 23-07-2009
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Wow! Thats a nice looking car

I've got the car pretty much up and running. I thought that the slipper was missing some pads.. but they dont actually have pads!

The shocks are a mess, I need to open them up and get them set-up (These are about 15 years old). So I doubt they have any oil in them anymore I need to look for those springs you mentioned

I've also managed to get a new Lexan shell / wing, plus a wishbone etc from Chris at Mardave. Top bloke and the parts are so cheap

I intend to race it tonight.. maybe

I'll post a pic once the car is up and running, I have a lrp 8t that I will fit in it.
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Old 24-07-2009
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Yeah Chris is a top bloke and just wish he'd race the Cobra..
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Old 24-07-2009
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HE dont like anything else then his beloved vrx's
You need ball bearings for the new gearbox as hinckleys club cobra came with bushings in
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  #16  
Old 24-07-2009
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I think the 1/10 vrx will be released soon.

Tonight I'm going to rebuild the shocks. Do you have any tips on how to get the best out of the Mardave shocks? As far as I remember they dont have o-rings etc although that was quite some time ago and my dad would have probably fixed them up.
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Old 27-07-2009
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Managed to try it out over the weekend (briefly) after testing out the Madrat.

Was quite surprised on how it went, considering the tyres are shot etc it was quite responsive. The shocks are quite terrible though so I might replace it with some plastic Tamiya ones for now as at least they work.

I moved the front shocks to the front of the tower and that helped teh handling quite a bit. The car felt more shurefooted into the corners.

Does anyone know if you can strip the yellow paint of the chassis easily?
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Old 04-08-2009
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Might be me being old but am sure my chassis was blue.
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  #19  
Old 04-08-2009
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I think they did both Yellow and Blue painted chassis over the years ?

To strip mine, i got a metal roller paint tray, filled it with cellulose thinners and left the chassis overnight in it. The paint comes off easily in the morning with a scraper. Then i polished it to a mirror finish on a industrial buffer.

Didnt last long, but looked great for oohhh a good 10 minutes before its first run
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  #20  
Old 04-08-2009
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sport was yellow and TQ was blue!
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