Alternative Cobra wheels........

[Miggers]

Okay,I've been doing a bit of research for those of us who're looking to fit
different wheels to a Cobra(and indeed a Meteor).

So bear with me and I'll explain what I've figured out.

Both the Cobra and Meteor share the same axle sizes and drive peg locations,
5mm on the back,4mm on the front.
The main difference being that the Cobra uses bearings in the front wheels
and wheel retaining screws all round,the Meteor uses E clips to retain the wheels and the fronts just run on the axle.
But,but,the bottom line is that Cobra axles and wheels will fit the Meteor and and vice versa.

As I see it,if you'd like to fit other manufacturer's wheels to your Cobra/Meteor,then a bit of lateral thinking is needed.
There is no-one out there at the moment that makes anything for either car,JC Racing (now owned by CML it appears) used to make some natty five spokes for the Cobra(DerbyDan has them on his Lobra),but not anymore.

Someone has mentioned RC10B3/B4/Losi XXX wheels could well fit the rear
but isn't sure about the fronts.

Ok then,here we go:

The RC10B3/B4 uses 3/16" diameter axles front and rear.
These run in 3/16"x 3/8" bearings(Americans still use Imperial measurements).

This equates like:
3/16"=0.1875"=4.76mm x 3/8"=0.3750=9.51mm.

So we're talking around 4.76 x 9.51

Most European and Japanese cars run 5mm axles in 5mm x 10mm bearings,
so as can be seen,the RC10's 4.76mm bore wheels aren't a million miles away(given that Mardave rear axles actually measure out at around 4.93mm),about 0.17mm smaller in bore.

The fronts however need a bit more thought.
Mardave put 4mm axles up front on the Cobra/Meteor(actually about 3.97-3.98mm),so this leaves us about 0.77-0.78mm short for the RC10's
4.76 bore on it's bearings.

One option is to fit RC10Bseries front axles to the Cobra,you'd need to bore out the Cobra's steering arms to do it(parts C9 in the exploded diagram),
a 4.65mm drill bit should be enough then put the Cobra parts into hot water and then insert the RC10 front axles.
It may be possible to use a 4mm ID brass tube if it can be found to have an
OD of 4.76mm to "sleeve" the Cobra's axles to fit the RC10 bearings.
RC10B series steering arms could possibly be modified to fit the Cobra's uprights,negating the risks of boring out the Cobra steering arms.

Another option(if Japanese fitting wheels take your fancy) is to fit Tamiya axles on the rears(50823 for the TG10/TA01/M03/TL01),that way you can use 12mm hexes for the drive into similar wheels.
Tamiya Grasshopper/Hornet 5mm axles can be used up front(this again means boring out the Cobra steering arms)but you can then use any front wheel that takes standard 5mm x 10mm bearings.

So there you have it,the choice,my friends,is yours,but it can be done.

Mark