Build Thread My Ultima Pro (re)Build Thread KIT NO.3117 from 1989 ish.

[CertifiedMike]

I LOVE that seat/bag!!!
The body IS under warranty! Call this number and see what they say...
1-40-YEARS-AGO

The body is in excellent shape for its age!!!

 

[JRFisher]

I LOVE that seat/bag!!!
The body IS under warranty! Call this number and see what they say...
1-40-YEARS-AGO

The body is in excellent shape for its age!!!

Initially I just figured I would replace it. Then I noticed it wasn't that bad at all and there is the whole I painted it 37 years ago thing. . I will still paint one up in white.

 

[JRFisher]

A few more parts trickled in today, so today is shock day.

I assembled one of the long rear shocks, it went fine, but the second is giving me fits. It is very sticky in it's travel.

I thought maybe a bent shock shaft but I tried another shock shaft (I have a total of four of them all in good condition) and same issue, very sticky travel.

I am using grease (green slime) on the O rings.

I switched out the piston and tried, same result.

I switched the plastic spacers one at a time, same result.

I can slide the plastic spacers on the shock shaft and they don't feel sticky at all.

I run the shaft with piston on it without the plastic spacers and rubber O rings and there is no resistance.

It is not a constant feel, seems like there are a few sticky spots during travel, but never a spot I would call smooth.

There is no way this will function like this. The first one works smoothly, I built the second exactly the same.

Perhaps I need to rebuild with new internals (if they are available)?

I B stumped.

 

[CertifiedMike]

I have a few ideas that might help.

First, I use Mothers aluminum and chrome wheel cleaner paste to polish the shock shafts. Its fast and easy, esp if you use a drill.
I use wood shafted qtips and same Mothers polish to polish inside of shock body. Again, drill makes it go quickly enough.

Are the orings new and correct size?
They are P3 (3mm) from Kyosho I think.
Orings can swell with age as they suck up petroleum and cause sticking issues like you seem to be having.
Make sure the pistons can't go cockeyed on the piston shaft. If yours are worn, eclips bent maybe, the piston might be going cockeyed in the shock body causing binding.
If its wobbly, shim it to see if that helps.

 

[JRFisher]

I have a few ideas that might help.

First, I use Mothers aluminum and chrome wheel cleaner paste to polish the shock shafts. Its fast and easy, esp if you use a drill.
I use wood shafted qtips and same Mothers polish to polish inside of shock body. Again, drill makes it go quickly enough.

Are the orings new and correct size?
They are P3 (3mm) from Kyosho I think.
Orings can swell with age as they suck up petroleum and cause sticking issues like you seem to be having.
Make sure the pistons can't go cockeyed on the piston shaft. If yours are worn, eclips bent maybe, the piston might be going cockeyed in the shock body causing binding.
If its wobbly, shim it to see if that helps.

Good suggestions, thanks. The e clips are definitely a good thing for me to check. O rings are new and properly sized.

I will follow your advice about the polishing routine, these parts deserve a good spa day. I'll have to pick up some items in town.

 

[JRFisher]

L I B Look at M Ducks.
M R Not Ducks
R 2 Ducks
R Not
O S A R, C M Bills
L I B, M R Ducks!

Couldn't help myself, Every time I start to say "Well I'll Be!" it turns into that little ditty in my head ( L I B ! ). It's ok if you don't get it, makes me chuckle every time. Helps if you speak deep southern.

Perhaps Eureka!!! would be more proper here.

I finally found my batch of lost front tires and wheels, all the fronts I have been looking for!

The yellow wheels in particular as they were the original kit wheels and match the rears I have. I saw a set on Evil Bay, they were not even matched, one yellow, one green, selling for $79.99! Holy crap!

The tires on that yellow set of wheels are worn smooth.

The tedious part will be removing that old worn out rubber and cleaning up the rubber glued on residue. I'm just tickled I found them. They were sitting in a box not 3 ft from me, it was just covered in misc stuff and I didn't think it had anything to do with RC stuff. Sheesh.
The one white set still has the bearings in em. Must have been the last tires I was running before putting things away.

A few of the tires don't look used at all. Two sets of "sand rail type" tires (just a single or double groove) look unused. Also a set of spike tires that look completely unused.

Taking them to the sink now to clean the flood muck off them.

 

[JRFisher]

They cleaned up nicely, I couldn't take too long or my wife might find me some dirty dishes to do. Turns out the only tires glued on were the yellow ones. Everything but the yellows came off easily with zero glue residue, and not much at all on them. The rear yellows had quite a bit more glue residue with attached rubber. The yellow and silver wheels appear identical. I was surprised to find a plastic ring inside the tires. I wonder if they were glued on from the factory that way? At the track today they have a barrel full of used tires and wheels, apparently they are not worth messing with when the tire wears out, which apparently is very often. I don't recall learning about gluing on tires until recently but heck, I've forgot a lot of poop since then. Also, the yellow and silver wheels are a bit smaller than the rest. The small wheels and tires measure 2.0 ", and the bigger ones measure 2.15" (I'm guessing that is what a 2" wheel should measure?).

 

[CertifiedMike]

They cleaned up nicely, I couldn't take too long or my wife might find me some dirty dishes to do. Turns out the only tires glued on were the yellow ones. Everything but the yellows came off easily with zero glue residue, and not much at all on them. The rear yellows had quite a bit more glue residue with attached rubber. The yellow and silver wheels appear identical. I was surprised to find a plastic ring inside the tires. I wonder if they were glued on from the factory that way? At the track today they have a barrel full of used tires and wheels, apparently they are not worth messing with when the tire wears out, which apparently is very often. I don't recall learning about gluing on tires until recently but heck, I've forgot a lot of poop since then. Also, the yellow and silver wheels are a bit smaller than the rest. The small wheels and tires measure 2.0 ", and the bigger ones measure 2.15" (I'm guessing that is what a 2" wheel should measure?).

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Yes, 2" tires for Kyosho vintage wheels... made them combined with the weird offset a not very popular wheel. The other wheel is likely a 2.2" like most modern buggies.
You can still get to 2" tires from Kyosho and Marwan. Might be able to stretch 1.9" tires on to the 2" wheels too. I never tried it.

Nice that you found your wheels again!!!

 

[JRFisher]

For a pretty thing sitting on a shelf, the old tires I have will fit and look just fine (Even that free set I got with the body fit and look good as well as being original).

For actual track driving, I'll pick up a set of the more modern tread design.

I have 6 sets of the 2", 4 of which look just fine, and 3 sets of the 2.2" tires, 2 of which look good. The larger ones I can set up on the white wheels for running in the yard/driveway.

The rubber all seems to be in good shape, no cracking at all.

Yes, 2" tires for Kyosho vintage wheels... made them combined with the weird offset a not very popular wheel. The other wheel is likely a 2.2" like most modern buggies.
You can still get to 2" tires from Kyosho and Marwan. Might be able to stretch 1.9" tires on to the 2" wheels too. I never tried it.

Nice that you found your wheels again!!!

 

[JRFisher]

Oh yeah, the rear whites offset is not so good, If I choose to use them I will grind them out just a bit, I think there is plenty of meat there.

 

[JRFisher]

Well, I would call it a solid 94.235% complete. Correct period wheels, shocks, springs, tires, and electronics. I just need them rear axles to come in and finish up those shocks. However, I have to take a week off so I just wanted to have a good look at the end so to speak before my trip. That rear wing is not original, no surprise that I would have had to replace it at some point while racing. I've seen enough pictures as well as the replacement clear body with wing to know the shape of this wing is not original. Shouldn't be too hard to match the paint. I'll ponder that a bit more. I'm happy with it so far, anxious to get it on the track for a few laps.

 

[CertifiedMike]

Well, I would call it a solid 94.235% complete. Correct period wheels, shocks, springs, tires, and electronics. I just need them rear axles to come in and finish up those shocks. However, I have to take a week off so I just wanted to have a good look at the end so to speak before my trip. That rear wing is not original, no surprise that I would have had to replace it at some point while racing. I've seen enough pictures as well as the replacement clear body with wing to know the shape of this wing is not original. Shouldn't be too hard to match the paint. I'll ponder that a bit more. I'm happy with it so far, anxious to get it on the track for a few laps.

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View attachment 238701

That wing looks pretty close to the Mid wing.
I will look to see if I have any more kicking around to compare.
Very cool that you've built this true to year too!!!
Nice job! The car looks great!

 

[JRFisher]

That wing looks pretty close to the Mid wing.
I will look to see if I have any more kicking around to compare.
Very cool that you've built this true to year too!!!
Nice job! The car looks great!

The original has a slight turn towards the front edge on each side, this one just goes straight back. The clear ones have the turn down and numerous pictures I have seen have it as well.

This picture probably shows it the best.

 

[CertifiedMike]

The original has a slight turn towards the front edge on each side, this one just goes straight back. The clear ones have the turn down and numerous pictures I have seen have it as well.

This picture probably shows it the best.
View attachment 238702

Yep. This is the same as the Mid wing.
I think Teambluegroove.com sells just the wings.

 

[JRFisher]

Yep. This is the same as the Mid wing.
I think Teambluegroove.com sells just the wings.

I have two full bodies in clear ready to use right now. Not sure if I want to cut one out for this orange body or just worry about it for when I paint up a white body.

 

[JRFisher]

Had a nice trip to visit our granddaughter in Alamogordo NM. In the back of my mind was the shock issue still awaiting resolution sitting back at home waiting on me.

Well for crying out loud. After much hashing over my stiff shock business I just figured it out.
Not mentioned before but I also ran into the sticky shock issue with one of the front shocks.
I polished the heck out of the shock shaft as well as the inner shock body. Checked and rechecked everything. I swapped components between them and one of each front and rear remained stiff. Swapped out all rubber O rings. Ran the shock shaft through each of the spacers and felt no difference in resistance.

I got to the point I was going to give up on these shocks for actual use and just have them set up for display only. I was about to research a good replacement. I also considered drilling out the small hole the shaft goes through thinking perhaps that was the issue, what did I really have to loose anyway?

Then it came to me as I was doing my final ponder, What if that white spacer was the problem? Even though I ran the shock shaft through it and none offered resistance, what if it was actually swollen so that when I put it in the shock it then caused the resistance?

I pulled out the white spacer, chucked it up in a drill and lightly sanded down the outside of it. That was it! It now installed easier but more importantly, when installed the sticky operation was gone. Worked the same on both sticky shocks! Good grief, that took way too long but at least I got it done. Apparently they were swollen enough that they pinched on the shock shaft only when inserted in the shock body.

In hindsight, there were two shocks that were full of oil when I disassembled them. They were soaked in that oil for 38 years. I'm just glad it is resolved.

Still waiting for my axles to arrive from Japan.

About to wrap up the shock assembly, just giving them a little time to bleed any air out of the oil. I find it amazing that they actually have a device to stick a shock in to that will draw a vacuum and help remove all entrained air from they shock oil. I don't think I'll buy one but it heightens the importance to give adequate time for the air to come out on it's own after a fair amount of cycling.

Onward...

I do have a lot of slop in the front wheels I would like to make better, I've shimmed all things shimable I believe. I think I need to replace the hubs and knuckles.

I could paint up a new body but my sticker sets I ordered are missing in action. USPS says they were delivered but apparently not to me.

Sure would like to get this wrapped up, There is a vintage race at the track in mid July, would love to participate.

 

[CertifiedMike]

Nice find! I hope you make it to your race! I'd love to see it run once its finished!!!

 

[JRFisher]

 

[JRFisher]

My axles came in today. Very glad to have them in hand.

I've done a test fit and they seem perfectly sized. The long shaft is just slightly longer than the original but there is plenty of room for it. They appear to be well designed and they sell the small parts separately. I probably should have ordered two sets or at least some rebuild parts, oh well. I wasn't 100% sure these would fit properly.

The space between the two orange parts is .9mm shorter than the same space on the old shaft. I had to use .9mm of spacers on the old shaft to remove the slop allowing the wheel to move in and out way to much. This new set removes that slop very well. I'm thinking these will work very well.

My only issue is that wheel hex hub. The problem is that it uses a pin/screw thing to attach through a hole in the axle. Well, had I been ordering for a rig already using an axle with a hole in it all would be good. Has I known the pin/screw was not included I would have added them to my order. The original hub was a taper fit on the axle. The only thing I have like that is the pin/screw that is used on my Axial drive shafts. The screw part is the correct size but the pin part is slightly fat. I could chuck it up into a drill and sand it down a bit but I think I will run to the hobby shop and just see if anything else might carry that correct size part. If not, a bit of backyard machining might be in order.

I like the through pin design better that the taper fit on the original hex hub, most modern rigs use a pin through design of some sort.

I ordered these from www.nickhobbies.com
They are located in Taiwan, ordered on June 15th and they arrived today. Not terribly bad for an overseas order I guess.

 

[Doom!]

My axles came in today. Very glad to have them in hand.
View attachment 239952

I've done a test fit and they seem perfectly sized. The long shaft is just slightly longer than the original but there is plenty of room for it. They appear to be well designed and they sell the small parts separately. I probably should have ordered two sets or at least some rebuild parts, oh well. I wasn't 100% sure these would fit properly.

The space between the two orange parts is .9mm shorter than the same space on the old shaft. I had to use .9mm of spacers on the old shaft to remove the slop allowing the wheel to move in and out way to much. This new set removes that slop very well. I'm thinking these will work very well.

My only issue is that wheel hex hub. The problem is that it uses a pin/screw thing to attach through a hole in the axle. Well, had I been ordering for a rig already using an axle with a hole in it all would be good. Has I known the pin/screw was not included I would have added them to my order. The original hub was a taper fit on the axle. The only thing I have like that is the pin/screw that is used on my Axial drive shafts. The screw part is the correct size but the pin part is slightly fat. I could chuck it up into a drill and sand it down a bit but I think I will run to the hobby shop and just see if anything else might carry that correct size part. If not, a bit of backyard machining might be in order.

I like the through pin design better that the taper fit on the original hex hub, most modern rigs use a pin through design of some sort.

I ordered these from www.nickhobbies.com
They are located in Taiwan, ordered on June 15th and they arrived today. Not terribly bad for an overseas order I guess.

Sounds like it's just what you needed. I always want to kick myself when I order something and realize I needed something else to make it work.