I found a original Tamiya Brat

[kgb424]

I have a chance to pick up a used original Tamiya Subaru Brat

With a working mechanical speed control and stock 540 motor

Its missing the drive cups and axle dog bones, and the pinion gear cover

and there is no body, but that's ok, I got a new Sand Scorcher body that would

Be a perfect match cause there is only 2mm difference between the bug body

And brat chassis wheelbases

Are they worth buying for less than $100

[rustneversleeps]

i just finished building one and paid 159.00 plus taxes and see them go as cheap as 129.00 in China,and comes with 2 bodies.But you have an original so i say that a good thing....Enjoy your new fine...

[kgb424]

The Cheapest I found was $153 with free shipping and shipped from within the US, all the other ones are $180 to $200 or more and from Hong Kong

The $129 one your talking about, is $180 cause they want to charge you $53 for shipping with no tracking or insurance and takes a long time to ship from China over a month or longer

The one I'm thinking about buying is used and is $75 with shipping, and is pretty clean and only missing the drive cups and dog bones and the cover for the pinion gear and the rubber boots for the drive shafts

I found the drive cups and dog bones and rubber boot and cover for less than $35 bucks

Just waiting for the owner to reply back to me

[evssv]

nice find dude......I got a 1983 frog....1985 fox....1987 striker...and 1996 Colin McCray Subaru .....I aim to get one from each 1980 year... but old skool tamiyas r quite expensive to buy tidy ones...

[kgb424]

ok the Brat is coming my way

The guy has a OG Frog and a re-released Grass Hopper and a Re-released Hornet

Still for sale, I got his e-mail address

I found the guy on the TamiyaClub website

There are pictures of the RC's there

I got the guy too throw in a Frog body and unpainted driver also

[ferp420]

Nice score yo i have a old custom dual motor 2A/FF01-2 chassis with a brat body also a ffo1 and a pair of grasshoppers i love those old tamiya rigs very fun even if they handle like squibo tot

[kgb424]

I made my own mounts to center the steering servo in the chassis and lengthened the connecting rods to center the axles

Need longer connecting rod so there is a little more adjustability, cause I need power up the servo to center it and see if there still straight

[kgb424]

I got my used Frog tires and wheels, so I made a new front body mount to get the body where I want it

And used spacers on the battery stops, so the body is resting on the chassis, and need to make some side body mounts

I cut the side spikes of the rear tires and going to clean them with Simple Green and make them tacky again

The Sand Scorcher looks better lifted on the Tamiya ORV chassis,

Then it does slammed on my Tamiya TA02 chassis

It looks like there is room in the back for one of those

Shapeways VW motors with a cage to protect it

Thinking about making new a front bumper that is closer to the body

Not sure about the height yet

[kgb424]

I finished the steering setup by using a Monster Beetle servo saver and some 3mm ball ends and some 3mm rod ends and some threaded rod

Had to modify the servo saver to create more clearance between the ball ends and servo mounting plate by shaving the tabs off too raise the ball ends up

Its probably overkill with the rod and 3mm setup but is a lot stronger than the original steering setup with 2mm ball ends and 2 mm rod ends and 2/56 threaded rods

I'm going to see if can find something to cover the threads and make it look cleaner, I have some black rubber drip line around here somewhere

Maybe some shrink tubing wouldn't look too bad and it would keep the rods from rusting and looking shitty

[kgb424]

Yeah Baby

Look at what I scored for free from a guy from the Tamiya Club site

A set of CRP Frog/Brat front shock mounts and a set of Tamiya 60mm coil over shocks

Still looking for the motor cap cover and some hardware too make side body mounts out of

That have the hole for a body pin in them

[kgb424]

Yeah baby

I got my Vintage CRP shock mounts and the hardware and some Vintage Tamiya shocks

Need to buy some 15W shock oil and freshen them up

[kgb424]

Yeah baby

It only took me 4 3mm bolts and nuts and I replaced the springs with a set Losi MRC springs that are 70mm shocks for 1/16th or 1/18th Crawlers

So with some 15W oil and some more preload on the shocks they should work good and make the front end better

[kgb424]

Check this out

I was sent a link on the TamiyaClub website

For a $13.00 scale Radial Engine, and could make a rubber or foam prop

And the cage that is between the engine and Sand Scorcher body

Not sure if I want go that way, it is nice though

[kgb424]

I found a picture of a VW Flat Four that someone made out of bolts that they welded together, Its pretty bad ass, I think it would be a little too heavy

For my Sand Scorcher build, but would make a killer paper weight for my desk, I do own a Wire Feed Welder but do not have the bottle setup

So I don't know if I turn it down enough too tack weld the bolts together need to go to Home Depot and look at hardware section and see what I can come up with

[kgb424]

I ordered a set of new rear shocks and you have to buy some 2mm e-clips to hold the damping plate on the shock shafts, cause they do not come with the shock kit, the clips come in the D screw bag from the kit, they are not available

So the Duratrax ones will work, and I finally bought a set of 16 1150 bearings and got the missing motor cap, now its complete, I found every thing on Ebay and the Tamiya Club site, that's where the front shocks and shock mounts came from

I like looking at the vintage Tamiya rc's and bought my Brat on there too

[kgb424]

I took me awhile but I finally got some Anti-Wear Grease and some Ceramic Grease to lubricate the Brat transmission with the right Grease that's not melted

I bought some Tamiya Grease to use on my TA02 and came in the little tubes and it got melted sitting in the mailbox until I checked it, the other stuff should work good

[kgb424]

Thinking about buying one of these GoolRC 21T brushed motor combo with a 60amp Esc for the Brat, they also have a 23T but want more speed, they also have 17T and a 13T, they would be too much for the Brat

They also have brushless combo's, I want to keep it simple and go with a brushed motor, it should be fast enough

[kgb424]

I found 2 of these Traxxas XL5's esc's in my extra parts and they already have Deans connectors and are ready to go, going to use one in the Brat and the other one in my TA02, cause the Traxxas esc's the BEC's are 6 volt, the GoolRC esc's the BEC are only 5volts

I have one of the older ones with the heat shield and one of the newer ones with out the heat shield, the XL5 will work up to a 15T motor, or up to a 12T 550 sized motor, so I will just buy 2 of the GoolRC 21T brushed motors and use the Traxxas esc's

I won't be able to use my 3S lipo's with the Traxxas Esc's, that ok cause I wouldn't use 3S in either of my Vintage Tamiya's, my 2S lipo's should be fast enough to have some fun and not tear up the drive train. like 3S would

[kgb424]

I see Tamiya makes a GT Tuned 25T brushed motor, that has more torque than the 27T Sport Tuned Silver can motor

And will work with the XL5's Esc and 2S lipo's that would be a fun combo