Model: (Click to see more) 58072: Avante
Status: Runner
Date: 10-Jul-2003
Comments: 2
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This is my third Avante and my second one from Scotland. It is also the first one that I received that's actually complete! The other two, elsewhere in my showroom, arrived 'converted ' to 2WD by having the front and main propshafts removed but not included with the cars. I now know just how hard it is to find these parts after having done it for two other cars.

If I were a car dealer I would describe this car as being in 'very original condition' translated this means that it's very dirty and has received very little TLC over the years. There are a several examples of bodged repairs e.g.the front and rear rear arms have been expoxied together and <my personal favourite> the plastic rear wing mount has been replaced with a wooden one - very classy ;-)

It arrived ready to run, the stick pack that came with it even holds a charge for a while! To celebrate I gave it a test run to see if it stayed in one piece. My initial impression was that it went a lot better than it looks, even with nearly bald shiny tyres it was reasonably quick and handled like the other Avantes i.e.chronic over steer. Talking of how quick it is the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that it doesn't have the usual Technigold motor in it, instead a period Schumacher modified has been bolted in. This isn't unusual for a car of this age, the original motor could have been replaced for lots of reasons. I didn't really think anything of it until I read a small printed label on the box lid that said that the tools and motor were not included in the kit (in English,French and German). Is this common practice for some of the countries this model was exported to? Or was it a sticker applied by a shop after these parts were removed? A question for the forum I think.

The CPR unit works well but I haven't worked out how to set it to a different transmitter yet - it should be easy but I can't see any buttons on it (possibly another Forum question). A Tamiya servo has also been fitted, this is only the second Tamiya servo I've come across, it looks suspiciously like a re-badged Futaba unit.

The body shell would have been the 'correct' colour if someone hadn't painted it on the outside as well and then applied the decals (groan) :-(

I'm resisting the urge to strip it down and clean it up because It'll end up sitting on a shelf - it will be whether it likes it or not! (probably)

UPDATE:I was too weak and gave in to temptation - the car's been stripped and cleaned up a bit. It was really the cars handling that finally prompted me to do it. The more I ran the car the more I became convinced that something was wrong with it. It oversteered terribly and the motor and battery pack got very hot after only a short while. After opening up the rear gearbox I discovered that the diff' on the spur gear has been epoxied together (the previous owner appears to be very found of gluing things together with this stuff). The glue effectively turns it into a fixed diff', which would partially explain the oversteer.

2nd Update: This car was certainly 'previously enjoyed' when I got it, I've been using it as a runner for a few months now and it's looking worse than ever despite my low key restoration job!! The CPR unit was dumped in favour of a no motor limit ESC, fitting it was a bit of pain due to limited space but i was worth it. Breakages haven't been too bad, just a rear hub, rear diff' output cup, a few screws and a spur gear. The oversteer has been largely cured by installing some 40mHz radio gear, this has allowed me to use my decent radio gear to dial out some of the steering throw. A decent set of tyres has helped get the power down in most conditions, even in the dust at the Clumber Park meet.







Tyre tread is for wimps

Comments

Lemming

9-Feb-2006

Silly question... Have you fitted links between the shocks (front and rear) as there are none on these pics... Might break the shock towers otherwise!

Spike

9-Feb-2006

Don't worry Lemming - I made some links for the front and rear from some 3mm threaded rod and some spare ball ends. It strengthens both ends up a treat


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