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Re: Mardave Cobra - another quicky resto 11 years 7 months ago #12363

I think I just opened a can of (Clod) worms....
Ok, had a hunt around my kitchen for clear plastic that resembles lexan.

Takeaway pots (The ones I've got anyway) are polypropylene, & have been attacked by brake fluid. Gobsmacked to learn that as polyprop is completely unaffected by petrol, cellulose thinners, engine oil, meths etc.

Found a pop bottle marked PET, which apparently is polyethylene terephthalate. According to Wiki it's an ester family member & despite its name has no polyethylene in it(?!). This stuff would be my best bet for cheap lexan alternative material.

I too have had shells that have made me think "That feels odd" - proper lexan usually has a slight "ring" to it if you flick it. It also feels "crunchy" when you cut it with scissors.

Then there was that recent discussion about the fragility/disappearance of "retro-something" shells, they couldn't have been lexan.

The evidence is piling up

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Re: Mardave Cobra - another quicky resto 11 years 7 months ago #12364

Oh, forgot to mention, when I was cleaning up the spare shell for my Astute (Getting the velcro goo off) I had to resort to using a cellulose thinner soaked rag to get some stubborn crispy bits off, & that turned the shell cloudy almost instantly, but you couldn't see it was cloudy when it was wet with water, or after it was painted

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Re: Mardave Cobra - another quicky resto 11 years 6 months ago #12580

Nice thread. I have just bought a box of Cobra bits from the same guy (I can see his address on the first picture :whistle: ). I live near Milton Keynes so could pick them up and save on postage.
Looks like a nearly complete rolling chassis - we'll see :P

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Re: Mardave Cobra - another quicky resto 11 years 6 months ago #12587

Thanks! Too many words & not enough pictures though!

Things to watch for with them - the bend in the front of the chassis isn't very strong & can bend (Permanently) backwards during heavy/off-road driving, causing the front shocks to get tangled in the steering gear.
The aforementioned noisy gearbox (This one looked new/unused was ballraced & still made a racket).
The ball diff on this one was slipping like a slippery thing under power from the Parma 40deg stock motor I plonked in it, so expect some adjustment.
One of the gears in the gearbox is wholly plastic (Including its "shaft"), so best ballrace it - cheap on Ebay, but search by size not model.
My brother has recently text me asking where to get better gearbox screws - apparently the gearbox & chassis have parted company, & stripped out the 4x countersunk self-tappers underneath. No idea what he's been up to to manage that, but it might be worth putting longer ones or M3 machine screws in there.

Feel free to ask questions about it if you need to, whilst it's still fairly fresh in my mind, I'll do my best to help

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Re: Mardave Cobra - another quicky resto 11 years 6 months ago #12594

Thanks. I've looked at it a bit more closely and I'm still pretty pleased. The gearbox is all there except for the first metal gear (just ordered one from France!). It also has a slipper clutch which seems to be complete.
TBH I think I have some of the parts you should have had in your kit. I have a spare servo saver post and 2 sets of ballraces.
There don't seem to be a lot of screws, so I think I will take your suggestion and try to replace them all with new machine screws.

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Re: Mardave Cobra - another quicky resto 11 years 6 months ago #12605

Yeah it looks good, especially for the money you paid! Mine was double that before I'd started!
As for the spare bits, it wouldn't surprise me, the guy openly admitted he'd "squirreled" the bits in a view to build a car but didn't have a clue where to start with it. Anyway, the bits I had missing were cheap or easy to make & it's done & gone so I'm not bothered, I was surprised that as much of it that turned up, did to be honest! (I bought mine blind, just handed over the money & didn't know what I'd bought until I opened the box! - I LOVE surprises!).

Before I forget again, there's a manual & exploded diagram in the downloads section (I think JR must've uploaded it when he did his). As "Build info" it's not hugely helpful, but it alerts you to things you need to know, like which way around the suspension arms need to be etc (& watch out for the hex recesses in some of the bits, to captivate the M2.5 locknuts)

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