TOPIC:

oldwilly wrote:

Oh Ya,
I am looking forward to seeing how you make out with this project, I am assuming there could also be some spacing issues but I agree it will look a whole lot better in the end!

It will take a couple of weeks for the tires to arrive from Hong Kong, but I'll post details of the build as soon as I can.

Eureka, it worked! Using the proline compatible inner rings I was able to use the RC4WD stamped steel wheels easily with the repro tires. I used the leftover front steering hubs from the B tree and some axle shafts from a Bush Devil II. Everything came out perfect. I think it looks 100x better than the balloon tires on the Wild Willy 2.

Agree, it looks awesome!
And the "white Spoke wheels makes me nostalgic.... I had a set of those on my first car, a black beetle 1302.

blakbird wrote:

I think it looks 100x better than the balloon tires on the Wild Willy 2.

Very nice wheeles! I love the effect.

Oh ya!!
That's much better looking
I am now re-thinking my earlier statement about not needing another project
But really that look amazing far more like the WW1, glad to hear the tires work on those whitespoke wheels too

A couple of side effects:

1. The steel wheels and new tires are slightly heavier than stock (164g vs. 140g) which has a small impact on the ability to wheelie. It won't ride a wheelie quite as long and it takes a bit more throttle to initiate. I'm thinking about a way to compensate.
2. The new tires are much firmer than the big, soft balloon tires which means the impact is a lot bigger when it comes down from a wheelie. I'm thinking about removing the foams from the front tires to make them softer to compensate.
3. The new tires have a lot better grip and the track width is a lot narrower which means you'll roll it over if you corner too hard. Need to be careful.

OK, that's good info to work with and not completely unexpected either......

#1 You could add weight aft of the rear axle, perhaps a bit of lead hidden in the gas can or better still in the wheelie arm. Lower placement would be better in regards to your last point.

#2 The heavier wheels and tires is " un-sprung weight" in suspension terms so being softer might help a bit. Also removing the foams will reduce a little bit of weight from the front too helping with point #1. The best modification I made to our WW2 was to add oil filled dampers, this also allows you to adjust the spring pre-load but the oil filled shock really helps eliminate the Bounce. However the original WW1 had very poor swing arm type front suspension with no dampers and it came down hard too, resulting in strange camber angle changes and horrible bump steer. The WW2 is much better in this regard.

#3 The reason most old WW1's you see have body damage is they roll over really easy in a corner
So really you have made the WW2 much more like the WW1, Great job!!

oldwilly wrote:

#1 You could add weight aft of the rear axle, perhaps a bit of lead hidden in the gas can or better still in the wheelie arm. Lower placement would be better in regards to your last point.

I plan to experiment with adding aft weight. To clarify, it still wheelies very well, just not quite as well as with the stock tires.

#2 The heavier wheels and tires is " un-sprung weight" in suspension terms so being softer might help a bit. Also removing the foams will reduce a little bit of weight from the front too helping with point #1. The best modification I made to our WW2 was to add oil filled dampers, this also allows you to adjust the spring pre-load but the oil filled shock really helps eliminate the Bounce. However the original WW1 had very poor swing arm type front suspension with no dampers and it came down hard too, resulting in strange camber angle changes and horrible bump steer. The WW2 is much better in this regard.

I almost always replace friction dampers with oil dampers on my models. I this case I was considering not doing so since suspension isn't very important on a wheelie machine, but you have me rethinking that decision. I will give it a try. I have plenty of CVAs lying around.

#3 The reason most old WW1's you see have body damage is they roll over really easy in a corner
So really you have made the WW2 much more like the WW1, Great job!!

My goal was to make it more like the original so I succeeded!

I still think it looks better then any WW2 I have ever seen!
Really excellent, good luck with your experimenting