TOPIC:

Another eBay bargain ... although I use the term "bargain" advisedly, as these things often have a way of snowballing to the point where they're only just cheaper than buying an NIB example Anyway - I'll hope for the best, this is how it was described on eBay:

Ebay wrote:

Tamiya Escort comes as spares or repairs has Audi body shell and case of spares instruction are here also the tatty original box.
Sold as seen ...

... and some small print.

It arrived this afternoon, so more pics later, but in the meantime, these are the eBay listing photos:

Parcel as it arrived ... I won't show the girly writing as I don't think it's a great idea to publish your address on the internet - but it was indeed particularly girly for someone named Colin




The box ...




... and the contents:






Chassis seems intact, and the Acoms ARC RX is a bonus (even though it'll need work) as I don't have one of them - it was the sort I had on my 1st car (a Grasshopper) back in the day... it's notable as it has "modern" type servo sockets, but they're on flying leads.

Putting the anorak away for the moment, note the angle of the front right wheel - it's not poor toe-out setup - that's the extent of the wear in the steering components




Underside has been painted



...

Body sadly is a bit rough - even though it hasn't been painted - quite a bit of road rash...





... and the stickers aren't great:






Piles of bits from the tackle box:

1 - new, but dirty;
2 - used & dirty - some of this may be worth salvaging, I'll know better after cleaning;
3 - bits that are going straight in the bin;
4 - unknown bits ...




... possibly Kyosho as the box spanner certainly is...






Original wheels are probably worth cleaning up/repairing, but the rubber has turned biscuit like

Looks pretty rough but it's a nice car nonetheless.

Edou wrote:

Looks pretty rough ...

It's a bit of a shed TBH ... I've stripped it down & started cleaning & it's pretty grim

Missing battery doodad ... fairly normal for this chassis & other similar tubs (FF01, TA03, etc) but still annoying ... maybe I can persuade eddrick to make some ...





WOOD SCREWS?!?! Not a great start ...





Plastic bearings - yuk!






Propshaft at rest ... this pic is just for comparision to the next one ...





... showing the deflection in the drive cups - front end is the same





I'm pretty sure the bits holding the upper wishbones are meant to be step screws




Bottom of the gearbox is a little chewed up on the wishbone mount



... to be continued ...

Cause of my floppy shaft becomes evident - the bearings are the wrong size






Not doubt this should have been a step screw or there should have been a brass collar ...





I don't think that threaded rod end is correct - an it certainly should'nt have fallen off like that:






I'm sure those aren't Tamiya screws - not so sure about the servo mounts...




RX antenna is a simple fix ...






Check out those lovely M2 "nuts"





Another wood screw ... mount plate is also broken




... still more to come ...

Wow, I'm surprised he didn't use duct tape anywhere...
The other steering linkage seems to be part of the upper suspension.

The plastic motor mounts are seldom in one piece.
If you want to drive it, I'd go for the GPM alloy item.
Have another blue one here but I promised to send it to Belgium...
But maybe I could not sell the (black) plastic part with my DF-01 bathtub roller, in case you need a cheap fix.

Edou wrote:

Wow, I'm surprised he didn't use duct tape anywhere...
The other steering linkage seems to be part of the upper suspension.

The plastic motor mounts are seldom in one piece.
If you want to drive it, I'd go for the GPM alloy item.
Have another blue one here but I promised to send it to Belgium...
But maybe I could not sell the (black) plastic part with my DF-01 bathtub roller, in case you need a cheap fix.

Cheap is my favourite price ... but I think not having that would make your roller less saleable - and I think the new owner might be a bit cheesed off.

The GPM part sounds good - I assume the eBay widget below is the right one? but at 8 GBP I think I might try a fix on mine

Rear wheel nuts were ludicrously tight - I thought I was going to have to get out a large socket set IF YOUR WHEELS FALL OFF YOU NEED TO FIT NEW NUTS -NOT- TORQUE UP THE OLD ONES!!!!!!!111one





Another case of needing step screws/brass collars:




This bearing was a little worn ...




Motor I think must be a later replacement - it's actually ok




Rear diff, apart from aluminium pinion paste on the outside, is surprisingly good too




Starting the cleaning process ...