ok, I've decided to stick with what I have and upgrade it bit by bit to make it a better car.

I've ordered the parts needed to replace the plastic diff shafts with metal ones. That should help the car cope with the non-stock motor it's got in it.

From what I've read the plastic the car is made from on the RTR isn't as good as the SP, I don't know how true that is, but whatever I break will get replaced and I doubt the quality of the plastic is going to make much different to my driving (which isn't good by the way).

RTR cars and top end cars at kyosho are made in different places, with different materials, that is 100% true.

I've got chassis, bodyshell, top deck, gearboxes, centre shaft, lashaft etc from the SP I'm not using. They're in a box looking useless, you can have them cheap :D

How much is cheap?

I'm going to try not to do too much work on the car until I'm pushing it to it's limits, i.e. my driving gets better but the car handles like crap.

For the handling you are best off looking for set-ups for the original ZX5 (on here, look for posts by Niggs98 and Petit RC).

The original car isn't in the same league as the FS or indeed the SP but it'll be fine with a good set-up on it to learn to drive well.

Thanks Roger.

Having only raced a few times in 14 years, I'm just looking to get back into the swing of things and just want the car to be decent enough to help me improve.

Although I'd love to have the better cars like all you pro's :D

zx5
 

if i was you mate id ebay that rtr youve got and buy that sp of here it would save you a fortune trust me that sp is a steel at 130 with all what comes with it i bet youd get £50 for your rtr on ebay

I've just received the steel diff shafts and shims this morning, just waiting for the diff plates and the one way shaft (LA223).

A couple of questions...

What is the one way shaft? They look so small on the exploded view, but I've ordered them because they appear on the SP exploded view but not the ZX-5.

The other question is, because I have the RTR and the parts are of a lesser quality, should I also order new gear set (la200), ball bearings (ul120) and new sets of bearings for the front and rear gearboxes(brg014)? Will these parts be better quality than the parts already fitted, or are they the same parts? The part numbers are the same, I'm just worried about the quality.

If it's recommended that I replace the bearings, is it worth getting the bear sets you see by 3Racing? or should I just order the Kyosho bearings?

My main aim is to replace the plastic diff shafts with metal ones, but while I've got the gearboxes apart I might as well replace anything in there that could be better quality.

Ta

one way shaft
 

you can only use that one way shaft mate if you have the one way bearing fitted these fit at the front of the main centre drive shaft if you use them when you let of the throttle the car loses drive to the front wheels this gives you more off power steering and when you go for the brakes you only have breaks on the rear to fit this in the car you remove the front centre drive cup which is just pushed in put in the one way bearing and then the shaft goes into the bearing but make sure you get the bearing the right way round or your car will be 2wd and have braking on all 4 wheels lol also those shafts are used in each side of the one way diff.As for those parts mate if the part numbers are the same the materials used for the parts will be the same

Thanks mate,

All I'm waiting for then is the pressure plates and I can fit these steel diff shafts.

"As for those parts mate if the part numbers are the same the materials used for the parts will be the same"

I'm not sure that's true, the chassis numbers between the SP and the RTR are the same, but apparently the RTR is made of a cheaper plastic.

I'm been a right pain the arse here but, does the SP come with the one way bearings? or is that something you can add on, it's just the one way shaft (la223) appears on the SP exploded view, so I'm assuming that SP has the one way?

The SP did NOT come with any form of 1 way.

A lot of the top drivers seem to have gone away from one-ways now prefering the late braking advantage of a diff. The one-way will be coming out of my car as part of the prep for this weekend.

If you can learn to drive with out one then a lot will tell you its the fastest way around (certainly doesn't seem to hurt Pidge any with his B44 or Kev Lee with his Pred)

one way
 

ive tried the one way diff and the bearing in my sp and i dident like either myself

Just ordered the wishbones, wheels and hubs etc to replace the standard ones with the SP ones.

Thanks to Matt above who recommended I look on ebay for the drive shafts, they're almost half the price of over here, though I've only been able to order the rears for now as there were no fronts on ebay.

My business credit card is taking a hammering....I'll put it down to sponsorship :D

diffs
 

also mate when you put your new diffs back in the car youl notice the two shims each side behind the bearing put two silver shims behind the teeth on bevel gear and the other silver and the brass one infront of the teeth this meshes the gears i little bit tighter it will help stop you stripping the bevel gears with your 4.5t motor lol

Now that you're upgrading to SP be very wary of 3racing parts. Most are for std zx5 and rtr

thanks for pointing that out

i was going to get a servo saver replacement for my standard zx5 (part number la221). but noticed that there is a newer part - la221b, apparently for the FS?
does anyone know the difference between the 2 parts? i would've thought the servo saver stayed the same throughout all the zx5 versions.