restoring a hotshot
 

I've recently got ahold of a hotshot, It needs a lot of time on restoring it thankks to eh scres being the wrong size etc. Its also got a broken connector on the rear Suspension ( Its part no R-4, of the R-parts tree)

Does anyone have any hints and tips on how to get the best out of a hotshot? Its going to be a car that gets ran around the garden / park. Bit any tips on sorting out the bumpsteer etc will be appreciated.

Also if anyone has a spare R-4 part and maybe a 15t tamiya hotshot pinion please let me know.

The re-release parts may be able to help you with the broken/missing parts as it all should be available from any Tamiya stockist.

As regards to bumpsteer, it's designed in I'm afraid!!

The Hotshot front mono-shock bumpsteer was the main reason for Tamiya releasing the Supershot with independent front suspension. I wouldn't worry about it though if its just for bashing.

The bumpsteer was not fixed when they relased the supershot.......

have one...

mvh isobarik

Back in the day Parma did an anti-bump-steer kit which I seem to remember was basically just some stupidly long ball studs (and extended steering tie rods?) to try to bring the tie rods (almost) parallel with the movement of the suspension. It didn't cure it 100% but it did help. However the downside is that they also increased the leverage on the stud so they often got ripped out.

Alternatively, get hold of a re-re Hotshot front hub parts set as they include the original hub and a slightly improved one which has revised geometry on the steering arm. This achieves much the same result as the Parma kit but allows you to retain the original (shorter) ball stud.

Fundamentally the suspension design on the 'Shot is crap. Innovative and funky looking but crap. Too soft on the front and the rear, well, the less said about it the better. When the Hotshot re-re came out there were quite a few Tamiya Hop-Up Hotshot HP suspension kits on ebay to convert it to 4 independent shocks but they've all gone to ground now, though you may find one if you look enough. Probably the best compromise set up is the Boomerang style one, 2 rears and a monoshock front, perhaps you can even use Boomerang re-re bits, there's bound to be someone here or on Tamiyaclub who knows.

The monoshock don't affect the bump steer, it's caused by the steering rods moving through a more acute arc than the main suspension arms which effectively shortens the steering link and pulls the wheel away from the straightahead when the car hits a bump (hence "bump-steer"). I think it stayed just as bad throughout the life of the 'Shot series but I'm not 100% as I "grew up" and out of RC just before the Bigwig came out.

Any tips, apart from throw most of it away like we used to do?:lol: Fitting 4 shocks makes a big difference to getting the suspension to work.

Bump steer can be bodged by fitting longer ball studs on the knuckles, but the only fix is to replace the chassis with the Boomerang tub and steering or make your own and add a proper steering setup.

If I can find one I'll bring it down to the club on Thursday. For the pinion any 32DP one will do, surely you've got a spare Mardave one?