Losi JRX2 rebuild

[OptimaFan]

As my name may reveal, I am more a ?Kyosho/Optima lover. So what am I doing with a Losi? Well, it's like this. I purchased a used Optima Mid from a Dutch trading site, and it came with very odd looking, at least to me, shocks. I asked others if they recognised these, and was directed towards Losi. Turned out these were JRX2 shocks. I contacted the seller, and he did indeed have a JRX2, which apparently had the golden Kyosho shocks fitted. For a small fee, he was willing to part with it as well, as he intended to sell all his car stuff.

So I was looking for a spare Mid, and ended up with a car totally alien to me. It looked a bit dusty, and the Mid shocks and small wheels made it look even more strange:






So, after some doubt whether to just remove the shocks and store the JRX2, or invest more time and money and see what it can look like. The idea that this car was a pioneer in the Losi line of cars, and the fact that it seemed to be using quality materials, generally, made my mind swing towards restoring it.


I'll summarize the build process a little, as i already keep a full build log on RCG. First step was to strip the chassis for a clean:




It cleaned up nicely, and since all the parts for the traling link suspension were also bundled with the car, the plan was to get it back to that original setup.




I also wanted to do a new body, and chose the Team Bluegroove repro for that:




With the steering assy and other parts fitted, it looked like this:




Since the car didn't come with good tires, and the front wheels were pretty beat up, I started looking for other ones. Brett had a couple of nice ones, and for the first time it could stand on it's own "feet" again:




Meanwhile the body had been masked and painted in a 2-tone color scheme:






Then it was time to bring those 2 together:








A repro wing has also been cut and painted, in white, but I can't seem to get the original wing seperated from the wing clamps, without breaking the original wing, so for now I fitted the original wing to it:




If someone has a pair of wing clamps to spare, and some e-clips (the ones the hold the metal pins on which the front A-arms pivot), I can make it fully complete again. And naturally, repro decals are also present, so it will look more lively pretty soon.


Update 1 july 2014

Last week I got the repro decals in, and yesterday I finally managed to remove the wing buttons from the old wing, and install on the new repro wing. After piecing all back together, this is the result:





















Although this car came to me as parts donor just for the Kyosho shocks that had been fitted to it, I must admit I enjoyed rebuilding it, as it's different from my other vintage stuff, and it turned out nice, I think.

One thing remains, fitting a smaller spur, so it no longer rubs against the repro gear cover.

[neallewis]

Looking good. Front skidplate/bumper needed also.

[bretts]

Hello Henk,

Looks great!!

Yours is one of the early Jrx2's (probably 1988-89ish) as the rear shock tower doesn't have any holes and I can just see alloy outdrive spacers.

Good to see those original wheels going to a good use too.


Brett

P.S. Any e-clips from associated/losi shock shafts fit fine.

[OptimaFan]

Originally Posted by neallewis

Looking good. Front skidplate/bumper needed also.

Thanks. During this rebuild it started to grow on me, and I also think it looks nice.

As for the skidplate, I am not sure. The JRX2 manual doesn't show it, it seems like this was introduced later, or with the JRX Pro.

Originally Posted by bretts

Hello Henk,

Looks great!!

Yours is one of the early Jrx2's (probably 1988-89ish) as the rear shock tower doesn't have any holes and I can just see alloy outdrive spacers.

Good to see those original wheels going to a good use too.


Brett

P.S. Any e-clips from associated/losi shock shafts fit fine.

It's well possible it's an old one. The clamps that hold the shock springs were much thinner than the ones that are now on, which I purchased later from another member on this forum, as the original ones were almost all cracked.

And the wheels are very welcome indeed. I may see how it looks with the white ones, but orange does make it look more vintage.

[DerbyDan]

This looks great - the simple two-tone paint scheme really sets it off! You are correct - the original JRX2 didn't come with a front bumper, although one was offered as an option part.... It was different to the JRX-Pro item & mounts between the chassis & the bulkhead - the Pro bumper fits on the u/side of the chassis.

The fragile thin collers are so hard to find intact - but were actually a feature on all JRX2s - I believe even early JRXPros had the thin collers also.

It's always interesting to diverse into cars by different manufacturers - with different ideas & solutions to problems etc.

[KRob]

Nice!

I'm just finishing up my JRX Pro I've converted back to a JRX2 with the link rear suspension I still had from when I raced it first time round

As the others have mentioned there was no bumper on the original car. My Pro came with an RPM wide (ish) bumper and it just looks ugly. I do still have a small Losi bumper but it actually fits by raising the front bulkhead. Spacers come in the packet to so this and also to raise the steering bellcranks so everything stays level.
I think it looks right without the bumper myself.

[OptimaFan]

Thanks for the praise. I was inspired to do this color scheme after it looked so well on my classic Optima, but reversed the colors. First, because I didn't want to do the same as on the Kyosho car, and another reason was that I thought the orange wheels would stand out better on a white side than on red.

I won't be very actively searching for a bumper then, as I want to keep it as original as possible. The battery holder is probably a later version, the original one I believe had a thin piece of plactic as hinge, instead of a screw, as on the one currently fitted. I did get the original holder with the car, but the "hinge" was torn in half, and the part was also modified here and there. So I thought, better a later version that is in one piece, than an original version, that is broken and altered.

[OptimaFan]

Added some pics of the finished car to the first posting in the thread.