Wanted - chain for original optima (or belt conversion)

[Ashlandchris]

I am in process of restoring an old Optima. The chain is decidedly ropey and I was hoping someone may have a spare new / nearly new one.
A real longshot would be a belt drive conversion kit, which I've heard of, but never actually seen!
Let me know what you have and I promise I'll post piccies of the rebuild

[bricol]

The chains used to stretch for fun, so back then I was shown a neat conversion using Schumacher CAT bits, which I then used myself for a year or so until I upgraded to a CAT.

As we were rather young at the time, this involved jamming something like a 20T 32DP pinion inside an Optima diff case half, spinning it up on a motor and filing off the original sprocket teeth. Then taking a Schumacher CAT belt pulley, file out the middle, and superglue it onto the outside of the Optima diff case. Repeat for the other diff and rebuild using a CAT belt, probably the SWB one, and you now had belt drive Optima for rather less that the Kyosho conversion. No more chain stretching, no more adjusting the front of the car, and a lot quieter car.

Bri

[gomachv]

The belt conversion is pretty easy minus one grouping of parts
Here's the manual btw:
http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=35381

You need front and rear diffs (or just the sg-25 housings really) and a belt (I have that part number somewhere...)

The hard part is the modified rear trans case, shaft, pulley and cover. Chances of finding those are slim, but modifying the original parts and fabricating others can work. Really depends on your skill level

[Ashlandchris]

Cheers. I actually found that the kyosho rocky 4wd uses the same chain, but slightly shorter so I bought 2 and added 16 links to one and hey presto. Nice new optima chain