Lunchboxer

http://kimbroughracingproducts.com/s...oduct_id=29909

21.5T is very mild, no worry.. I have 8.5T in my LB...

skip665

Sad as it is I have joined this forum purely to participate in this thread! lol
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I bought this original Lunchbox as a Midnight Pumpkin with no body from a friend when we were about 17 (we are now 35!). It came with no radio gear and was in pretty bad shape generally - although it did come with four Monster Beetle CVA shocks and the original Pumpkin build manual. My first ever assembly R/C car was a Lunchbox in 1989 so with a nostalgic glint in my eye I stripped and repaired the car by replacing any broken bits, fully ball racing the gearbox, fitting a Hornet pinion and bought a Lunchbox body parts set (still available at the time - '94-'95) – after lightly running it the truck then sat in my loft for about 8 years before I pulled it out again and used it perhaps once every couple of years for a trip around the garden. Fast forward to 2007 where I got back into RC in a big way and since have fully stripped and cleaned it too many times - third shock mod and chassis bracing along with a standard silver can motor but running on 2S lipo – gives the standard throw away motor plenty of kick. Also fitted a Tamiya light kit - very cool! Outside is stock though as I love the boxart look. The truck has seen more use in the past five years than in the first fifteen of me owning it I think! The latest round of mods included fitting the CRP Futaba FX10 buggy front end conversion. Whilst fitting it I thought it was shame not to centre the steering servo to try and improve the steering throw and make both sides equal. This all went well but I found that I needed a bit more clearance so I fitted the Tamiya 51000 Hi-torque servo saver to help move the steering arms away from the shock bottoms. Rebuilt the front CVAs with two hole pistons and yellow shock oil - with the increased leverage of the CRP setup I had to fit very stiff Monster Beetle springs and the largest stiffener I had. This was necessary as the truck was grip rolling as the combination of tighter turning circle and soft suspension saw it folding under itself. Body mounts are alloy ones produced by a TamiyaClub member - almost indistinguishable from the originals! Front and rear chassis braces have been fitted for some time. No idea if they do anything but it looks like it means business! Blasted the bearings, cleaned out all the old grease and rebuilt the gearbox with another small washer to remove some of the end float of the axle shafts to keep the diff slightly tighter - I did try two washers but this meant the diff was hard to turn - not good!Rear shocks have four hole pistons and red shock oil to make them as soft as possible and use Clod Buster springs. 3rd rear shock is a DF02 front shock. Rear shocks are angled to try and help dampen the heavy axle and the Tonka toy wheelie bar is just about holding on after the addition of the lipo battery.

The truck gets well used and some might say even a little abused – but with the re-release parts are not a problem so I don’t worry too much!

Comments and any more ideas always welcome!

Lunchboxer

Welcome!! As for joining RCU just to participate in this thread.. that's a pretty good reason in my book...

skip665

Cheers I am hoping that by reading the whole thread (up to page 24 at the moment) I will find some upgrades that I havent tried yet

Best thing I did with my LB was switch to lipo on the standard silver can - its given it just enough extra poke and it doesnt matter if it gets wet/dusty etc - always have old silver cans lying around

I am using these lipos...

http://www.component-shop.co.uk/html/rd330.html

Lunchboxer

You can always put in a hotter brushed motor that's still cheap and dust/water resistance..

skip665

Thats my plan when I have killed all my old silver cans - this one sounds like the brushes are running dry but it still hauls so thats good enough for me Like I said above "used and lightly abused"!!

Lunchboxer

Yeah, I hear ya.. I have a lot of silvercans as well, so I run them and burn them up in Clodbuster with 14.8V.. ha ha!

skip665

Took the 'Box for a quick blast to the park last night - the grass was a little long but the honky lipo still made it fun - the LRP ESC I am using seems to have a soft take off though so it doesn't wheelie anymore even though its plenty fast enough (for me)

dlp000

st jump on this band wagon, Itoo joined for this thread.
but I have a question.
I have a Midnight pumpkin, 1st edition that igot used years ago. but it has lost all its torque. it sounds like somethign is slipping in the differental. Itore it apart and put back together but still slips. so no power for wheelies. could the gears be too worn to transfer the power?

any suggestions?

TIA
D

Vrooom

Sound like your pinion is slipping. tighten the grub screw if there is one. and there should be one.

dlp000

I tore it back down last night and found the problem. I am missing a part, a small shaft in the differential that holds the gears level with the drive shafts. it apears to be in screw bag C so I will order it and se where it gets me.
thanks
D

rc-kramer

Lol, great to see more LB's doing their thing and getting muddied up!!

skip665

Well another afternoon of Lunchbox bashing with my boy - the motor I knew was on its way out so I didnt hold back with the muddy puddles - sure enough it eventually died a noisy death! Not after lots and lots of fun though - I love this truck! :-)



Hopefully got two NIB Midnight Pumpkins coming on Friday - will post up if they materialise - not sure what the plan is with them but for £120 ($180) for the pair I couldnt turn them down!

Lunchboxer

Nice.. LB family is going strong!

skip665

These arrived today

Sell or build that is the question!

skip665

Well I should really write a build post - but with a new born the time isnt always there! Anyway I built one Pumpkin into a "Race-Box" with my favourite selection of mods from all the forums. Had a shake down against a Hot Shot at my local astroturf track and other than being slow in a straight line it went really well!

More to follow!

Lunchboxer

Video?!

Vrooom

I took mine to track, it was fun but slow in straight line.

Lunchboxer

Need some brushless setup, ha!

skip665

The only rules for the class it runs in are "pre 1990" and "Silver Can 27t motor only" - so brushless systems are out. It does run on 2S lipo which helps. Weather permitting I am going to the track for some testing on Wednesday evening so I have installed an 18t Hornet pinion gear - a quick run around the garden has shown a dramatic increase in speed - the track is quite open so I am hoping that the decrease in acceleration wont actually matter. Results will be posted on Thursday!

No videos I am afraid - no one was taking any and I cant film and drive at the same time..!

Lunchboxer

Maybe bring a little helper next time for filming, ha!

Yeah, keep us posted with the 18T pinion for racing.. I am sure it is faster on the long straight.. let's see how it does on the lap time.. !

Good luck!

Vrooom

did you mod it with double wishbone kit?

skip665

I will take some pictures and do a proper write up tonight - promise

Pictures taken but ran out of time for the write up - will do that tomorrow!

skip665

I did indeed - and I need to thank you personally for your various forum posts showing the U-channel mod to move the lower shock mounts to the correct position - its what really drove this project as I always hated the heavy spring I had to use to make the suspension "sort of" work using the standard FX-10 shock mounting point

Right, where to start... I race a Durango DEX410 at a local astro turf track and as a few of the drivers (including me!) are sentimental old bu66ers it was decided that we should run a pre-1990 vintage class. We got all excited at the beginning and said, no ESC, no lipo, no modern radios etc but realised that wasnt really sensible so we just stuck to the main one which is "brushed silver can 27t motors only". Its only a bit of fun although trophys are up for grabs at each round and an overall one at the end of the summer. Last season I used a Tamiya Thunder Dragon - it was ok but not very exciting and as I have been "bashing" it for over 20 years the rigors of racing took its toll on the already heavily worn chassis and every heat I had to re-tighten the wishbone screws! Obtained an original Boomerang last autumn and thought it would be a worthy replacement but after a rebuild and a few tests I realised it just didnt float my boat so I sold it on. As the vintage racing is really only for fun I thought why not use the one vintage RC vehicle that I love over all others - a Lunchbox! Vroooms forum post on MS-UK forum showed me the light when it came to modifying the FX-10 installation and at that point I knew I had to build a "Race-Box"

After looking for a 2nd hand truck I decided to go mad and buy new. Managed to purchase 2 NIB Midnight Pumpkin kits from eBay for just £120! Sold one of the full bodysets and bought a Parma lexan Lunchbox shell - which was the first race mod - keep the weight as low down as possible! I started thinking about all the mods I had made to my basher Lunchbox and what mods were just "for the sake of it" and what mods would be useful when it comes to racing.

Rather that write war and peace about each mod I will just list them. Please feel free to let me know if I have missed any crucial mods

[*]30gms of weight hidden away inside the void in the lower front bumper mount[*]CRP Futaba FX-10 mod with TL-01 steering turnbuckles for upper arms.[*]Home-made 15mm U-channel mod to move front shock bottoms out as far to the uprights as possible.[*]Centred steering servo (vintage Futaba) in the chassis to enable use of equal length steering arms.[*]Tamiya Frog aluminium 12mm hex rear wheel adaptors to allow use of Mad Bull wheels and to give a slightly wider track (although it is only very very slight)[*]Tamiya Mad Bull wheels (allows 12mm hex at the rear and the fronts are much stronger than standard Lunchbox wheels whilst still looking stock)[*]Tamiya M05 pogo-stick shock for 5th rear shock mod and stiff "Blue" M-chassis spring.[*]Tamiya CVA shocks all round - short DT-02 front shocks at front and standard 50520 at rear both with very soft 20wt oil and soft springs.[*]Sealed ball bearings all round[*]Plastic body mounts for strength and Parma lexan Lunchbox shell in standard livery.[*]Aluminium front shock tower brace.[*]Stainless machine thread hex head screws used throughout.[*]Tamiya Hornet 18t pinion (as yet untested on track)[*]Hobbyking brushed ESC[*]Core RC 2.4Ghz radio[*]Vapex 3300mah 2S lipo.[/list]Thats about all I can remember - I opted to omit the usual rear bracing mods that people apply (I have them already on my basher 'Box)as I dont see that it has enough of an effect on the handling which I believe needs to befocused on the front end and I didnt want to add weight the rear for no reason.First test was using the standard 10t pinion which was just way too slow in a straight line (I was beaten hands down by a HotShot in a drag race)so I have swapped to the Hornet one which will be tested tomorrow night. Handling wise wheelying was kept to a minimum but that was helped by the fact the stock tyres are not massively grippy on the astro-turf surface - it was certainly fun that the HotShot was trying his best to keep with me in the bends. All in all its just a silly project that I didnt need (who needs 4 Lunchboxes lol) - but it just had to be done! I appreciate that I am never going to win but my mission is to not come last everytime and have lots of fun in the process!

Pics....

Vrooom

Nice, You copied the U channel mod.. how did you find your?

and where did you get the shell from?