Kyosho Lazer ZX restoration

This summer I rebuilt my Kyosho Lazer ZX chassis that I've owned since around 1993 when I bought it from a high level manager's son at the company where I worked.  The body was tattered and painted poorly and the front gearbox was punctured with a hole in the front of it.  Also the spur gear was ruined because the pinion mesh with the spur must have slipped too far apart causing the teeth to get shaved down.  In those days parts were still fairly easy to come by, so I ordered a new front gearbox set (LA-32) and spur gear (LA-2) from Tower Hobbies (http://www.towerhobbies.com).  Back then Tower used to carry Kyosho kits, parts, and hop-ups.

Speaking of hop-ups, when Tower was beginning to clear inventory of Kyosho-related parts in the 90's, I bought some Lazer parts made by Kyosho, A&L and also some Tecnacraft titanium tie rods for good prices.  I had actually ordered more parts than they had in stock, so unfortunately I missed out on some really cool pieces because other people had already purchased them before me.  After installing the parts, I didn't really run the car very much because I was not into 4WD back then.  Plus, the design of the center diff and front and rear one-way pulleys confused and irritated me because the rear wheels seemed to never get any forward power.  I even locked the center diff to get more power to the rear wheels.  The car sat in the basement for 18 years, untouched. 

Then this year I got sick of looking at the sad state the chassis was in, so I made it my mission to rebuild it completely.  I disassembled every screw and nut and cleaned everything as best as I could to make all of the parts look as new as possible.  I also purchased some new LA-43 ball ends, OT-32 balls, #1285 2.6mm hole black steel balls, diff balls, diff plates and all new ball bearings to replace the original parts because they were either too worn or binding up.  Then I laid most of the parts out on my workbench and took a picture:

The hop-ups laying on the table include:

• A&L Front suspension mounts (I missed out on the rears)
• A&L #3806 Finned motor plate
• A&L #3807 Steering bell cranks with bearing
• A&L #3808 Front deck support
• A&L #3809 Rear deck support
• Kyosho LAW-01 FRP front and rear shock towers
• Tecnacraft #1019 Titanium Lazer tie rods

Close up shot of the vintage hop-up parts

I purchased a reproduction Lazer ZX body, wing, and decal set from Marwan (http://marwanrc.com), however I never got around to painting this year, so it still sits in a box waiting for next summer.

I also bought modern Kyosho wheels and tires designed for the Lazer ZX-5, along with a set of new hex hubs. Finally, I bought some shock rebuild kits, new rubber diaphragms and shock shafts for the Kyosho Gold shocks.  The part numbers for these are as follows (available at http://kyoshoamerica.com): 

• W5018  O-Ring set (Gold shock) (2 sets are required for all 4 shocks)
• W5181-08 Shock shaft (S)  (for the front shocks)
• W5182-02 Shock shaft (M)  (for the rear shocks)
• W5189-05 Diaphragm (Black/4Pcs)

The original belts were slightly worn in some spots where some small pieces of debris got caught in the teeth, but I decided to use them anyway since they seemed to still be in good enough shape.  I have a set of Tough Racing brand belts, though I've heard they are not as good as the originals, especially when using a powerful brushless motor.

Once I got all of the parts I needed, I followed the instruction manual and rebuilt the chassis using the original, vintage hop-up parts and the new parts.  Here is the result:

 

 

The rebuilt Kyosho gold shocks are smooth as silk, just like new.  The modern wheels and tires fit perfectly and look nice with plenty of clearance around the arms, hubs, carriers and upper camber links.

The motor is a Kyosho Mega 16x2 4WD with ball bearings.  I originally had this motor installed in my Turbo Ultima, but since I used the stock Kyosho 240ST in that car for its restoration last year, I decided to use the Mega 16x2. The ESC is a Novak 410-M5.

I used the 18 tooth hardened steel pinion that came with the car when I bought it to perform some maiden test runs sans body.  I have a Kyosho W5086 48P 16T hard pinion in case the car feels over-geared.  The car really flies and is very quiet due to the belt drive.  After a couple of driving sessions, the spur gear differential needed some tightening because the rear wheels were still not transmitting as much power as they should.  The motor and ESC were not hot after a good run, so I think I'll leave the 18T pinion on for now.

It was a lot of fun to restore this car back to running status, and the vintage hop-ups give it some uniqueness.  Once I paint the body next summer, I'll post some pictures here.