new2rocks
I wanna be Dave
I've had a soft spot for the CC01 Metaltop Pajero for quite some time, but I was too busy on other builds last year to pick one up before they were discontinued. I almost picked up what was probably the lone remaining one from RPP last summer for a future build and kicked myself when someone else snatched it up.
Fast forward to just over a month ago, when I saw radishkid put his nearly complete build up for sale in the classifieds. Everything was completely assembled except for the shocks, brick mod done, and body was painted with base color coats. The price was right, so I pulled the trigger. He even sent the original box (call me crazy, but I like to keep mine). Thanks, radishkid!
As the thread title suggests, this one is going to be a fun tinker toy whenever I need/want a break from my more serious builds. Which explains why it sat on a shelf for a few weeks until I finally got around to getting it running over the past couple of weeks. I’ve been reading up on OSRC's awesome CC01 tips thread on UltimateRC and have now done enough that I thought it was a good time to share progress and my musings about future possibilities.
Here's what I started with:


Shocks needed to be built:

Roo stopped in for a look:

Body painted by radishkid:

Very nice and clean brick mod:

Underneath started out completely stock:

I tried on the Losi MRC tires and decided they are too tall, so I’m still figuring out what to do about shoes. Next up were some temporary electronics (RC4WD Waterproof Outcry and 55T brushed pulled from my D110 RTR and a new RC4WD Waterproof Twister):

Then the fun stuff began. For the rear suspension, I picked up the GPM kit and immediately spotted an issue. The upper links were waaaaaaay too short, creating a wicked pinion angle. So I put one Jato rod end on each link and voila!



Much more betterer. For a rear shock mount, I tried a variation of OSRC’s mount fabbed from part of the stock link:

It seemed pretty trick, but the ride height is way too high in back:

I’m going to pick up one of the GPM adjustable shock mounts so I can play around with ride height a bit more.
In the meantime, I swapped out the knuckles, c’s and lower arms up front for the GPM parts:

Since I’m not going for the blingy look, you'll see that I’m sticking with black and bare metal wherever possible.
The last task up front was fitting the GPM steering rack. At first, steering was actually worse than stock. After playing around with a few things, I came up with the hypothesis that there wasn’t enough of the bell crank shaft exposed on either end of the ball bearings to allow the upper and lower crank arms to bite. So I decided to trim the chassis tube and white plastic bearing bushing a bit to leave a bit more exposed. I then added a metal spacer (either 1 or 2mm, can't remember) between the upper crank arm and the upper crank screw, with thread lock on both sides of the spacer (plus on the screw threads, of course) to try to keep things from slipping.
Here’s how it now looks:

Thus far, in garage floor testing, it’s much, much better than either stock or the GPM setup unmodified. I don’t know how well it will hold up to trail abuse, but we’ll see. I’ve ordered the Hot Racing steering setup as a backup plan B.
My next round of mods will be the rear shock mounts and front CVDs. I’ve also ordered the RC4WD 3:1 GRU and likely will swap in a 27T or 35T motor. After that, it will be time to play around a bit. A rear shock mod will probably be in order at some point, and who knows what else. As with most of my builds, body and interior will be last, so don't hold your breath.
Thanks for looking, and please feel free to ask questions or offer unsolicited advice (which I guess means it's now solicited, lol)...
Fast forward to just over a month ago, when I saw radishkid put his nearly complete build up for sale in the classifieds. Everything was completely assembled except for the shocks, brick mod done, and body was painted with base color coats. The price was right, so I pulled the trigger. He even sent the original box (call me crazy, but I like to keep mine). Thanks, radishkid!
As the thread title suggests, this one is going to be a fun tinker toy whenever I need/want a break from my more serious builds. Which explains why it sat on a shelf for a few weeks until I finally got around to getting it running over the past couple of weeks. I’ve been reading up on OSRC's awesome CC01 tips thread on UltimateRC and have now done enough that I thought it was a good time to share progress and my musings about future possibilities.
Here's what I started with:


Shocks needed to be built:

Roo stopped in for a look:

Body painted by radishkid:

Very nice and clean brick mod:

Underneath started out completely stock:

I tried on the Losi MRC tires and decided they are too tall, so I’m still figuring out what to do about shoes. Next up were some temporary electronics (RC4WD Waterproof Outcry and 55T brushed pulled from my D110 RTR and a new RC4WD Waterproof Twister):

Then the fun stuff began. For the rear suspension, I picked up the GPM kit and immediately spotted an issue. The upper links were waaaaaaay too short, creating a wicked pinion angle. So I put one Jato rod end on each link and voila!



Much more betterer. For a rear shock mount, I tried a variation of OSRC’s mount fabbed from part of the stock link:

It seemed pretty trick, but the ride height is way too high in back:


In the meantime, I swapped out the knuckles, c’s and lower arms up front for the GPM parts:

Since I’m not going for the blingy look, you'll see that I’m sticking with black and bare metal wherever possible.
The last task up front was fitting the GPM steering rack. At first, steering was actually worse than stock. After playing around with a few things, I came up with the hypothesis that there wasn’t enough of the bell crank shaft exposed on either end of the ball bearings to allow the upper and lower crank arms to bite. So I decided to trim the chassis tube and white plastic bearing bushing a bit to leave a bit more exposed. I then added a metal spacer (either 1 or 2mm, can't remember) between the upper crank arm and the upper crank screw, with thread lock on both sides of the spacer (plus on the screw threads, of course) to try to keep things from slipping.
Here’s how it now looks:

Thus far, in garage floor testing, it’s much, much better than either stock or the GPM setup unmodified. I don’t know how well it will hold up to trail abuse, but we’ll see. I’ve ordered the Hot Racing steering setup as a backup plan B.
My next round of mods will be the rear shock mounts and front CVDs. I’ve also ordered the RC4WD 3:1 GRU and likely will swap in a 27T or 35T motor. After that, it will be time to play around a bit. A rear shock mod will probably be in order at some point, and who knows what else. As with most of my builds, body and interior will be last, so don't hold your breath.
Thanks for looking, and please feel free to ask questions or offer unsolicited advice (which I guess means it's now solicited, lol)...
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