Kyosho RB5 part 1

Last night I started cleaning up my RB5. Out of all the cars I've owned/raced, this one is by far my favorite. This is a very well used car, with easily hundreds of runs put on it at the track.
We're going to try and get a 2WD tarmac buggy class going at the FCD this Sunday. The electronics were already stripped from it back in April, and it was still covered in the brown carpet fuzz from FastCats indoor offroad track. There was also shock oil covering all four corners of the car due to some leaky shocks.

When taking of the gearbox, I remember I cracked my T-plate during the last couple of weeks at FastCats. I've c.a.'d (glued) the crack together... this should stay together for me well enough on the tarmac track, until I get around to picking up a new one.

Normally to clean my car, the RB5 and I would enjoy a romantic candle-lit bubble bath. (that's how much I love my RB5) For the sake of the reader, I opted instead for the less sexy laundry room sink method. I also wash the arms, uprights etc like this too, but I remove things like bearings and cvds first. Using compressed air to blast out water from any tight spots works well, but sitting the parts in front of a fan for a few minutes works well too.

Next come the shocks. They're covered in oil, the collars and shock body threads are completely gunked up. I scrubbed all the parts inside and out with ivory soap before putting them back together.

Until I get around to buying a rebuild kit for my shocks, a little of Team Associated's 'green slime' should get me through at least one or 2 Sundays worth of racing. Also, I need to pick up some more springs for my RB5, seeing as I'd stolen the ones from these shocks to use on my SB-V2. The white springs shown here are the Academy's, and they are way too soft.

And here we all, ready to reinstall the electronics. I've got racing tonight, so I probably won't have time to do it until Saturday morning.

Tim.