Mardave Meteor evolution

[dinglem]

Just started putting this back together again having stripped down one car of ours and then spent a little time gathering parts to rebuild it.

I sent off the original (and very tired) LWB chassis and had it replicated in carbon fibre along with the rear shock mount, the gearbox has been stripped and overhauled with a full ballrace set up, Associated shocks, added RC10 front stub-axles to allow for a wider range of front rims to be used, although the rears retain the original drive shafts and stub axles so a new set of rims has been machined (thanks dad!) to fit on to the quirky Mardave fitment method.

We have also machined an additional 3 degrees of slant on the base of the front uprights in order to tip the front-end backwards a little further, which can be seen on the last picture.

It's a very simple car.

Next points to focus on will be the front bumper, making up a rear motor guard using our original fix for this bitd (to stop the gearbox flex under heavy landings) and the addition of a home made front ARB.

Motor is a TMS Tornado 13 Double, which A) matches the red/black colour scheme of the car perfectly, and B) still revs like stink after all of these years.

[TurboLag]

Yes, very shiny Mr Dingle :)

I've been testing mine this week :) Handles really well, see what it's like on carpet at the weekend :woot:

[Welshy40]

Cars superb on carpet.

[TurboLag]

I have to say; it's awesome out in the street and on the grass :) got the 12x4 wind motor with a 12 tooth pinion, and the pick up on it is great, makes me smile every time :) Looking forward to taking it to the club.

[oldenoughtoknowbetter]

wow, they both look absolutely amazing. Had quite a few meteors back when they were first released, none as stunning as these. I used to love how you could buy parts stupidly cheap. I upgraded one with the gold lwb chassis, schumacher cat shocks, ballraced intermediate gear etc etc. Sadly all long gone now:(

[dinglem]

TurboLag, that's cool and great info too. I have been out for so long I am struggling to remember any set up details. What electrics do you have in that please? Lipos with an old school motor? Have you found any suitable driveshaft replacements that will fit the Meteor set up? I have been working on lowering the standard steering set up a little so I can lower my shell down a bit.

What front wishbones do you have on there???

[TurboLag]

TurboLag, that's cool and great info too. I have been out for so long I am struggling to remember any set up details. What electrics do you have in that please? Lipos with an old school motor? Have you found any suitable driveshaft replacements that will fit the Meteor set up? I have been working on lowering the standard steering set up a little so I can lower my shell down a bit.

What front wishbones do you have on there???


Yes, the chassis is sweet! Thanks to you for sending in your gold one to Fibre Lyte :thumbsup:The only things Mardave on the front end are the shock towers, steering bell cranks and the body post, the rest is RC10. The front wishbones are Klein ones for the RC10. Having some luck with 55mm HPI axles and Maverick Strada dogbones. Although I've used Tamiya King Cab rear wishbones to compensate for the wider track at the front. Going to use a Novak Fusion and old school brushed motors, lipo's don't seem to be a problem :) will use a harness and an alarm for racing though. Yeah, had some fun with the body! The reproduction one up on ebay must have been moulded from the mk1 lwb chassis with the wider shock position at the front...

[dinglem]

Yeah I guessed you'd gone for the Fibre-Lyte CF chassis I got them to make up. Really looks the part. I have used the longer Meteor front wishbones but am stressing about having no spares, same goes for my only pair of driveshafts.

The bottom of the steering posts have now been lowered a little on ours, meaning the shell can go way lower. I can't get my head around the looks of the LWB Meteor body so I have gone for an Rc10 version instead. Trimmed but still not in paint yet. Bumper and home made rear guard/motor brace are now on too.

Next up is looking at Lipo configurations. Like you I am stiçking to brushed motors and an old school ESC, but trying out Lipos with an alarm.

[DerbyDan]

Both Meteors are looking great guys!:thumbsup:

Nice work finding an alternative solution for the supply of driveshafts, I've managed to collect a few decent sets... but this only really gives me one spare pair once I've built my 2nd car :(

Can I ask if your chassis' have a smooth shiny surface or does it have a matte light textured finish?

[TurboLag]

I have a slightly different chassis to yours, the only difference being it's 5mm shorter at the rear and the 2 rear gearbox holes aren't countersunk, so it sits flush with the factory rear kick.


I never painted a body as unsymmetrical as the Meteor one lol And those steering posts do stick up just enough to get in the way. Although I'll leave the body height as it is. yeah, think I'll also leave any brushless setups well alone!

[DerbyDan]

I never painted a body as unsymmetrical as the Meteor one lol And those steering posts do stick up just enough to get in the way. Although I'll leave the body height as it is. yeah, think I'll also leave any brushless setups well alone!

Penguin's LWB Meteor body was moulded from a shell I donated - it was a used/trimmed but good condition shell (hence some of the vagueness around the front) that came from an 'ebay special' Meteor I brought a few years ago - that car forms much of the basis for the Meteor I built & raced (3rd O/A in 2wd at the 2016 Revival & winner in class at the Brett Davis meeting earlier this year) including its narrow front LWB chassis. The original shells weren't the most well formed when new from Mardave back in the 80s.... but in fairness given the relative cottage industry in which these cars emerged they weren't too bad & almost comparable to the shells from other similar low-volume manufacturers (e.g Schumacher, PB etc)

With reference to the chassis, it is my suspicion that Fibrelyte have used the mould that I supplied to them for forming the chassis for my Masami YZ-10... I laid Formica laminate over the mould to give a slightly textured surface finish to mimic the car's original chassis. From my mould Fibrelyte produced a kicked-up piece of carbon that they use effectively as a 'lid' when forming new chassis, to create the texture/same finish on both sides. The first YZ-10 chassis Fibrelyte made for me had a 'bagged' finish (filled bags are laid on top to provide pressure whilst the carbon cures) - The original Meteor chassis that Martin provided, I'm guessing, would have mostly been used to draw the chassis outline.

[Ant]

Hi
I have a complete Meteor (early) and another (later) in parts languishing my loft, along with a few Apaches, etc.
Both are short wishbones and chassis.
If I remember properly, it seems that the rear hubs on the later one do not have bearings and solid upper links. Is this correct?
Have machined the intermediate gear so it is ballraced.

Over winter I will try and find some time to rebuild one up properly. I would like to fit the longer wishbones but they are hard to come by.
If someone could measure theirs up I could have a go at 3D printing some.

Cheers
Anthony

[dinglem]

Latest update - motor brace/heatsink has now been fabricated and fitted, based largely around the arrangement we fabricate on our original car back in '87.

[dinglem]

And now...

[dinglem]

Drilled.

[dinglem]

Getting there now.

[jamesbeat]

That is fantastic!

Great to see the Meteor is still getting some love after all these years.

[dinglem]

Thanks mate, few more details to complete then get it going and see how it actually performs! Front arb coming next.

[DerbyDan]

Loving that Motor mount Martin - being three sided it gives optimum support for the motor - mine was made as a simple 'L' shape (like the original 'Halliday' one was) - which under heavy landings off these modern big ramps had a tendency to bend, twisting the plastic gearbox housing in the process :bored:.... a wedge of Lego beneath the motor solved the issue, but its a bit of a bodge Lol!

[jamesbeat]

Thanks mate, few more details to complete then get it going and see how it actually performs! Front arb coming next.

I'm sure it's going to go like s*** off a shovel.

My poor Meteor will never end up like this because I'm going for absolutely box stock with mine.

Maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to get hold of another one, but it's not an easy car to find here in the States.
If I do get another one, I'm definitely going to do something like this.

It's very interesting how our approaches differ - you are modifying your original car with all the upgrades you dreamed of when you were racing it.

I'm putting together the car that I dreamed of owning when I was younger but never managed to get.

Either way, there's magic in these old Mardaves :)

[dinglem]

As it has turned out, I still have my original car almost completely intact. I started out intending to completely overhaul it, but in hunting down a LWB chassis car (to source the long front wishbones) I inadvertently ended up with almost a complete spares car.

As this project has moved forwards I kind of decided to leave my originàl car as I last raced it, so this new car is using mainly the parts off the LWB spares car; gearbox, rear wishbones, steering set up and so on. Everything else has been sourced elsewhere or scratch built by us with very little being borrowed from my original car.

At the end of this I will certainly end up with two cars.

[Dadio]

Damn ,don't you just hate it when you aim to build one car but end up with two instead ;):thumbsup:

[Welshy40]

Theres a mardave cobra on ebay for 28 quid. May be of interest

[dinglem]

Hope to have it up and running later on today :)

[dinglem]

Got the car on track on Friday in the end. Once we got our heads around the new electronics we even managed to out in a few laps. Considering we had never even charged a Lipo before we got to the track or turned the transmitter on we actually made fairly swift progress. Set up was a low profile shortly, Hobbywing brushed (860?) WSC, Futaba stick tranny, old school Futaba 131SH servoo and a TMS Tornado 13Double motor.

The motor was a mistake. Way too quick for my first test run. Like a missile in fact. I will replace it with a standard motor for my next test session and out some serious and steady laps in I think.

First for for the body went ok though- just got to paìnt it now :)

[Miggers]

Love those wheels ding:drool:.

I have a TMS Challenger 17x2 that goes well in the "Cobrat",also have
a 19 turn Komodo Dragon that is a good motor too on a 21 tooth pinion
and a 7.4v LiPo.

I don't remember 'em back in the day(I always ran Parma's in my Optima Mid),
but TMS's don't seem to be bad motors at all.

[Peakey]

It's looking great martin, it'll look killer when you get your body's at last

[dinglem]

Yes the rims certainly do finish the car off nicely - really chuffed with the whole thing.

I have two TMS Tornado motors of the same wind - both very swift, so I may let one go at some point. I think the 13 double was their hottest option at the time.

The new shells are en route Peakey ;)

[dinglem]

For the time being i am using a Garbage Pail Kids themed shell, although it doesn't have any paint yet. Just something to get me out on track but you get the idea of how it is going to look.

[Miggers]

For the time being i am using a Garbage Pail Kids themed shell, although it doesn't have any paint yet. Just something to get me out on track but you get the idea of how it is going to look.

Sure does look a cutie.

[dinglem]

Shell finally finished.