Kyosho Ultima A&L LW2 test

Testing my vintage Kyosho Ultima with an A&L Lethal Weapon 2 belt drive gearbox installed. The car is powered by a standard 540 silvercan motor and lipo battery with 2.2" modern tyres.

[ozipanda]

The LW2 is great. My mate and I bought one each of these over 6 months ago, he used his in a Tamiya Astute and he won last years 6 hour vintage race with it. It is the black Astute in my video titled "2012 Vintage 2wd 6 hour Enduro at Castle Hill". The only thing we were not happy with was the slipper clutch, couldn't stop it from slipping even with a 540 silvercan motor!

[denmalski]

I remember spending more on this car than the car I drove, paid 79$ for rear Kyosho golds and 69$ for the front, but only $29.99 for the shocks on my actual car, still loved the hobby. It was a great upgrade from my first R/C, the old Tamiya Wild One. bought it cause it looked cool, but it was no match for my Ultima

[ozipanda]

Yes, still an awesome car, no wonder it won the 1987 IFMAR 2wd World Championships!

[ozipanda]

Thanks for your comments. My LW2 is still running well without the slipper. I have bent a motor plate as the Ultima doesn't have a motor guard. I am using Tamiya 2.2 wheels, rear are 12mm hex drive same as Kyosho, the front use 11x5mm bearings, so I changed the front wheel axles made by Team CRP. If you don't want to change them you can use a 11x4mm bearing.

[KrazyKanucker]

I had one of those, what an awesome car.

[ozipanda]

You will need to drill 2 holes in the chassis to mount the gearbox, beware the template plate supplied may not be correct (mine wasn't). You will also need to drill 2 holes in the rear bulkhead to mount the top plate for gearbox. You can use the standard dogbones, the outdrives are a couple of milimeters too long but will still work okay.

[ozipanda]

The LW2 is a good gearbox, just better off not paying the extra money for the optional slipper clutch. It should work well in your Tamiya.

[perfectsplit]

Back in the 80s, Team Associated had a great 2WD, but no great 4WD.
Team Losi had a great 2WD, but no great 4WD.
Team Yokomo had a great 4WD, but no great 2WD.
Schumacher had a great 4WD, but no great 2WD.

Kyosho was the only company to have both a great 2WD and a great 4WD.

[shakalg]

Hello, I have the same kyosho Ultima I see you got modern wheels on, what brand and model are they?
Mine are original stock tires and they have disintegrated with the years it's been put away and I don't know what tires would fit it.
Thanks.

[mitchr]

What shocks are those up front? What length?

[ozipanda]

Original Kyosho gold short shocks 70mm.

[perfectsplit]

To me, the original Ultima, original RC10, and Schumacher Cat XL all belonged to the same category - great cars that were butt-ugly.  The best-looking cars were all Tamiyas.  Unfortunately, Tamiya cars were only mediocre.