Vintage Nitro Shelf Queens

[Defiant]

I’m starting up a collection of nitro cars again, starting out with my old friend the Schumacher Fusion

For those who don’t know what this car is, it’s a British-made 1/10 nitro on-road touring car with a belt driven AWD system and a 3 speed transmission. These were known for being overpowered because they came with a .21 Thunder Tiger engine and later were offered with a .28 Picco P3 monster called the X28 Turbo. These were the fastest 1/10 nitro on-roads at the time with a top speed of 80mph.

Mine is actually brand new, the engine hasn’t even been broken in yet. These have long been discontinued so finding a new example was super lucky. Mine has the .21 however I will be converting this to the .28 Picco using original parts which are incredibly hard to find but I’ve done it. It’s tough having to order everything overseas, I guess these weren’t as popular in the states.

All I’ve done so far is polish up the tuned pipe a bit as it had a good amount of surface corrosion forming

I’m also a big HPI fan so I had to buy the new WR8 before it was discontinued. Looks good next to the Schumacher

Speaking of HPI I have a Nitro RS4 3 Evo in storage that needs to be rebuilt. It’s definitely a project and I’ll be posting it in here and showing off the rare parts I find for it.

I’m also building a Savage XL K5.9 project but that one needs a ton of work so it’ll be on the back burner for now

My list of nitro cars to collect in the future:

Associated TC3

Yokomo GT4

Kyosho FW06

Kyosho mad crusher

Kyosho USA-1

BMT 891 or 931

Tamiya TGR

Tamiya TG10r

Hpi rs4 drift

 

[Defiant]

For the Schumacher I got a spare chassis and top plate, x28 crankcase and cooling head (which is imo one of the best features of this car), and a larger optional 3 speed pinion to unlock those potential 80mph top speeds

For the RS4 I have a new Racer’s edge chassis anodized stunningly in purple and a Hot Bodies cooling head

Better pic of the X28, I have a new piston and sleeve coming. I had to have a friend from the UK source it for me

 

[LicketySplit]

That is good stuff dude!! I should have never got rid of my circa 2000 RS4. But I took it with me to college and well, needed "college" money.

 

[Defiant]

That is good stuff dude!! I should have never got rid of my circa 2000 RS4. But I took it with me to college and well, needed "college" money.

They’re not even worth selling imo it’s not a lot of money for something so vintage and rare. I sold my brand new RS4 with every upgrade on it even a CVEC pipe and regret it! These cars are so small they’re hardly a storage problem haha

 

[gotnitro]

Lemme know when your ready to come off that SF!

 

[Defiant]

Lemme know when your ready to come off that SF!

Never

In fact, I plan to buy another

 

[Defiant]

My vintage rs4 project car needs quite a bit of work

It has some decent parts on it and should clean up nicely

The old engine is a dud but the guy I bought it from included a brand new g3.0 with the car! The cost of this engine alone is how much I paid for the entire car + parts so I feel the deal was pretty good. Dunno when I’m going to start restoring this one though, it needs lots of time put in. Will be fun tho

 

[Defiant]

I scored another BRAND NEW Schumacher fusion 21! This one has the rare pickup truck body, the holes aren’t even cut yet

I got some more rare Schumacher parts including another x28 cooling head, tuned pipe and clutch. I found this hpi hot bodies purple exhaust header which will be going on my rs4 build

The x28 is coming together I put a new head button on it so it will be a turbo conversion

More rare rs4 chassis plates

I got this rare cvec pipe that I will restore

Scored a brand new Ofna Ld3 body, I love these vintage colors

And this super rare Ld3 to cd3 conversion kit

I also bought this Tc3 to restore it has a blown engine and stripped gears but the body will clean up nicely

And a team titan tc3 chassis

 

[Defiant]

New ths pipe kit for tc3

 

[Defiant]

I haven’t updated in forever, I have lots of stuff to add but I’ll firstly just show that I’ve finished building my Picco .28 and I’ve converted it to a turbo head button. Everything is brand new except the carb, which I’ve rebuilt with some new parts. Sourcing new parts for a long discontinued engine sucked but was very rewarding

I put this engine where it belongs - into a Fusion chassis which I’ve then added aluminum carriers and shock mounts

Here’s a side by side with my other fusion which is all stock and powered by a thunder tiger .21

I threw on these Tamiya wheels for the shots but I have a set of bronze Kyosho wheels on order for the car

 

[gotnitro]

I haven’t updated in forever, I have lots of stuff to add but I’ll firstly just show that I’ve finished building my Picco .28 and I’ve converted it to a turbo head button. Everything is brand new except the carb, which I’ve rebuilt with some new parts. Sourcing new parts for a long discontinued engine sucked but was very rewarding
View attachment 230553

I put this engine where it belongs - into a Fusion chassis which I’ve then added aluminum carriers and shock mounts
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Here’s a side by side with my other fusion which is all stock and powered by a thunder tiger .21
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I threw on these Tamiya wheels for the shots but I have a set of bronze Kyosho wheels on order for the car
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Is that a stock Picco or did you mod the sleeve? Either way it's going to turn that car into a jet! Very nice build! Too bad some of these other plug and play guys can't find a tune

 

[Defiant]

Is that a stock Picco or did you mod the sleeve? Either way it's going to turn that car into a jet! Very nice build! Too bad some of these other plug and play guys can't find a tune

Stock Picco other than changing out the head button. I’m trying to keep it close to original and all the parts on it are from Schumacher apart from the wheels of course

 

[Defiant]

Started to tear down my HPI RS4 3 that I got second hand in pretty rough condition. Thankfully the vitals are in good shape and it has a lot of good parts already on it

First start is to get a new chassis plate of course

Pictures don’t do the anodizing justice. It looks incredible in the flesh

Got a new G3.0 engine going in the car, I gave it a few touches with a hot bodies cooling head, hot bodies header, hot racing carb dial, new 2 speed pinion gears (no purple available), and assembled the mounts and pull starter

I test fit the engine and the pinion gears don’t line up with the spurs. The G3.0 and T3.0 have different crankshafts and luckily I have the correct one on hand

Time to tear apart the new engine and swap out the crank

 

[Rowdyray]

Started to tear down my HPI RS4 3 that I got second hand in pretty rough condition. Thankfully the vitals are in good shape and it has a lot of good parts already on it
View attachment 233062

First start is to get a new chassis plate of course
View attachment 233063

Pictures don’t do the anodizing justice. It looks incredible in the flesh
View attachment 233064
Got a new G3.0 engine going in the car, I gave it a few touches with a hot bodies cooling head, hot bodies header, hot racing carb dial, new 2 speed pinion gears (no purple available), and assembled the mounts and pull starter
View attachment 233065
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I test fit the engine and the pinion gears don’t line up with the spurs. The G3.0 and T3.0 have different crankshafts and luckily I have the correct one on hand
View attachment 233068
Time to tear apart the new engine and swap out the crank

Love your RS4's and especially the CVEC pipes. Bet most of the folks here don't even know what those are. lol. Loved them.

Had an original MT version. Then picked up the MT Racer. Basically a high end roller. Stuck an OS .18 CV-R and CVEC pipe. Best of both worlds. With stadium truck tires it tore up the track. Street tires and a 2 speed it was crazy fast on the street. Still have it.

 

[Defiant]

Love your RS4's and especially the CVEC pipes. Bet most of the folks here don't even know what those are. lol. Loved them.

Had an original MT version. Then picked up the MT Racer. Basically a high end roller. Stuck an OS .18 CV-R and CVEC pipe. Best of both worlds. With stadium truck tires it tore up the track. Street tires and a 2 speed it was crazy fast on the street. Still have it.

View attachment 233073

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Awesome

Yep definitely gotta have the cvec!

 

[Defiant]

Began cleaning up all the carbon fiber parts, stripped down all the suspension components and rebuild the diffs and new stainless hardware added

I put in new factory driveshafts for now but may be changing those out in the future. Added aluminum hexes though and went on to do the front section

I went and added some tamiya wheels and began to test fit the body as I didn’t know how much clearance the wheels will have - looks like I may need to do a little trimming

Waiting on more parts to arrive now.

 

[Senton_Prime]

Dang u got me looking a nitros, but this looks way cooler than the new ones!! I want one

 

[Defiant]

Dang u got me looking a nitros, but this looks way cooler than the new ones!! I want one

Yea the old school stuff was just way cooler imo. Even looking at magazines from the 90-2000s everything was so flashy and colorful and it’s that era of cars that drew me into the hobby in the first place

 

[Adiabatic]

Love your RS4's and especially the CVEC pipes. Bet most of the folks here don't even know what those are. lol. Loved them.

They were pretty neat, but my favourite was the ERCM endbleed pipe. Insane performance and deafening at close range.

 

[Defiant]

ERCM also is willing to make dual stinger pipes just like the old CVEC