Buggy Cleaning 101

[Waste Land]

Okay I got the idea to dot his thread from two places. One, RCNT, people talking about cleaning their cars all the time and stuff. I learnt that buggys are cleaned good in dish washers and auto parts washers too. Two, my neighbor with a Nitro MT. He asked me how to clean it. I say remove engine, pipe and electronics. Well he just removed electronics and airfilter and nailed it witha hose pipe, downt he carba dn all and killed a brand new engine.

Without further delays heres Waste Lands Buggy Cleaning.

1) Dirty Buggy.....I'm sure you've seen or had dirtier cause I have too, so no responses needed on that.





2) Remove Wheels and Any Part Able to Fall Down A Drain(Wheel & Axle Wise)




3) Remove Engine, Fuel Tank, Center Diff, Pipe, And Radio Tray. Should Look Like This



Try To keep screws seperated or put them back in the hole once the item has been removed...do not follow my "I'll find out later example"



4) Fill your sink or somethign with warm water and some dish washing shit to make it all bubbly and what not. I like to wash one end at a time. Let it set in water for about 1 minute or so and the harden dirt get moist and it really makes it easier to get out. I use 1 large brush and 1 tooth brush to clean with. Start witht he large brush and go over everythingn thats wet. After scrubbing the over all take the tooth brush and go around ur shocks, shock towers and such small places.






5) Diassmble compact thigns such as radio tray and other assemblys. Use a tooth brush to clean servos. Dont let it be soaking wet. Wipe it down with a rag and sit it aside. Also srub the inside of your radio box(dirt can get its when in things) and the radio tray. Once this is all done put it back together to avoid confusion later.








6) Your engine needs to be cleaner so it will cool easier(Learnt this from Skymaxx)With mud and shit all over an engine, its like you trying to cool down on a 110 degree day in a jump suit and a large bubble coat. Put the feul tube over your fuel opening on ur carb so no dirt gets in. I still dont like paying alot of attention to the engine so I wont mess it up. Just keep it clean enough to cool, tune and easy keep up.



7) Diffrents are nice to clean aorund too. Usually they get alot of sandy dirt around them. I just dipped mine in water once and scrubbed away. I fugure the cleaner it is the better it will perform.



8) Throw your wheels in the water and sscrub the tires and rims with ur brushes



9) Rebuild** My chassis, barea nd cleaned up alot more. I went back and srubbed the A-Arms more later. Remember, your gonna get this thign dirty later on so a little dirty is okay.



10) Put your center diff back on. IMPORTANT-----You have to put the drive shafts in at this time before the diff is screwed down other wise they wont fit!



Now put back on your radio tray



and then you engine and remember to mesh it! NOTE--Thats not rust on my manifold because I've been asked before, its just dirty and will not get any cleaner.



I'm sure while you had ur engine and buggy apart, you cleaned ur air filter right? Well do it if not. Heres my way of oiling my filter. Put some oil in a baggy corner.



throw your filter in and squeeze from outside the bag and bam ur filter is oiled better than you ever could with a nozzle



Now put your fuel tank, fuel line, and filter back on.



Now put your wheel assembly together



Now slap that clean body on that pimp daddy ride and gawk at how much diffrent it looks.



Thank for reading!

Many have asked about my Storm and what's on it. It's a Storm RTR. Hardcore Racing titanium shock towers, XTM brick Tires, Stock b01 engine(soon to be Sirio K3 .21) and a OFNA mini fail-safe thats not pictured because it was causing problems when I was borrowing my friends servo while JR had mine.

[Error401]

Buggies love bubble baths.

[Waste Land]

Originally posted by Error401
Buggies love bubble baths.

Even more with Kenny G, Candles, and a nice book!, lol.

[ImBroken]

Nice write up you got there... One suggestion that I would make, is that you not throw your tires in that water... They will get water in them. This destroys your foams, and can create tire unbalance if used before they are completely dry. They will take forever to dry out also.. I usually spray my tires with some SimpleGreen & scrub down with a brush. A quick rinse off in the sink, & thats it. Using an air compressor to blow the moisture out of your chassis parts & drivetrain would be a good idea also..
I'm not crappin on your "How to", just wanted to throw in some
advice...

[Waste Land]

No offsense taken man. I'm always up for help.

[militarymaxx]

Dude, where's that thing been ? Looks like red dirt from Mars.
Or maybe Georgia. They have the reddest clay down there.
Great post. I do something along the same lines. I use a little simple green and a toothbrush, rinse, hit it with some air afterwards and I'm golden. I like the HC Ti shock towers, (got a set myself). They rock.

[Nitro_Keebler]

What do you do about rusted or siezed wheel/diff bearings from soaking them in the water?

[Waste Land]

Originally posted by militarymaxx
Dude, where's that thing been ? Looks like red dirt from Mars.
Or maybe Georgia. They have the reddest clay down there.
Great post. I do something along the same lines. I use a little simple green and a toothbrush, rinse, hit it with some air afterwards and I'm golden. I like the HC Ti shock towers, (got a set myself). They rock.

Alabama dirt pits. Nothing not too bad compared to this



We went scuba diving!

Originally posted by Nitro_Keebler
What do you do about rusted or siezed wheel/diff bearings from soaking them in the water?

You dont leave them in there all damn night. I usually pull my bearing and spray them with contact cleaner one time and then throw in 2 drops of 3-N-1. I didnt feal like going threw that many more photos.

[Nitro_Keebler]

I was asking the obvious with the intention that someone else would be helped. Not everyone is uber at cleaning as you, so someone might FORGET to lube the bearings after soaking them in soapy water.

[Rolex]

Waste Land, it's apparent that you have WAY too much free time if this is something you do routinely.
I use a spray bottle of denatured alcohol, a spray bottle of water mixed with Dawn dishwashing liquid, a spray bottle of clear water, and an air hose at 45 PSI. Oh, and I also use YOUR toothbrush for the really grimy places.
The whole process takes about 15 minutes.
When it's all clean and dry, I spray it with a 50/50 mix of Armorall and water, and blow it off with the air gun again.
Everything looks like it just came out of the box.

[Waste Land]

I do have alot of free time on my hands. It's usually when I;m done with all work, the computer is being dumb or no one is on, or me and tyler are running the next day, OR when my mom bitches about it being dirty. Tearing it this far down lets me check for broken/damaged pieces, loctite everythign down good and get everythign tight. I get to reset my gear mesh and engine. Diffrent stroke for diffrent folks you could say

[wiita]

looks like you may have an airleak. also a leaky tank cap.



wiita

[Waste Land]

I know i have some fuel spewing from behind the flywheel when it runs rich.

[cbreaker]

When I clean my Storm if it's really dirty, I will take off the engine, center diff, gas tank, front and rear suspension. I leave the electronics on the chassis because at this point it's easy to clean the bare chassis with a cloth and easy to clean around the servos.

With the front and rear suspension off the buggy (it's great how you can remove it so easy, and without taking off dozens of screws) it's easy to clean when it's in your hand. I get into all the little places. Once I put it back together, it looks like a new buggy, sans scratches.

Is there a way to tighten the gap between the gas tank and the lid? Mine leaks a lot too; after a run at the track my tank is a mess. Any advice would be appreciated.

[wiita]

Leaky Tank Thread

wiita