fixing my old civic...

[Enjoi Honda]

my civic that i have is broken, well i use the body but u know, the actual car part is broken. While trying to do some type of mod back in the day, i broke off the plastic thing on the bottom of the ZZ case where the clip from the controller goes to hold it in, the little part is still in the chassis of the car, but its all smashed up. i can get it out im sure, but im wondering if theres a better way to fix it? if i take it out, can i still use hte stock charger?

secondly, one of the tiny copper wires for steering i believe, is broken. how do you fix this? i was thinking solder, but theyre so small, i cant solder them....should i try twisting together?

[rfnagel]

Originally posted by Enjoi Honda
my civic that i have is broken, well i use the body but u know, the actual car part is broken. While trying to do some type of mod back in the day, i broke off the plastic thing on the bottom of the ZZ case where the clip from the controller goes to hold it in, the little part is still in the chassis of the car, but its all smashed up. i can get it out im sure, but im wondering if theres a better way to fix it? if i take it out, can i still use hte stock charger?

secondly, one of the tiny copper wires for steering i believe, is broken. how do you fix this? i was thinking solder, but theyre so small, i cant solder them....should i try twisting together?

For the chassis, I'm not sure of how your specific break is, but JB Weld epoxy is some of the best 2 part epoxy that you can buy. If the broken portion is glueable/epoxyable, JB Weld will form a stong permanent bond that's almost unbreakable -

For the steering wires, they prolly won't remain together for too long if you simply twist them together. If at all possible, solder them (you'll need an extremely small soldering iron tip an low-wattage iron, as well as a steady hand).

(Although I'm an experienced solderer) I had a heck of a time swapping out various PC boards in a few of my original ZipZaps... micro-hair thin wires, but it *is* do-able with a bit of patience -

[Enjoi Honda]

thanks--my old soldering iron is terrible, takes forever just to heat up, so i bought a mini one at radioshack, the butane kind....Gotta get some butane then try to fix this baby. Problem is the break is so close to the front that there is like no slack on the wire.... they are like attached to the front part at one point by some type of glue. i may try pushing both wires to the bottom of the chassis and putting a drop of solder there, even if it means that they stick down there.

as for the connector on the body, i just dremeled out the smashed up part, leaving a bit of plastic sticking up so that the clip can grab it. its not perfect but it sticks on the charger so i cant complain

BTW which way does the battery go back in--im assuming its just based on the red and black wires (poistive/negative on the batt) rite?

EDIT:
i was able to drag the short portion of the wire (attaches to front of car) up to the side wall of the ZZ (imagine the board off, it comes right up to the top of the black part where the board sits.) if i solder it there, the board wont fit, but do you think after its soldered i could just deattach the solder from the plastic, or would it get stuck there?

[rfnagel]

Originally posted by Enjoi Honda
BTW which way does the battery go back in--im assuming its just based on the red and black wires (poistive/negative on the batt) rite?

Been a while since I had any of my Zaps apart, but if you see red and black, red is indeed postive and black is indeed negative -

Originally posted by Enjoi Honda
i was able to drag the short portion of the wire (attaches to front of car) up to the side wall of the ZZ (imagine the board off, it comes right up to the top of the black part where the board sits.) if i solder it there, the board wont fit, but do you think after its soldered i could just deattach the solder from the plastic, or would it get stuck there?

Usually you can scrape off hardened solder from plastic pretty easy, so's I think that should work just fine (use an Exacto knife or a razor blade). 'Twould be better though, if at all possible, to lengthen the wires using some additional fine small-guage wire... might be quite difficult though, as the original wires are so confounded small to begin with.

If you can lengthen them, you could always use some clear fingernail polish to electrically insulate the new wire that you add, per my reply to your other message thread -

[Enjoi Honda]

thanks--what type of wire would be best for this? unfortunately i can't buy butane at my age, so i keep asking my parents to pick it up and theyre having trouble remembering exactly what i asked for/just kinda forget about it. Its terrible having this ncie new iron and no butane to fuel it with... Hopefully soldering that wire will make the car work correctly again. havent tested it in quite a while.

[rfnagel]

Originally posted by Enjoi Honda
thanks--what type of wire would be best for this?

Ya know, I really don't know. I'd try to get some wire that is aboslutely as small as possible (due to the tight-fit of the Zaps' components and parts). You might try visiting your local RS store and see what the smallest wire that they have available (I'm thinking maybe the old "wire-wraping" wire, but even that might be too big I think).

Originally posted by Enjoi Honda
unfortunately i can't buy butane at my age, so i keep asking my parents to pick it up and theyre having trouble remembering exactly what i asked for/just kinda forget about it. Its terrible having this ncie new iron and no butane to fuel it with... Hopefully soldering that wire will make the car work correctly again. havent tested it in quite a while.

Just a thought, maybr you should exchange the Butane iron for an electric one. Although not portable, an electric one is easier as ya don't have to keep refilling it.

Also, just a tip, practice a bit on something discardable first to get the hang of it. A small trashed/defective PC board (or computer PC board) of any kind makes for a good practice expirement -

P.S. RS may also have a short book on soldering, I'd highly recommend it if they do... all males of the species should learn how to solder, 'bout the handiest thing since sliced bread LOL! -

[Enjoi Honda]

Thanks--i already know how to solder fairly well. Its always a good thing to know for someone like me who loves modding computers and electronics. As for the butane iron, im gunna stick with it. I like the cordless idea, as my corded one caused alot of trouble.

I will do a bit of practice on some old PC boards though. Tons of old PC's int he basement that i use for parts on my build. Hopefully this ZZ gets working again so i can have two...though i still might pick up an SE when i can.

[Enjoi Honda]

Well i took a crack at the soldering...seems that the brass wire has gone together ok. BUT, the red wire from the battery isnt attached either, where does that attach to

[rfnagel]

Originally posted by Enjoi Honda
BUT, the red wire from the battery isnt attached either, where does that attach to

Unfortunately, it's been way too long since I had any of my Zaps apart to remember... maybe someone could jump in here with some info and/or a pic -

[Enjoi Honda]

thanks, i do have my new NSX....but i dont wanna take the circuit board thing up or move anything...bringing it back to teh store sometime in the next few weeks, so i can get two SE's...and the NSX will be free with the buy two get one deal...I had a few questions about SE's though:

the third gen is what im looking for? with 02A04 in the number or whatever? They have no known issues or problems?

I know the steering is BETTER but how does the new controller compare? it looks strange to me. Is it easy to use?

[rfnagel]

Originally posted by Enjoi Honda
I know the steering is BETTER but how does the new controller compare? it looks strange to me. Is it easy to use?

Check my reply to you in your other thread here -> http://tinyrc.com/forums/showthread....threadid=21663

To add to that reply, it's really quite easy to use, simply being a matter of taste (or what your used to)... some folks love pistol grip controllers, while others (like myself LOL) hate 'em. Either way, once you get used to that style of controller, it's really not that difficult to use it, it's simply a matter of if you like it or not.

[Enjoi Honda]

Thanks--didnt see you replied there. Thanks for answering all my questions...i tend to have alot of em...well the problem is at my local RS they only have two regulr ZZs in stock, beetle and NSX. i dont want the beetle. plus if i get my civic working it would be pointless to get another 27MHz....ill see if i get that to work, but most likely ill get two of hte SE's...i cant believe they changed the controller! how dare they! I get the feeling i wont like it as much as the regulars...we'll see.

[rfnagel]

Originally posted by Enjoi Honda
Thanks--didnt see you replied there. Thanks for answering all my questions...i tend to have alot of em...

Yer quite welcome - As they say, there is no such thing as a stupid question, only a stupid answer... Lord knows I'm full of 'em LOL!

Originally posted by Enjoi Honda
i dont want the beetle. plus if i get my civic working it would be pointless to get another 27MHz....

You don't want the Beetle? Man! That was prolly going to be my next purchase. I'm not much up on any of them there "fureign cars", but I love the old Beetles - BTW, they sell a 49MHz version as well -

Originally posted by Enjoi Honda
i cant believe they changed the controller! how dare they! I get the feeling i wont like it as much as the regulars...we'll see.

I have a hunch that once you get used to it, you'll really appreciate the fully proportional steering and throttle - It's simply a matter of choice if one likes or doesn't like the pistol grip controllers in general.

I myself prefer an analog stick controller, as I'm from the "old school" of the 1/10 scale RC days LOL -> http://www.cmoo.com/~snor/weeds/hornet_large.jpg -

[Enjoi Honda]

yea i have the NSX in 49MHz and the busted civic in 27. gotta see if i can fix the civic bfor buying another.

[Enjoi Honda]

are the SE's slower? i read somewhere that they were...?