Frustrating 206 Rally wheel problem!

[oregon3]

OK ... I hit a snag in my build of the following car:



I'm just learning about all this rally stuff, so just bear with me. I need to use gravel wheels on this car and I got the Tamiya 2002 "winners" kit for the wheels. Well, it arrived yesterday and today I read on a rally site that gravel wheels are smaller than tarmac wheels. Oh, oh. So I run to the chassis I have built up from the Tamiya 2001 kit and open up the 2002 winner's kit -- the wheels are so small! -- AND THEY DON'T FIT OVER THE FRONT BRAKES OF THE 2001 KIT! If I knew, I would have used the brakes from 2002 kit also. I can't get the brakes off, so I guess I am stuck. I have a great coat of gloss black on the body and the decals are ready to go on. I can't build this with the wrong wheels.

Why would gravel wheels be so small? I thought that you would need larger brakes on a gravel course, rather than on tarmac!?!

Anyway, what should I do? I was thinking of building the car from the 2002 kit, but the hood is different. Maybe I should build up the 2002 chassis and use the 2001 body on that. I don't know.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

John B

[ales]

Well, gravel wheels are indeed smaller than tarmac wheels, and so are the brakes - you don't need as much braking force on gravel and snow events, and smaller brakes and wheels/tyres reduce unsprung weight. You need to find proper brakes, that's it. Why exactly can't you use the brakes from the 2002 kit?

[stevenoble]

Have you already stuck the bigger brakes to the chassis? Can you not pop off the oversized brakes and replace them with the smaller brakes from your other kit? Remember the gravel wheels are solid type and as such you won't see the brakes through them anyway,so any slight damage you do removing the oversized brakes will most probably be hidden from view.If you really can't get the oversized brakes off you could perhaps sand the edges to make them smaller so the wheels fit over them?

[NemesisR34]

The rear brakes are smaller than the front one on the 2000 version... is that the same thing for your kits?

Maybe you can try to pop off just the front brakes to put the rear of your spare kit?

[freakray]

The chassis from the 2002 kit will fit under the body you've used, just build up the chassis or better yet, use the suspension from the 2002 kit under the 2001 kit.

FYI, they're the same chassis in the kit with teh exception of the items Tamiya changed for the suspension.

[oregon3]

Unfortunately, the brakes are already glued on the 2001 chassis with super glue. Serious damage would result if I tried prying them off. On top of that, I've used PE brake rotors, so I can't sand them down. I guess I could pry off the rotors and then sand the wheels down -- but the wheels look so good! I didn't realize that the suspension sits higher on the gravel cars either. I think I am going to build up the 2002 chassis and use the 2001 body. That would result in a more accurate car. I guess I could use the 2001 chassis under the 2002 body for some other tarmac car. Just have to pick out some new decals.

To me it looks like the stance of this car isn't as high as some gravel setups I've seen.



One other question, is it likely that Sparco seatbelts were used in this car, or some other brand? Does anyone have any good sites for interior 206 photos?

Thanks for your help/suggestions.

JB

[freakray]

Originally Posted by oregon3

One other question, is it likely that Sparco seatbelts were used in this car, or some other brand? Does anyone have any good sites for interior 206 photos?

It's possible another brand of harness was used, Sparco sponsored those in the Peugeot team cars, privateers may use something else.

As for reference photos, did you check the reference photo thread in the motorsport WIP section?

[oregon3]

Originally Posted by oregon3

Are those lights on the front of the car??

JB

[freakray]

Yes, they're night stage lights. Renaissance makes them in resin and they're available from mediamixhobby.com.sg

[oregon3]

OK, this is what I've decided to do. I'm going to build up the gravel chassis from the 2002 winner's version to go under the black Havoline car. I'm going to use the tarmac chassis that I have currently built up under the 2002 winners version body with one of the following liveries:





It looks like the body of the 2002 winner's version matches the cars above.

Good idea?

JB

[stevenoble]

Seems like a good idea.That way you get two models out of your two kits.I like the red one in the pics above the best.

[rallymaster]

Originally Posted by oregon3

OK, this is what I've decided to do. I'm going to build up the gravel chassis from the 2002 winner's version to go under the black Havoline car. I'm going to use the tarmac chassis that I have currently built up under the 2002 winners version body with one of the following liveries:





It looks like the body of the 2002 winner's version matches the cars above.

Good idea?

JB

Hello JB,

Did you notice that the rear wing provided by tamiya is wrong ?
To build the most accurate car you'd need a Renaissance TK with the decals. (either dashboard is different)

But your 2002 body could also match with a 2002 early season car, which still hadn't new rear wing and new hood (the one of 2002 NZ kit without filling central hole)

Try to find Corsica or MC decals for example...
I may have some spare decals somewhere, I have 21 different 206 WRC to build !

let me know if something like that would help you.


Phil