We’re restoring a Losi XX CR Kinwald – Part VI Final bits

Episode: 9 – Final hurdle

25th February 2021 – If you have read Part III you will know that the chassis is nearly complete. Everything has cleaned up well and gone together easily.

You can catch up here: https://racewayone.com/wp/2021/02/19/were-restoring-a-losi-xx-cr-kinwald-part-iii-rear-end/

At this point I want offer a little help to those enthusiasts who want to get involved with a similar project.

It doesn’t matter if your restoring a Losi or a Team Associated car you are restoring – it’s always hard to find the parts you need. My recommendation is that you get in touch with FF Racing in the UK.

FF Racing has many more parts available than their website would suggest and they will ship worldwide.

Back to the build…..

Back in the early nineties, Team Associated was the design benchmark in relation to shock design and performance. The shaft seals were put in place from the shock top end, which was tricky to say the least. The kit came with a long cylindrical tool just to allow you to do this. The fitter would know the installation was successful when a square flexible retaining plate “clicked” into a groove on the inside of the shock body. As the silicone o-rings swelled the retaining plate could be forced out of position causing problems. The damper could discharge all of its oil into the suspension arm and tyre and ultimately the ground. Yes, this was the technical benchmark!

When released in 1994, the Team Losi XX came with something very different – the shaft seals were preassembled into a cartridge which was in turn screwed into the bottom end of the shock body. This made the assembly very easy to build, bleed correctly and essentially made it very reliable.

Famously and slightly confusingly, the Kinwald Edition came with front and rear blue springs. Blue front springs were nothing new – 4.1lb, but the rears were something new, sort of – they were pink 2.3lb springs painted blue. My car sadly was missing these springs when I bought it. I managed to find a set with an enthusiast in the UK – I couldn’t believe my luck. They are extremely rare.

Keeping it correct to the manual.

I have new seals and the correct pistons as per the kit. Black front pistons and red rear pistons. Interesting the manual shows a large shock spacer on the inside of the front shocks. This addition leaves very little droop in the front end, but I’ve made sure to include them. I want this car to be as per the manual – word for word!.

The shock cartridges come apart relatively easily and accept the new seals readily.

I may not have the kit oil bottles, but I do have genuine Losi oils in the same weight as the kit. The shocks go together very easily and bleed nicely. The shocks have not lost any of the quality in the last twenty three years.

Time to fit the shocks to the chassis…..

Fitting the shocks to the chassis couldn’t be easier. I have brand new Losi low profile 4-40 nuts for the shock top mounting which have been anodized the correct colour. The car originally came with aftermarket Trinity shock standoffs. I have original plastic kit ones to fit now.

The devil is in the detail…

The XX has come a long way, but the car is not finished yet! The Kinwald Edition came with a very specific set of wheels and tyres. Often, kit wheels and tyres are usually either used and dumped, or else just dumped by the first owner straight out of the kit box.

This car came from ebay with no wheels or tyres at all. I sourced the kit “disc” front wheels from Germany and the rears from the UK. The Team Losi Wide Rib fronts and X-2000 rears came from ModelTune on Northern Ireland.

The last few components….

I have fitted with new 4-40 and 8-32 wheel nuts – of course anodized blue. I haven’t glued the tyres to the rims as I may want to change the tyres at some later point and another set of rims will be hard to find.

The front bumper goes on after the wheels. I don’t know why the bumper appears in the manual this late. It would make more sense to me for it to be fitted after the front end is attached to the chassis.

I’ve fitted the bumper/skid plate with four new Losi 4-40 countersunk screws.

I’ve fitted a period correct Trinity Dirtinator D2 motor to the car. This will stop it rolling around when on display. The D2 motor is a 9 x 3 brushed example which was very lightly used. With a 17T pinion the motor mounts into the correct position and looks great.

The wing wire on the Kinwald Edition was a bit different to the regular XX. It’s a very simply bent wire without the “V” bend which is typical of the older style.

The wing buttons which came with the car were not genuine items as mentioned in Part I. The freshly anodized kit correct buttons and V-Wing look great when fitted.

The body dilemma…

I bought two bodies for the car. I have a clear shell which looks great, but not wanting the car to look unfinished I also bought a body shell painted in Jukka Steenari’s 1999 colours. The shell is working its way from the Attack RC paintshop in Spain as we speak, but as I’m writing this it has not arrived. That means we are ploughing on with the clear unpainted bodyshell.

Has the Team Losi XX CR Kinwald Edition stood the test of time?

Absolutely! The car still feels relevant. The quality of the components it still comparable to modern day machinery. The car is refined and light weight in a way you only find with the best of the best such as Yokomo or Xray or similar.

Even though the rear motor design is out dated and the modern standard tuning adjustments are not available, but I can’t help but think that a mid- motor version of this car could still be relatively competitive.

The car is now complete!

I’d like to thank you very much for checking back on the progress of the build. If you found it interesting and would like us to build another car – either vintage or contemporary – please send me a message either by email or through facebook and we’ll see what we can do.

Thanks!