Poor Performance & Confused

Hi all,

I'm new to the ZZ world and have been reading here to figure out what I can do. About a month ago I bought the older Black Cobra on clearance at RS. No lights, so I guess this makes it an orginal ZZ. I also bought for my friend's birthday the Firebird along with the Trans Am body upgrades. This I also believe is an original ZZ. His birthday was last week and I gave him his car. Before then I barely touched mine after trying to get it to move, which it did at a crawling speed. I figured what could I expect from a cheap toy. But after reading here, I know this thing should be going faster. I'll be seeing my friend Friday, and since we always pick on each other about him having a real TA and me a real Mustang GT, we now I'm sure will have a Chevy/Ford RC challenge Friday. So I went to RS yesterday and bought the Muscle Car Power Upgrade Kit. I installed the Purple (not as purple as pics I've seen) motor and the red gears. It replace my stock green motor and stock blue gears. Well, the car is much faster now. But I still have the same problem as before. It doesn't have the torque to start moving on it's own. If I nudge it a little, it will start creeping forward, then kicks in. Reverse is nearly impossible to get it to do, even nudging. If I hold the car off the ground, the wheels fly, and steering works great. There is some noise as the wheels spin, whihc I had with both motor/gear setups. But with it on the ground, I can hear the engine click, the car wobbles, but goes nowhere without a push. Steering also doesn't work well until it is moving. Do I have a bad car? Should I buy another? Will his stock TA beat me, even going slower because it actually moves? :-)

I like the idea of the lights, and was thinking about pulling them from one of the bodies from the muscle kit and installing them in my Mustang. Probably more work than it's worth, though. Plus it looks like I would need an SE to get these lights to even work. But reading here, it sounds as if the SEs are not quite as good when it comes to performance. The Mustang Prototype I saw on display at RS yesterday did seem to be a little more solidly built than mine though.

Also, I keep reading about all these mods you guys are doing. Where are they listed? I see discussions, but nothing in Tips & Mods, Articles, etc. explaining the actual hows and what mods are already available. I'd like to take a look, read what I need, and head over to RS and get the parts.

Lastly, I saw that there was a Mustang Mach 1 out now (or was). Is this one of the new and improved SEs, or an older model I haven't seen yet. What about that Mustang Prototype whihc I think was just discontinued?

Thanks for the tips and help.

Mike

PS - Is there some sort of listing out there showing when each ZZ model was released. I'm now wondering if the TA I bought was a later date and maybe better than my Cobra. I've read which dates of SEs to look for that fix a steering problem, but a complete list of release dates would be nice for when someone sees an older model somewhere and can decide if it's worthwhile to get. Could also help in buying an older clearance item if someone plans on swapping the top anyway and the guts underneath will perform the same as the full price newer model.

Mike

[Sdog]

Hi Mike:

The first thing I would do is to check for hair or other debris caught in your wheels, especially the front wheels. You can easily check this by spinning the front wheels to see if they spin freely. If they don't, you probably have hair or some other junk stuck in them. You can usually get out the hair with tweezers, but it may also require you to take the steering knuckles off of the car. You can easily remove the back axel to check for hair or debris there.

As far as the new Mustang Mach 1 kits are concerned, they are brand new and they are the Special Edition (SE) kits with the lights. Because they are a newer model, they should perform well. There have been no reviews of them because they are just starting to hit the stores now. I know Namuna has picked up one recently, so he may give a review soon.

A couple of things to keep in mind about the original (OG) ZZ versus the SE zipzap. The SE ZZ's not only have lights, but proportional speed and steering as well. This gives them much better steering and control than the OG ZZ. However, they are also heavier then the OG ZZ which can potentially make them slower. They are dual celled, which helps to overcome this. Modding can also overcome this. So, if you plan to race with lots of turns and curves, you will have the advantage with the SE. If you just need straight away speed, then the OG may be the way to go....unless you plan to mod your SE.

Hope this helps.

I double checked, no dirt or hair anywhere. I've only run the thing down the hall a few times which is hardwood. Can't imagine people driving over carpet that I've read.

I switched out the red gears for the green, thinking maybe I don't have the torque to turn these gears with this motor, but same response. Sometimes it moves forward on it's own, never goes backward. After pushing it, it will go like mad in either direction. Seems to wind up to speed then, not an immediate jump to full power. This normal? When it is stuck and won't go, if I try turning the wheel, the wheel snaps back and forth from center to either right or left, depending on what I'm trying to do. When the car is rolling, it doesn't do this and will do donuts without any steering issue. Think this is a bad ZZ?

Mike

[Sdog]

Hmmmmm....not sure what else to tell you. It may be a bad ZZ if it was acting that way straight out of the box. You could take it to RS and have them look at it and exchange it if necessary. Most RS's are pretty good about returns.

Thought about that after reading some similar posts on another forum, but I bought it about a month or more ago, don't know where the receipt is, and tossed the box recently figuring I wouldn't need it. Also reading there, it looks like I have the version 1 PCB that came with the ZZs, which I'm reading are not as reliable as the version 2 or SEs. So, guess I'll take a look and see what is on sale and replace the guts to this thing. I can see another hobbie forming for awhile. I better not get one of those XMods that I was looking at there as well, those will get expensive.... If they make a late model Mustang, I might be in real trouble....

BTW, I'm seeing all these other miniRCs available. I don't recall ever seeing them anywhere other than in all the spam mail I was getting last year. Seeing the ZipZaps last month was the first time I saw one up close. Been living under a rock when it comes to this stuff. What other stores sold the other RCs? I might look at some of them too, since many of the parts seem interchangable or can be used for mods.

Mike

[Sdog]

RS does have a late model mustang for the X-mod, but is a body kit only....no chassis or Tx.

There are all kinds of micro RC's out there....just take a look around the site.

Okay, new info on what I found out. Last night I ran out to RS and bought some new stuff for myself and my friend. Got him the Starsky & Hutch Torino SE. Anything we should be aware of on that car? Sticker on the bottom says 01A04. Also picked up a bunch of body kits, a case, etc, all on clearance right now. No SEs that I liked on sale, so if I'm paying full price, I think I'll watch out for the Mustang Mach 1. I was considering the Ford GT. I did buy the ZZ F-150, which was dated 04A04 which is on sale now for $10. I saw a few older ZZs (based on date), but figured this would have all the kinks out of it and the latest version PCB and since the body styles didn't matter to me, I went for it. Brought it home, charged it and the thing flies! Switched motors and gears and it gets lost very quickly under the stove in the kitchen. Glad reverse now works, otherwise for a moment I thought I lost it.

So there was a problem with my original ZZ. I made the old one stock again and tried to drive it, but it just creeped along for a few minutes and died. I was actually surprised it did move with the stock motor and gear, guess with that setup there was enough torque to get it going, if just barely. The guy at Radio Shack also plays with these (and Xmods) and told me to bring this one back and he'll exchange it, although I don't have the receipt anymore, I tossed it a month ago when I bought it. But what I might do now is just return the F-150 with the old ZZ guts and exchange it. Probably less of a hassle than trying without a receipt. Didn't want the F-150 body anyway, just wanted the newer inside guts. Might upgrade then to an SE when I exchange it so I basically have one of each. The ZZ with purple motor and red gears seems way too fast for inside, so if the SE is slower, it might be more fun and controlable.

Mike

[kehern15]

YEAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

THE END!!!!!

[viperdout]

I know your exact problem. You bought a 1st gen ZZ (over a year old), while you gave your buddy a 2nd or 3rd gen ZZ. The 1st gen is really slow, so I'd suggest picking up a new F-150 on clearence, and run your Mustang shell on that. Trust me, it's way more powerful.