The Yusa 1/8 Scale Buggy

The idea was simple; beg, borrow or steal three identical 1/8 scale buggies for the ultimate test - The Yusa Project.

Need Buggies
Since no manufacturer on earth would sign up for this and pitch in chassis's, there I sat for wellover three weeks, loosing one eBay auction after another for every 1/8^th scale buggy roller chassis I bid on. Losi, Ofna, Mugen, Kyosho, Hotbodies, ProTech, RD Logics, ...etc. One right after another I was out bid by some fellow RC'er. Sure, I could have won a few, but I didn't really want to drop $200 on a used chassis no matter how good of condition because after all I needed three. $100 was my limit. Then it happened, one of my go-to eBay sellers had what is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity. They had a number of new overstock Yusa 1/8^th scale buggy chassis for $100 each including shipping. This allows an almost perfect control environment for the Yusa Project experiments and plenty of spare parts for a while after the all the testing is done.

What the...?
First off, what the heck is a Yusa and where did I dig this up, and why should you be interested in my nitro to brushless conversion for your Losi, Ofna, Mugen-Seki, Hot Bodies, Associated, DuraTrax, SportWerks....etc? Ahh, you should read on.

I found these gems on Ebay of course. The "what" is more complex. Talking to a few international contacts and a bit of research turned up that there are only a couple oversees manufacturers that build hobby level buggies. In fact the vast majority of buggies and buggy parts now all roll out of two factories. I have more than a couple reliable sources that confirm that Yusa was the primary manufacturer of the majority of the buggies - but then they went out of business sometime in 2006. These generic units were then private branded or upgraded per other manufacturers specs. Most of them roll out the door simply with a sticker, body, and tire change others get different anodizing or upgraded parts for a "pro" version. Ever wonder why most buggy parts are completely interchangeable? Now you know.

Two different US RC manufactures confirmed off the record that the generic Yusa was the same exact unit as theircurrent offering and then proceeded to tell me everyone else that was or had used the same basic chassis. I was shocked and I am sure you are also. For the record though those manufactures retail a Yusa like buggy for about $250-$400 with motor. My trip to the 2007 iHobby showed no less than four manufactures with a exact copy of my Yusa although wheels, body and electrics, and a machined shock tower here and there were slightly different, so apparently the molds are still out there.

Yusa Buggy Resources
Check out how familiar my Yusa buggies are to a couple Ofna buggies.
http://www.ofna.com/pdf/95-violator.pdf
http://www.ofna.com/pdf/ultra-lx-comp.pdf
These are pretty close and and should be a direct fit, however the Yusa is a RD Logics, is a Power Racing Katana, and is a ProTech T59/T56 check this out as a Yusa Manual
http://www.protech.be/Manuals/T59manual%20web.pdf
http://www.protech.be/Manuals/T56manual%20web.pdf

I'll save your some time searching for parts in the even you also picked one of these up.
http://www.powerracingrc.com/katana.shtml
http://www.larrysperformancercs.com/...ABX&type=store
http://www.larrysperformancercs.com/...gi?category=43
http://search.stores.ebay.com/RCBoyz...saselZ16028217

Quality
The quality of the Yusa rollers were every bit as good as most entry level buggies $300-400 range (stressing entry level) and so good that instead of the three Yusa Buggies I bought, I would have bought four if "the wife" wasn't on to me...

To be fair here to the "real" manufacturers, let's compare the Yusa to my Losi 8 Race Roller. There is a VERY distinct quality difference between the two, the Yusa arrive unboxed wrapped in bubble wrap with no documentation what-so-ever. The Losi of course includes everything under the sun from marketing, documentation,service, support, decals, tools, and every screw you will need to attach the electrics alone with quality of every part in a completely different league. I am not kidding myself, the Yusa is no Losi 8, but it's a pretty darn good copy of a Mugen MBX4 - sorry Mugen.
Everything has a price. Apparently some well intentioned but retarded individual set up the buggy because every oil and fluid needs swapping and a ton of tuning was required for a decent ride. The reality is the Losi 8 is worlds better in every way, however for $100 including shipping, the Yusa buggy was a smoking entry level buggy deal to mess around with for this experiment so I bought three.

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Ongoing Yusa Quality Assessment
Again is isn't a Losi 8, however I am very impressed so far with the overall quality of the buggy. I did freak out about a week ago when I though I blew the rear diff. Turns out the CV grub screw had come loose. FYI, LockTite every metal to metal screw on the chassis before run #1 whatever they used as LockTite doesn't work. I even hit the wheel hubs with LockTite otherwise the wheels kept coming off.