I started rebuilding 8865 tonight and got a good distance in (one step from the famous 135 piece engine build) and bam! I have a couple of very important missing pieces/elements. A grey 2x1 Technic brick and a length '2' axle for the headlight assembly. Along the way I also replaced a missing grey 1x1 smooth piece by a black one (you cannot see it, its under the steering) so will have to replace that too.

I think these parts must have been missing when I took it apart as the lighting area was pulled apart slightly when I took it from my old bedroom.

I've loved rebuilding this set, its great to go back to the old style of building with proper bricks that click lovingly into place with a positive 'snap!' Lots of the old Lego sets had parts which needed to be stretched and bent into position and this is no different, with numerous parts which need to be encouraged into place :)

Anyway, I am going to go and find the parts and continue. So far though, it's looking great and very clean and shiny. Some photos:

Nearly all of the pieces ready to rock. You'll be surprised at how many normal Lego pieces there are with this set, its quite staggering.

First step:

Start of the transmission construction:

Completion of model so far:

I aim to get to rest of the model finished by the end of the week (as long as I can get hold of the parts!).

EDIT: I started to build the engine up today and once again I am missing a few vital elements so will have to hunt them down. I think I know where they have gone; these are parts that were missing from the gearbox (same elements used) and lighting rig when I rescued the model. Sigh. Never mind!

Edited August 11, 200915 yr by tomacwhite

Ah, love to see those old beams, I still use them in all of my models, and probably will never let them.

Keep up with restioration, I am following it closely

Fantastic. I had to think of this car recently when I saw the centerfold of one of the old Brickjournal issues. I got mine when it was first released, not long before I entered my dark ages. My brother (who is 10 years younger) got the black super car that followed. Mine is still in storage and will probably also need a good cleaning and maintenance so I am really interested in seeing how you get on.

Edited August 12, 200915 yr by missouri_bb63

Very cool. You think you could take some pics of the transmission? I'm curious to see the internals of it full assmembled.

Very cool. You think you could take some pics of the transmission? I'm curious to see the internals of it full assmembled.

There are plenty of pictures of the transmission here. Here is an example:

I'd also recommend checking out the LDraw file of the model if you want to see the internals.

Those illustrations are impressive, what tool is used to create the 3D Lego bricks?

Ah, the good old days. I remember going nuts when this set first hit store shelves.

yeah me too.. didn't get it though

Those illustrations are impressive, what tool is used to create the 3D Lego bricks?

These are LDraw parts. The assembly was done in MLCAD. The graphic file was generated by LDView. If you've not used these before, you have a lot of reading ahead of you!

Once you have the digital file, it is possible to rotate these illustrations in 3D space to help figure out how all the mechanisms work.

I agree, this tools are so mighty when it comes to designing on comp and showing it in 3D space.

I have finished her, behold the red beauty that is Lego Technic model 8865 "Test Car".

Wow. I don't ever remember the car shinning as much as it is right now, it looks stunning after its lovely multi-point clean. After washing the parts in warm water and drying them, I then went back to each individual piece with an old toothbrush and scrubbed any dust that might be clinging onto the pieces. After this, I went back AGAIN with a Detol wipe and wiped off any water marks that had appeared from them not drying 100%. It was worth it as its looking amazing right now.

Very early steps. Crazily, there are only 24 steps to complete the Test Car!

Suspension added to vehicle.

Early steering construction

The famous 135 piece in 1 step engine, fully built. Sorry, I really wanted to have a bigger, more in depth breakdown of this but it didn't really happen too well.

Engine put onto the chassis. The next step is to build the dashboard..

Dashboard construction:

Completed transmission:

I will take more tomorrow in day light, the red is coming out really badly from this point and shoot camera.

I really enjoyed rebuilding this model, it was an utter delight and the only bad experience was having to salvage a few parts from the old Lego box, but that's not the models fault :) I love the fact that the pistons work at different speeds depending what gear you're in. That's a very clever design and shows that the transmission actually does something functional as well as looking like it does.

Steering and suspension is great, the pop-up headlights are neat and although one of them is a little flimsy after 21 years, the blue reclining and adjustable seats are very nicely detailed.

For this set I replaced all of the friction pins with the new slotted type, and I also replaced the axle pins with the new type (which are of course tan coloured but you cannot see them when the model is complete). For new parts, I bought new elements to replace the yellow piece on the engines fan, the ones that I had already had teeth marks on them from when I was a kid :)

8865 was an awesome model when it came out originally and its still equally as impressive now. The construction, complexity and level of detail is simply staggering. Please bring us a new Super Car, Lego :)

Wow, that first shot is awesome! I just rebuilt 8868 (Air Tech Claw Rig) but I only washed the parts in water overnight and let them dry. After seeing this, I'll give your method a go when 8880 is restored

That is awesome. Shiny studded parts, cool!

I like this set. It looks like new. Old timer, but like new

One final photo before I move onto my next old Technic project. I am looking at rebuilding my old Arctic Explorer (8660) Jeep. It wasn't a super technical model but as a child I quite enjoyed it. Also, its white and contains another model which fits in the back, so it's kinda interesting.

Anyway.. She is looking lovely in the summer sun :)

This is such a great (and butt-ugly) model.

With a bit of luck i'm starting my own restoration project myself.

Thanks for all the tips and stuff!

Edit: Caling this model model ugly doesn't mean it hasn't got great functions and look great on display......

Edited April 8, 201014 yr by JunkstyleGio

YZERTY1 posted this YouTube video of the 8865 Test Car -- "a Lego Technic vintage car from 1988 with 892 pieces":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lebs0CIUtNs

Edited May 20, 201113 yr by DLuders