Carisma M14
 

Hi, I am new to R/C cars, and brought myself a Carisma M14, for about £50.
I love it, and think it is great value for money, a real step up from the toy rcs on the market in this price range. I have 2 things, one is when i was considering buying one, there was not much info on the net, so if anyone has any questions about the car, i will be happy to answer. Also, its 1/14 scale. does anyone know of any upgrades (motors tyres etc) that will fit, im just looking to see if it could be improved. Thanks

James

also, the motor is a "R380". Whats does the 380 mean, is it the size, rpm, name or what. Are all motors a standard size? sorry if these are really noobish, but i am a noob lol.

Thanks
James

If you could post some pictures of the bare chassis it'll give us an idea of what can be upgraded/modified. A 380 motor is a stanadard size motor for smaller scale RC vehicles so it's possibly upgradeable.

because im new, it wont let me link to other sites. If you have the time, just search Carisma M14 on Google, and most of those sites have pics of the chassi.

thanks :)

so what do you guys think. Will recoil parts fit it?. also, im still unclear as to whether all RC motors are set dimensions or not?

Thanks
James

Thats the Gt14.

I dont know how different it is to the M14 sizewise :confused:

The Carisma M14 is basically a plastic chassis, direct-drive pan car with a sloid rear axle with spur gear mated to a pinion gear on the motor like any other pan car. The front end uses the same type suspension design as a pan car too, just looks a little different. Carisma carries a list of hop-up parts such as a ball diff axle set, mod motor, blue anodized oil shock, fiberglass race chassis set, slick tires, upgrade battery, full bearing set, etc.

My friends and I raced these as a class the past 2 years and found that they are fun to race BUT, the stock esc/reciever unit will burn out after a while as it is not built to stand the stress of racing; it is good only for fooling around in your driveway. So, if you want to race ditch the stock unit and put in a proper esc and reciever. You could use the esc/reciever unit from the Losi Mini T as it will fit the Carisma and is actually made by Carisma as is the Losi Mini T (something most people don't know). The Losi unit is for some reason much more durable and will stand up to racing and will far outlast the Carisma unit. Must be that Losi knew this when they did the deal with Carisma to make the Mini T for them and they probably specd a heavier duty more durable esc/reciever unit. Carisma should have put that unit in their own cars.
Another option would be to use the esc/reciever unit from the Carisma GT14/Recoil car as that is also a far superior unit, even better than the Losi unit.
I know this because I had a Recoil and it worked great with no problems.

You could go to Horizon Hobby to get most of these parts and you should be able to find the Recoil/GT14 online as well. There are several different websites that carry parts.

The 380 generally refers to "can" type or size. Example: most 1/10 cars use a 540 size can/motor. Most 1/18 cars use either a 280 size or a 370 size. The 380 size is not common, but the upgrade Carisma 380 mod motor is an excellent little motor that gives good performance; I recommend it as an upgrade!

Hope this all helps:)

Cheers M8.

The motor sounds great, i need to look into that. If I upgrade the motor, is that all i have to change?

im not to bothered about the esc as at the moment i do only mess about with the car on the road/drive.

Do you by any chance have pics/vids of your modded cars, it would be great to see them?

thanks again

JAmes

Wait, sorry, so will any "380" motor fit?
What reading is it that determines the speed/poewr etc.

Wil a faster one need a bigger batterie urgh, sorry soo many questions.

Is there a good Noobs guide to RC on the internet, save me wasting your time?

Most any 380 size motor should fit, however, if you upgrade the motor plan on upgrading the esc/reciever unit as well because I assure you that they will not last. Not very good quality; the rest of the car is good quality, just the esc/reciever unit is inferior.

The more power you generate will require a battery with a greater capacity as faster motors will suck more juice and the run time will shorten. The stock battery is either 600 or 700 mah. The upgrade battery is around 1200 mah; more capacity equals more run time. You can get even higher capacity batteries from other suppliers such as Losi and many others, shop around.

There are 2 terms that determine motor power/speed; they are number of turns and number of winds. Example: a stock 540 size motor for most stock 1/10 or 1/12 class racing is a 27 turn single wind motor. The lower the number of turns the more powerful the motor. The number of winds will effect the overall efficiency of the motor as well as it's power band. A single turn motor will generally create more torque than a double or triple wind motor but will be a little less efficient. Not sure what the turns or winds of the Carisma motors is.

If I were you I would add the ball diff axle unit as it is more adjustable and much stronger than the stock unit. Also I would upgrade to the full ball bearing set. I would put in the Carisma mod motor and would definitely change out the stock esc/reciever. You will also want to upgrade to a higher capacity battery as well. I forgot to mention in my previous post that Carisma also sells an aluminum motor mount that you should also get in place of the stock plastic unit. Fortunately, the parts are cheap!

ok, cool. Im trying to find a supplier of parts here in the UK. Not had much luck so far, but i will keep trying :)