Pro10noob

iTrader: (13)

I didn't have to grind the battery holders at all.
It was a tight fit tho
Used Turnigy A-spec 4200mah shorties.

Regards Roy

HugoW

I had to raise the upper deck one washer to fit the NanoTech shorty. One hardly notices the difference.



Hugo

scirocco14

iTrader: (5)

Yesterday I tried the o-ring mount up front and the ball pivot in the rear at our local track. Set fastest lap during qualifying and won the A-main. I like it! The car felt very stable and put the power down very well.

Mark

Pro10noob

iTrader: (13)

Good to hear it worked for you to.

Regards Roy

NutDriver

iTrader: (30)

For anyone who is still following this forum, I thought I would share that the F103 is still competitive against the F104 and Exotek cars. It is cheap to put the F104 front end on an F103 and the t-bar design certainly has applications where it excels. You DON'T have to have the latest/greatest to win in F1. Get those cars out of the basement, off of the shelf, and out of the closet and get them to a track this weekend!

scirocco14

iTrader: (5)

And here's some proof!

F103 w/ F104 front end. Double o-ring on the front t-bar mount, pivot ball mount on the rear w/ 0.050" spacer. 32T pinion, 86T 64P spur, 12 1/8" balls in diff. 21.5T NOVAK SS silver case brushless motor, NOVAK club ESC. Tamiya TCS tires, 4100 mah shorty pack. The only real "hop up" on it is the TRF center shock w/ white spring. 30 wt shock oil, 3 hole piston.
I've been whooping up on Xrays, Exoteks, F104 V2's, etc. with this car. On lower traction carpet it is SOOO good compared to the others.

Mark

rccartips

iTrader: (3)

2015 Tamiya Asia Cup Philippines Champion
Porsha Mangilit (14 years old)
Won 10 out of 14 races
Tamiya F103

HugoW

And there is so many hop-ups and spares available, I built a new F103 from parts, with a lot of upgrades, for about the cost of a kit.

With the shorty lipos you're also able to fit more narrow bodies. I am making a Sauber C12 body myself (project not yet finished):



I know Tamiya did a C12, but it is much too wide to fit the large NiCAD packs back then.

I also am working on a mount to fit the F104 side damper, so I can fit whatever I like depending on the circuit's needs.

Hugo

mtveten

iTrader: (29)

Narrow F103 work quite well, I have yet to see any current generation car improve on my 20yr old 103. With a double oring pivot no modification is needed to fit regular lipo packs, when using a ball pivot in the rear little bit of filing is all thats need to make it fit. Attached are a couple pics of mine fitted with a roll damper tube, hinged t-bar and vintage looking front end.

NutDriver

iTrader: (30)

Mtveten,
Which front end is that? The upper arms look like the 200mm 3Racing front end. Who makes the lower arms?

mtveten

iTrader: (29)

Its the the team saxo front end, they offer both 200mm and 180mm front ends. The kingpins they use bend easily and the plastic requires a lot of hand fitting but once your done it works extremely well with the cool retro look.

reg

Hi chaps,

What's the double o ring mod? And we're are you getting all the bits from to run competitive agains the new cars?
Scirocco what are the part numbers for all the bits you have mentioned,any pics of what the pivot mods are would be great

I've got an old F103 I bought for £30 last rear,it's as it was when it first came out,even with original foam tires on,still came 3rd in our club F1 championship,but now things are Chainging and rubber is the control tire,
Kind regards

scirocco14

iTrader: (5)

The 'double o-ring' is simply another o-ring around the original o-ring, concentric. The pivot ball mounts are from a F103 RM chassis. I bought a few F103's as a lot and cannibalized the parts from one of those.

Mark

terry.sc

It's not a mod, it's the normal setup of the T-piece pivoting on two o-rings. the usual mod is to replace the rear o-ring with a ball pivot to allow the T-piece to flex without having any sideways movement.

As Tamiya are still making variations of the F103 chassis, Tamiya are still making spare parts for them and hop up parts are still available from Japan http://banzaihobby.com/radio-control...rmula-1-rc-car and Hong Kong http://www.rcmart.com/tamiya-f103-c-595_744_1221.html

reg

Thank you chaps 👌🏼