:nod:

+1,000,000! We all know it's true. Just have to convince Tamiya to update and re-release. Can you imagine how great it would be?!?

Sort of unrelated question: Anyone know what the damper length on an FF02 is supposed to be? I'm guessing 60mm, but don't want to order anything until I know for sure.

Jim

PS: Yes. I'm torturing myself with the M03's big, dopey sibling. I'm bored.

Actually, I'd rather they didn't update it at all, but just gave of us a few more option parts.

The M05 was the updated car and look how that turned out. What a piece of crap car that is in it's stock version. Don't get me wrong, with a lot of work and $$$$, the M05 can be as fast or faster than the 03 on the higher grip tracks. Some of the guys are getting it to work on the lower grip surfaces, but only a few.

For updates, my thoughts were mostly about ridding the car of the many extra screw holes and bosses for mechanical speed controls and other ghosts of the past. Also, updates like a square battery slot, or opening up the rear bulkhead for easier electronics installation would be welcomed. (By me, at any rate.) the gearbox, steering setup and geometry are perfect in their imperfectness and need to be left alone.

Or...a straight continuation of the chassis with some new, affordable, hop ups would be amazing!

Personally I have not given or owned a M03 but race against them every weekend with my M05. It did take some $ to get it to where it is now but I actually love it. Alot of the M03 drivers think I am cheating in some fashion but my car is 100% tcs legal. But I have heard the M05 hate before and don't Getty it. But by the same token don't mind it as its the drivers choice.

Now I do have a issue I need to work out on my M05 and could use some help from those that drive it I followed some tips given earlier in the thread to cure a hopping rear end issue. I managed to get it to stop on days that no traction compound is sprayed. But yesterday thinking I was good to go had the issue reemerge when they sprayed compound down. It made the car seriously hard to drive especially on hairpins. Any thoughts?

Jason

Personally I have not driven or owned a M03 but race against them every weekend with my M05. It did take some $ to get it to where it is now but I actually love it. Alot of the M03 drivers think I am cheating in some fashion but my car is 100% tcs legal. But I have heard the M05 hate before and don't get it. But by the same token don't mind it as its the drivers choice.

Now I do have a issue I need to work out on my M05 and could use some help from those that drive it I followed some tips given earlier in the thread to cure a hopping rear end issue. I managed to get it to stop on days that no traction compound is sprayed. But yesterday thinking I was good to go had the issue reemerge when they sprayed compound down. It made the car seriously hard to drive especially on hairpins. Any thoughts?

Jason

I have a M-03 will the Ballade CR-X body fit the M-03? I noticed the front shocks on the M-05 are angled, does this allow a body to be mounted lower on a M-05?

Thanks

I don't hate the M05, but in it's stock version, it just is not very good. Your post made my point cause it takes many more $$$$ to make the M05 competitive than it does the M03. In spite of the impression I seem to have given, I routinely race the M05 on hi-grip tracks. It cost more than $100 extra to get the M05 going than a similarly upgraded M03.

You've run into the my main problem with the M05. My M05s, I have 2, behave like yours. They will do something weird for what seems to be no reason at all, but it usually is related to the track conditions.

Rear end hop usually comes from a mismatch in spring rate to shock oil weight. It also is a function of camber and ride height. I'd suggest dropping your rear ride height 1mm which will give you more negative camber. If you are already low, increase the amount of negative camber. Another thing that helps here is a rear roll bar. If this doesn't cure it, you'll need to start changing shock oils and springs. Having never run on your track, it's hard to get more specific than that.

I don't hate the 05. It's got some great qualities. I find they're outweighed by its single biggest fault : complexity.

EG: Bump steer is almost negated in this chassis. It required a much more complicated, finicky steering system to achieve this. The 03 is wonderfully simple and robust in comparison, even in "close to stock" form. The 05 can be a demon in the corners, but the price is too high.

Jim

It'll fit. I run mine with the body resting right on the top of the front shock towers of the M-03. I.e., no body pins under the body. I just put some tape on the inside of the hood to protect the paint from rubbing.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3583560/M03-CRX-1.jpg

Granpa, I can try the roll bars. In order to correct the hop on non sprayed days I took spacers out of the shocks to adjust the droop. It handled it but not completely. My rear shocks run 40 wt on 2 hole pistons and yellow spring. I have pics of my mini in my profile album but as I am stuck using my phone for net at the moment. I do have the Tamiya aluminium uprights all the way around. I will check my ride height and post it in a bit.

Jason

I measured and front is at 5mm and rear is at 6mm. I can dial in a bit more camber via the camber arms that came with the rear uprights. I will try the camber first then pick up the roll bars as my next step. The final series race is next weekend and am trying to get it sorted as we are running the same track as the one we ran yesterday. Would be nice to be prepared.

Jason

Drop the rear and give it the camber like Grandpa said and worry about sway bars later. I was going to recommend the same thing (didn't realise this comes with the added bonus of negative camber).

Couple of other things you might try. Try running the front a little higher than the rear as this mellows steering a bit. The camber links, if I remember correctly, came with a 2mm spacer. Remove it so you can freely adjust the camber.

Good luck on your race. I posted a good basic set up for the M05 a while back. You could try that some time after the race cause you'll need to spend some time to sort it out for your track.

I didn't race mini's so I got to watch and I suggested more chamber at the race yesterday right before the main. The racer that beat Jay in main his car was way faster then Jay and didn't have the hop in the left hand corners jay's did. Both cars were really fast and I hope I have something for them next week in the last points race in this series.