Hi, I'm not sure if they take pre-orders. You should try. It never hurts to ask. I've been ordering from Stellamodels since 2009. They're one of my favourite suppliers, along with Banzai Hobby, RC Mart and Vellrip. Between this group, you can get almost anything. There is one company I know of that does pre-orders for sure. They're located at 1999.co.jp

hey guys, need advice for a must hop ups for making m05 into a great racing machine.

univ shaft
ball diff
alum steering set
alum front rear knuckle
alum motor mount
shock tower

any advice for making it better? or its just enough?

thx

I'd change tires. But then, if they make you faster, he'll change tires and you'll be down 0.5 sec. again. Change to the S-Grips and use the premounts the TCS guys use---#1016. Learn how to doctor the sidewalls with cyano and you should pick up that time easily.

Let me share with you the "worst" kept secret of the good, veteran Mini racers. You can pick up a lot of time with just minor adjustments to your set up. My car of choice is the M03. A 1/4 turn adjustment to the steering rods was worth almost 0.5 sec. I'll bet there's a second left in your car without doing any major changes.

Here's some stuff you can try. It's hard to be specific cause you don't mention if your car is loose or tight, quick steering or slow, stable or responsive, etc. Generally, Minis tend to do better with stiffer springs in back than in front. Try the neon blue springs in the rear. They also like rear roll bars. It's amazing how much time you can pick up with ride height changes, rear camber changes, toe out changes. Sorry, but these are the types of things you have to fiddle with to get the max out of your car.

You've got a decent base setup on your car. It seems that what the car needs is minor set up changes to fit you and the track.

IMO... Must haves in order of importance are:

Bearings
Alum motor mount w/ the handlebar thingies and a fan
Any short spring set: old or new
Front shock tower
Universals

I didn't mention the ball diff (the diff is the most important) because you can use the gear diff and just fill it half way with putty.

The only important part of the entire steering hop ups for me is the
steering posts #54193 to prevent flexing. the rest of hop up steering stuff is eye candy :rolleyes:

Question on motor fans...

Does Tamiya rules limit you on how you mount your fan? Can't find anything on it.

no rules how to mount.

Fan rules are:
number of fans - two total
max size of fans - 30mm by 30mm?

It is hard to explain, my car turns on a dime, I like an aggressive steering car. In the corners it seems to loose power on the way out and the rear will step out easily. I think it is something minor, I think I may be over driving, and can't get the power back down after a corner. I do wear front tires on the inside edge very quickly.

I will try the stiffer rear springs and sway bars first on both ends then just rear.

try the shock tips from these vids.This guy is an A-main regular and writes columns for Japanese rc magazines.

+ YouTube Video

+ YouTube Video

I think you've got too much camber on the front for how much your car rolls (not enough). The way your front tires wear out suggests you're scrubbing speed in the corners and then you have to accelerate a lot more to get back up to speed. Not knowing what diff and motor setup/timing you run, I can only guess what happens. Maybe you cranked the timing too much for your gearing? Poor acceleration depends on nailing both at the sweet spot. You're faster on the straight because of the high camber and low toe in so you have lower rolling resistance, but in the corners more toe would help you. Increasing the spring rate on the rear and adding rear sway bars will help you, but you already have too little rear grip (you say it is spinning out), or perhaps your strategy is not perfect (it may be lift-off oversteer because you enter the corner too fast and let off mid corner). I prefer to run a higher ground clearance and let the car roll as much as I can especially with minis where adjusting ride height is pain the butt but in your case I would drop the rear another .5mm too.

Your longer wheelbase is not to your advantage either.

Your car is probably diving too much into the turn. The excessive roll will cause the car to hook. That's where the two orings in the diaphragm (in the vid) comes in to play. It will allow the car to roll to a certain point and stiffen up a bit to keep the car stable. The general setup is to use a harder spring in the back. Maybe you can start by changing the red floro to something stiffer like yellow front, blue rear.

btw, have you built the ball diff with anti-wear grease?

M05v.2
 

Done! :D A few finished product pics for you guys.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/IMG_4437.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/IMG_4441.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/IMG_4448.jpg

yea yea yea.... needs a sensor wire....
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/IMG_4444.jpg

Special thanks to Robert @ KO Propo USA for re-wiring my BLZ speed controller, as well as providing a low-pro servo for this build.

Nice how the shorty allows you to have a bigger window to balance L/R:nod:

M03 or M05?
 

I just finished building an m05 (not pro), 100% stock except bearings and oil shocks. Then I got a great deal on 2 m03s. One is a shiny silver chassis with bearings and aluminum front/rear knuckles. Which should I go with and tune up for the track? Its concrete, new and kinda dusty so fairly low traction.

Very nice! What option parts did you use there EricP?

Please, the following is just my opinion and could be way off. From your description, you have too much initial steering on turn in and you're scrubbing speed mid corner. Usually this is a symptom of the car setting too quickly. You can counteract this in any number of ways, some more effective than others and can vary wildly from track to track and car to car. Stiffer rear springs, rear roll bar, heavier shock oil, sometimes a softer spring in front, raising the front ride height or lowering the rear, add a little more toe out are some things just off the top of my head. Oh yeah, a little tighter diff can sometimes help. Try them one at a time and see if they help.

Your car is skidding the front tires so you have to wait to get on the power. All minis in my experience push under power, but if your car is already scrubbing the tires the push will be exaggerated. when you apply power. You're wearing the front tires excessively cause your running your tires at a high slip angle in the corners. The slip angle being the amount the tires are angled to the direction of travel.

Some of the rear end problems you're having are the result of the front end, cause it's over powering the rear. In effect your car isn't balanced. The things you can do to the rear to help with the looseness are: replacing the 1.5 rear hubs with the stock 2.0 hubs, drop the rear ride height, add camber like 2.5 instead of 2.0, stiffer spring, softer spring, softer shock oil.

You can also do a lot with Tx adjustments. On a car like yours, I'd slow down the servo speed and cut down on the travel.

That's the simple stuff. The rest is in how you build the shocks and the diff.