eR1c

iTrader: (2)

My feeling is that the Tamiya M's were designed to run 21.5t motors per TCS rules not 13.5t motors! I've always ran either silver cans or now 21.5 brushless and have yet to break any part, ever. I only race my M05, I don't bash with it ...so I guess if I were bashing and ran it full throttle into a curb yeah I could see that doing some damage. But otherwise they are fairly robust. I wonder if some people are running these like it's a Traxxas basher?

sakadachi

iTrader: (1)

Right on! I start off at level and try different rake to get the forward/rear bias. Then adjust left/right to remove throttle on/off tracking bias, and and turn-in/powering out of corner bias turning left and right.

Overall ride height is not very important to me beside getting the nice flush look on the arches with the tire sidewalls. I want max clearance under the chassis especially running parking lots. Not fun hitting the bottom of your chassis and slowing it down or bumping it messing up your line. I dont even use the ride height setting grub screws on the V2 to force it down.

Granpa

Doin' some head scratchn' here. I've been away for awhile so could be horribly mistaken here, but aren't those for setting droop????? I don't have a v2 and am still using my "trusty" M03. It is a project that is in the planning stages( I'm acquiring the necessary components) so have tried to keep up. I don't see where ride height adjustment screws go.

Please excuse my ignorance, but as soon as I can get my hands on a kit, I'll be back up to speed. I've looked at a couple of v2 models and don't see the value of those screws. It seems like a needless complication and I understand a lot of guys have gone back to using overall shock length for droop.

sakadachi

iTrader: (1)

It is, you have that right. Some folks use that to preload the dampers.

And I agree with you, the droop screws are at least for me, useless. I have them installed on the car but haven't used them. My other chassis have them too, but I don't use them either.

The V2 is a completely different machine from the M03 and M05 so it should be fun to have the different flavor to play with. I think the V2 is easier to set up, and has much lower cog, but better or not at competitive levels really depends on the driver. Your long experience with M03 could prove V2 worthless, or take the V2 to a whole new level.

monkeyracing

iTrader: (10)

The thing with the droop screws is they're replacing the function of building dampers to a certain length. Building a short damper was effectively just limiting droop. At least this way, you get to build shocks full length and adjust on chassis. That's how I see it, as that's what i was using shock length for.

Anyway, I'd like to thank the global popularity of yoga for making so much foam so readily and cheaply available absolutely everywhere. I picked up this block of high density foam for almost nothing tonight. Fired up the foam cutter and have started building bumper blanks!

Pretty awesome what you can do with leftover stuff from the junk pile!

caltek1

iTrader: (38)

For those who are mistguided here, our 13T sensorless Hobbywing are not causing the chassis failure. Neither is it big crashes, although I can not say for certain. My chassis failed through the bottom of the chassis on both sides where the sprue attachment is. I cut with proper cutters and cleaned with a sharp hobby knife, however both sides split into the main bearing housing on both sides. This was on the chrome chassis.
At the mini nats, I witnessed a total failure of a black chassis also. I believe it because we run low ride heights and scrape the chassis which is already thin, which makes it more prone to failure. I also think the quality of Tamiya parts has changed since they have outsourced there production of parts.

KA2AEV

iTrader: (1)

From those pix, it certainly looks like the ride height (scraping the chassis on the ground) had
something to do with it. I'm just wondering if the additonal speed from the faster motor accelerated
the wear down process?

Laguna Bozo

Hi Mini Racers,
I don't often post - just a lurker - but a few posts here lately have peaked my interest.
Saka: This left/right, on/off tracking is imperative to go fast. My eyeball measurements on the bench are never very good! I spend a lot of time in our track's staging area messing with the transmitter before even taking a lap. Left/right, throw, expo, servo speed if you've got it, use those adjustments. Once set for the tires and track, only little changes might be needed during the day. I cringe, and note who to avoid, when I see a Mini struggling to go straight!
Cal: Are you sure your chassis has never come into contact with bad chemicals? Brake cleaner instead of electric motor cleaner? Maybe goofy tire sauce? I've been racing Minis almost as long as Grandpa, and have never seen such a thing unless chemicals were involved. Of course, all my parts are so old, I haven't yet experienced "outsourced" parts.
So, now what about F/R hinge pin lower shock mounts? Orlando is our fastest Mini guy right now (except for Chuck, who is such a stud he misses mains just because he wants someone new to win) and I've seen it on his car. When I tried them, car handled like poo. What have you guys found?

Rodarbal

iTrader: (49)

Haha! I just made some battery spacer blocks for my B4.2 this morning from Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) foam... AKA yoga blocks! You can bet I'm going to make some bumpers for my M-03 and M-05! What to do with the rest of the block? Car stand!

monkeyracing

iTrader: (10)

Agreed. Didn't like them, but can see where they might work on some tracks.

I hope this foam is flexible enough to make a decent bumper. If not, I spotted some yoga "cylinders" made of the same stuff as pool noodles that will certainly be spring enough. This EVA foam has a huge advantage in that it sands and shapes very much like balsa wood. Easy to work with.

filippimini

My V11 chassis also cracked today. However mine could very well be from some big crashes that I had.

32819toon

iTrader: (1)

I have a M05, and even though it has oil shocks and the full Tamiya steering upgrade, it still digs its front end in when breaking on corners, breaks the rear end out and then digs in again when the tyres grip. Its not smooth at all when cornering. Can anyone give me a clue how to sort this one out. It used to be worse, the upgrades have helped, but it hasn't gone away completely. Could it be my driving style ? I'm a touring car driver ?
Thanks.

KA2AEV

iTrader: (1)

What type of track are you running on, Carpet, Cement etc...?
What springs are you running on your front and rear?
Type of tires???
We need more info on your current setup to help you

Granpa

Don't think you are alone cause this is the problem with the M05. Usually you get a snap oversteer as you describe. In spite of what was first thought of as an advantage, the rearward weight bias made what was always a problem with the Mini chassis become almost unmanageable in some cases. This has always been a problem with the Mini, but was not as obvious in the M03. Another weird situation is that some cars are much worse than others. I have no idea why that is, except that it happens.

The biggest problem is that the best way to control the front end from "digging" as you phrase it and I call from end roll, is to do that at the rear of the car. This is why many Mini set ups run rear roll bars and stiffer springs at the back cause this is how you keep the front end from rolling over on you. Many think that this stabilizes the rear, but what it actually does is that it controls the front end roll and keeps that from giving you erratic amounts of grip.

Okay, with the what happens part of the answer out of the way, we'll proceed to how you correct the situation. The standard answer used to be, run a rear roll bar and stiffer springs in back. The problem was that this only marginally fixed the situation, which resulted in a car that worked one week and did not the next. I'll finish in my next post cause I want to address something Craig---Laguna Bozo ---- brought up.

sakadachi

iTrader: (1)

Hi Laguna - Yes, all excellent points. I do a lot of tweaking too on my radio side. But being old school(?), I like to get the car mechanically aligned first (tracking, handling) then do the fine tuning on my radio.

This is a pretty normal characteristic of the M05. It's twitchy and rear looses traction during turn-in. Do you use traction compound? First thing I would do is only use traction compound on the inner thread on the front (if not no traction compound on the front), and full coating on the rear.

Also pushing out the rear wheels using spacers also help. I don't know which springs you are using, but stiffer on the front, softer on the rear (I think mine was currently setup using yellow front with red rear springs, front using stiffer damper oil). I have a front stabilizer on the car but the benefit was minuscule. GL, hope some of this gets you thinking and started for your application.

If you get the V2 chassis, I am pretty sure most of your issues will be resolved. M05 and V2 are night and day different, V2 being easier to control.