the chassis is complete, test drove it. i was amazed how quiet it is vs
the original M03 that my wife built almost a decade ago... they must have
revised something in the gear box. :) car runs great.

http://www.northamericanmotoring.com...03_7_30_07.jpg

here's how i programmed the throttle curve...

http://www.northamericanmotoring.com...ottlecurve.jpg

i didn't program the steering speeds for turn and return... motor's (mabuchi) not
really fast enough for that. lol :lol:

the chassis is running HPI oil dampers, mantaray ball diff, ball bearings,
XXL, hitec metal gear servo. i dont plan on making this thing that fast...
just for home use. :) i have a tamiya sport-tuned motor so i might run
that later on.

I just finished building and painting my Suzuki Swift. For some reason I'm not a huge fan of the shell. Seemed weak when I was cutting it out but hopefully that was just the sides. Anyways, it's bone stock except for bearings in the gearbox. Now I'm on the hunt for some good oil shocks.

I placed the Tamiya ESC in the empty space in the center of the chassis. It fits perfect in the short section that divided the front from the rear. My rx will fit with ease all the way to the rear also.

As for racing my Mini last night, it didn't happen. Wife got home from Texas and is very jet lagged hehe. I was able to finish my car in peace. :lol:

Yeah, Tech Racing and 3 Racing make them. Maybe others.

http://www.rcmart.com/catalog/produc...ducts_id=17754

Nice transponder mount as well.

I haven't had my M03L out for over a year. My Mini Cooper body is showing the wear and the driver's lack of skill. Are there any other bodies, besides Tamiya, that will fit the chassis? Thanks.

Anyone know if the M03 swaybars will fit the M04 ?

"cheater gears"
 

i have heard of an aftermarket product that replaces the gearbox gears in an m03 to give you a higher ratio. how do i check for this when teching a car or are these just a myth? if they are real, who makes them?

the m04 sway bars are totaly different but I saw ,on this thread that someone modded the mo3 bares for their m04

Eagle racing do a speed tuned gear set, the plastic is a different color to the Tamiya items. The eagle gears are much whiter than the Tamiya gears.

Tobee craft do a speed tuned gear set as well, this has a 2 piece spur/idler, the idler part is purple aluminium, the spur is held on with a clip allowing you to change to a 34, 35, 36 or 37T spur, the spurs can be either white or black.

You should be able to tech by removing the small motor cover where you can check pinion mesh and see the different color of the aftermarket gears.

New suspension arm
SPICE Hard type suspenion arm

Selling my mini - barely used - Check it OUT!
 

Here is the link to the 'For Sale' thread for my barely used mini. It comes with some upgrades and a bunch of extras in a complete package.

Thanks for looking!

http://www.rctech.net/forum/showthre...99#post3540299

Teaser pic -
http://www.afrosch4.com/ebay/mini-2.JPG

Has anyone compiled a comprehensive list of tires for the M chassis cars. Perhaps even jsut the Tamiya tires would work. I wanna try out some different tire combos and seem to continually find new tamiya part numbers and there isn't always an explanation as to which compoud they are, if they're belted (which is called reinforced by Tamiya, corect?) and so forth. There even seems to be the same issue for me with the tamiya foam inserts. I'm not too interested in aftermarket tires, jsut the tamiya ones. I may have to start this compilation myself. : )

Heres all the info I have so far . . .


53254 S Grip Tires
50568 Radial Tires
53340 60D tires
53255 Foam Inserts
50686 Foam Inserts
50684 M Grip Tires
53215 M Chassis slicks
53222 M Chasis super slicks

I get the S grips and the M grips . . .
But whats the difference between the 50568, 53340, and the M Grip tires? And whats the difference between hte 53255 foam inserts and the 50686 inserts?

AWD

The M and S grip use this pattern: http://www.tamiyausa.com/images/prod...ader_50684.jpg
While the 50568 radials have more of a 'radial tire' pattern: http://www.tamiyausa.com/images/prod...ader_50568.jpg
The S-grip has the softest rubber, then M-grip, and then likely the Radial. I've never seen the radial in use before..

53340 is the Type-A belted slick, looks just like the other Slicks except the stamp on the sidewall: http://www.tamiyausa.com/images/prod...ader_53340.jpg
53222: http://www.rcmart.com/catalog/images/tamiya_53222.jpg
I'd say the Type-A is the softest then the two slicks.. I've never used the slicks before..

I would stick to the Type-A, and the S and M grips.. they cover every situation you'd be racing in.

The 53255 are the firmer inserts, usually the only ones I purchase for most racing.. I remembered the softer 50684's being light-blue, they must have changed the colour to that same dark-grey recently..

perfect! Thank you!

I've noticed with my M03-M that it is wearing the insides of the front tyres mainly. It seems like only 1/3rd of the front tyres are getting any real contact with the track, even in straights. I am running the plastic uprights at the moment, but have a set of the Tamiya limited edition aluminium uprights on order at the moment. The tyres I am running on the front are the HPI X-Patterns.

The car doesn't seem to have a heap of bump steer, and since the top arms are non-adjustable, trying to give it neutral camber is near impossible.

One thing I am tempting to try is a set of rear top arms on the front, and see if it moves the wear pattern to the middle of the tyre.

Has anyone else dealt with front tyre wear issue? Or is it the case that "well it is always there"?