PN wheels are thicker in the bearing holder, but it's the lower arm hitting the inner wheel lip that is causing the main problem in the 04 running 0 offset front wheels. I use a small flat file and put a 45* bevel on the bearing holder. I'll get some pics after the wife goes to bed.

PoorBoy has warned me about the handling differences of the AWD vs. RWD Mini Zs. And if I can't get it to drive on RCP like I like, I can always set it up for drifting, as we have hardwood floors in most of our house, as well as family's houses where my Nieces and Nephews can have a blast. I'm a tinkerer so all the mechanics of the AWD chassis, really draws me! Just got through looking at the AWD manual, and I think I can build one from scratch, saving me the extra costs of the readyset radio and body (if they don't release the AWD with a 911 body as I have a few AWD bodies already). I'll have to do the math, and see what I'll save building it, but getting parts from Banzai I was able to build a MR04 BoxStock for a little over $100 including shipping.

The build/buy of the next chassis will have to be in a few months, as I need more parts to complete a Yaris build that I'm working on now. After seeing Traveler2's Yaris I had to have one! I have the body now, but it requires a 90mm MidMotor Pod, as it's a AWD body. So I need a Nexx 90mm MM pod, since the PN is no longer for sale and anyone who has one isn't letting it go! Also need/want Aluminum knucks and a ball diff, so it adds up very quickly for such tiny parts!

You can add weight in all classes but BOX STOCK, and it can be a HUGE help when fighting Traction Roll. You can use the brass weights, but they are expensive when you have multiple chassis, so I use Tungsten Putty and Pine Wood Derby stick on weights on my chassis. The putty and weights from Hobby Lobby are nice, but you can find cheaper online. The Derby Car Supply brand putty Hobby Lobby sells stays in place much better than the stuff I got on amazon. The cheap stuff will sag/drip after a few days when under the chassis. You can use packing tape or I brush on Super Glue to hold it in place after testing it's affects on the car.

Adding my MR-04/M96 Box Stock thoughts without too much detail for now:

1. Overall Performance - MR-04 RTR if you don't have anything yet, then MR-03 with MR-04 front suspension and MR-04 rear pod if you want to get similar performance and don't to buy new, then the MR-03. I swapped wheels (and front bearings) from my MR-03 box stock and installed a Kyosho soft carbon T-plate, and was able to run a few sub-3 second laps on this layout!
2. Handling - Same order as above. The MR-04's new servo is worth it! I can run a set of PN KS mediums until they a complete junk and still the D/R is turned down. It doesn't seem to be centered very well from the factory, but haven't tried resetting it with bind button yet.
3. Cons - The bottom of the front arms rub on PN wheel hubs, no matter the offset (that I have). The motor being exposed in the new pod has burned me numerous times, but still worth having the new pod.

You are 100% correct chjosi!!!
1. I have done it to both Kyo MR03 and PN 2.5W chassis, and the 04 steering components make a huge difference in the steering/handling!!! Just watch the pot wires , as I had to clearance the bottom plate on my 2.5W.

2. The steering and assembly of the steering with the new pot is great, but on my 2 MR04EVOS and my MR04 RWD all of the servo motors make some digital noise when centered and at rest. Usually a blip of the steering wheel will stop it when working on the bench with a live car, but on the track it makes no difference, other than being worrisome to the driver. Also I had to shim under the servo motor to keep the gears from binding when I tightened the servo motor holder on the PN 2.5W.

3. On PN wheels I bevel the rear bearing holder at 45* with a small flat file! Annoying but worth it for the tough wheels and awesome steering of the 04. Also 0mm backspaced wheels hit the lower arm when running at the ride height most of us run at on the Mini96. So Narrow class is MR03 for now, until we figure out how to get the 0s to fit without having to raise the ride height then fighting Traction Roll even more, as TR has been a issue for alot of 04 owners.

The MR04 is a awesome driving car! So far the only cons have been whats mentioned in #3, the low power Kyosho motors, soft top plate plastic, and the MM pod while nice for a plastic pod tends to get the motors hot compared to the MM 03 pod, and you burn yourself if not careful.

I have only been around Mini Zs for the last few years, so I haven't messed with a MR02, so I wonder if it was the same back then when the MR03 was released and just drove so much better than a 02, like the 04 is compared to the 03? I don't know how they could improve on the 04 other than whats been said, without going to a direct servo drive steering, as the MR04 RIPS on RCP!!! It can take high speed 180*s soo much faster and controlled compared to the 03s! BIG time saver!

Anyway if you haven't picked one up yet, do it, it's worth it! Plus everyone can always use another Mini Z!:sneaky:

I wanna see a video of how you guys run a 75 lap race. I want to see how fast you guys are. I imagine there are zero mistakes.

Zero mistakes is a SUPER HARD thing to do for 75 laps when trying to get fast times, heck even when backing off some it's still very hard to do! I usually have at least a few, but when you get some laps under your belt you'll figure out how to limit the time eaten up by mistakes by learning how to crash! LOL I find when I back off of it a little I can better control my car, period, but especially when I'm fixing to hit the wall, and I can glance off of it compared to hitting it enough to stop the car. If that makes any since.

PoorBoy has quite a few videos of past runs on different layouts on YouTube (as well as a few here) under David Krinard , and he is VERY GOOD and very few mistakes, along with Traveler2! PoorBoy's videos help me to see what lines he's running and how he's making his FAST laps, but hearing his throttle control helped me more than anything!

I'm fixing to start recording my runs to try to better understand where I can improve by using an app that allows recording with an old phone, ill let yall know how it works. I'm going to use an old phone mounted directly above the track to try to see all aspects of the track and the car on it. Got a few old cracked screen phones to try with! NO way im trying with my new phone!:p I don't have any way to post but if they come out worth a darn, I'll figure out a way to post.

Class- Box Stock Sportsman
Date- 2/17/25
Location- Monterey, CA
Race Time- 4:55.486
Fastest Lap- 3.547
Chassis-MR03-W
Body- McLaren P1GTR
Wheelbase-98 mm
Tires-F 30 shore Kyosho / R 20 shore Kyosho
Wheels-F- N 0 mm 20mm Kyosho / R- W +1.5 mm 20mm Kyosho
Motor- stock silver can
Batteries- Energizer 800 mah
Front Springs- stock
T-Plate- stock
Motor Mount- stock
Dampener (If applicable)- stock
Dampener Fluid (If applicable)-Dry
Gearing- 7T pinion
Notes- After studying David's style of driving, I noticed how easy it looked for him. I on the other hand felt like I was doing too much with my own driving style. This morning I implemented David's style into mine with no practice during this run. Surprisingly enough, I finally ran under 5 minutes, which was a big goal of mine. Thank you for the videos David!
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rct...835e718913.png
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rct...3bacae553f.jpg

Had a 97% consistent run but today ran a ~94% one that was on avg .001 faster even with a few more mistakes... Need to clean it up to get that last 2 seconds or so :sweat:

Feels more familiar after running more laps but for some reason the straight is harder to manage CCW and I feel like it takes so much more focus to get the 180 at the end of the straight right...


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rct...da14c884cc.png

I ran some laps today with my 03 Box Stock, and while I was able to get it better, it's nothing compared to my 04 Box Stock! My nerves aren't the best right now, but I really had to push to get this time, where the 04 is almost easy to drive. Anyway, this run was with a R8 body, +1mm 20mm fronts on KSM Med LH glued sidewall, +2mm 20mm rears on KSM Soft Radials sidewalls glued.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rct...3050ecca4e.png
I had more than normal mistakes, as I haven't driven for a few days due to nerves.
Went ahead and ran some laps with the 04 after switching knucks, adding the transponder from the 911, and switching the R8 and wheels/tires over from the 03. Need to do some tuning, as the front suspension is too soft and chatters when I push it hard in the corners. Thought I was going nutz when the transponder wouldn't come on, but I forgot their power ground are different from the EVO's! I did have a something weird happen at lap 20. I hit the wall at the end of the straight, and it didn't want to steer for a few seconds. :confused: Maybe the body popped a little? Time can be better with a little tunning, but SO MUCH EASIER to drive vs. the MR03!
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rct...f42fccf8e4.png
There's an easy 10 seconds I left on the track with mistakes + with a bit of tuning I bet it can be even faster!

Hope all are well and warm!

wow almost like the 04 needs its own class lol. a tenth plus on hot lap means a tenth or so is possible off the average that's a huge difference.

Do you let off the throttle completely on this track at all? I was trying to hear your throttle response.

Off the straight it's almost a split second full let off for the 180 if I try to go partial throttle id probably mess it up more often than not. The rest of the layout is some level of mid throttle rolling into blips... There isn't much time to get back to full throttle anywhere in the midfield... The audio is there but you may have to turn it up some to hear it this is a new cheap thumb camera I got so I'm still not 100% used to how it works yet.

Put in another run today I'm stuck at 4:31.xx just can't seem to keep those 2-4 bad laps ... I think I've run 6-7 at this time so far :sweat:

Well my Kenon order finally got here (pkg was held up at Fedex's sorting station a few miles from my house for a few days), so I was able to finish putting together my MR03 RWD Narrow out of my 03 Box Stock chassis that was replaced by an 04RWD. It will be my 90mm Narrow MM Yaris, but I have to wait for the Nexx 90mm MM pod to run the Yaris till next month as I spent alot these last few months! So for now it has a Skyline R33 with a PN V4 94/98mm MM pod, PN 70T, PN Ball Diff (53/12), Low Down Knucks, +.5 Aluminum tie rod, 0mm 20mm 6-Hole Flanged N PN wheels with KSM Medium LH front tires and KSM Soft rears.
I'm still tweaking the setup, but it's very good as is! It shoots through the quick back to back corners with ease, but you have to be careful not to roll it at the end of the straight. I started with just a top disk because of the way I had the motor wires run, and while great off power in the turns, it had too much push while on power. So I moved the motor wires and put both disks on with soft Purple springs. I still haven't added any weight to the chassis, so it is super light at 84g no body/ 104g with body. The batteries weigh in at 50g +/- 1g depending on the make, so at 154g total like I said it's light. With windows and Paint soon to be added I'm sure it will need some tungsten putty soon.
Anyway here's the pics and this months time will be added tomorrow after tweaking a bit more. It's basically a Brushed Stock chassis now, so I will run both my brushless 04 and this brushed 03 and post the better time for my official February Stock time.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rct...fa23a1e7b9.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rct...4aaeab1443.jpg
Yall have fun running your times for the month!

Its been great running with you guys but I sent my track and cars to a new home were they will get used a lot more.