Originally Posted by
reenmachine
Thanks for the info Granpa, and it's great to hear from you again. We'd love to see you up here in Camarillo again if you can make it up.
I do have a ball diff in the M03. I don't remember which one -- I recall there were two that fit. I tried one and almost immediately stripped out the ill-fitting splines, then tried the other, which worked but I don't know that it's all that much better than the bomb-proof gear diff. One was Manta Ray and one was ???
I will not be racing TCS so I'll go for the 3racing parts.
So it sounds like the way to go for me is to get a regular kit, add my TRF shocks, ball bearings, and the 3racing steering bits, and see how that feels.
What tires do you recommend for our dialed asphalt?
Build your car as a M or L version. Much friendlier and responds to tuning better. They do tune much different than a SWB car so toss out most of your SWB tricks. A SWB car is an "evil", twitchy, bite the hand that feeds it beast.
It was probably the TA03 ball diff and is IMO the best diff for a Mini if you use antiwear grease for assembly. Otherwise, no tricks other than to bottom out the diff screw.
Tires are a totally different deal. Some things are givens tho and #1 is that the grippier the track surface the more important tire selection is and insert selection becomes critical. This is where it becomes confusing. Also, the grippier the surface, the lower you run the car and the stiffer the set up.
Let's start with the tires we can get locally which are the ABC, HPI, RP, and the Tamiya tires. Believe it or not, a medium firm kit tire works well for front tires and you can try S-Grips in the rear. If the new surface you have is as good as I've heard, the tires won't wear that fast as the rapid wear comes from the tires sliding. The ABC has a little less grip than the RP, which is the grippiest of all the tires mentioned. The best tires for your use might be the HPI belted X-pattern (#4565) up front and the HPI radial (#4530) in the rear. At WestCoast, that combination is very driveable and fast. Can't tell you what insert cause the tires were glued 4 years ago.
As far as inserts go, cut down TC inserts give you the most flexibility. Start out at 155-160mm in length. You can vary the hardness of the tires by the length of the insert. The longer the insert the harder the tire. I'm partial to the Muchmore Pink and the HPI yellows and greens. For the Tamiya tires, the Muchmore Pink with the Tamiya soft blue foam is my favorite combo. That's the insert that came in your Muchmore Premounts.
Sorry to all for the long answer, but, Pete, you can pm me cause we're just scratching the surface about tires. If you want more info on the other tire types and/or makes Tony and his Australian group seem to have the best handle on that. I try to stick with just what is available here locally.