Hey All,
Well I finally got mine built and painted up, I did the stock Civic Box art colors, simply because the decals lend themselves to this scheme only. I do admit that the car looks good in std trim.
Had some problems with the build, most notably with the diff outdrives. There is a documented build where the builder raised an issue with the diff main bearings being too big for the diff outdrives, and mine was the same. Measured with a digital vernier, I found almost a full mm difference with the bearings being bigger. The entire diff rattled around in the gearbox like a bolt in a bucket. I am sure many people have had this problem and I would venture to say that this is the EXACT reason people have had stripped idlers, and worn diffs. With the stresses put on a badly fitting part would definately cause this. Shame on you Tamiya! Fortunately I ordered the alloy diff and put that in instead....much better, and the gearbox is VERY smooth. I built it dry apart from a little grease between the gearbox halves and on the outdrive bearings to keep dirt at bay.
I tested the car for the first time yesterday and it runs really well, apart from the steering being VERY sharp....I dialled the EPA down to about 60% and still it wants to spin on itself. We have a dusty track sure, but the 4WD cars dont have this problem. The thing can basically spin around in it's own length.
I have a few things to consider before getting frustrated and beating it to death.
1) I did not install the stock servo arm but instead a black hi-torque saver. This would cause a problem of high servo resolution as it is shorter than the stock arm, but being shorter, it should give less travel. I will try and see if the stock arm will fit on the HT assembly.
2) I used 3Racing shocks, and they are slightly longer than the TRF's that I SHOULD HAVE ORDERED
in the first place. On the front this means that there is no place to back off the adjuster and decrease ride height. I installed a set of TRF's on the front and all is good. At the rear, the stock setup means that the droop screws are ineffectual becuse the travel is stopped by the shock piston and not the droop screws. I swapped the rear arms over and used the setting sheet as per the TCS winner's setup. I also added the spacers on the control arms, (3mm) on inner and outer mount points.
Blue springs on the front, yellow on the rear.
I have noticed that there is practically NO droop at the rear and this could be a cause of the problem. Because there is so little weight over the rear tires, even with the yellow springs, if you have the ride height set and lift the rear, the wheels come off the ground almost immediately. This is as a result of the shocks bottoming out before the droop screws, which is not supposed to happen.
Is there anyone else who experienced too much steering on the FF03? I am talking mainly about off-throttle turning.
We use Hobbywing 13T motors as they provide decent top-end at FDR's around 6 and are good value for money.