psycho

zxt

The FRP chassis is more flexible than the graphite chassis. I think they should be about the same weight, though. There are many different chassis plates and configurations available for the TA03. A buddy of mine runs his with a saddle pack chassis.

zxt

FRP or TRF Graphite...

by the sound of it looks like the grahite...but I read that sometimes a little flex helps you...

Thanks

psycho

zxt

I don't know for sure in the case of this car, but usually graphite is lighter and more rigid. Unfortunately, it's also more expensive. The graphite chassis and top plate that come with the David Jun edition car make it very rigid, so that would be a good choice. I would guess the kit will set you back around $100, though. If you don't have a local source for it, try www.mdiracing.com. Send Les an email. He's a Tamiya guy, so he will look long and hard for your esoteric Tamiya special order requests. He goy me a brand new F103L T/93 Lola body. Now that's not an easy body to find!

sonneteer

Hi all,

I just finished building TA-03F Alfa 155 from my collection for my girl friend....

Well its finished and I thought I run it with the 540 it came with, nice a mild for her to start with...... fitted with ESC 2000mA ... etc everything is brand new... also fully and I mean fully ball-raced!!!

Took it for its first run today.... it was slow.... it is running with the original gears and pinions.... I set the belt tensioner to minimum to reduce any drag.... but it was only marginally faster..... does this car need running-in???

I re-adjusted the gear mesh, but it was fine anyway..... now.... even my GF would think the car is slow..... what can I do to make it quicker? Is the gearing supplied wrong? I read the sheet and as power of motor goes up, the pinion gears has more tooth,except the 540 where it recommends even more tooth? but supplied is 14T!!!

Am I missing something or P2KPro is the only answer???? I was so mad I almost stuck my LRP 15T motor into it......

I have built several cars now so mechanicaly I dont thinkI done anything wrong....


My old Tamiya Lamborghini LP500s is faster that that!!!!!

zxt

Did u put O rings on the axle that goes into the differential? Because I did and the dogbone is a little to tight and that makes my car slow...i removed it and its faster now.

How bout removed all the gears again and put it back...maybe it will be better afterwards...

14T is the stock pinion...also did u say as the motor goes stronger ht epinion goes higher? I think its the other way around...I have my manual here and the pinion starts with 25T on stock 540 with bearings then its 24T for Sport tuned then 23T for Dyna Run touring stock and so on and so forth...

Right now I'm using 19T pinion for my Matrix 6.5 ver stock 27T and its pretty fast considering I'm using very old 1700 batts which seems to have not enough punch...maybe around 22mph top speed...I know the box stock is around 15mph tops.

sonneteer

I will check the O rings..... I think the main problem is the meshing between the pinion and the 2 bigger gears, they make noise no matter what grease I put in them.....

I thought the more power the motor has, they recommend more teeth in the pinion... say move from 14T to 19T.... as the better motor has more torque than the standard motor....so it can take a lower gearing to get more speed..... that is why I am so confused that recommend the STOCK 540 with bearing to run with 25T, the standard 540 silver is supplied with 14T and all the more powerful ones in between, it doesnt make sense....

Are speed tuned gears available for this car???, becasue apart from that I think the car will need to lose some weight!!!!

zxt

Me myself confuse with the 14T as a starting pinion...it should be 25T...then go down while the motor goes up...like the lesser the motor turn the lesser the pinion teeth too...

the pinion and the spur must be in perfect contact...try rolling your car down...see if it has too much drag...mine only move about a feet or so...while my HPI Sport moves 4 feet...

TA-03 is noisy...thats a fact because of its larger teeth in gears compare to HPI's 64 pitch...I think they're noisier than the 48 pitch HPI gears...why dont you try the .4 module...thats the gears in white (.6 module are color black and its the stock gears) .4 module is like 64 pitch in HPI gears...it will sure make your 03 silent and more smoother to drive...

sonneteer

Yes I do agree the crappier the motor the less teeth, that is why I see the standard 540 uses the 14T, and the people here runnint the PsKPors are using 19T to 21T. All that is fine except in the last part of the gearing sheet in Tamiya.... Stock 540 with Bearings can Run 25T, do they meamn their Stock 540 with bearings has so much power.... don't think so....

I just had another run, I re adjusted the mesh..... and I find under realy hard acceleration the belt now skip a teeth or two... finally the belt is a bit looser now.... I adjusted the tensioner a little so it no longer skips..... and I must say the far is noticibly quicker now!!! My girl friend should be happy now!

About the 0.4 gear module, does anyone knowthe part number cos I looked thru the catalogue and cant seem to find them, all the white ones seems to be for other models!!!

The car is great fun to drive on painted cement ground...... very safe as it under-steers gently.... back off the car tightens nicely...

zxt

http://www.tamiya.com/english/rc/rci...ts/mini161.htm

I think its the Item 50704 but I maybe wrong...

Good thing your 03 is faster now...keep it up.

sonneteer

Thanks for the link, I will check out the bits, I thin you got the right part.

For now I think I will run it as it is for now.... find the best ratio combo for the car on my track, then I will up grade to the 0.4 gears with the correct drive ratio so I will get hte right combo with the 0.4

Thanks for you help so far..... I just had another run, the car is getting lose I think and it is quite ok for a small area, she is gonna love this I think...

Then for Xmas I maight give her a P2KPro..... then she will really see some difference!!!!

I think the next upgrade are the tires first, the Tamiya ones are pretty but quite useless and they drag!!!.... think I will go for TakeOff slicks next.... whatever.... Im new to these things!!! haha

psycho

Guys. Try running with around a 6:1 gear ratio. That should get you in the ballpark for maximum speed (on a track) you can hope to get out of a stock motor and also for runtime. Seems like most Tamiya cars come way overgeared unless you get a TRF car. My car was just the opposite. It came with the .4 gears and a 23T pinion! That's like 8:1 gear ratio, so it had great accelleration, but was a slug. If you move to the .4 gears and run stock, all you need is the 26/27 and 28/29 pinion gear sets.

zxt

thats my final drive ratio...I guess tha makes my 03 max out...I'm using 19T pinion and 43 Spur (duh!)...can we change our spur?

ckh1328

Yeah, can we change the spur gear on our TA03? I tried to use 22T pinion with 43 spur and it ran very fast. I use Super Rooster and the ties seem to get larger when the car reached max speed. Do anyone know any spur gears for TA03? Please let us know if u know.

psycho

If you switch to the white .4 spurgear, you have a wider range of gearing choices. Tamiya makes a 17T and, I believe, an 18T pinion in the .6 pitch. The 17T comes with the F103 series cars. The 17T would get you to 6.17:1. I run with the .4 pitch gears and a 29T pinion. That puts me at 5.82:1. If you're running with a 22T pinion, that's 4.76:1. I don't think you're getting much acceleration.

An interesting sidenote... I ran my TA03 D.J. Edition yesterday along with my TC3 and XXX-S. I just got the TA03 and thought it to be a bit antiquated compared to the newer sedans. I must say, I was very impressed with the TA03. It seems to suit my driving style very well. I love the fact that it has tons of turn in! I was able to go much hotter into hairpins without overshooting. I guess all the weight up front is what really lets me cook it into turns. I was running it with a P2KPro. Very cool car! I ran with the stock setup except for the rear springs, which were Associated silver and I ran Shimizu 27's up front with medium Yokomo inserts, Yok Sprint mediums with soft Yok inserts in back and a 2001 Stratus body. Don't let anyone tell you that car can't still compete.

zxt

for the encouragement...

I'll race my 03 this January...I dont have a real car right now so its a little hard going to race tracks...

Do u guys see Porkybmx? its been a couple weeks now since he said he'll give me the gearing infos...i wonder where he is...