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i_am_scarecrow

Sakura D3

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I had intended to convert my tl-01 Baja champ into a drift car but then this came up for sale locally at a good price so I thought why not! It is a Sakura D3 drift car. The shell and wheels are not really my cup of tea so they will be going shortly to make way for something rally car inspired.

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Any other drift fans out there on Tamiyaclub?

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Well, please tell us more about the chassis :)

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i thought drift cars have to do more with the tires used, everything else is the same. The tires are more like hard plastic instead of rubber.

I went on Veterra site for their road cars and i saw the GTR with front and rear diffusers, it looked very nice.

And their rest of the road cars all have nice body.

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Tyres do make a huge difference yes but the chassis can be adjusted so many ways, camber angles etc... The steering angle is also much better for drifting compared to my touring cars. I'm still a newbie to drifting so I can't really give much more info than that at the moment! I'll uploads some more pics later on.

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Any other drift fans out there on Tamiyaclub?

Yeah got a bunch of D3s from their first batch.

It's a pretty nice chassis especially for the price. Avoid any D3 clones though.

Solid design but the stock CS% is a bit high for stock steering angle to "catch".

Luckily 3Rac sells the hopups you need... ;)

Extra angle comes from alloy steering rack and big angle CVDs.

Twin spools don't run too well, I gotta add a oneway to the front. Less CVD chatter too.

Middle belt cannot be tensioned so it runs loose. Add alloy layshaft holder with tensioner builtin.

Plastic shocks work ok but better with alloy bodies available for Sakura, cheap hopup.

Get your own oil & springs, kit stock doesn't suit. Tyres too.

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Thanks for the advice dude, mine is very basic at the moment but a shopping list has been made for it!

This is the chassis as it stands today-

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There are so many hopups out there but first off will be the alloy steering rack. I already have some nice alloy shocks to use, to be honest I haven't looked to see if the ones fitted are plastic or metal! To me, the n/s/r wheel seems to be angled in towards the front too, will look at that tomorrow when I start taking it apart for inspection.

I'm not sure what esc that is, the motor is a 550 apparently. I hadn't heard of anything bigger than a 540 so that is new to me. I'll look at maybe upgrading that soon, any tips on what to use? I don't want to go the brushless or lipo route.

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You can hopup every part to alloy and CF but most are unnecessary ;) except mentioned above.

Alloy rack has longer arms which allows more angle

but you must have the hopup CVDs to take advantage.

Alloy pulleys may help avoid chewing belts if your plastic pulleys are wornout.

Buy some spare belts anyway.

550 motor is just a longer can version of 540. Gives more torque usually.

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WillyChang covered most of it already.

Drifting is my main RC thing, but I do race every now and then and that is what I bought the Sakura D3 for. I have converted mine to front wheel drive. I have helped a few friends set up their D3 for drifting so I'm quite familiar with them in driftspec too.

A few things I would like to add to WillyChang's advices. 1st, use the aluminium spurgear adapter. The plastic one strips the threads really easily. Second, replace the buttonhead screws used for the droop adjustment for normal grubscrews. I think I've used 12mm screws on my car but can't remember. Make sure you pre-tap all the threads with an M3 tap before putting the screws in as the plastic is pretty tough and you can strip the hex from a screw when you're not carefull. This will give you more space to get to the adjustable cams on the diff, and also solves the clearance issue when using the aluminium steeringrack.
The stock dampers, although plastic, are pretty good when you build them right. If you replace the rubbers for TRF rubbers they are even better.

Like mentioned before, the stock CS ratio is a bit high for the standard car. I would recommend dropping the ratio to around 1.7 (70%) instead of the stock 2.14 (124%). This will make the car easier to drive while maintaining the realistic countersteering. Anything over 2.0 or maybe 2.2 is to much for proper techniques anyway, but that is something I won't bother you with if you are a beginner.

If you need any info regarding drifting, just let me know :) Check my teams facebook page if you just want some inspiration for your drift cars; www.facebook.com/wreckitsideways

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ya gotta lose those buttonhead droop screws or they get in the way of alloy rack's longer arc

Can't remember if I've bothered putting grubscrews in, might have just left them empty.

CF shocktowers are good hopup too. Stock plastic is ok stiff enough but with all that leverage

from the long standoffs makes them twist. After sitting on shelf for 2yrs my 1st car has

twisted enough to lose a heap of ground clearance! :) CF cured that issue...

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Thanks agains guys. I had my first proper drive of it tonight and to be honest, it wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be. My sons touring car with drift tyres is so much smoother and easier to drift with than the Sakura. Also, it seems to have an issue with the front wheels/drive shafts. They appear to be quite wobbly which I assume is the cause of the not so great drifting. The wheels seem loose although when I tighten them they don't turn very well at all.

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If you haven't upgraded the front CVDs to wide angle, yeah they'll chatter north of 45deg.

If your belts are skipping or flapping loose they'll cause a bungy effect.

Plastic layshaft mount amplifies it worse.

Middle belt tensioner with layshaft mount in alloy 1pc is very good to make running smoother.

I usually put on alloy clamp hex hubs straightaway, so no issues on tightness of wheel nut.

I haven't run D3 with brushed motor before, but I don't think it helps. :(

Brushless in D3 I usually need a decent amt of power (8-10T) and torque

but for best control I gotta zero the dragbrake.

Brushed motor especially a longcan 550 will have lots of dragbrake.

(which you cannot remove)

Also check the shocks, if its been built per manual or pre built they've have out

the stiffer shocks at the back. IMHO works better with stiffer in front

or better still swap the kit stiff springs/oil for something less stiff upfront.

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Queries and questions regarding the Sakura D3

I bought the rear aluminium solid axle for my Sakura D3 but it is not compatible, looks like I need other parts which consists of 2 pins 2 cups and 2 sleeves. Strange thing is theyre pictured in the paperwork you get with the aluminium rear solid axle but not in the Sakura D3 manaul bit that shows all the upgrades. I cant find these items anywhere so how am I supposed to fit the aluminium rear solid axle?

I also want to upgrade the rear 30t main gear too an aluminium one but dont know where to get this, anybody know?

I changed the rear 22t gear (the gear nx to the pulley gear) for a 13t gear so as to get a CS of around 1.27, problem is there is way too much slack now in the rear drive belt. Have tadjusted the rear bearing tensioners and have ran the belt teeth side around the belt tensioner, but I think there still a little too much slack, so much so that I honestly think its going to wear the belt a lot quicker, there is also the possibilty of slippage under sudden burst of throttle. Any ideas?

Last question; what would the CS be if both the rear gears were 22t? (that is the pulley gear and the one next to it)

Hope you can help as I just want to drift but I want the car set up how I want it and running smoothly etc.

Cheers all

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Only suggestion go on youtube and see if anyone has out a video on what you are trying to do. Tamiya is way ahead with their upgrades with instructions.

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@ Dorvack: Thank you for your informative post. Unfortunately my problems are still present, hopefully if I keep searching the net and forums something will come up. It just doesn't make sense to run plastic on the rear transmission when its the rear that is taking most of the stress from the drive due to CS induced forces and loads. Also I just wish to start with 1.3ish CS and build on that. Thank you anyway Dorvack, really appreciate your time on my issues. Cheers.

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