ParkRNDL

I'll be watching too, as I'd like to set my TL-01 up for VTA... --rick

I've had this same vid, or some version of it, in my Favorites for a while now. The old school Skyline (is that what it is? ABC Hobbies body?) in light blue is beautiful. And the bit starting at around 2:35 where they slide around 270 degrees and stop right in a parking space next to another car is AMAZING. --rick

I recently picked up a used TL-01, and I asked this question on the RCTech messageboard, where they have a HUGE thread about VTA with lots of links to race videos and such. I was told that there were newer cars that handle better, which didn't deter me much, but a much more important limiting factor is the fact that you can only use a few specific gear ratios with the TL-01, and this would keep you from gearing the car where it would need to be in order to be competitive. Now the closest place to me that they race these is still quite a ways off, and I don't know that I'll ever get around to organized racing with it, so I was thinking of building mine up as a VTA even if it isn't geared high enough, just for running around in the driveway... --rick

ahhh, got it! thanks! --rick

Hmmm, hadn't noticed them before. Nice. Tower has them for $21 for only two, but when I Googled "Tamiya CVA", I did notice at least one Amazon seller that has them for $14 for the pair. I will keep my eyes open for Fleabay deals, maybe score all 4... thanks for that tip! --rick edit: wait. i am seeing 3 different Tamiya part numbers here: 50519, which is two mini shocks; 50520, which is two short shocks, and 53619, which is apparently all 4 shocks and seems to cost only slightly more than the other two but does not seem to have as much stuff with the kit. does the 53619 have everything I need to upgrade the friction dampers on a TL-01?

After spending some time in the driveway with my newly acquired beater TL-01, I'm starting to see why the stock friction dampers are commonly called "pogo sticks". I'm trying to find a cheap set of oil dampers; everything that says it fits is kinda pricey. Then I noticed these: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti00...=LXBDMN&P=7 http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti00...=LXBFDC&P=7 any idea if these will work? or is there another good set out there that you all can steer me towards? thnx in advance... --rick

An old beater TL-01 just got me back into the hobby. I made a set of cheap drift wheels from ABS and slapped them on. I wasn't expecting too much success, but I was actually able to get a pretty good feel for what drifting is about, even with the car set up all wrong (stock 540 motor, too-high 23t pinion, stock pogo-stick dampers, stock non-adjustable suspension arms and tie rods) and a complete lack of driving skill on my part. Fun stuff. --rick

interesting question. having just been reintroduced to the hobby by way of a used beater TL-01, i have an idea in my head that i can get a couple TL-01s for my sons (6 and 9 years old) and we'd have a ball bashing in the driveway. to paraphrase an old post i read here, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting 3 or 4 NIB TL-01s listed on Fleabay for under a hundred bucks, and with the advent of dirt-cheap radio sets and affordable ESCs, i could set them both up with new cars and mildly refurbish mine for a few Benjamins. (Not that I have ANY Benjamins lying around at the moment, nor would the wife readily sign off on THAT purchase order, but humor me here.) many have commented that the TL chassis is relatively bulletproof, and the sealed gearboxes make them pretty low-maintenance. set up with the stock 540 and the 19-tooth pinion, and with the addition of ball bearings and maybe real dampers, i think it just might work for a kid's starter vehicle... disclaimer: my exposure to Tamiya stuff ended in high school when I sold my SRB Ranger F-150 and just restarted with this TL-01. i'm sure there's tons of stuff in between that i'm missing because i have no experience with it, but so far I'm having fun with what I got... --rick

Aww, memories. Those pics make me all nostalgic... My first R/C was the F-150 SRB. I had forgotten about the huge front body mount post till I saw it in the pic... --rick

Bought some HPI rims and ABS pipe and tried my hand at drifting a TL-01. I was almost entirely unsuccessful. --rick

I'd love to be lavishing tons of time, money, and parts on my new Tamiya find, but since a.) I don't have lots of money, b.) I don't have lots of time, and c.) my LHS stocks very little for Tamiya cars, reality dictates that I'm kind of limited here. I did find something cheap and easy to diddle with, though: I bought a set of HPI rims at the hobby shop and a length of ABS pipe at Lowes, and set myself up for my first try at drifting. I am definitely NOT at the level of all those cool YouTube RC drifting vids, but I do kinda get the concept... very little traction, very gradual throttle, and lots of opposite lock. There was an abortive video attempt, but today my 9-year-old was lacking the attention span to actually keep the camera pointed at the car for any length of time, and had no concept of keeping his fingers away from the lens. So for now, the "After" pics will have to do: Probably not gonna spend lots of time doing that, but it was a fun little diversion and I'll certainly practice some more. After I get a new pinion, that is... the motor got REALLY hot on this run, and the ESC did too, whereas normally it doesn't. By the way, if you've noticed that the car is FILTHY, well, yeah, that's kinda by design. The way the body is cracked and scratched, I think I like the overall character of the car this way with all the crud still on it the way I found it. The body represents a '94 or '95 model, and the way it sits, it looks like a 16-year-old muscle car that's been rode hard and put away wet, so to speak. --rick edit: oh, and i just got a killer deal on a set of Ansmann wheels and tires from a UK eBay seller named "selections-web"...

Aaaaaand I put the 23t pinion back on and the motor screws back in as tight as I dared for now and ordered new ones from Fastenal. They were a whopping 8 cents each, so I ordered 10. I won't have them till next week, but we're gonna be away at the beach for a few days starting tomorrow, so I won't get to drive it anyway. The good news is that there's a LHS in the town where we're going, and if I recall correctly, they are very heavy into R/C cars, so maybe I can find the pinion there... In the meantime, I cobbled together a set of ABS drift tires. Interesting to say the least. Will start another thread if I can find a few minutes... --rick

Oy. All this talk about metric and pitch and modules. I just looked up "Gear" in Wikipedia to try and sort it out. Well, now I kinda sorta have an understanding of how Tamiya and Robinson and HPI are measured differently from Traxxas, but I have a headache too. But at least I know I can use an HPI or Robinson Racing pinion... --rick

OK, scratch question 1. I loosely screwed the motor in using the holes designated in the manual, and the teeth just barely make contact. I guess I was misled... I saw a Fleabay listing that said the Tamiya gear would work for an HPI E10, and I assumed that all 19t 48p pinions were created equal. So I'm out three bucks. Anybody need a 19t Traxxas pinion? Feel free to laugh at me and then to answer questions 2 and 3 above, they're still out there... --rick

I'm diddling with this TL-01 Mustang I rescued from a yard sale, and I think I'm doing something wrong... The previous owner put the 23t pinion on with the silver can 540, and the motor seems to get pretty hot over the course of a run. I was thinking I'd gear it back to the recommended 19t pinion and see how it felt. The LHS doesn't carry Tamiya, but they had a 19t 48 pitch Traxxas pinion that looked a lot like the pictures I'd seen on the Net, so I gambled $3 and bought it. Now the problems begin: 1. Will this pinion work, or will it powder my transmission gears? I didn't actually screw it together and run it yet, but holding the motor in place and looking in thru the access hole, it doesn't seem to mesh as nice with the spur gear as the 23 did. Going down from 23 to 19, should I expect the teeth to look like they're a little funny in there? 2. Whether I use this one or wait and get a Tamiya one, what should I use to lube it? I downloaded an assembly manual from Tamiya, and I plan on eventually tearing the whole thing down and cleaning/rebuilding it, and I see the little lube logo on all the gears... what's a good lube to use in the transmission if I don't have the original kit lube? 3. The Phillips heads on the M3x25 screws that hold the motor in were all but stripped, and I wasn't sure I was going to get a screwdriver to grab them to get them out. I managed to get them out after all, but now I don't want to put the grungy ones back in... I'd like to get a new set. 2 hardware stores and a Fastenal place didn't have them (Fastenal could have ordered them, but I was feeling impatient). Anybody know a good source for these screws? Go easy on me, I've been out of the hobby for YEARS... thanks in advance for any help/insight/comments... --rick