GPZ1000RX

Been there, done that, bought the tee shirt, eaten the pie! :-) Luckily (and that is all it was) the diode popped before the ESC. I wouldn't care to bet my speedo on it tho!

The Schotty also serves to minimise radio interference from the motor. LRP are being careful with their instructions, if someone were to fit a Schotty (because the instructions didn't say not to!) then forget and re-enable the reverse function, use reverse and cook the ESC then LRP could be liable for the damage. So they just say don't fit one, if you do then you are liable. I personally would not fit a Schotty to any thing that could, under any circumstance, send reverse voltage to the motor.

Try a Teflon or PTFE based "dry" lube. Tryflow is good but expensive and hard to find. GT85 is cheap and easy to get, a large spray tin is about £3.50 from Halfords.

To get stipped grubscrews out use one of the many drivers with a precision ground high speed steel bit in 1.5mm. I use the associated one and it's brilliant!

The Demon ESC was designed and marketed by one Nick Adams. He is still in business as Demon Products and a regular at Aldershot club. You can find his ad in RRC and RR magazines fairly frequently.

This is the sort of problem that I was refering to when replying to your earlier posts. A lot of Tamiyas can't handle a lot of power (cause they weren't designed to) Sticking a modern hot motor into a collectors piece is an especially bad idea as there is a good chance that what breaks is going to be difficult to replace. You could even be pushing it with a torquey 27T stock if components are becoming brittle with age.

Bought my first electric RC car in 1977, The ID Electronics "Spectron" it came complete with a full on pulse width proportional speed control. Nothing like as powerful as todays 500amp FET jobs (35turn motors were standard then!) but exactly the same in principle.

What is your assessment of the actual toe in angle? Is it possible it's been assembled wrongly? (front rods on rear and visa versa, for instance) I've done this a couple of times and ended up with some spectacular geometry!!!!

Most modified motors are best at about 10degrees advance, too much will send heat and current bananarama and will remove loads of torque. For the record 1mm = roughly 3 degrees.

Tamiya got their fingers burnt in the mid nineties with the F1 cars, they had to withdraw a lot of cars from the market and sell them on the quiet after being hit for royalties by a well known Grand Prix Team! It's why the Ferrari costs loads more than a "generic" F1 kit.

Most of the hot touring car manufacturers seem to be going over to shaft drive for its better drivetrain efficiency, The Tenth Technology cars were much quicker in a straight line than the competition when they arrived several years ago!

Model Racing Technology (MRT) 258 Dover Road Folkestone Kent CT19 6NS 013 0325 9196

Almost certainly it's the balldiff thrustrace for the F101/2/3 series F1 cars.

MRT are the manufacturers of one of the first fully waterproof ESC's. They are on the South coast, I'll dig out my manual and post up the address for you when I get home!

MRT in England can waterproof receivers for about £10, can't say I've ever bothered about the motor, just use a cheapy and clean/ relube it after every run.

Most after market accessory manufacturers make a range of gears and hardened steel pinions. These pinions should be available to fit just about anything, metric, imperial or whatever. Buy the correct one and it will last for years of hard use. Sadly the Tamiya aluminium ones that come with some kits do wear out rather quickly!

I' afraid that Tamiya manuals are an object lesson to virtually everyone else. A lot are utterly awful (like the one for my MRT ESC) I have a programable Futaba radio and the manual for that had to be photocopied, rearranged and cross referenced before it became user friendly. You may find it best to do the same with your KO one.

No question, polycarb shell = polycarb paint, given the price and quality of a Tamiya bodyshell you'd be spoiling the ship for a happenth of tar!!!! Acrylic is fine on an injection moulded body but not very strong, plastic enamel is much stronger but more difficult to use.

You can also use it to run in metal gear sets, just make very sure you can wash out ALL of it before you try it! Works beautifully if you can tho.

The only other thing that seems to claim the life of a kit motor is the dreaded big impact! seems the commutator isn't to secure on the shaft and gets knocked nearer the stack causing lots of end float in the can. Doesn't stop them going OK but can cause gear mesh problems.

Yep, the better design of the dyna run is probably to do with a much stronger permanent magnetic field, this increases torque and reduces heat. It may also have a hand wound armature, which also gives slight improvements in torque and revs. Of couse all of this costs money! The caution, as mud4fun says above, is that a lot of Tamiyas don't have gearing that can be easily changed to suit different motors and/or are not able to handle the extra torque and speed anyway. I've heard and seen quite a few budget road car gearboxes get destroyed by over enthusiastic novices bolting a hot motor into an otherwise standard budget Tamiya. Even if the car survives mechanically they often don't complete their first race meeting due to the extra speed causing more and harder crashes which eventually break the car!!!

When it comes to motors, perhaps I should have added a qualifier to this statement:- "Fewer turns or more windings = more revs and less torque." The above is so if all other factors remain the same!!!! The other factors are the strength of the permanent magnetic field:- More magnetism = more torque/less revs Also More advanced timing = more revs/less torque (and loads more heat!) There are many ways to change all of the above which I won't go into here but It's entirely possible to get more revs and more torque by adding more money, hence a 27T stock produces far more of both than the silver can kit motor because they cost £27 rather than £13! The same applies if you buy a £60 full on modified, it will out perform a 27 stock in both respects if you don't get too ambitious with the wind, you may even find that it gives the same run time too. This is because you just bought the best. Hope this helps to clear the confusion.

I've got three 25 year old Futaba Medallion sets and they are all fine with eight nicads in them.

There you go Kizum, Sosidge as got the gen on this one! Have fun, Paul.

Make sure the batteries are OK, change if you're not sure. Try a new set of crystals. Try a new RX. Make sure, as you do the above, that you do one thing at a time and that the new stuff is compatible with any eventual new radio set if you do have to start over! Good luck. Paul.