steelo

Haha...and if I applied that philosophy for everything, I would take every Monday off! I do appreciate all of the input the other members provide me. I'm just stubborn sometimes ;-) More build pictures coming tomorrow. I was able to finish it with my day off. My brain is fried from 6 hours of building =) Still need to paint the body, I'm thinking of a blue-white-yellow paint scheme in honor of my favorite rc car of all time, the Kyosho Optima...some great childhood memories =)

That's it for today...when I find myself making dumb mistakes, I know it's time to give it a rest for the day

Step #12 - Attached front lower arms I thought this step was going to give me a brain aneurysm...maybe it's just me, but I needed 2 more hands. There are 2 tiny 'spacers' that have to be fitted perfectly and kept falling out on me as I inserted the U-shaped shaft...eventually got it though

Step #9-11 Motor mounted and attached rear lower arms with bumper

Step #8 Attaching motor to motor mount...I purchased 18T and 19T pinions but decided to use the much more durable 17T steel gear that comes with the kit.. I also want to play it safe with the pinion size since the ESC will be already be more than 'maxed out' One thing I noticed was that the manual does not mention greasing the pinion gear..I will probably just assume Mr. Tamiya knows best.

Step #7 Differentials installed, Attached differential covers, front and rear. Applied anti-wear grease on outside of case to prevent dirt from entering gearbox.

(Step 3-4 and 6) Fitting differentials and bearings into the tub and connecting the prop shaft...looks good

Step 5 continued...Differentials buttoned up

Step #5 Building the differentials...plastic galore!

So far, so good...

Step #2 Attaching spur gear to prop shaft adapter. I actually had to take it apart after I took this photo and refit the parts because the shaft just didn't seem to fit into the spur gear correctly. You can kind of tell that things aren't fitting together 'snugly' After some trial and error, I got it to work Newbies, right?

Look what I got today! It took 6 weeks to get it from Japan, but it's finally here!!! Time to get to work...

I completely agree, I have a TBLE-02 in my M-05 and it runs beautifully. I most likely will upgrade in the near future, just don't have the funds right now to buy a brushless kit I've made some progress on the build and I'll be posting the pictures later today, if anyone is interested

Hi all, I know that the 104BK shouldn't be able to handle this motor, but I have successfully used it in another car (my Sand Scorcher) with this same motor with no issues. It is a 15T motor, but it is pretty mild compared to some of the 15-17T modified motors I've tried in the past...I'm going to give it a try since it was cheap, if it does overheat I will invest in a better ESC (it will give me an excuse to go brushless) As far as the pinion gears, I was afraid they would be the 'pot metal' gears but I've read that they are fine as long as you don't throw in a crazy motor. I think though for now, I'm going to start with the steel pinion gear that came with the kit.

My 'essential' hop ups so far according to what I've read by the good folks on here...Ball bearings, aluminum prop shaft, full turnbuckle set, aluminum steering rack, Armma 15T motor, spektrum 2ch radio and a Tamiya 104bk esc (hopefully it will be able to handle this motor) Car should be here Friday...I can't wait! I will post more pics of the build if folks want to see them!

Lexington, KY

I might have to look into that

The 3Racing shocks for the M-05 work beautifully...just do a search on ebay

A 15T firebolt should give it some nice speed =)

If your ESC started smoking, it more than likely was bad (or is bad now) ESC's, especially for brushed motors are pretty cheap. You can usually find the Tamiya ESC's (TEU-105BK) which are pretty good quality for $30 or under on ebay. I've also have a Duratrax Sprint ESC, which seems to be unkillable...