The middleaged Lancia 037 TA02S…with added carbon and blue bits

[middleagedgrup 257]

Now then…  Having previously threatened the great and good members of Tamiyaclub with a build thread (see here), I have determined in my decidedly finite wisdom to make good on my threat and actually inflict one upon you all.  As it’s my first build thread and only my second-ever ‘modern’ Tamiya, I would entreat you all to please be gentle.  That said, any and all comments are welcome; that is, of course, unless you’re going to be mean or criticize, in which case you can go away. 😊

I’m somewhat (read: very) time poor but will endeavour to make as much progress as is allowed given a full-time job, two kids, a number of voluntary commitments, haemorrhoids and a basic human need for sleep.  So, without any further ado (about time, I hear you mutter!) I humbly present for your consideration my ham-fisted attempt at building a 58654 Lancia 037 TA02S complete with 47479 Carbon Chassis Conversion…and some extra goodies.

  

This is as far as I’ve got at the moment – impressive progress I’m sure you’d agree... 

[toyolien 6639]

Oh that's a nice chunk of carbon. Is it a performance upgrade, or bling? Either way, it's gonna look great. 

[Busdriver 6662]

I’m right behind you.

[Juhunio 7117]

12 hours ago, middleagedgrup said:

 

  

This is as far as I’ve got at the moment – impressive progress I’m sure you’d agree... 

Lovely build ahead!

Before you seal that ball diff up, could I recommend one of these in place of that plastic thrust bearing:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1822903959

With all that lovely carbon and aluminium going in, it seems a shame to bury that plastic bearing down there in the depths of it all 

Enjoy the build, it's such a beautiful kit and an iconic car 

[middleagedgrup 257]

15 hours ago, toyolien said:

Oh that's a nice chunk of carbon. Is it a performance upgrade, or bling? Either way, it's gonna look great. 

I imagine that those who can drive better than I ever could would notice an increase in performance (it replaces the standard plastic tub and shock towers, and adds an upper deck and FRP steering arms) but for my purposes it's just going to make it look nicer on the shelf...when I take the body off, that is!

3 hours ago, Juhunio said:

Lovely build ahead!

Before you seal that ball diff up, could I recommend one of these in place of that plastic thrust bearing:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1822903959

With all that lovely carbon and aluminium going in, it seems a shame to bury that plastic bearing down there in the depths of it all 

Enjoy the build, it's such a beautiful kit and an iconic car 

Top advice, thank you my friend.  I'll pick one of those up and put it in my spares box ready for adding at an opportune moment.  Would this by any chance also fit the Top Force Evo front and rear diffs?  I have one of those sitting here ready to be built too, so makes sense to buy ahead! 

[Juhunio 7117]

49 minutes ago, middleagedgrup said:

Top advice, thank you my friend.  I'll pick one of those up and put it in my spares box ready for adding at an opportune moment.  Would this by any chance also fit the Top Force Evo front and rear diffs?  I have one of those sitting here ready to be built too, so makes sense to buy ahead! 

No worries! And yes, it's the same diff parts in the TF Evo front and rear, and if it was me I would buy two of those one piece bearings to replace the plastic thrust bearings

[middleagedgrup 257]

2 hours ago, Juhunio said:

No worries! And yes, it's the same diff parts in the TF Evo front and rear, and if it was me I would buy two of those one piece bearings to replace the plastic thrust bearings

Righto.  So that's 4 in total: one for the Lancia, two for the TF Evo and one for the 45th Vaillant.  Shame JP are out of stock at the moment.

[Kol__ 3933]

Nice start mate! That carbon chassis looks awesome, Gavin on the RC Kicks YouTube channel did a review on it last week, decent bit of kit!

[Grastens 2822]

It is looking great so far! As an enthusiastic Lancia 037 owner (the Tamiya version, to be clear!), I am looking forward to seeing this build play out 

[middleagedgrup 257]

Right then, let's make some progress on this shall we?  So I got most of the way through building the rear differential and have a thrust bearing on order (thanks @Juhunio for the suggestion) but being the impatient, devil-may-care, swashbuckling hot head that I am I've decided to kick on with the build and to pop the thrust bearing in at some point in the future.  Let's pick up where I left off:

I've sealed up the rear diff and completed step 1!  Naturally, one then moves to step 2...the rear gearbox.  Is it just me who finds it soooo satisfying to set all the parts out like this? 

Out go the nasty plastic bearings and in go the ball bearings.

For the teeth of the spur gear I'm using a teflon-based lube (*giggle*) popular in the cycling world for things like chains and the inside of brake/gear cable lines.  Also, note the cheeky little carbon damper stay photo-bombing in the background, fresh from it's Gorilla Glue facial.

Dropping the rear diff spur gear into the gearbox housing (note the blue skirt of the 1150 ball bearing)....

...and seal it up!

Steps 3 and 4 await.  Time to break out the RW Racing hardened pinion gear and the sport tuned motor...

Note that I'm using a 20T pinion, not the stock 21T.

[middleagedgrup 257]

Now we're really moving through the gears (sorry, just too tempting!) so let's move on to step 5...the spur gear!  Time to break out the 1150 ball bearings again, and the 850 too this time.

4mm e-rings are the work of the devil.

Time to drop it into the gearbox and seal it up - break out the lube!

And I'm spent.  That's enough for one day!  Initial impressions: much better quality parts than my last build (TT-02 Targa Florio RSR) and all seems to go together well.  Just waiting for my first problem to raise it's head.  I'm looking at you, Carbon Chassis Kit...I suspect there are going to be some fun and games  trying to integrate it into this build.  But that's for future Middleagedme to worry about! 

[middleagedgrup 257]

Oh. My. Goodness.  Am I glad I chose to stop when I did.  So I'm putting the carbon chassis kit to one side for the moment because I fitted the carbon rear damper stay (replacing the kit standard stay in step 7) and was extremely surprised by the amount of play in the upper arms.  It's as if the supplied step screws are too long, or the number of/depth of washers is insufficient.  Huuuuge amounts of play.  So I've decided to proceed with the standard damper stay for the meantime and may well come back to this point later once I've given it some more thought (will probably be a simple case of getting hold of the right amount of washers/shims to take up the slack).  In any case, onwards!

Step 7 completed, with the upper arms hanging limply at the side, much like I do.

Time for step 8, and the construction of the rear lower arms, axles and hubs (with pretty blue bearings):

Here comes step 9, with its drive-shafts and beefy screw pins:

...and now the rear arms are complete...

[middleagedgrup 257]

Woah, woah, woah!!  We're never on to Bag B already, are we?  Why, yes we are!  Time for more itemising (soooo satisfying...did I say that already?).

First up is step 10 and the front differential.  Let's get spinning, shall we? (*groan*)

Grease, grease everywhere...

...before sealing it up.

Has anyone noticed how nice my nails are, by the way?  I do them myself, you know?

Look out!  Here comes legs 11 with his front gearbox.  Let's drop the differential case into the gearbox and say 'nein!' to those naughty 1150 plastic bearings.

And so to the front counter gear - step 12. 

You've noticed the nice and shiny, blue uprated prop joint, haven't you?  And you'll also have noticed that I didn't use an uprated prop joint in the rear gearbox, haven't you?  So you now know what I've got to do next, don't you?  Yes, that's right: open up the rear gearbox, take out the standard prop joint and replace it with the nice blue one.  But wait!  What's that you say?  How do I get the 4mm e-ring off the standard prop joint so I can recover the 1x 1150 bearing?  Erm.....  Ah..

Answer: I don't.  I leave the e-ring where it is, and simply use a spare 1x 1150 bearing on the fancy prop joint.  I'll work out how to get the e-ring off the standard prop joint at a later time.  So here's the reopened rear gear box:

And here's the nice blue prop joint complete with additional 1150 bearing:

So that's both front and rear gear boxes done!  A couple of snags encountered on the way, but that's all part of the learning process and I'm having fun so far.  Now, that's the end for the moment.  I'll leave you all in suspense about what step 13 has in store for us, but I'm sure it won't dampen your spirits too much to wait...

[Busdriver 6662]

13 hours ago, middleagedgrup said:

Woah, woah, woah!!  We're never on to Bag B already, are we?  Why, yes we are!  Time for more itemising (soooo satisfying...did I say that already?).

First up is step 10 and the front differential.  Let's get spinning, shall we? (*groan*)

Grease, grease everywhere...

...before sealing it up.

Has anyone noticed how nice my nails are, by the way?  I do them myself, you know?

Look out!  Here comes legs 11 with his front gearbox.  Let's drop the differential case into the gearbox and say 'nein!' to those naughty 1150 plastic bearings.

And so to the front counter gear - step 12. 

You've noticed the nice and shiny, blue uprated prop joint, haven't you?  And you'll also have noticed that I didn't use an uprated prop joint in the rear gearbox, haven't you?  So you now know what I've got to do next, don't you?  Yes, that's right: open up the rear gearbox, take out the standard prop joint and replace it with the nice blue one.  But wait!  What's that you say?  How do I get the 4mm e-ring off the standard prop joint so I can recover the 1x 1150 bearing?  Erm.....  Ah..

Answer: I don't.  I leave the e-ring where it is, and simply use a spare 1x 1150 bearing on the fancy prop joint.  I'll work out how to get the e-ring off the standard prop joint at a later time.  So here's the reopened rear gear box:

And here's the nice blue prop joint complete with additional 1150 bearing:

So that's both front and rear gear boxes done!  A couple of snags encountered on the way, but that's all part of the learning process and I'm having fun so far.  Now, that's the end for the moment.  I'll leave you all in suspense about what step 13 has in store for us, but I'm sure it won't dampen your spirits too much to wait...

Shocking!!!!

[middleagedgrup 257]

Evening all - hope you've all had a great weekend.  Made a bit more progress on the build so here we go with steps 13 through 15.

Here are the constituent parts:

This little tool is super handy and makes it a bit easier to manoeuvre those fiddly little e-rings onto the shock shafts:

Opted for the 3 hole part (V10) over the 1 hole (V8).  Can always swap them out if they leave the car under damped.

In go the o-rings:

Shock shaft pliers - again, another useful little tool.  Helpful for popping out ball connectors too.

That's the first one done.  Now time to prepare 3 more...

Am using the kit supplied #400 oil.

Kit supplied green oil seals.

And then on with the standard springs and the V5 collars.

Job's a good 'un! 

[middleagedgrup 257]

Good evening you fine group of individuals.  Some (not insignificant) progress has been made on the TA02 since I last posted, so thought it about time to update this thread.  So you'll recall that earlier in the build I said I was going to put the carbon chassis conversion to one side because of the slop where the upper arms connected to the rear shock tower.  Well, I wondered if that was due to me using the wrong hardware: perhaps I'd used the incorrect step screw; or an insufficiency of / too thin washers...  The problem is that the contents list is in Japanese and, despite my great many attributes as a man (well...I have a couple, perhaps), I'm not very good at reading Japanese...at all.

Which got me thinking.  If I could translate the contents list then that would really help me identify what goes where.  Even better, if I could build up most of the chassis kit, thereby using a large proportion of the hardware in the process, then that would increase my chances of using the correct bits for the shock towers.

The issue:

And, thanks to Google translate and my phone's camera, the solution:

A more than passable translation, thanks Google!

Now...time for a bit of carbon pwn...  First up: the lower deck, battery stays and steering posts.

What?!!!  Why on earth are there brass 'bearings' in this set?!  Poor show Mr Tamiya.  Very poor show indeed.  Luckily, due to a fortuitous bout of over-ordering on my part, I had some spare 850s to hand.

Time for the turnbuckles and a bit of precision building...crack open the vernier calipers!  Need 8.5mm between the adjusters:

Here we go with the steering assembly:

Like a glove!

And pop on the turnbuckles - time for a bit of soft jaw pliers action.

That was fun.  Felt like I've achieved something here. 

[middleagedgrup 257]

So this takes us up to step 16 and the front damper stay.  The carbon replacement front stay requires a metal bracket attaching to the front gearbox, which you can see here:

Now...time for more carbon!!  Am going with a bit of Loctite 243 to keep those wriggly little screws safely in the ball nuts.

Ooh!  Suits me, sir.

Time to mount the stay to the gearbox:

Note how tight the retaining nut is to the top of the gearbox case (part A2).  It doesn't touch, but it's 3/5ths of not much between them!

From the other side:

[middleagedgrup 257]

Next on the Middleaged chopping block: the delights of Bag C with added tasty blue bits...

First, add the front upper arms.

Which leaves us with front and rear gearboxes looking like this (I swapped the standard rear damper stay out for the carbon one whilst you weren't looking):

Still loads of play in those rear arms, and I know for a fact that I've used the right hardware, so I guess that's just how it is out of the box.  Will add some washers/shims to take up the play later on in the build.  But for now, it's front axle time!

Bit of grease on the front axle...

...before sliding it into the upright and bearings, adding the upright carrier and ball connectors.

Lower arms attached:

You'll note that the nice blue king pins sit proud of the carrier and stick out at either end: I knew that this was going to be a feature of using these items when @futureworks , @TurboRSR and @rich_f helped clarify this for me on the Vaillant 45th thread back in December last year (click link).  Thanks again to them for their guidance!  Thought I'd mention it here as it's just something for other folks to be aware of if they're thinking of doing the same!

Penultimate step: step 18 and the front drive shafts.

And lastly, attached to the front gearbox assembly:

Having a real blast with this build, enjoying the challenges and solving the issues presented by the aftermarket parts, but I think that's more than enough excitement for me for the moment.  Time for a lie down now and perhaps a snooze on the sofa.  Isn't that what middleaged folks do?  

Edited March 28, 2022 by middleagedgrup

[middleagedgrup 257]

Greetings all, time for the next instalment / butchering of my my TA02 build, courtesy of yours truly.  So, we got as far as building up the front and rear assemblies, so next thing was to attach the dampers and body posts (in a strange mash-up of steps 19, 30 and 31).  Whilst this avant-garde approach to numeracy may well appear to the outside observer like total lunacy, it is in-fact what the instructions in the Carbon Chassis kit call for.  So there.  First the front end...

...then the back end.

Take a look at the below and you'll see that I had to trim the underside of the rear body posts as they were fouling the top of the damper (part W2).  Pre-op on the left, post-op on the right.  And yes, you're right, I'm clearly not a surgeon by training.

 

All installed and no fouling now.

Excitement!!!   Time to attach the rear gearbox to the chassis. 

That's the rear done, so now it's time to line up the drive-shaft and get the front gearbox in place too.

I needed a moment to myself at this point.  Such a great feeling when things start to take shape like this!  I'm following the sequence as dictated by the Carbon Chassis instructions, so next up is the servo installation.  And time for a previously unannounced, unadvertised special guest appearance by...a high torque servo-saver and fancy-schmancy aluminium (not aloominum!) servo horn.

Regretting at this point not having sprung for a matching blue aluminium servo-saver cap...will sort that omission later!

 

 

[middleagedgrup 257]

Time again for the vernier calipers to bring a bit of precision to proceedings: 6.5mm required for the steering linkage arm.  The 5mm adjuster tool makes the job a bit easier on the fingers too!

Time for regret no.2: I only added 1 pack of short aluminium servo-stays to my last PJ order and I'm keeping those for my TA03R-S build, so am resigned to using the standard stays (for the moment at least!).

Time to secure the servo (effectively step 21)...

...and hook up the steering linkage.

Time for some more carbon pwn...break out the top deck!

And then pop in the ESC and receiver.

Was starting to flag by this point, so deciding that discretion was the better part of valour I put down my tools for the night.  Next up will be the carbon battery holder, which is a holder made of carbon, and not a holder for carbon batteries, for those pedants amongst you!  See you all later!

[Grumpy pants 5565]

A very nicely written and well laid out thread, lots of pictures and information 👏

Thank you 👍

[middleagedgrup 257]

11 hours ago, Grumpy pants said:

A very nicely written and well laid out thread, lots of pictures and information 👏

Thank you 👍

On the contrary: thank you for the compliment! I'm happy if others find the thread useful / mildly diverting. Not the most ground-breaking build compared to some of the others on here, but I'm enjoying doing it and if it gives others confidence to try something similar then that's even better. 

[middleagedgrup 257]

In eager anticipation of the long bank holiday weekend (and the culmination of a particularly hectic week at work...urgh!), here's the final instalment of the chassis build.

So we got as far as dropping in the ESC and the RX, so it's the battery holder that has the honour of being next up.

The Loctite 243 is again called into action, this time to prevent the battery posts shaking lose (not that they're ever going to shake lose sat whilst sat on the shelf in my study!).

Note how far the small snap pins stick out past the end of the tray...more of that later...

Adding the retainer at the other end of the tray, this time with a large snap pin.

I could at this point choose to make a wheely bad Dad joke about how the wheels are next to be built, but such a joke would be hardly revolutionary, so I'll prevent spinning this out any longer and roll on with the next step.

And now, the hexes.  Interesting fact: did you know that hexadecimal is a base 16 system used to simplify how binary is represented?  There are apparently 10 types of people in the world: those that understand binary, and those that don't.

 

[middleagedgrup 257]

On with the wheels:

And then the rear bumper thingy:

Now then, do you remember how I had to trim the bottom of the rear body posts because they fouled the the top of the rear shocks?  You do?  Good, glad to see you were paying attention.  Well, turns out that the Lancia body requires the H8 extenders to be fitted, so off come the rear body posts and in go the extenders along with longer machine screws.  And now the underside of the posts are nowhere near the shocks.  Ah well...!

And here comes that naughty small snap pin that I referred to above - it sticks out so far from the battery tray that it fouls the underside of the body.  Think I'll take a pair of pliers to the pin and fold it up 90 degrees to give the shell some more room (and to allow me to drop the shell low enough).

On go the rubber sleeves to the rear body posts (part MD15) - had to cut these a bit longer than the required 5mm in order to keep the shell high enough to clear the offending battery tray clip.

Pop on the holder for the antenna pipe...

...and add a whole heap of shims to take out the woeful amount of slop in the rear arms...

Now then.  Here we go.  It's a thing of beauty, so prepare yourself for an unparalleled visual delight, the likes of which you've never before experienced nor are you likely to experience again, neither in this life nor the next.  I give you...the completed chassis (cue ticker tape explosions, pyrotechnics, dancing girls (or guys...I don't judge), full brass band, balloons et cetera, et cetera)!!!!!!

Quite a sight, I'm sure you'll all agree.  You'll note that I've opted to leave off the mahoosive front bumper for the meantime given that it's unnecessary for my purposes for the moment.  Now, I've just got to pluck up enough courage to start the body... @Busdriver I'm looking to you for inspiration! 

[Juhunio 7117]

16 minutes ago, middleagedgrup said:

I could at this point choose to make a wheely bad Dad joke about how the wheels are next to be built, but such a joke would be hardly revolutionary, so I'll prevent spinning this out any longer and roll on with the next step.

Good decision, those kinds of jokes can get tyred pretty quick 😉

Lovely build so far 👍