TA02 Racing Special + TA02SW + TA02W + TA02 Rally

[Superluminal 3750]

Hello, 

This will be a build thread for a TA02 Racing Special. I know most people by now have probably built a number of TA02 based chassis kits especially since theyve been rereleased (if you havent, go and get one) so I suppose the point if this thread will be to highlight the differences between the standard kit and the parts that make it a "Racing Special". This isnt a bonafide Racing Special kit, its a stock TA02 which will be hopped up with all the parts that were included with the racing special plus a few extras that should have probably been included originally but werent for some reason.

This was another one of those projects where it started off as something else and then grew arms and legs. Its genesis was in aquiring a set of Super Slick tyres and some One Piece Racing Spoke wheels about two and half years ago. A bit of research on these led to to me thinking whether I had enough bits to make a Racing Special which had long since been discontinued but id always had a fondness for as being Tamiya's first attempt at a racing spec touring car kit. Then after two years of collecting bits from around the world and spending about five million pounds plus the cost of a stock TA02 im ready to begin. I will be building it as per the brochure pages with the Acto Power motor, 1700SCRC battery and CPR esc/receiver.

Pic thanks to Tamiyabase;

 

[Superluminal 3750]

Next, here are the parts I have got for it.

Stock TA02 chassis from the recently released Calibra;

And these are the extras;

The parts are - in no particular order;

0005574 - A parts (black to replace red)

0005575 - B parts (black to replace red)

47393 - High Speed Gear Set

53172 - Front universal shafts

53115 - Rear universal shafts

9805901 - Hard prop shaft and drives

53218 - Hard Joint Cups Front (gear diff)

53217 - Hard Joint Cups Rear (ball diff)

9805723 - Joint collars for joint cups

53141 - Lightweight King Pins

53189 - Rear Stabilizer Set

53136 - One Piece Ball thrust bearing

53163 - On Road Tuned Spring Set

53200 - 4WD Front One Way bearing

OP-232 - One Piece Racing Spoke wheels

OP-233 - One Piece Racing Spoke wheels (wide)

53220 - Super Slick Tyres

53228 - Super Slick Tyres (Wide)

OP-209 - Shaped Tyre Insert

53230 - Wide Inner Sponge

53098 - 3x48.5 shafts

53098 - 3x33.4 shafts

9805683 - 3x25.3 shafts

9805420 - Top Force Evo ball diff parts (thevfinal piece of the puzzle, i had considered using the standard ball diff or lightweight TA03 type as they will never be seen but held off)

Optional parts that im going to fit that werent standard;

9804966 - Alloy motor mount

53596 - Aluminium Servo Stays

51000 - Hi Torque Servo Saver

53164 - Hollow Carbon Gear Shafts

9805780 - Turnbuckles

53569 - Clamp Type Wheel Hub (6mm)

RW 23T 0.6 mod steel pinion

Bearings from RC Bearings - because even though it was Specially made for Racing, it had bushes (why Tamiya, WHY??????)

Electrics;

53153 - Acto Power Touring Special Motor

55063 - Racing Pack 1700SCRC battery

Tamiya CPR160 combined ESC and receiver with a TPS-148 Servo (part of the Adspec Plus Transmitter set)

The kit never came with a bodyshell but the manual shows a R33 Nissan Skyline GTR. I think this was pinched from the manual for the Loctite GTR which was a TA02 chassis based kit that came with the one piece wheels as standard so probably saved them comissioning a new drawing just for the Racing Special.

Im quite partial to a Skyline anyway so this wasnt a bad choice, so Ive got one from Tony. Im proposing to mount the body but leave it clear to display the chassis with white painted wing and mirrors (I need to order more mirrors as I lost one)

 

[Superluminal 3750]

Steps 1 & 2;

Ive had the afternoon off work as I needed to get some stuff done on my car which meant im home early and can make a start.

The first steps are assembling the rear ball diff so straight into a couple of the option parts - the Top Force Evo style diff bodies and one piece thrust bearing.

The first thing thats apparent is how much nicer the diff parts are. The TA02 original has cast alloy parts whereas the Racing Special ones are CNC machined, are very lightweight and are beautifully finished. There is a third piece with an external spline which locates into the diff body.

These are then assembled with the arrangement of large and small disc springs over with the thrust washer in between. The single piece one is far less fiddly to assemble than the one with the separate washers and tiny balls which you have to rely on the grease holding together.

This assembly complete then needs tightening up. I absolutely cant stand ball diffs personally, no matter how many I assemble they always seem to either be a billionth of a degree of tightening between too loose or feeling rough as a badgers dirtbox. I much prefer gear/oil diffs - its totally irrelevant here though as the only time this is likely to have tarmac under it is if it falls off a removal lorry in the house clearance following my death.

Step 3 involves installing the ball diff into the gearbox chassis parts. These are black on the Racing Special not red like the standard TA02 so I think these are Topforce or Manta Ray parts. Ball bearings to replace the plastic bushes.

 

[Superluminal 3750]

Step 3:

Installing the motor into the motor mount and fitting pinion. As noted at the beginning Id decided to fit the Acto Power Touring Special motor. I found one of these for sale in Japan that was nib.

Its a really nice looking motor with a gold plated end bell with replacable brushes and adjustable timing, similar to the newer Superstock motors.

The original Racing Special kit used the same plastic moulded motor mount from the A parts runner as the standard TA02 however i had decided to use the Tamiya aluminium motor mount as a hop up.

What you might spot on this is that the two posts that fix the mount to the chassis are different. One has a groove cut around it - this turns out that the two posts are actually different lengths and therefore potentially is a right and wrong way they can be installed??? Fortunately I have built a Porsche Black Special a while ago which comes with the alloy motor mount as standard so I was able to refer to this for correct assembly.

The one with the groove is 13.3mm long and the plain one is 12.8mm long, the grooved one sitting higher up from the flat bottom of the mount. I have no idea why this would be and have used aftermarket alloy motor mounts on my TA02 runners and a Top Force before and im pretty sure the posts on these are both the same length. All i can think is that the depth of the corresponding holes in the chassis is different too. Very odd.

For the pinion I have fitted a 23 teeth steel RW Racing pinion. This is noted in the Racing Special manual as being the ratio for using the Acto Power Touring motor in combination with the 69 tooth spur gear (hole position 18 in the mount)

And assembled with the pinion. Looks very cool!

[Superluminal 3750]

Step 4;

Straightforward this one - substitute some tapping screws for m3 x 8 machine screws and a couple if washers to install the motor into the rear gearbox.

[Superluminal 3750]

Step 5;

This involves assembling the spur gear, idler gear which drives the spur onto the ball diff gear and the bevel gear onto the prop shaft. The 74 tooth spur gear supplied with the TA02 needed to be swapped out for the 69 tooth one supplied in the TA02 high speed gear set.

I also had another hop up knocking around - 53164 which is the hollow carbon shafts that the gears and their bearings run on. Probably completely and utterly pointless - the standard aluminium shafts weigh next to nothing anyway, but why not!

I also replaced the plastic and metal bushes with ball bearings. The 66 tooth and 69 tooth gears were part of the original Racing Special kit but was supplied throughout with bushes - the instructions for the High Speed gears say specify to use full ball bearings throughout.

And assembled with the e-clip holding the bevel gear onto the prop joint drive.

[Superluminal 3750]

Step 6;

Another short one, just fitting the three gears into the gear box with a couple of small blobs of grease and fitting the lid with three tapping screws.

[svenb 3759]

Lovely mate ,just missing a few titanium screw's

[Superluminal 3750]

2 minutes ago, svenb said:

Lovely mate ,just missing a few titanium screw's

I knew you would say that   

I dont think Ive got the patience now to search around for them as they seem to be proper rare. Maybe next time!

[Juhunio 6830]

8 minutes ago, svenb said:

Lovely mate ,just missing a few titanium screw's

You’re obsessed man! 😂

[Juhunio 6830]

@Superluminal excellent project….parts-based, reconstructing something long since passed being available, major sourcing involved along with insane expense…right up my alley 😂

Following 👍

[Juhunio 6830]

Also, you’re dead right….all of those ‘extras’ should have been included off the bat 

[Superluminal 3750]

Step 7;

Installing the gearbox joint cups and chassis rear damper mount.

The Racing Special uses the hop up "Hard" joints, not sure what makes them hard compared to the standard ones as they are a very similar finish but very marginally different profile on the cup end. It also has two small brass collars that fit over them. These arent in the standard kit nor were they used on the rear ball diff of my Top Force. Anyone any idea what they are for? I had to get them from Modelbau Siedel as nowhere else seemed to have them.

And fitted;

Couple of black o rings are squashed inside then the damper mount is fixed to the gearbox. Fitted the kit upper arms for now with the step screws (bleurgh) as im waiting on some turnbuckles in the post.

[Superluminal 3750]

4 minutes ago, Juhunio said:

@Superluminal excellent project….parts-based, reconstructing something long since passed being available, major sourcing involved along with insane expense…right up my alley 😂

Following 👍

Thanks dude, I dread to think how much its all come to. Just the bits i can remember off the top of my head probably come to about as much as my real car is worth. But you cant put a price on enjoyment right!

[Superluminal 3750]

Steps 8 & 9;

Building the rear arms and uprights. These use stainless steel shafts with e-clips rather than the standard TA02 steel screw pins. This is also where the 53115 universal shafts are fitted (as well as ball bearings again to replace the bushes)

I bought these fairly recently and have just noticed they already come with the brass collars for the joint cups...oh well.

The finish is a bit dull on these.

Ive also just remembered that this is the first full size wheelbase TA02 ive built. Ive built a few TA02S & SW varients before which have different rear arms.

And assembled together;

Step 9 has them being fitted to the rear gearbox assembly with another set of stainless shafts and more step screws to the upper links.

And fitted onto the gearbox;

This is where I think theres a bit of a problem or flaw? Not sure if anyone with more knowledge of the TA02 series has had this? The 53115 universals seem a bit short - they are the correct ones listed in the Racing Special manual with the correct joint cups but even with the o-ring fitted inside the drive cup the cup can potentially be slid out of the ball diff.....hmmmmmmm.

You can just make out the brass collar - I imagine if it was driven like this it wouldnt engage in the splines in the diff. Im sure ive seen before, maybe on the Top Force that these cups should be glued into the diff, now I think I can see why. I dont have this issue on my other TA02 kits using dog bones.

[svenb 3759]

2 hours ago, Juhunio said:

You’re obsessed man! 😂

Only a little bit 😳

[svenb 3759]

2 hours ago, Superluminal said:

Thanks dude, I dread to think how much its all come to. Just the bits i can remember off the top of my head probably come to about as much as my real car is worth.

What! As much as a Aston Martin?

[svenb 3759]

The finish on the early universals are dull unlike the later TL01 type

[Superluminal 3750]

Step 10;

Ive been looking forward to this one - the rear stabilizer bar. It took along time to track down this hop up part.

Inside the bag are the stabilizer bar, the ends which are held on with grub screws, some 5mm adjusters, ball screws, two aluminium stand off spacers and two pressed metal plates. These and the spacers are screwed into the rear gearbox cover with some longer screws.

And the enclosed instructions;

I added a small blob of threadlock onto the grub screws before tightening down onto the bar and also a small amount of grease into the plastic adjustors before inserting the screw that joins them together. Makes assembly much easier with less chance of damaging the adjustors.

And then screwed onto the gearbox cover using the spacers.

The one issue I can see with this is that now if you ever need to adjust the ball diff (which is normally after the first run on these) then to get the diff out you will need to completely remove the whole stabilizer bar assembly.

Thats Bag A and day 1 finished.

[Superluminal 3750]

18 minutes ago, svenb said:

The finish on the early universals are dull unlike the later TL01 type

Yeah I noticed that with the Top Force ones too, it was pretty terrible - looked like theyd come out the sea. The fronts on this with the big bearing race are a bit nicer.

[GermanTA03Guy 1320]

11 hours ago, Superluminal said:

Not sure if anyone with more knowledge of the TA02 series has had this? The 53115 universals seem a bit short - they are the correct ones listed in the Racing Special manual with the correct joint cups but even with the o-ring fitted inside the drive cup the cup can potentially be slid out of the ball diff.....

I think ive read about that (probably in context with the dogbones though) on the facebook Page of the german rc Kleinserie who race the ta02 in the porsche cup. I think i recall that they recommended the 53577 urethane bushings to be mashed between cup and driveshaft to minimize movement and prevent them falling out... or it was so that the cups dont fall out of the diff and grind their teething away..

 

But... what. A . BeautY. 

Btw here is an interesting pic of a eurocup Winner chassis (and fastest lap at the world final japan) from bitd

[jonboy1 2943]

Mate - you're stealing my thunder!! I've been doing an almost identical build! 

Only differences are wheels, I went with the lightweight alloy diff, alloy prop shaft, red gear cases and I can't find the rear stabilizer anywhere (very jealous!)  

Oh, and I went for the FRP chassis, but I could still change it back.

They are an awesome little chassis and great fun to build! Will be following this!

Oh, the little brass collars are to space the rear drives out slightly - without them the drives rub against the plastic casings.

 

[GermanTA03Guy 1320]

On 6/12/2022 at 1:03 PM, Superluminal said:

Im proposing to mount the body but leave it clear to display the chassis with white painted wing and mirrors (

That sounds like a good plan. You know what would be super cool too? If you paint and sticker EXACTLY half of the bodyshell...

[grip-wolrd 189]

Really amazing build thread; I've learned about the Racing Special and it's been a great read!

 

[Superluminal 3750]

Thanks guys,

@GermanTA03Guy that looks exactly the same as the issue Ive got, pretty sure ive got some of those pink foam things in the spares box somewhere, will put them in.

@jonboy1 Soz mate, didnt mean to Tamiyas tend to come along like busses on the build threads, although theres enough differences between them to make both worthwhile. Between us we could have probably invested in a nice property somewhere for the costs!