Silver can budget rally build off

[Cuiken 225]

21 hours ago, Tamiyastef said:

I like this idea as in my absence (family holiday) a package was delivered! It contains a TA03F fitted with a (non Tamiya I think) Citroën rally body. So this would be ideal for this budget build. Can't remember if it came with esc fitted or not, will have to check while unpacking. 😁

Also no idea about suspension (ground clearance, amount of travel) and tires. If both have to be upgraded this will blow the budget...

Picture below is from the seller. More will follow as I get home.

That looks totally epic! The TA03F chassis looks totally intriguing. My favurite feature of the XV01 is the front mounted motor, I reckon the TA03F will have many of the same handling characteristics with easier under/overdrive hacking options.

[Cuiken 225]

So, I have bitten on an XV01 chassis! Arrived this morning

Quite 'high miles' but comes with a load of useful hop ups, HW1060, silver can motror, a decent servo and good wheels/tyres. Also comes with a radio gear that I'll sell on. If I get a decent price for the radio then I'll have ~£40 left in my budget. I reckon I should be able to build up a set of mini CVA shocks to replace the short ones that are on it. No budget left for the long damper shock towers or sway bars though so still considering whether this is actually a good plan.

I'm a bit dissapointed in some ways (it's the obvious answer and not very exotic) but it will be a great car and, I think, I'll be able to come in under budget (just) with something quite drivable.

Body shell is a bland version of a bland car so I may de-decal and add some external paint (from the parts bin) just to give it some personality.

Looking forward to getting to work on it.

 

[alvinlwh 5894]

Can a TA02 be a rally car? If yes, then this will be my entry. Add bearings and total will be just below £150.

[TurnipJF 9192]

1 hour ago, alvinlwh said:

Can a TA02 be a rally car?

Why yes, yes it can!

And rather a good one too IMO.

Possibly not as realistic in terms of diving dynamics as a front-motor chassis, but definitely capable of getting around the course at a respectable pace. 😀

[alvinlwh 5894]

12 minutes ago, TurnipJF said:

Why yes, yes it can!

Other than using rally tyres, what else do I need to do? Not arrived yet but examination of online manual don't seem to show any possible adjustment to the ride height like the TT-02/M-05Ra. Or is the standard rude height good enough to match them? 

[TurnipJF 9192]

9 minutes ago, alvinlwh said:

Other than using rally tyres, what else do I need to do? Not arrived yet but examination of online manual don't seem to show any possible adjustment to the ride height like the TT-02/M-05Ra. Or is the standard rude height good enough to match them? 

There is a fair bit of droop available in the suspension, with the shocks being the limiting factor, so you can increase the ride height by just building longer shocks.

I am also running those Chinese knock-off rally block tyres, which are softer than the originals as well as being a few mm larger in diameter, which also gives me some extra height.

Other than that, I went for rubber sealed bearings to keep the dirt out, the Hop Up propshaft as the stock one tends to tie itself in knots under any sort of significant power, an alloy motor mount as the screw posts tend to crack off the stock plastic one, a steel pinion of course, and ballraced alloy steering as the stock setup is a bit sloppy.

During the build, I used longer screws than standard in a few places, most notably the the front two screws on the radio deck which is a recommended change according to a supplementary service sheet that comes in some kits, and I also drilled out the upper front shock mounts to 3mm and passed bolts all the way through them, mounting the shocks with collars and nuts in order to give the towers a little more reinforcement to help them survive jumps.

Oh, and I did the bolt-through mod on the rear gearbox cover, but that is a good idea on anything using that gearbox moulding and is not specific to a rally chassis.

[alvinlwh 5894]

9 minutes ago, TurnipJF said:

I am also running those Chinese knock-off rally block tyres, which are softer than the originals as well as being a few mm larger in diameter, which also gives me some extra height.

I have the same tyres from Fastrax on my TT-01(Ra) and it actually does quite well on dense short grass. 

[TurnipJF 9192]

4 minutes ago, alvinlwh said:

I have the same tyres from Fastrax on my TT-01(Ra) and it actually does quite well on dense short grass. 

Same here! What did you do to your TT-01 to rally-fy it? On mine I just changed the tires, filed a bit off the bump stops to lower the droop, fitted slightly longer shocks and made a fabric tub cover.

(I also added a few other hop ups such as alloy prop shaft, motor mount, steering, etc, but they would have gone on even had the car remained an on-roader.)

[Pylon80 2628]

Not completely off topic: where do you guys drive your rally cars? @TurnipJFyou said "jumps"? 😅 Would you hit a normal off road track along with the buggys?

[TurnipJF 9192]

7 minutes ago, Pylon80 said:

Not completely off topic: where do you guys drive your rally cars? @TurnipJFyou said "jumps"? 😅 Would you hit a normal off road track along with the buggys?

I have driven my rally-fied TT-01 on an outdoor buggy track with big concrete jumps, but the car didn't like it very much, suffering a bent axle after a less than graceful landing. The smaller plywood jumps typically found on indoor sports hall buggy tracks are no problem though - all my rally cars handle those with ease.

Most fun though are forest trails with scale terrain challenges about one-tenth the size of the things you see full-size rally cars flying over.

[alvinlwh 5894]

24 minutes ago, TurnipJF said:

Same here! What did you do to your TT-01 to rally-fy it?

This. 

Mine is the original TT-01, a 12 years old one. It is a permanent change, no longer a on roader (well possible to change back with new parts I suppose). 

It is just a fun drive, will never be as good as a proper rally car. 

[alvinlwh 5894]

13 minutes ago, Pylon80 said:

Not completely off topic: where do you guys drive your rally cars? @TurnipJFyou said "jumps"? 😅 Would you hit a normal off road track along with the buggys?

For me, it is just a regular school football field with a little sand pit. Very dense but short grass, a motor killer. 

Example below is a DT-02, but that's the place. 

Like TurnipJF, I also do a bit of foresting but TBH, it is not quite good enough. 

[Tamiyastef 1966]

9 hours ago, Cuiken said:

That looks totally epic! The TA03F chassis looks totally intriguing. My favurite feature of the XV01 is the front mounted motor, I reckon the TA03F will have many of the same handling characteristics with easier under/overdrive hacking options.

I was sold the minute I saw this on a local second hand site allthough I wasn't looking for another car. Still have the TA03R-S to build also but I'm intrigued by the front mounted motor handling caracteristics I've been reading about on here. I'd love to compare this F to the R-S same as the turbo Optima to the Mid.

[Juls1 1661]

14 hours ago, Cuiken said:

So, I have bitten on an XV01 chassis! Arrived this morning

Quite 'high miles' but comes with a load of useful hop ups, HW1060, silver can motror, a decent servo and good wheels/tyres. Also comes with a radio gear that I'll sell on. If I get a decent price for the radio then I'll have ~£40 left in my budget. I reckon I should be able to build up a set of mini CVA shocks to replace the short ones that are on it. No budget left for the long damper shock towers or sway bars though so still considering whether this is actually a good plan.

I'm a bit dissapointed in some ways (it's the obvious answer and not very exotic) but it will be a great car and, I think, I'll be able to come in under budget (just) with something quite drivable.

Body shell is a bland version of a bland car so I may de-decal and add some external paint (from the parts bin) just to give it some personality.

Looking forward to getting to work on it.

 

Glad to hear you got the most fun car of the lot! 
 

As for the shocks and tower, the super mini cva’s included in the stock kit have the longer TRF damper shafts which give them within a few mm of the travel of the mini CVA dampers. You can fit mini CVA under the stock towers by using the standard eyelet instead of the long one. you don’t need the long damper towers. 
 

the long damper towers are good if you want to go with ultra long shocks like GF01 dampers or big bore buggy dampers or front df03 alloy dampers (like stock xv02) however the xv01 is not built to accept any of those without massive grinding and cutting. Firstly the droop stops gotta go completely and then the suspension mounts up front have to be severely compromised to allow the steering to work (been using heavily ground down carbon reinforced parts no probs). Once you make these mods the sway bars are essentially mandatory. 
 

you’ll note on the xv02 the droop stops are gone, and the steering is shifted up high so it can’t foul the suspension on max droop. 
 

I don’t think you need to change a great deal on the stock xv01 to do well in your cheap rally car race. In fact less will probably be more. 

 

[Tamiyastef 1966]

As promised before more pictures 

"Issues" noticed so far: belt tensionner was completely down (hopefully just for packing and not since it was build ), battery holder is missing and replaced by two body posts, unbranded ESC, lots of suspension travel left after it bottoms out...

Pro's: I'm the proud owner of a TA03F for the first time , tires are not glued so if I can hunt down some cheap rally block tires I can use the same rims (better for keeping it in the set budget) so I can change the ESC if I can't find any info on how to program this unknown one...

Started with loosening the belt tensionner and downloading and printing a TA03F manual 

 

[Cuiken 225]

On 8/19/2022 at 1:48 PM, TurnipJF said:

Why yes, yes it can!

And rather a good one too IMO.

Possibly not as realistic in terms of diving dynamics as a front-motor chassis, but definitely capable of getting around the course at a respectable pace. 😀

Man, that is very pretty.

Here\s some great footage of a TA02 Rallying:

 

I hadn't realied the TA02 was re-released. That is a great candidate for sure.

 

[Cuiken 225]

On 8/20/2022 at 2:05 AM, Juls1 said:

Glad to hear you got the most fun car of the lot! 
 

As for the shocks and tower, the super mini cva’s included in the stock kit have the longer TRF damper shafts which give them within a few mm of the travel of the mini CVA dampers. You can fit mini CVA under the stock towers by using the standard eyelet instead of the long one. you don’t need the long damper towers. 
 

the long damper towers are good if you want to go with ultra long shocks like GF01 dampers or big bore buggy dampers or front df03 alloy dampers (like stock xv02) however the xv01 is not built to accept any of those without massive grinding and cutting. Firstly the droop stops gotta go completely and then the suspension mounts up front have to be severely compromised to allow the steering to work (been using heavily ground down carbon reinforced parts no probs). Once you make these mods the sway bars are essentially mandatory. 
 

you’ll note on the xv02 the droop stops are gone, and the steering is shifted up high so it can’t foul the suspension on max droop. 
 

I don’t think you need to change a great deal on the stock xv01 to do well in your cheap rally car race. In fact less will probably be more. 

 

This is incredibly helpful advice, thanks. 

Any tips on what springs to go for? Mine has come with stiff yeah racing ones that aren't going to work off road.

[Juls1 1661]

3 hours ago, Cuiken said:

This is incredibly helpful advice, thanks. 

Any tips on what springs to go for? Mine has come with stiff yeah racing ones that aren't going to work off road.

So you’ll want, 54221 and or 53974, I don’t remember which is harder/softer, I think the 501 set is actually softest, but for some reason that doesn’t make sense in my head. Either will be soft enough, you need a fairly firm spring up front and a very soft one out back because of the 60/40 weight split, also the angle the front shocks are at there is higher leverage on the front shocks. 

another suitable spring that’s common is 19845484 which is common rear spring on cc01, common all round on TA02T and TA01 rally cars, front of all DT buggy’s etc. it might be slightly soft on the front of the xv01 I’m not sure.  I don’t know if you’ve got one of these cars kicking about to nick one off to try, They also normally come with the 50519 mini CVA set along with a firmer spring. 
 

The standard xv01 comes with 19805826 all round to use with the super mini CVA, I notice the shock isn’t so vertical on the stock towers compared to the long damper towers, this probably allows a softer spring or the same as the rear. 

[Cuiken 225]

Brilliant, thanks. I'll take a look. I'd previously spotted that the 501 and 201 springs were a bit hard to come by right now.

Also tempted by 54465 if I can keep it all in budget.

[Pylon80 2628]

How does this XV-01 spring set 54465 compare to the rally spring set 53163 in terms of length and rate? Anybody knows?

[Juls1 1661]

2 hours ago, Cuiken said:

Brilliant, thanks. I'll take a look. I'd previously spotted that the 501 and 201 springs were a bit hard to come by right now.

Also tempted by 54465 if I can keep it all in budget.

54465 is a goer if your keeping the super mini’s. All the springs I mentioned are really for mini CVA/gf01/cc01/df03 front alloy dampers. basically all the long dampers except big bore shocks. 
 

 

[Wooders28 4722]

On 8/16/2022 at 8:00 AM, Cuiken said:

4. Do any buggies fit under a 1/10th rally shell?

If you get a frewer, yep!! 

 

https://landlmodels.co.uk/collections/frewer-racing-235mm 

There was a few to choose from bitd,

 

 

My 4.5t powered, Schumacher K1 with the Group B Rally RS200 Frewer body. Still under the £200 mark..😏

 

 

Have a boomerang RS500 in the wings...... need to decide on a colour. 

 

 

[Cuiken 225]

Not that I'm obsessive or anything but...... maybe a TA02 build on the side might be fun too? I have a hankering to build something to use with a Datsun 240Z shell.

Anyone got any thoughts on a stock TA02 vs a stock-ish TT02? I'd only be running a silver can or sport tuned so it wouldn't be getting too badly abused.

I guess the TT02 probably makes more sense (more modern, better parts support) but the TA02 was around when I was a kid and I thought it looked magic. With the TA02 Calibra kit still available I guess there's a window to own one.

 

 

[TurnipJF 9192]

3 hours ago, Cuiken said:

Anyone got any thoughts on a stock TA02 vs a stock-ish TT02? I'd only be running a silver can or sport tuned so it wouldn't be getting too badly abused.

A stock TA-02 is significantly better specced than a stock TT-02. It comes with proper oil shocks, proper metal axles and outdrives, proper metal ball connectors on the steering, adjustable steering links, etc.

There are a greater number of hopups available for the TT-02, so you can hop it up to a greater extent than the TA-02, but the TA-02 starts with a better spec out of the box.

Also, the key upgrades for the TA-02, namely bearings, a steel pinion, a metal motor mount and an upgraded propshaft are still relatively easy  to come by, as is the not strictly necessary but still nice-to-have ballraced steering rack. If you fancy a TA-02 in your fleet, now is a great time to get one!

[alvinlwh 5894]

1 hour ago, TurnipJF said:

A stock TA-02 is significantly better specced than a stock TT-02. It comes with proper oil shocks, proper metal axles and outdrives, proper metal ball connectors on the steering, adjustable steering links, etc.

There are a greater number of hopups available for the TT-02, so you can hop it up to a greater extent than the TA-02, but the TA-02 starts with a better spec out of the box.

On a budget build, the TA-02 is available in the UK for £131 (still) and the slightly higher price more than covers the cost of the hop ups required to bring a TT-02 up to equivalent standards.