DF03 - Dark Impact , rebuild

[Wooders28]

Come to the point, where I think my faithful friend (?) of 15yrs, would benefit from a freshen up.

Not going to document everything, as most is found in the manual, so just the mods.

With the amount of interest in the rear diff mod, a YouTube diff build vid is on the cards, but to test the water, I've done a vid of the cooling fan I mounted, to help motor temps.

Not sure how all these YouTubers get all their vids done tbh, this was take#4, after the washing machine spin cycle, Amazon delivery, and then the Mrs coming home from the shops...🤦‍♂️

(And of course,  my voice sounds like that!?!? )

 

 

[Juggular]

To be honest, my DF-02 would have PTSD just by hearing the name "Kevin Talbot." (below is a screenshot of his video I saw today.)  DF-03 isn't in my fleet yet, but I'll keep your mod in mind! 

 

[Wooders28]

1 hour ago, Juggular said:

To be honest, my DF-02 would have PTSD just by hearing the name "Kevin Talbot." (below is a screenshot of his video I saw today.)  DF-03 isn't in my fleet yet, but I'll keep your mod in mind! 

 

Aye, he's not known for babying them...😳

If you're thinking of getting one, you'll struggle soon, as it looks to be getting phased out, there's a real struggle for parts, especially things like the slipper , even stock parts are less available.

[kontemax]

Dark Impact, a very under rated model.
The only thing I don't like in the Dark Impact is the missing of the front nose of the body.

Max

[Wooders28]

Diff mod/ upgrade rebuild :- 

 

 

[Wooders28]

Finished the rebuild, found less parts worn than I thought I would, but got a refresh anyway.

 

Drilled and tapped the plastic,  so the fan is now held in with 4 - 3mm cap screws. Needed to run the cap screws against a grinding wheel, to reduce the diameter a bit (put them in a battery drill..) so they fitted in the fan neatly.

 

With a couple of spare 3mm cap screws, and a 3mm tap laying nearby, may aswell upgrade a few....

 

Bought a new set of gears, but quite impressed how well the 15yr old gears have held out, with most of its life running 5700kv brushless and 3s.

Wear on from the hardened gear mod, on  the main slipper shaft 

 

Did find some damage on the front diff outdrives, not sure how I missed that, but doesn't look to be much wear, so can only presume, it's when it's popped a turnbuckle, and the driveshaft caught.

 

 

Ran the cables through the chassis, although, the holes too small for the servo plug. Got a bag of futaba plugs, so, cut fhe plug off,  threaded it through, shortened to size, and crimped on new pins.

Happy how it looks.

 

With all the electrics in the small chassis, and the Castle Mamba Max Pro not the smallest of escs, requiring the chassis modded, for esc fan airflow, plus the battery lead having to cross the steering and prop shaft, being neat neat was never going to happen, 

 

 

New body finished, made the scoops functional, and only one hole cut for an antenna,  as all body posts removed, and gone with velcro.

 

[kontemax]

Tamiya didn't believe too much in this model.

Max

[Wooders28]

6 hours ago, kontemax said:

Tamiya didn't believe too much in this model.

Max

It's not done too bad tbh, it was released in 2006! 

Although, never been much in the way of tamiya hop ups right enough.

[kontemax]

1 hour ago, Wooders28 said:

It's not done too bad tbh, it was released in 2006! 

Although, never been much in the way of tamiya hop ups right enough.

No carbon chassis, no steel iddle gear, no carbon shock towers.
Dark Impact was the first serious off road buggy after several years of touring models but I believe that it went out of production too early.
My 2 cents obviously.

Max

[GTodd]

I agree, Tamiya could’ve done ALOT more with that model.  They went all in on the 1/8 gas (happy about that!!)) and the TRF5XX/DB01.  

[Saito2]

Its a shame as I felt it showed promise and was a big step up from the DF02. I still maintain that the DB01, that was introduced shortly after the DF03, stole the spotlight BITD. There were threads about folks cross-shopping these buggies and the DB01 was admittedly superior, despite my love of shaft drive. 

[Wooders28]

11 hours ago, kontemax said:

No carbon chassis, no steel iddle gear, no carbon shock towers.

Aye, none from Tamiya, there where plenty of carbon parts from the likes of 3racing and KM, although I think 'five stars' where the only ones doing steel gears?

There's a carbon chassis just landed, for running a shorty, little late to the party maybe....

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/374268981438?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=kyynj5e9rco&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=Y6lJ1tpQT1q&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

What year was it out of production, 2014?