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SlideWRX

TamTech Lambo GT-01

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I haven't seen many Tamtech builds here, so I thought I would share.  I wasn't even sure I was going to buy this, but I wanted to do something new.  My RC's as a kid were buggies, and my current two are buggies, so this is my first on-road build.  The car was actually for sale over in Europe, but with the tumble the Euro has taken lately the price was good enough and made me give in. :)

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I contemplated a lot of upgrades I could do to this, as there are a fair bit of aluminum pieces available.  The only one I was really considering though was the Titanium screw set, as it used hex instead of crossppoint/JIS/Phillips.  It's on sale at Tamiyausa, so I might still pick it up, but I will see how the build goes with the original hardware.  I would like to do oil-filled shocks as well, but I will see how it handles to start with.

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Ooohh, I got to cut the official sticker!  It felt wrong; I can see why some are kept new-in-box. 

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This one had been in the box too long however.  The lexan body was on top, and the protective film has a fair bit of scuffing.  It does look protected still. 

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On to the Build!

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Here we go...IMG_1807_resize.jpg.9f7989530ca6bddc5eed95b8e65dec89.jpgIMG_1808_resize.jpg.ef441d2ba5115188e36453adaede3812.jpg

It seems like extra steps just to build the chassis.  At first I thought it shared a chassis with one of the GB-0X buggies, but they are all very similar but different. All of the screws are machine thread, not self tapping. Ironically I had purchased a M3 thread former for whatever my next project was going to be; I was going to use machine threads instead of self tappers right from the beginning... and all of this is M2.6, no thread formers to be found in the US.  I used some of the hex head hardware to pre-tap holes that the + head screws went into, to reduce the potential for damage to the head. 1st page done!
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Gear box assembly.  Full bearings included!  The ball diff is pre-assembled. has a slipper clutch.  I did NOT realize the motor was that small!  I guess this is my first non-540 motor really.  The kit includes a 12,14,16 & 18 tooth option for the pinion.  It is just push on, which worries me...

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Page three, merging the chassis and gearbox with the rear strut tower.  Enough for the first day.  I have a servo coming in a couple days that should fit, and a battery on the boat from China.

 

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I'm always were tempted to get one, even more when they were discontinued and on sale but didn't get one.

Thanks for sharing.

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 Assembled the rear suspension and installed it.  The axles come assembled, so puttng the bearings in and putting the right spacers in for the wheelbase.  The GT-01 also has the Porsche variant, with a lot shorter wheelbase, so there are a lot of spacers and you can flips the arms to fit the wheelbase you need.

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Looks to be ~46-47mm from the bearing face of the axle to the dogbone.  The are very similar to SW-01 axles.  Anyone got a measurement on those to see if they are the same?  The axles do come with adapters for 10mm and 12mm, but I may switch to 'normal' axles at some point.

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Next up is the steering.  You can see in the instructions, a sticker holds one of the arms on...

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That isn't the problem though.  They give you a separate instruction page for installing a third party servo.  I made sure mine fit in the space provided, but I missed one critical measurement!

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It specifically ask for a servo where the head is less than 8mm away from the side, but I didn't notice that mine was 10mm.  I tried, but it physically won't fit correctly. :( I have a replacement on the way that should show up quickly.

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You used to be able to buy a "hop up" sport tuned motor for the sw-01, or the little trike (I forget the chassis number)that came with an adapter sleeve and a metal pinion gear, might be worth checking if it fits this model?

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Yep, there is a 370 Sport Tuned that should fit without issue. I just thought a 370 was the same diameter as a 380, just shorter. :D

The 540/550 motor is ~36mm diameter

The 380 motor is ~28mm diameter

The 370/280 motor is ~24mm diameter.

Ultimately I should be able to get enough power out of something this size for my running.  There are brushless options as well.

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I was more worried about the plastic pinion gear, which I think can be changed to metal in the sw-01??

But hey ho, if it ain't broke, keep trying 

You might as well fit a 2435 brushless can, or even better, the smaller 2030 can from EZRUN,  those motors are ballistic.

Super glue the plastic pinion on and when it disintegrates, hopefully you can find a metal replacement. Lol.

You can always turn the power down by not squeezing the throttle as much. 😁😁

Who ever asks for less power??, Apart from the recipient of a punch from Chuck Norris??

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I do miss driving a GT-01. For a 2wd they handle exceptionally well on the street.  The RR layout adds magnificent realism to its behavior.  The upgrade that made the most of my car was a set of 3racing aluminum oil dampers. One of several I regret selling….

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I do have an aluminum pinion gear in the parts box which I’m pretty sure is the only momento left from ol’ Sup’s GT-01.  Photo is the pinion beside a 18t 32p for comparison.  I can’t confirm or deny it is for this chassis, but I’m 80% sure it is, as I had acquired the Tamiya pinion kit that was offered for it.  I’d be happy to send it to you if you so desire.

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2 hours ago, wolfdogstinkus said:

I was more worried about the plastic pinion gear, which I think can be changed to metal in the sw-01??

But hey ho, if it ain't broke, keep trying 

You might as well fit a 2435 brushless can, or even better, the smaller 2030 can from EZRUN,  those motors are ballistic.

Super glue the plastic pinion on and when it disintegrates, hopefully you can find a metal replacement. Lol.

You can always turn the power down by not squeezing the throttle as much. 😁😁

Who ever asks for less power??, Apart from the recipient of a punch from Chuck Norris??

I haven't driven it yet; I think the superglue idea is great, as I wouldn't want to transfer that plastic pinion to something more powerful.

 

1 hour ago, SupraChrgd82 said:

I do miss driving a GT-01. For a 2wd they handle exceptionally well on the street.  The RR layout adds magnificent realism to its behavior.  The upgrade that made the most of my car was a set of 3racing aluminum oil dampers. One of several I regret selling….

1597FF71-BDB4-480E-B2F2-EAB7714E3B2A.jpeg
 

I do have an aluminum pinion gear in the parts box which I’m pretty sure is the only momento left from ol’ Sup’s GT-01.  Photo is the pinion beside a 18t 32p for comparison.  I can’t confirm or deny it is for this chassis, but I’m 80% sure it is, as I had acquired the Tamiya pinion kit that was offered for it.  I’d be happy to send it to you if you so desire.

I will keep that in mind - thank you.

As I was assembling the stock shocks friction free spring guides,  I started thinking about some dampers. :D

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While I wait for my servo, I am putting more together and I'll come back to that.
As for that "Full Bearings"... That is not entirely accurate. :(  The rocker arms for the front suspension still include 4 '850' bushings.  I used up the last 4 bearings I had left over from other projects and was able to maintain full bearing content in the build.  Anyway, a couple pages later and I had most of the front suspension installed.

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The "shocks" and other control arms have been pretty easy with a set of pliers with plastic inserts to eliminate scratching.

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It's been a busy non-rc week.  wife had strep throat, so I was doing a lot of kid handling duties, and ultimately didn't get much time on the kit.

I did get my new servo, and it fits! The spline is different, from the same company, but whatever.  The kit comes with a futaba adapter that fit the top one perfectly, and another one that I press fit onto the new servo. Steering done.  The servo is only attached by tape holding it to the top plate. I would worry that it isn't strong enough, but I can steer whole range of steering without actually moving the servo gear - the servo saver 'saves'. so things are a bit soft here.

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The chassis is 'done'. gotta install electronics and do the body.

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Now what to do with an extra $10 servo... create some $200 project that won't get finished? :D

 

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Looking forward to see it with a body! Take care of these tires, I don't know how easy they will be to replace if they dry out 😐

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Depending how much I run this, I will switch to M-chassis wheels & tires to run it long term.  It has 12mm hex adapters on the sprue.

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I had to do a little re-wiring to adapt the motor to my esc. I shortened the extra long leads and used some crimp on tamiya connectors to adapt to my esc.  The wires that are attached to the stock motor are so tiny, I had to bend them over a bit for the crimp to actually catch on something and hold them in place.  I soldered them as well just in case. 

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The TBLE-02S is probably overpowered for anything I will end up doing to this chassis, but it is left over from another project and available!  It is a little big; it is almost in the way of the power switch location.
I am waiting for my battery from China.  I *think* it is in the US now...  tracking is kinda a mystery at this point.

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I fit the shell over everything just to see what kind of clearance I have.  @DeeMiller has a post in his showroom where he made an interior for this, and at some point I hope to take the time to do something similar.

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Here are some random thoughts from the build so far:
With some 5x12mm bearings the M-chassis freewheel axles fit right on these, if you want to run normal 12mm hex attachments.  That means normal drive cups should work too.  The dogbone head on the diff side is ~4.9mm, compared to ~5.7 on my DT-03.  Does anything else use that size?

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The wheels normally attach with a 2.6x20mm socket head hex, in black.  It kinda sticks out because the 1:1 doesn't have this.  I tried tracking down some 2.6x20mm silver head hex screws, but I couldn't find any, even overseas.  I grabbed some black button head hex screws and sanded off the black coating.  A fair bit better in my opinion.

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The chassis uses a grub screw on each side to set the ride height - something my buggies don't deal with. :D It seems so weird to be giving up all that suspension travel!

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The 12mm hex adapters that come with the kit, still on the sprue.

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Argh.

The battery tray is small - designed for a 2/3A 6 cell pack.  Maximum width is ~34mm.  I had searched around and decided on a pair of 14500Li-ion batteries to be the pack.  Their dimensions are 14x500 (hence the name), so two would be 28mm wide and fit. At the time I could only find ones in China.  One said November delivery, the others said January.  So I bit on the November one.  I ordered, and the tracking estimated January.:angry: So much for that.  Then, they showed up yesterday... :rolleyes: I opened them up, and they are 18650 batteries, not 14500.  18650 are 18mm wide, two side by side are 36mm+:angry:  So it won't fit in the car.  I feel like I have to start screen-shotting my orders from there to make sure what I ordered and what I get are the same.  I *could* have screwed up; I was looking for 14500, but a lot of 18650 would show up and I was trying to specifically avoid those listings, but maybe I missed it...

I had originally gone for Li-ion since I was having trouble finding the right NiMH size for the car.  Any Tamiya parts were out of stock, didn't actually say what size the cells were, and also only 500mAh, when the Li-ion were 1200mAh(or rather maybe 800? I don't know...).  I figured out the battery size a couple days after I ordered from China.  Turns out they are available 'locally', and up to ~1500mAh.

I have now found both locally; The question is which style do I get?

Edit: The actual 14500 seem to be 700-800 mAh.  I could technically wire two packs together for a 2P,2S ~1500mAh.  Kinda irritated right now.

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Great thread mate - I’m a really big fan of the tam tech series and have managed to pick up three of them nib - have built the gto ferrari and the porsche 935 - and have a lambo awaiting assembly.

They have a really interesting chassis - and the suspension layout seems to have been copied across a little bit (the pivot points at least!) on the new td2/4 chassis. They really are a great build, and screw together really nicely (I enjoyed the builds as much as with the XV-01, which again, I think is a really nice kit to build - more so than my recent Avante build!). 
 

To your question - and if it helps - I ordered these from modelsport in the uk - plus a tamiya standard to tamiya small battery adaptor - and it fits perfectly (I should also swap the actual connector over for a neater fit):

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/product/overlander-nimh-battery-pack-2-3-af-1600mah-7.2v-mini-tamiya-384284
 

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/product/overlander-battery-connector-adapter-tamiya-to-mini-tamiya-386169
 

Now. Importantly. What colour are you going to go for???!!!!

Pics of mine to follow - and while I can see a bit of it from your pics -  I’d be hugely grateful for a bit of favour…

I’ve got the manuals for the gto and porsche but there wasn‘t one included in my countache kit. Is there any way you could send me some pics of it - I’m pretty sure the chassis is the same (although it would be nice to know for sure!) but I’m not sure how the body set mounts - and it’d be good to check if  I do actually have all of the parts!) I can't find this manual on line or for sale anywhere - so would be hugely grateful for some pictures. Happy to send you my phone no. by pm if easier for whatsapp etc.

 

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Porsche rear bumper assembly is stunning. I added line tape to the bonnet/hood and doors after these pics. 

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23 hours ago, SlideWRX said:

Argh.

The battery tray is small - designed for a 2/3A 6 cell pack.  Maximum width is ~34mm.  I had searched around and decided on a pair of 14500Li-ion batteries to be the pack.  Their dimensions are 14x500 (hence the name), so two would be 28mm wide and fit. At the time I could only find ones in China.  One said November delivery, the others said January.  So I bit on the November one.  I ordered, and the tracking estimated January.:angry: So much for that.  Then, they showed up yesterday... :rolleyes: I opened them up, and they are 18650 batteries, not 14500.  18650 are 18mm wide, two side by side are 36mm+:angry:  So it won't fit in the car.  I feel like I have to start screen-shotting my orders from there to make sure what I ordered and what I get are the same.  I *could* have screwed up; I was looking for 14500, but a lot of 18650 would show up and I was trying to specifically avoid those listings, but maybe I missed it...

I had originally gone for Li-ion since I was having trouble finding the right NiMH size for the car.  Any Tamiya parts were out of stock, didn't actually say what size the cells were, and also only 500mAh, when the Li-ion were 1200mAh(or rather maybe 800? I don't know...).  I figured out the battery size a couple days after I ordered from China.  Turns out they are available 'locally', and up to ~1500mAh.

I have now found both locally; The question is which style do I get?

Edit: The actual 14500 seem to be 700-800 mAh.  I could technically wire two packs together for a 2P,2S ~1500mAh.  Kinda irritated right now.

One solution if you are comfortable with soldering would be to build your own NiMh battery pack. The cells are very easy to find. Since the original TamTech pack has cells side by side rather than butt soldered it would be a really easy job. Just a though 👍

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