M-04L Chassis

[Redseven]

Anyone know much about these? 

I've just got myself a Honda S2000 on this chassis from ebay (well still waiting for it at the moment), my previous cars have all been off road buggies so fancied a change but know absolutely nothing about it!  Are these capable of running 18t motor without being hopped up or does it need usual hop ups, bearings etc? 

I presume it comes with oil filled dampers? Don't even know if it's 2wd or 4wd!!

Oh, and do they still make them.....are parts readily available?

Cheers in advance.

[dunebuggy71]

Congrats ! [] This is a very nice car. And it´s a 2WD rear wheel drive chassis.

A good idea are full ball bearings, oil filled dampers, aluminium motor mount ball diff and the stabilizer set.

I wouldn´t go for a 18 Turn motor. These cars are fast, even with a standard 540. Go for a good 23 Turn motor like the Tamiya Super Stock RZ or TZ. Works perfect in this car. I wouldn´t go over a 23 Turn motor without Hop Ups like oil dampers, ball bearings and ball diff.

Cheers

[Redseven]

Great, glad to hear it's a good chassis.

I have a sport tuned motor in my Mad Fighter with TEU101 ESC, it sounds like that will be sufficient then.

M-04L cahssis doesn't have oil shocks as standard then, does that mean it's  a fairly cheap kit to buy?

[speedsecret]

I have this cars too...but with JULIA body {small wheels like the minis}

 

handle great ,fast and very fun to drive

 

tom

[ChrisB]

Its Tamiya's main (only?) RWD chassis at the moment, but I think its one of their best - simple, but great fun, good parts availablity and very customisable thanks to the clever chassis spacer design.

The S2000 is no longer a current kit, but the M-04M based kits like the Alfa Guilia GTA and the Mazda Eunos use the same chassis without the spacer fitted. I think the BMW Z3 kit is also an M-04L kit, but may be wrong.

As others have said the chassis is very light and quite quick even with a standard silver can in there. You will need to get oil shocks and stabiliser bars are not a bad idea. I have fitted a 13T motor to a slightly modded M-04 chassis, but I suspect it will be a bit hairy to drive!!

You can widen the track on these chassis by fitting widely available TL-01 suspension arms and if you extend the wheelbase with more chassis spacers you can make a chassis that will fit most 190mm touring car shells (TT-01 / TB-01 / TL-01 shells for example), but with RWD.

I have done this to produce a RWD Lancia Stratos and a RWD Grp 5 BMW touring car, also about to start a RWD vintage '68 Camaro based on the HPI shell using the M-04 chassis.

Let us know how you get on with it.

Cheers,

Chris

[Mad Ax]

I've got an M04L BMW Z3, never driven it tho - built it for a project.  Was a real hoot to put together, more fun than some kits.  Didn't intend to run it at the time, so didn't go for ball bearings, but I'm tempted to modify it for some attempted rear-wheel drifting, so I might retrofit bearings and various other parts.

It's a very very small chassis, so expect some very nimble handling and twitchy rear-drive action []

[Redseven]

Excellent, didn't realise that the Alfa shell would fit....always wanted one of these, that will probably be my next purchase :-) Is this likley to be a straight fit or will I need to buy anything else?

[ChrisB]

Just remove the chassis spacer in front of the motor and attach the rear section directly onto the rest of the chassis and you will have an M-04M - perfect for the Alfa.

I think the main problem you will have is finding a spare body for the Alfa - to my knowledge Tamiya have never re-released a seperate bodyset sadly, and believe me I looked for a long time!

Your best bet is one of the Japanese sellers splitting a kit for parts, or buy a re-release Guilia and sell off the chassis and other spares. If looking for a body though don't forget the chromed grille, and mirrors parts sprue.

Cheers,

Chris