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[gt4driver 0]

Hi All, have just purchased a vintage Celica gt4 st205 (Think its a TL01) through ebay, I am pretty new to the RC world and if anyone has any tips or advice it will be gratefully taken.

The model is in excellent condition and had only been run a handfull of times by previous owner,had to replace the receiver as a channel was off not allowing drive but apart from that seems ok.

Two things would like some advice on is :

1. I got two batteries with the model and am suspect of their quality due to the age,and that it took approx 5hrs to charge each of them and one has only lasted 15mins of running (then only took 1.5hrs to recharge). What recommendations on batteries & amperages?

2. When did have a battery go down I switched off the car and controller but motor was still turning wheels,changed the battery & as soon as connected motor activated flat out (even switched off),had to manually move the arm on the model (sorry don't know what the name of component is) to centre position which stopped motor,switched everything on & it works fine now,but should motor be able to run when off?

3. Obviously the model is approx 15-16yrs old,is there any recommended upgrades that should be done to make it a reliable car?

Thanks in advance

James

[Swarm 242]

Hi James welcome to the club

Nice wheels you got off the bay.

Plenty of threads on the forum about battery's.

I am asuming your speed controller is a Mechanical one an older one as you mentioned you had to move the arm to get the car to stop.

The little arm you had to physically move was the servo you moved it and it put the speed controller into neutral ,Have you tried using the trim on your R/C tranmitter its beside the forward reverse lever on your transmitter ?.

Failing that adjust the ball cup holder on your servo arm or your speed controller either by screwing it in or out to get the desired spot then clip the ball conectors back on the servo arm and the speed controller fiddle around with it until you get that sweet spot.

Regards Stuart

[SteelRat 46]

First of all welcome to the site, you're in the right spot for any advice or help, and you'll find that everyone here is friendly and only too happy to give you any advice you're after!

On to your questions. I'd say there are two upgrades you need to look at before anything else, and they are change the speed controller (the component you referenced with the arm you had to move to stop the motor from spinning) from a mechanical one (MSC) to an electronic one (ESC). My own personal preference is the Mtroniks Viper series of ESCs as you can pick up a fully waterproof RV11 unit from ebay for about £25. The only consideration you need to consider is the "turns" that these ESCs are rated for. Essentially, the number of turns on a motor governs how fast it is (at the basic level). The lower the number of turns, the faster the motor will spin, but the less torque it will generate. A standard motor is usually 27 turns. For a TL-01 chassis, you won't want to go much lower than 23 turns because of the TL01s gearing. Given than an RV11 is rated for 11 turns, thats more than enough for the hottest motor you'd be able to stick in your Celica.

The other "Must have", and arguably the first mod you should do on any car is upgrade the standard nylon bearings in the wheels and gearbox to metal ballraced bearings. This is a cheap mod (usually £5-£10) but the difference they make is really quite staggering. Everything will run much more smoothly giving you faster speed and longer running times. It's probably worth checking that this mod hasn't been done already, simply by removing one of the wheels and having a look at the wheel hubs and the axle ends to see the bearings in the end. If they're white plastic, they're the standard nylon ones, if they're silver and metallic, they're ballraced. If the bearings are the standard, pick the car up with it switched off and just spin one of the wheels and note how long it spins. Do the same once you've done the ballrace upgrade and you'll be amazed at the difference.

Lastly your question about batteries. Chances are you'll have a NiCad battery pack. There should be a four figure number somewhere on the outside of it. Probably something like "1400". That will tell you how many milli-amp hours (mAh) the battery is capable of storing. The higher this is, the longer your car will run. NiCad batteries tend to be 1200-2000 mAh, where as Nickel Metal-Hydride (NiMh) batteries will be 3000-5000.

As for charge times, do you have any markings or identifying features on the charger? Might give us a better idea what it is.

[gt4driver 0]

Thanks for making me welcome

Am I taking it you say the RV11 unit will be ok for my model in its current form?

I will check later on the bearings, is there a standard size or do I need to measure the size? and is the gearbox bearing a straight forward job to do?

The charger is a Ansmann Racing Powerjack pro which carrys a 900ma high charging rate if thats any good! I ahve two batteries one is a Tamiya RC1400SP Racing pack ni-cd 7.2v 1400mah and the other is a Sakura 7.2v ni-cad 1700mah, should I be getting higher mah batteries or getting something similar to what I have but in nimh?

Sorry for sounding such a Novice but I will get there

I am quite technical and think I will be able to do most things when I get an understanding of how it all works

[TA-Mark 195]

Welcome to the Tamiyaclub forums James.

Bearings are a must have for any model that is run. Running on the plastic bushings will wear both the shaft and the bush and when you do decide to finally fit bearings, the shafts are a loose fit in the bearing. Search on eBay for sets for the TL01 as they make them up in package amounts for the car.

Another must have on a runner car is to throw the kit alloy 'butter soft' pinion into the nearest trash bin and replace it with a steel pinion. Robinson Racing RRP1119 if you are in the US or RW Racing 19T 0.6m if you are in the UK (check modelsport.co.uk).

The RV11 ESC is suitable for what you are currently running (I'm assuming it's the kit silvercan 540) and any motor that you would want to fit to a TL01. You are limited in what gear ratios you can fit in a TL01 and this limits you to mild motors only (27 turn to 23 turn).

I'm not going to recommend Ni-MH batteries. I have more success with 1800mAh Ni-Cd packs (or even the Tamiya RC1400SP you have now). Every one of the Ni-MH packs I've purchased has failed well before they should have. I only use Ni-Cd (for low power cars), Li-Po (for high power cars) and A123 (Li-FE) packs now.

[SteelRat 46]

Thanks for making me welcome

Am I taking it you say the RV11 unit will be ok for my model in its current form?

I will check later on the bearings, is there a standard size or do I need to measure the size? and is the gearbox bearing a straight forward job to do?

The charger is a Ansmann Racing Powerjack pro which carrys a 900ma high charging rate if thats any good! I ahve two batteries one is a Tamiya RC1400SP Racing pack ni-cd 7.2v 1400mah and the other is a Sakura 7.2v ni-cad 1700mah, should I be getting higher mah batteries or getting something similar to what I have but in nimh?

Sorry for sounding such a Novice but I will get there

I am quite technical and think I will be able to do most things when I get an understanding of how it all works

Yup the RV11 will be fine for your model. Mtroniks also do ESC's rated for other turns of motor, and the clue for the rating is in the name. You'll see "Sport Tuned 20" for motors down to 20 turns, "Eco 27" for motors down to 27 turns (which given that this is the rating for a standard "Silver Can" motor doesn't give you much scope for putting a faster motor in).. I've found that the RV11 does the job because you know it'll do pretty much any brushed motor you're ever likely to put in a car, and there's the fact that you can get them on ebay for half the price of the RRP.

As Mark said, don't worry about the bearing size or measuring up. Again, ebay will come to the rescue, search for "TL-01 bearings" and you'll get a little pack with all the ones you need for less than £10.

When it comes to batteries, Mark's preference is for NiCds, and yet I've never had any trouble with NiMhs (but I've been doing this a lot less time than he has ) - essentially when it comes to charging them, they do share one basic rule of thumb for quick charging. You want to be charging them at "1C". This basically means if you have a 1700 mAh battery, you want to be charging it at 1.7 amps. If it's a 1400 mAh battery, you'll be charging at 1.4 amps. You get the gist. I tend to run my cars to a crawl, and that usually means they've been discharged nicely before they're ready for recharge. Another thing to bear in mind, is that when you take a battery out of the car, you need to leave to cool a bit before putting it back on charge. Again, as a rule of thumb, as a minimum you want three batteries. One in the car, one cooling down, and one on charge. Ultimately, I'd say it's worth investing in a better charger. I've recently bought a Fusion Elysium LX60B Pro (these are being sold on Modelsport.co.uk for about £60). It'll charge every battery I'm ever likely to use, will also discharge and cycle batteries (particularly useful for breathing life back into batteries that won't take a full charge), but again, different people will recommend different units based on their own personal experience. Like most things, it's worth having a shop around, Google for reviews etc before taking the plunge.

Don't worry about sounding like a Novice either.. I was in your shoes a year ago!

[gt4driver 0]

Cheers for advice y'all

Ive had a quick look at the bearings tonight and yes they look like the original plastic ones ,looked them up as a TL-01 set on fleabay and was suprised to see so many in pack till I looked through the build intructions and saw that they are dotted all over the model especially as is all wheel drive.

It will actually help me a bit more how to maintain it by stripping right down to replace them all, re the pinion is this the gear which is attached to the motor?

Shopping list so far then:

1. Bearing set (ballrace)

2. Electric speed controller ie RV11

3. Some batteries

4. Steel pinion

5. Half decent charger

[SteelRat 46]

In a word, yes . The TL-01 is a superb chassis for someone getting into the hobby. You're not going to win any races with it, but for a basher it's perfect. Reliable, largely bullet proof and easy to maintain with lots of readily available spares. Stripping it down to fit the bearings is certainly a good thing from the point of view of seeing how everything fits together. While you've got the gearbox in bits, it might well be worth checking to see how the gears are for grease too, and regreasing them up if they're on the dry side.

Incidentally, where do you hail from?

[gt4driver 0]

Will update my profile ,but from Penrith in Cumbria UK

Checked Modelsport.co.uk for the 19t pinion,but are out of stock,will have to look around to see if anywhere else has one

[gt4driver 0]

Cheers for advice y'all

Ive had a quick look at the bearings tonight and yes they look like the original plastic ones ,looked them up as a TL-01 set on fleabay and was suprised to see so many in pack till I looked through the build intructions and saw that they are dotted all over the model especially as is all wheel drive.

It will actually help me a bit more how to maintain it by stripping right down to replace them all, re the pinion is this the gear which is attached to the motor?

Shopping list so far then:

1. Bearing set (ballrace) (ordered)

2. Electric speed controller ie RV11 (ebayed one)

3. Some batteries

4. Steel pinion

5. Half decent charger

Sorted some of the above anyway

[taliesin 260]

Welcome to the madness.

The small gear = pinion [the one on the motor.] The other larger one is usually referred to as the spur [but not always.]

I've got a TL-01 that came to me as a well used 2nd hand car and it has seen a lot of use since too. It really is a nice chassis - inexpensive, reliable, simple to maintain, decent hop-ups, etc.

[tbone 0]

Welcome to the madness.

The small gear = pinion [the one on the motor.] The other larger one is usually referred to as the spur [but not always.]

I've got a TL-01 that came to me as a well used 2nd hand car and it has seen a lot of use since too. It really is a nice chassis - inexpensive, reliable, simple to maintain, decent hop-ups, etc.

I outfitted mine with a mamba sidewinder and accompanying motor and it flies like stink. Ball race it, get sports tuned gear set and lightweight chassis set but they might be hard to come by now. Ditch the rear bumper to lighten the load a bit and get a brace to hold the back of the car together. I will link you to my setup when I get some picts.

Edit:

added link to my TL01 in my showroom

 http://tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=97579&sid=648