M04RR XL project

[OldSchoolRC1 984]

Cruising around on Shapeways, I found an interesting little conversion. It was an M04 rear motor conversion. After a little more digging, I found an "XL" version which stretched it out to 257mm (standard touring size) Using TL01 bits, it could be a rear motor 190mm touring car...interesting. Since I had a full option M04 on the shelf collecting dust and a TL01 long arm suspension on another shelf, I thought this might be a fun project. 

So initially, I had stretched the M04 out to a mid motor 257 car with some homemade chassis extensions. I dug out the LA parts and they pretty much bolted right on...sorta

The rear bolted right up, even the TL01 swaybars transferred right over. Mixing and matching Tamiya parts is so much fun. 

The front parts also dropped right on, though the steering knuckle was way too short and bound up against the swaybar. I tried out a few and found that an old  TB02 knuckle fit perfect and was long enough to not hit the swaybar. 

The rear motor conversion flips the rear clip around, and bolts to the chassis using the 4 rear bumper holes. Pretty slick idea. There's no provision for the swaybar though, and I had to improvise. I glued some CR01 spacers on to keep it centered vertically, and put a small piece of foam in between to keep it from moving laterally. Works like a charm. 

Bolted up and ready to go!

Finished chassis....low and narrow! Vintage wheels and tires - the fat rear tires should help with grip out back. I had to swap the rear hubs side to side to get some toe-in in the rear. It's only a degree or so, I'll be keeping an eye out for some hubs with more toe built in. 

Stock silvercan (out of little brother M06) until I get the suspension sorted out. Found a 21t pinion as well, so bumped up the gearing from a 19t and dropped in a TL01 speed tuned gear set. Also picked up some 3000mah lipos that fit in the chassis (has the old round style battery opening) 

Love how low the entire chassis is..Tamiya's low profile bodies should have no trouble dropping on.

I took it for a test run in the driveway and compared to the mid motor set-up it's much more planted, both on braking and acceleration. It drives like a big M06 which is a good thing! Much different from my TT02 and other touring cars. It's a bit edgy, but that's what makes it fun!

So now it's time for a little body work! Picked up the Tamiya Capri body and went to work. 

Found out it's  a 251mm body...whoops! Just lined up the front wheels and I recut the rear wheel wells a little further back - since the sides are flat, it worked out ok. I also had to swap over to TG10 axles front and rear to get the wheels pushed out enough...this body is very wide! 

Laid down some of my "team colors" and started with decals, rear wing, etc..

And done! Rear wing took about an hour to get right. Holy cow! 

Anyway, kinda went with my own scheme using the Jager decals and "team colors". I forgot to paint the grill black, sometimes reading the instructions comes in handy!

I don't have any track pics, per-se, but this car is a blast to drive. It suffers in the tight areas as braking is only RWD, but on long sweeping turns it just plants the rear and takes off. I could add some stickier rear tires but frankly I love the look overall and I'll deal with it. 

 

[GreatDane 70]

Now, thats a very nice car. Great project.

[ThunderDragonCy 7886]

Very cool

[Tizer 606]

Awesome! I spotted your project on RC Tech a while ago. Thanks for buying one of my designs Did you have a look at the wide front shocktower yet? I've posted it on my shop some time ago. I think it will improve the handling even more. I'm also working on a mirrored gearbox to get the motor to run the right way again. 

@VagabondStarJXF makes a set of bodyposts for the M04 (at least for the front at the moment) that will line up perfectly with the original Tamiya TA01/2/3/4 and TT01/2 holes in bodies. This might also be a nice addition for you for the future.

Can't wait to drive my own M04RR-XL!

[svenb 3778]

I extended a M04 with an extra spacer and TL01 suspension which gave me a wheelbase of 251mm. I tried a long arm suspension set but couldn't get it to work right😐.

What about masking and spraying the grill from the outside using ps5? it would give you the correct satin affect finish!?

Capri👍 

[OldSchoolRC1 984]

Thank you for the kind words! Just digging into my Tamiya's, got some more fun stuff coming. 

@Tizer Good stuff, thanks for the info! 

@svenb I thought about it, but my painting skills are not the best.  Very happy with it for now. 

 

 

[Juls1 1661]

If you think about you just made a RR02 chassis. The FF02 is just a m03, longer spacer with TL-01 parts. You probably could have just used a ff02 spacer on the m04 maybe??

very cool anyway!

[TwistedxSlayer 1290]

That is very cool

[GooneyBird 938]

On 1-12-2017 at 11:41 AM, Juls1 said:

If you think about you just made a RR02 chassis. The FF02 is just a m03, longer spacer with TL-01 parts. You probably could have just used a ff02 spacer on the m04 maybe??

very cool anyway!

I tried this, actually. The spacer won't fit the M04.

However, I have seen people who have flipped the M03 around to have a RWD M03. But it still has an incredibly high CoG if you do that, so the gain is minimal. Doing up an M04 like this seems to be the way forward.

[Juls1 1661]

Maybe someone will 3d print a spacer for the m06. The tl01 arms will fit that too. 

[Tizer 606]

If you take the M06L, you can already use some of the shorter wheelbase bodies like the Porsche GT2  

[Juls1 1661]

Hmm ok, that sounds like a project I’m interested in!