Pics of my finished M05 Mazda2

[Kingfisher]

My intentions are to use this for the FWD category in the speed run challenge that @Jason1145 has going on. Eventually, I'll tone it down to a parking lot basher. It's setup to run 3S, though I have only tested with Nimh so far. On the body, I made an attempt at masking some of the lower area's of the body to paint black that didn't come out as planned, which explains some of the jagged edges.

 

Everything it has:

• Bearings
• Futaba S3003 servo
• M05 V2 conversion. 
• YR ball bearing steering.
• YR carbon battery holder.
• 3Racing aluminum oil shocks
• Tamiya soft touring car front springs
• YR medium rear springs
• GoolRC 4370kV brushless motor and ESC
• 3Racing high speed gear set which gives 33/21 gearing, I think. 
• Tamiya FRP damper stay front & rear
• M-05 / M-06 smooth freewheel axle set, shimmed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ronnyhotdog]

Very sleek. May I ask why you haven't trimmed the mounting posts? I've noticed it several times on these small cars and wondered why it was a thing.

[Kingfisher]

1 minute ago, Ronnyhotdog said:

Very sleek. May I ask why you haven't trimmed the mounting posts? I've noticed it several times on these small cars and wondered why it was a thing.

Just haven't gotten to that yet. I've spent so much time doing the stickers on the body, that I am considering not using this body for the speed run challenge. On my RWD speed run car, I wrecked the body driving it backwards into my 1:1 truck tire at 60-ish mph when I lost control and forgot the truck was there. TamiyaUSA has the Alfa Mito bodies, and I was thinking about using that body for the speed run challenge. Once I decide on the speed run body, I plan to trim the posts. 

[Juggular]

7 hours ago, Ronnyhotdog said:

Very sleek. May I ask why you haven't trimmed the mounting posts? I've noticed it several times on these small cars and wondered why it was a thing.

Lol, reading Ronny's comment, I realized that my Gravel Hound has untrimmed posts. Unlike Kingfisher, I don't plan to have another body mounted. I had simply forgotten all about it. Strange how such things could be forgotten.   

I trimmed them just now. Thank you, both of you.  Very nice Mazda, Kingfisher.  

[Percymon]

7 hours ago, Kingfisher said:

Just haven't gotten to that yet. I've spent so much time doing the stickers on the body, that I am considering not using this body for the speed run challenge. On my RWD speed run car, I wrecked the body driving it backwards into my 1:1 truck tire at 60-ish mph when I lost control and forgot the truck was there. TamiyaUSA has the Alfa Mito bodies, and I was thinking about using that body for the speed run challenge. Once I decide on the speed run body, I plan to trim the posts. 

 

MX5 / Miata body might be a little more aerodynamic for a speed run ?  They tend to be the cheaper of the Tamiya bodies too.

 

Or look at RCMArt - they have some sleek racing bodies for M class

http://www.rcmart.com/210mm-xpa133-lexan-body-mini-p-75715.html?cPath=438_874

http://www.rcmart.com/ride-27025-mchassos-subaru-race-concept-body-parts-p-36597.html?cPath=438_874

 

[Jason1145]

49 minutes ago, Percymon said:

 

MX5 / Miata body might be a little more aerodynamic for a speed run ?  They tend to be the cheaper of the Tamiya bodies too.

 

Or look at RCMArt - they have some sleek racing bodies for M class

http://www.rcmart.com/210mm-xpa133-lexan-body-mini-p-75715.html?cPath=438_874

http://www.rcmart.com/ride-27025-mchassos-subaru-race-concept-body-parts-p-36597.html?cPath=438_874

 

Percy please stop helping him achieve a better top speed, I think I will struggle to match this weapon as it is!

Thst is a very tasty looking M05, my sort of car, love the Yeah Racing carbon battery holder too, must see if there is one for the M03 now!

You can leave the posts they might save some Bodyshell scraping if it ends up on its roof, and I’m not so secretly hoping it might slow it down when upright from the extra drag muuaaahhhh!

[Kingfisher]

1 hour ago, Percymon said:

 

MX5 / Miata body might be a little more aerodynamic for a speed run ?  They tend to be the cheaper of the Tamiya bodies too.

 

Or look at RCMArt - they have some sleek racing bodies for M class

http://www.rcmart.com/210mm-xpa133-lexan-body-mini-p-75715.html?cPath=438_874

http://www.rcmart.com/ride-27025-mchassos-subaru-race-concept-body-parts-p-36597.html?cPath=438_874

 

Thanks. I have the MX5 body for my M06. The MX5 body is for the Medium wheelbase. The Mazda2 and Mito are for the Long wheelbase, which this one is built on. I'll have a look at those RCmart bodies, but the downside with ordering from RCMart is that it takes a minimum of 5 years for shipping. 

 

31 minutes ago, Jason1145 said:

Percy please stop helping him achieve a better top speed, I think I will struggle to match this weapon as it is!

Thst is a very tasty looking M05, my sort of car, love the Yeah Racing carbon battery holder too, must see if there is one for the M03 now!

You can leave the posts they might save some Bodyshell scraping if it ends up on its roof, and I’m not so secretly hoping it might slow it down when upright from the extra drag muuaaahhhh!

Thanks! I really thought you already had the carbon battery holder on one of your M-chassis cars. I got the idea from someone on here, and thought it was one of your cars.

[78Triumph]

Nice job!  I'm still new to the M-05 chassis, what is the M05 V2 conversion you speak of?

[Jason1145]

1 hour ago, Kingfisher said:

Thanks! I really thought you already had the carbon battery holder on one of your M-chassis cars. I got the idea from someone on here, and thought it was one of your cars.

I only have the boring lookingTamiya quick release battery holder, that Yeah Racing one has some nice blue bling on it!

I just spotted you have the 45a esc on there, they also make a 60a and 120a version of that esc which I thought would be safer for a 3s speed run... but the 45a esc might be fine too?

[Kingfisher]

1 hour ago, 78Triumph said:

Nice job!  I'm still new to the M-05 chassis, what is the M05 V2 conversion you speak of?

Lighter 1 piece suspension arms with droop adjustment.

Lighter hollow shafts for the gears instead of the heavy solid ones.

Square space for Lipo's instead of the Nimh shaped battery hole.

 

More info on M05 and V2 setup here:

http://www.thercracer.com/2017/07/tamiya-m05-v2-guide-mods-tuning-and.html

[Juls1]

Very cool, I have a mazda 2 body I’m yet to paint up. You could just buy a second mazda body and box art it for the speed run. 

 

[78Triumph]

57 minutes ago, Kingfisher said:

Lighter 1 piece suspension arms with droop adjustment.

Lighter hollow shafts for the gears instead of the heavy solid ones.

Square space for Lipo's instead of the Nimh shaped battery hole.

 

More info on M05 and V2 setup here:

http://www.thercracer.com/2017/07/tamiya-m05-v2-guide-mods-tuning-and.html

Oh I might have to get that for my M-05 when I get around to building it.  The lipo battery square space sounds like its worth it alone. Thank for the info!

[GooneyBird]

4 minutes ago, 78Triumph said:

Oh I might have to get that for my M-05 when I get around to building it.  The lipo battery square space sounds like its worth it alone. Thank for the info!

It also moves the motor more inline behind the rear axle (don't forget that extra spacer!) for better balance.

[Kingfisher]

1 hour ago, 78Triumph said:

Oh I might have to get that for my M-05 when I get around to building it.  The lipo battery square space sounds like its worth it alone. Thank for the info!

I didn't even know there was a V2 when I got my M-05. It wasn't until after I got the M-05 that I then heard about the V2 and found the setup article that I linked to above. There's a bunch of good info in there.

1 hour ago, GooneyBird said:

It also moves the motor more inline behind the rear axle (don't forget that extra spacer!) for better balance.

Thanks. Forgot about that.

[GooneyBird]

20 minutes ago, Kingfisher said:

I didn't even know there was a V2 when I got my M-05. It wasn't until after I got the M-05 that I then heard about the V2 and found the setup article that I linked to above. There's a bunch of good info in there.

Thanks. Forgot about that.

No worries. I've found that makes the greatest handling difference of all.

Also, I meant the front axle, but I'm a wee bit slow sometimes and I'm stuck at work stealth-posting this at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, so yeah...

[Kingfisher]

12 minutes ago, GooneyBird said:

No worries. I've found that makes the greatest handling difference of all.

Also, I meant the front axle, but I'm a wee bit slow sometimes and I'm stuck at work stealth-posting this at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, so yeah...

I didn't even realize you said rear. I just knew what you were talking about, lol.

Also stealth-posting at 10AM.

Speaking of axle, that reminds me that I forgot to list something I put on the car. I've got the smooth freewheel axle set installed as well. Updated.

[Kingfisher]

13 hours ago, Jason1145 said:

 

I just spotted you have the 45a esc on there, they also make a 60a and 120a version of that esc which I thought would be safer for a 3s speed run... but the 45a esc might be fine too?

I just now realized that I missed you said this. I do apologize as I wasn't ignoring your comment. I did not know they had a 60 and 120 version, but I have the same 45A esc in my Celica. I think.... Now I need to look. I'm not so sure now, lol. Any reason to buy new parts is a good reason. 

[MICHAELs TopForce17]

Awesome m05 Mazda 2!

[Kingfisher]

I finally took it out for some speed run shake down passes. Just wanted to see how it was going to go and ran it on 2S, though it's capable of 3S. If I really ease into the trigger, it runs great. If I actually go more than half trigger, the front wheels start slapping back and forth like they're trying to rip themselves from the car and leave the chassis behind. They really fight against the servo at full power. I thought I cleared up a lot of steering slop by installing the aluminum steering rack, but that's not the case. Should I start shimming everything in the front end for really tight tolerances, or go with metal hubs and knuckles next? Anyone who's ever put a bit of power through a FWD Tamiya, what did you do to keep it stable?

[speedy_w_beans]

Can you duplicate the problem on the bench with the car on a stand?  Are the tires balanced?  They should run with no vibration at any speed, at any minor steering angle.  Try both the front set and the rear set up front; they should all spin with no vibration.

The other thing I've noticed is that foam tires don't behave as progressively as rubber tires -- they tend to grip and then let go abruptly instead of flexing and conforming to the driven path.  I can't help wonder if the foam tires themselves are extra sensitive to the front toe setting and are chattering.  You're probably thinking foams are less likely to fail at speed than rubber; that's likely true, but the grip characteristics are different between them.

Also, that servo saver looks a little suspicious to me.  In my M05 I don't use a servo saver; I just use the smallest horn directly.  That reduces the steering throw, eliminates some more slop, and gives the servo some additional leverage over the steering rack.

 

[Kingfisher]

11 hours ago, speedy_w_beans said:

Can you duplicate the problem on the bench with the car on a stand?  Are the tires balanced?  They should run with no vibration at any speed, at any minor steering angle.  Try both the front set and the rear set up front; they should all spin with no vibration.

The other thing I've noticed is that foam tires don't behave as progressively as rubber tires -- they tend to grip and then let go abruptly instead of flexing and conforming to the driven path.  I can't help wonder if the foam tires themselves are extra sensitive to the front toe setting and are chattering.  You're probably thinking foams are less likely to fail at speed than rubber; that's likely true, but the grip characteristics are different between them.

Also, that servo saver looks a little suspicious to me.  In my M05 I don't use a servo saver; I just use the smallest horn directly.  That reduces the steering throw, eliminates some more slop, and gives the servo some additional leverage over the steering rack.

 

Nope. As soon as I take the load off, everything spins fine and smooth. I don't know if the tires are balanced, but they're brand new. This was the first time I have ran them.  Thanks for mentioning the tires and the servo saver. I'll run a horn directly and try different tires and see if I get any improvement. 

[speedy_w_beans]

Two more things to think about.

I replaced the plastic upper suspension links with ball connectors, adjusters, and M3x12 or M3x16 grub screws.  There is nearly zero play rocking the uprights in and out.

Also, are your front shocks nearly vertical?  The position of the mounting holes in the lower suspension arms are such that you actually want some angle to the shocks so the spring rate gets progressively higher.  With the shocks nearly vertical, the spring rate actually gets progressively softer as the suspension compresses - that's possibly not as stable a setup.

On a normal touring car the mounting hole for the damper is in line with the lower suspension arm.  On the M05, the lower front arms have the mounting holes elevated introducing an angle to their movement inherently.

[Kingfisher]

Thanks. Last night I turned the car on so that the servo would hold its position. I grabbed both wheels and slowly tried to turn them left to right, sort of like what I was seeing when it was under power. The servo saver is definitely flexing open and closed quit a lot. So, I think the power of the motor is fighting the servo saver. The only horn that I have that can attach directly to the servo is too long. It comes in contact with the sides of the chassis. I'm going to find a shorter servo horn and go forward from there.

[speedy_w_beans]

If that's a new S3003 servo, did it come with a bag of black plastic horns?  I used a small circular plastic horn which was probably half the size of the servo saver arm.  It worked pretty well.

[Kingfisher]

24 minutes ago, speedy_w_beans said:

If that's a new S3003 servo, did it come with a bag of black plastic horns?  I used a small circular plastic horn which was probably half the size of the servo saver arm.  It worked pretty well.

Yeah, I looked for those extra parts and cannot remember where I put them at all, though I know I kept them. I'll look some more tonight. If I cannot find them, i'll just get another S3003 as I need one anyways for an upcoming RM-01 build that my girlfriend will be doing.