MF01 Beetle Build

[OldSchoolRC1 1127]

Decided to pick myself up a winter build to keep me busy. I've had one of these in the past and thought it was a cool little platform. I ended up selling it and have regretted it ever since. Taking advantage of some holiday deals, I picked up the Beetle rally version and a few options to keep it interesting. This is my 4th Tamiya mini, and joins my pair of M06's and an M07. So now I've got all three flavors - RWD, FWD, and AWD! 

The kit and a few goodies. 

A must imo for this chassis with smaller mini tires - the TL01 speed tuned gearset. 

Picked up the optional motor plate. Not a flashy option, but I know it's in there. I'm a sucker for Tamiya Blue. Rear diff is stock, just assembled with a light touch of ceramic grease. 

Front diff was stuffed with AW grease. It's my usual setup for any AWD onroad chassis. 

I'm not sure I understand the inserts for the bearings in the front of the chassis. There must be a reason for them, but I have no idea what it is. 

Since I've built one in the past, the build is going pretty quick. I picked up the aluminum center shafts for all three wheelbases for options in the future. I added the aluminum servo mount, but forgot to get a pic before I sandwiched the chassis halves together. 

Next: Suspension. 

[OldSchoolRC1 1127]

Time for the suspension.I splurged on the Yeah racing suspension set for the MF. It shares many parts with the M06/M05 upgrade, but has a few specific parts for the MF chassis - most notably the rear camber link relocation bits. Normally, I embrace the slop, but I'm very happy with the handling of my M06 with the same kit, so I thought I'd give it a go. 

All the parts laid out. 

And due to the magic of the internet, all parts installed. 

The front parts came together perfectly. I do like the bearing mounted steering knuckles. - nice and smooth. I did make a running change and put the camber links behind the shock tower. The eliminates the need for the spacers on the upper shock mounts. 

Stock location on the left, modified on the right. 

Had this issue with my M06 as well. The rear camber links are supposed to be in the outermost holes on the hub. However, they do not allow the wheels to sit flush against the hex. Moving it to the middle hole clears the wheel, though the turnbuckle itself is a little too long leading to some questionable camber. The front is slop free, though the rear arms had a bit of play to them. I shimmed them with Tamiya .3 shims and now everything is nice and tight. 

Picked up the TT02 shock set and built them with the included springs, 2 hole pistons all around and the large internal spacers to set the ride height. I'll fine tune them later once all the electronics are installed though it feels in the ballpark right out of the gate. I picked up the carbon rear shock tower, but I seem to have misplaced it in the meantime. Whoops!! Stock part installed for now. Slapped on some wheels just to see it on all 4. Starting to look like something here! Can see the rear camber still needs to be addressed. 

[Nobbi1977 1793]

More pictures of the rear please. This kit looks like it helps with the main issue of this chassis 

[ruebiracer 1325]

On ‎12‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 4:40 PM, OldSchoolRC1 said:

I´m not sure if I understand the inserts for the bearings in the front of the chassis. There must be a reason for them, but I have no idea what it is. 

The answer is quite easy (if you ever saw an M05 ball or sealed gear diff): The adapters can be taken out to use a 1510 ball bearing with 15mm outer diameter. So you can install the newer M05 ball diff, which uses these bearings, or any aftermarket M05/M06 gear diff as Spice, 3-Racing etc.. With these, you could even setup your AWD diff stiffness in more varieties by changing the silicon oils, as these gear diffs are sealed like the one of the M07.

Fantastic build so far, real Mini love here. I have to admit owning no MF01 so far. I may have to correct this "collection gap" in the future.

Staying tuned for your next posts,

Matthias

[ruebiracer 1325]

36 minutes ago, Nobbi1977 said:

More pictures of the rear please. This kit looks like it helps with the main issue of this chassis 

Which were the camber link mounts in the rear, am I right?

 

[Nobbi1977 1793]

14 minutes ago, ruebiracer said:

Which were the camber link mounts in the rear, am I right?

 

Yes the rear Yeah racing kit. The link mounts would be good on their own if they can be bought are run like that

[dc-arena 81]

Nice thread. I got one of these for Xmas and was thinking of doing a build thread. Now I don’t need to and can enjoy yours instead

[Nobbi1977 1793]

16 minutes ago, dc-arena said:

Nice thread. I got one of these for Xmas and was thinking of doing a build thread. Now I don’t need to and can enjoy yours instead

Do one anyway, there can never be enough build threads

[dc-arena 81]

I’ve got a couple* of questions since you have one

 

- How much difference does the speed-Tuned TL01 set make? I’ve never driven an M-series so no idea what they’re like. Also, will you be swapping out the pinion for a larger one?

- What hex size do these take to replace the stock ones? 5mm?

- What model number are the Tamiya shims? Handy to know if needed!

 

Thanks dude!

[Honza 1255]

12 hours ago, dc-arena said:

- How much difference does the speed-Tuned TL01 set make? I’ve never driven an M-series so no idea what they’re like. Also, will you be swapping out the pinion for a larger one?

Speed tuned gear set changes internal ratio from 4.4 to 3.3. That means, with 19T pinion, it changes overall ratio from 7.95 to ~5.95, which is much closer to M-chassis gearing (M-04 has 6.1 with 19T pinion)

[OldSchoolRC1 1127]

On 12/27/2018 at 11:47 AM, ruebiracer said:

The answer is quite easy (if you ever saw an M05 ball or sealed gear diff): The adapters can be taken out to use a 1510 ball bearing with 15mm outer diameter. So you can install the newer M05 ball diff, which uses these bearings, or any aftermarket M05/M06 gear diff as Spice, 3-Racing etc..

Aha! Makes perfect sense, thank you. 

20 hours ago, dc-arena said:

- How much difference does the speed-Tuned TL01 set make? I’ve never driven an M-series so no idea what they’re like. Also, will you be swapping out the pinion for a larger one?

- What hex size do these take to replace the stock ones? 5mm?

- What model number are the Tamiya shims? Handy to know if needed!

 

Honza is correct. Stock final drive ratios are anywhere from 9.45 to 7.56 depending on pinion. The Speed Tuned gears bring it down to 5.95 to 4.92. Really a must if your going to have any speed with the smaller mini tires. 

I'm not sure of the hex width offhand, same as most of my other Tamiyas that use hex hubs off the parts tree. About 5-6mm. 

The shim kit was PN 53585. 

 

I will for sure post some more pics of the rear - had to do quite a bit of fine tuning back there. 

[OldSchoolRC1 1127]

Moving right along! 

The rear suspension gave me some headaches. The turnbuckle was too long, and while tightening it I screwed on the rod ends too far and warped the inside where it meets the pivot ball. So not only was the camber out of whack, the suspension movement was super stiff.  I replaced the rod ends with some Tamiya ones, and trimmed about 3mm per side off the turnbuckle. Changed the ball studs to a Tamiya brass ones as well on the hubs - not sure what was going on with the YR supplied ones, but even with the new ball cups it was still stiff. In any case, it's all sorted, set to -1 camber, and smooth as butter. 

Modified the chassis just a bit - used a Dremel to open up the recess in the chassis just a touch. The kit ESC almost fit...once I removed the little lip in the chassis the ESC dropped right in. 

Finished chassis! This was a quick build for sure. Using the kit supplied ESC and the Torque Tuned motor with a 23t pinion for now. Later plans call for a 17.5 BL motor. I'll tidy up the wiring when I swap in the new motor. Wheels and tires came from my stash of mini wheels - super grips all around. I plan on this being a street runner so the rally tires will get saved for later. 

Body time! Posing with my M06 and new Miata body. Plan to use the kit decals, though I may stray from the paint scheme somewhat.    

 

[dc-arena 81]

Looking GREAT! Are those YR rear shock mounts part of the long travel kit? They look cool. 

[OldSchoolRC1 1127]

Thank you - I assume you mean the rear camber link mounts? Yes, they are part of the long travel kit. Very nice pieces, can't wait to see how they affect handling vs. the stock configuration. 

[IBIFTKH 1374]

Enjoying the build, nice job.

Hadn't seen the Yeah Racing kit for these before and the rear camber links are a nice surprise - learning something every day

Another nice surprise is that the camber links are available separately - http://www.rcmart.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=TAMC-022BU&x=0&y=0

[Nobbi1977 1793]

2 hours ago, IBIFTKH said:

Enjoying the build, nice job.

Hadn't seen the Yeah Racing kit for these before and the rear camber links are a nice surprise - learning something every day

Another nice surprise is that the camber links are available separately - http://www.rcmart.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=TAMC-022BU&x=0&y=0

Only one review on the site 

“Product only works with Yeah-Racing long-span aluminium suspension, not with stock or M-05 suspension. Unfortunately an upper camber link will not fit between the rear upright and this new part, the gap is around 10mm or less, not sufficient for any turnbuckle / rod end. Kit ball connector quality also pretty poor.”

Mine runs longer arms so hopefully they will work

 

[Scipunk 383]

Following along as i just built this and my yeah racing kit will be here by Feb...lol 

If i run the provided wheels or a slightly taller wheel like a TC wheel do you think i will run into the same issues on the rear with the knuckle? Also do you think the TL01 gear set would benefit a off road setup using a 13.5t  motor?

I will do a build (re-build?) thread once all my parts are in. 

Thanks!

[OldSchoolRC1 1127]

A larger wheel such as a standard touring car 1.9 will clear the rear camber link no problem. No issues at all with the Jimny and Mercedes kit wheels.  I think any mini size wheel will interfere though, I don't see how it would clear when the ball stud is in the outermost hole.  It was a relatively painless fix - just a bit of filing on the ends of the turnbuckle took care of it. 

I'd highly recommend the speed tuned gears. They are relatively inexpensive and open up a larger range of gearing options. Depending on what wheels you plan on running, they might not be needed per-se, but it's always good to have options! 

Cheers!

[OldSchoolRC1 1127]

Finally got the body painted and installed. Took 7 hours total to mask, spray and decal. I was also working on an M06 body, so I'm not sure how long the bug itself took, but it was definitely time consuming. No worries, it's a great way to consume time. 

Deviated from the box art and went with my usual colors. Had just a bit of bleed through on the front right fender, though it's not super noticeable. Also had some issues with the marker and tail lights - the decals were a bit fiddly for my fat fingers. All in all though, happy with the result. 

Can't wait to get out and run this one... going to be a while though, it was a balmy 14 degrees today (F, -10C for my friends across the pond who have a measurement system that makes sense) As soon as warmer weather hits, it's test drive time! Curious to see how the YR suspension works out. 
 

[Jason1145 4688]

Another car that I think looks better than Box Art! 

[Re-Bugged 11926]

Looks bloomin' fantastic. 

[dc-arena 81]

Looks great! Really nice!

I've run mine a few times now and it desperately needs oil shocks to replace the friction ones. What did you go for? I was thinking of 50746 (x2) or 54753. I am not sure the difference between the two, really.

[Scipunk 383]

Got mine built, haven't run it with the YR and trf shocks yet but noticed the rear shocks are rather stiff. I also had the issue with the rear turnbuckles hitting the wheel but realized i used the wrong spacers...lol OS that is all set and now i have touring car size wheels (1.9) so i should no issues with clearance

Next up is the body

 

[graemevw 825]

Looks great!

Do they not give you decals for the rest of the rear light lense?

[dc-arena 81]

3 hours ago, graemevw said:

Looks great!

Do they not give you decals for the rest of the rear light lense?

They do but I am sure he/she felt the same as me when they saw them. An utter pain in the bum to apply and don’t look great when on! I tried and then peeled them off.