FF03 4GR with Peugeot 306 Maxi shell - Custom 4 Gear Transmission Rally Car

[ThunderDragonCy 8940]

EDIT - This started out as a thread about a chassis for my gorgeous 306 Maxi shell. It was originally going to be a TL01, but then I managed to pick up an FF03. Scroll down for FF03 stuff. This turned into developing a 4 gear transmission for the FF03, and it became 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Recently a shop in the UK did a repro of my all time favourite on road body, the 306 Maxi. I got one and was going to drop it on my TA06 racer for occasional running, but it's too narrow. The shell is just 186mm wide, so i needed an old school chassis to put underneath. I didn't really want an FF02, and they aren't around anyway. Building from an M03 seemed like a mission so i kept an eye out for some basic 4WD chassis, and this nice TL01 popped up for a great price

I think it gas been a shelf queen or a very very light runner as its immaculate. I'll soon change that! Looks to have a xouple of nice hop ups like camber link upper arms. The Carson shocks i am not so sure, so i am selling them. Thry are shortened with spacers inside to 50mm, but the springs have loads of preload and the damping is stiff. I also want a little more ground clearanxe as befits a rally car. 

I pulled the spacers out of one shock to make it 55mm and this is a better basis for what i want, but they are still too stiff so i'll sell them and get something else. 

I have some 2 deg toe in rear uprights from trying them on my Comical Hornet (they make wheelies really squirrely!), some TB01/TG10 front c hubs with caster. There is a high speed gearset and 39mm yeah racing universals for the front on their way from rcmart, and i have an idea for tuning the diffs.

The shell drops over the chassia nicely and i have the paint so i'll show that too. It's not boxart because i don't think i am good enough to paint the blue stripes, but it will have some blue bits. 

More soon..... 

[Seanster43 230]

Looks immaculate, a decent purchase! 

[Balgaroth 23]

That's going to be a nice TL01 ! I will keep an eye on this maybe some extra inspiration for my undead rwd TL01 😂

[TwistedxSlayer 1311]

Yeah following this.

[Kevin_Mc 411]

I’ve been looking forward to this since you first teased us with the mention of the 306 shell 

[Juls1 1730]

Plenty of scope for upgrades, look forward to seeing where you take it.
 

Remember that the yeah racing GF01 long arm kit from yeah racing drops straight on. 

lots of gf01 hopups fit. I believe the shock towers for m03 from fiber lite may fit, these help stop the chassis spreading letting dirt into the gearbox. Or you can use the Tamiya gf01 alloy braces. Tamiya did make a brace that went on with TL01LA sway bars. 

[ThunderDragonCy 8940]

5 hours ago, Juls1 said:

Plenty of scope for upgrades, look forward to seeing where you take it.
 

Remember that the yeah racing GF01 long arm kit from yeah racing drops straight on. 

lots of gf01 hopups fit. I believe the shock towers for m03 from fiber lite may fit, these help stop the chassis spreading letting dirt into the gearbox. Or you can use the Tamiya gf01 alloy braces. Tamiya did make a brace that went on with TL01LA sway bars. 

Thanks for the tips. I am going to keep the stock arms for now because i already had hopup parts in my spares box, so i would like to see how it runs as is. Also, i know that in theory the long arm kits don't widen the chassis, but this shell is really narrow. It barely goes over this setup, although i haven't check if the wheels have any offset or if it has thick hexes. The main aim is for something to carry the 306 shell which will run nicely in the street. 

I'll have a look at those towers/stiffeners. I spotted them on thercracer.com when i was thinking about making an FF02 out of an M03. 

[Futura 199]

I like this! The days of the 2wd kit cars giving the big boys a scare on tarmac rallies were great.

 

Edited October 19, 2019 by Futura
Made no sense with a word edited out.

[ThunderDragonCy 8940]

Masked the shell. Decided to go boxart-ish. The repro decals don't come with the blue stripes so i have to paint them.

Just put the first coat of blue on and it hasn't gone well so good job it's a runner! Hopefully it will improve with a couple more coats.... 

[Juls1 1730]

Argh I hate masking for paint jobs, especially if the stickers are not going to cover the join.. 

[ThunderDragonCy 8940]

7 hours ago, Juls1 said:

Argh I hate masking for paint jobs, especially if the stickers are not going to cover the join.. 

I don't mind the masking so much, but this this trans blue paint is complete mess. Hoping the stickers cover most of it. 

[ThunderDragonCy 8940]

Pulled the chassis apart between paint coats. 

It is all looking very good as it's full bearings and again, looks like little or no use. I'll leave it bits until my hop ups arrive as there is a high speed gearset to go in and i need to try and lock up the front diff somehow. I have an idea but never tried it before so we will see. 

Sorted the plan on shocks too. Going to transfer the 55mm CVAs off the TA06 which have red orings and TRF pistons. Ordered some Yeah Racing shocks for the TA06. I have both tamiya spring sets to play with so hopefully handling won't be a problem to sort. 

[TwistedxSlayer 1311]

Gonna go for the carbon hollow shafts?

[svenb 4594]

9 minutes ago, TwistedxSlayer said:

Gonna go for the carbon hollow shafts?

If your going that far then definitely need titanium screws, lightweight chassis and carbon prop 😅

[svenb 4594]

If you want to lock the front diff just pack it with blu-tac 👍

[ThunderDragonCy 8940]

29 minutes ago, TwistedxSlayer said:

Gonna go for the carbon hollow shafts?

No, just the high speed gearset for now. Although i am building this to Iconic stock regs in case i want to have q go at the local club, this is mainly for running the 306 shell in the street so it does not need to go overboard. Just a nice runner. 

[ThunderDragonCy 8940]

19 minutes ago, svenb said:

If you want to lock the front diff just pack it with blu-tac 👍

Its along those lines. Thinking hot glue. 

[ThunderDragonCy 8940]

Well, considering how badly the paint went on i am calling this a win

I used torn masking tape to create the jaggod blue stripe kinda like the 97 car. It was half successful. Stickers next. 

[Kevin_Mc 411]

The ripped masking tape worked well! 👍🏻

[ThunderDragonCy 8940]

Done. It's ok. About as good as i can do certainly. Maybe should have smoked the windows. Stickers over the wheelarches are a ******, but hairdryer got them somewhere near. White door panel decals aren't completely opaque which ruins the look a bit too. Looking forward to getting it on a chassis and running it.

Still glad i got it. Coolest rally car ever, and therefore coolest rc shell ever 😉

[Kevin_Mc 411]

Yeah, that looks amazing 😎

[svenb 4594]

Not to late to smoke the windows🤔

[Seanster43 230]

Looking great bro honestly fair play to you for having the bottle to paint the blue stripped bits👍🏻

[ThunderDragonCy 8940]

Rcmart and Lord Tony of Tamiya delivered today, so the build can begin

Yeah Racing 39mm universales for the front, 50817 TG10/TB01 front c hub which adds caster. Can't remember who i picked that up from, but should be good. High speed gearset for an M03, hollow M03 gearshafts because they were cheap! TL01 suspension shaft set for securely fitting the arms, Gool RC 17t brushed motor, 2 deg toe in rear hubs i had in spares, and hard 54257 adjusters to make some steering turnbuckles. 

High speed gearset installed with lightwright shafts. The short shaft was already hollow so got a spare now! 

I want to get rid of the step screws and plastic steering arms. These short turnbuckles are left over from my TA06 because i didn't fit the IFS. 

And finishing roughly same length as the plastic arm, but importantly, same length as eachother. 11mm gap between the adjusters if you are interested. 

I have fitted 5mm ball screws to the servo arm and knuckles so i can fit these. 

[ThunderDragonCy 8940]

A little more. Was mucking about with the servo saver, which feels a bit floppy. Tried looking at the TL01-LA manual to see if there was a hop up servo saver and found that it cuts the tabs off to fit ball nuts

The arm is way longer than even the hi torque servo saver so i just fitted it with the cut off tabs. Any recommendations for a stiffer or more solid option gratefully received. 

Next job before closing up the chassis was to try locking up the front diff. I decided to give hot glue a go. Bought a gun off ebay for a fiver.

Went quite well, but i forgot to install the diff outdrives whilst the glue was runny so it's set with the spider off centre. Lesson learnt! Need to melt the glue again and reinstall. Will try using my soldering iron. 

Just to get something done, i installed the shafts in the rear arms and fitted the 2 deg uprights. Luckily they are stamped L and R! All together

With the toe-in, shafts and camber links it's quite a trick little setup. Excited to finish it off and give it a spin.