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Grumpy pants

Model & Running Advice WRC Toyota Corolla

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Morning all,

There’s one on eBay collection only not far from me.

I’ve always liked the look of the Corolla, this one is a bit battered and bruised, so it would be refurb’d and run purely for fun.

Chassis is 4WD, belt drive and the motor is in the front. FF? 

Are they any good?

Are parts expensive? 

Fun to drive?

Or should I just wait and spend a bit more on a TT02 Subaru when I’ve got a bit more time and money?

Feedback always appreciated  👍

Thank you

Simon 

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Hi Simon,

If it’s a TA03f chassis they are very good, I have a few they also make a good drift car if that’s your want.

They are fun to drive and stable because of the front motor, spares are usually not a problem but they are pretty reliable, I’ve never broke anything other the result of a crash.

i have tt01 and tt02 they are also good but the std diffs break if you run hot motors.

also if it’s corolla it will be a short wheel base TA03fs.

just my ten pence worth 

 

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6 hours ago, WillyChang said:

Limited choice of bodies for TA03FS

That’s a good tip off WC.

The shell is in a poor way ☹️ and I have always liked the look of WRC Corolla when’s it’s in good shape, but part of the appeal is the front mounted motor and 4WD, a low cost XV01 in my eyes. 

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12 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

HPI Peugeot 106 would fit the wheelbase and suit the chassis nicely. 

Thanks Cy!

I decided to leave it, it  sold for £43 which seemed good value to me.

I need to finish one of the 11 I already have before buying anymore 👍... 

 

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2 hours ago, jonboy1 said:

but that would have made it a dozen which is such a better number than eleven!!! :P

So true jonboy 👌

Ideally I’d be at 10 though for now 😂

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On 1/9/2020 at 9:38 AM, Disco said:

 

Hi Simon,

If it’s a TA03f chassis they are very good, I have a few they also make a good drift car if that’s your want.

They are fun to drive and stable because of the front motor, spares are usually not a problem but they are pretty reliable, I’ve never broke anything other the result of a crash.

i have tt01 and tt02 they are also good but the std diffs break if you run hot motors.

also if it’s corolla it will be a short wheel base TA03fs.

just my ten pence worth 

 

It’s come back up for sale so I’ve made a bid 👍

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On 1/9/2020 at 7:47 PM, ThunderDragonCy said:

HPI Peugeot 106 would fit the wheelbase and suit the chassis nicely. 

I’ve just reread this and I used to race 106 Rallye which would be super cool to replicate 1/10 style. 

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If it’s goes near 43 quid again it’s a pretty good price.... as mentioned there are limited body’s for it but there are none Tamiya options 

also one thing to remember is that it uses the short belt which can be hard/expensive to find but rarely breaks.

i have a few parts for TA03 chassis  if you’re stuck for something.

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I’m sure It will clean up nice , short wheelbase is quite rare too.

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On 1/9/2020 at 9:23 PM, Grumpy pants said:

low cost XV01 in my eyes

Haha had to laugh at this. At this point "restoring" my old corolla TA-03 definitely has cost me way more than the XV-01. Ended up purchasing two used TA-03 chassis for parts (because hopups), culminating in a NIB TA-03R-S TRF kit. Now I have three unfinished TA-03R's on my bench :wacko:    

 

On 1/11/2020 at 12:31 PM, Disco said:

also one thing to remember is that it uses the short belt which can be hard/expensive to find but rarely breaks.

 

Good news is the rere TA03 GT1 was announced for 2020, so the short belts at least *should* become available again.

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4 hours ago, MockTurtle said:

Haha had to laugh at this. At this point "restoring" my old corolla TA-03 definitely has cost me way more than the XV-01. Ended up purchasing two used TA-03 chassis for parts (because hopups), culminating in a NIB TA-03R-S TRF kit. Now I have three unfinished TA-03R's on my bench :wacko:    

 

Good news is the rere TA03 GT1 was announced for 2020, so the short belts at least *should* become available again.

Yes it’s that Tamiya delusion..I’ve been around long enough to know almost any resto is a money pit 😂.

 
 

 

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1 hour ago, Grumpy pants said:

Yes it’s that Tamiya delusion..I’ve been around long enough to know almost any resto is a money pit 😂.

True that! Ever since working out that the Thundershot carcass I bought for £15 ended up costing £271 to fully restomod, I have stopped tracking the cost of such projects. As long as the monthly expenditure is within my £50 "fun money" budget, the total is best ignored I think...

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Well I cleaned up the heavily damaged shell, the front is battered and split.

I’ll test the existing electrics and spares next, throw away whatever is dead and then look to give it a run at the weekend. 

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7 hours ago, Grumpy pants said:

Well I cleaned up the heavily damaged shell, the front is battered and split.

Front motor gearcase of 03 makes an excellent battering ram, to be sure!

But if no pieces have fallen off, it's not hard to glue them together with ShoeGoo + drywall mesh tape. 

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Had a small amount of time last night to check the car out in more detail. 

Radio gear, both ESC’s and all 3 servo’s work and it runs around the house quickly.

2 extra sets of wheels and tyres, 1 wheel in 2 sets is badly chipped, but the tyres are all decent enough. 

The chassis is in good shape and It has CVA’s. 

The box is in great order, both motors look to be hop ups, that just leaves one loose motor to test now and hopefully a run in the street at the weekend. 

So all in all not to bad for £45 and an hour and half round trip to pick it up. 

 

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That sounds like a super deal.  There are still some original bodies around if you want one.  I have a sneaking suspicion that Racecraft RC might have one?

racecraftrc.co.uk

Not listed on his website but I bought a Corolla body from him last summer and he sneakily mentioned that he had a second.  Might be worth dropping him a message to see if he still has it.  (Tell him Alex from Trowbridge sent you ;) )

I have my NIB body and would love to run it in the Iconic Cup this year but with bodies being rare and expensive I'm a bit reluctant.  Well keep an eye on whatever that GT1 re-release is as that might be a good source of bodies.

HPI Saxo / 106 bodies used to be common but with HPI's difficulties a lot of older bodies have disappeared from the market.

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Ironically I think the Corolla body was later used on an QuickRun chassis (T made some toygrade RWD RTRs back when). Maybe about 10-12 yrs ago our downunder then-distributors ToyTraders had a tonne of painted Corolla bodies for those RTRs which they chucked out cheap at LHS. They hung around for ages as the holes were wrong place for std post location and few ppl had those RTRs nor TA03FSes. 

Wish I bought some now, but didn't. Didn't think I'd need them as didn't think I'd get around to running my Corolla. (Still haven't. It's happily keeping the 037 company.)

 

 

 

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