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davedirl

TT02 advice

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I have been a long time fan of Tamiya RCs but up until about 18 months ago, I never had my own. I came across a used TT02 Impreza for sale locally with some upgraded parts, bought it and have thoroughly enjoyed it. My son showed an interest so Santa brought him a RTR Dual Ridge which he has really gotten the hang of and is certainly ready for some more power. I also rescued a Lunchbox that my older brother had left sitting up for 20+ years. I put all new electrics in it but tbh, not finding it that much fun to have out. The steering is all over the place, so probably needs a bit more work. 
 

Brief spec of each is as follows:

Impreza - Racestar 13.5T 3100kv motor, Racestar brushless esc, DHK 9kg servo, tamiya aluminium driveshaft, 2s Lipo 

Dual Ridge - all standard RTR kit, includes Torque Tuned motor and TEU-105BK esc

Lunchbox - Tamiya torque tuned motor, Mtroniks Auto Sport Tuned esc 
 

So this brings me to the reason for my post. I’ve just bought a TT02 Neo Scorcher kit. I’ve never built one so very much looking forward to it. It comes with the TBLE-02 esc and Torque tuned motor. Seeing as I’m used to the brushless motor in the Impreza, and the fact I find the Torque tuned motor in the dual ridge slow, I’m guessing I won’t be happy with the power. What’s recommended? I don’t mind going brushless, but are there any brushed motors that would be recommended? I don’t race these, just bash them around with my son, sometimes in the local car park but would like to get them off road a bit more. I’d like to keep costs down, so if I can get away using the TBLE-02, then great. Any other recommendations? I’m getting a ball bearing kit. I would have bought the Tamiya aluminium driveshaft but it seems to be out of stock everywhere. For now, the plan is to take the servo from the lunchbox and use it in the Neo Scorcher. It’s the one I got with the Carson FS X1 radio kit, which I’ll also be using. 

The torque tuned motor I put in the Lunchbox seems quicker than my sons Dual Ridge, is this down to the esc? I want to upgrade my sons motor, was considering the Tamiya Sport Tuned and will use either the Mtroniks esc from the Lunchbox, or the TBLE-02 from the Neo Scorcher if I end up with a different one.

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Budget-wise and staying brushed, I can't fault the Hobbywing 1060 ESC as it is a lipo-compatible, cheap and reliable unit as a good replacement for the kit ESC with the ability to handle a motor down to 12T. 

A generic 19T brushed motor will be noticeably quicker in your TT02B without dramatically shorter runtimes.

If you go brushless, again the cheapest systems on the market will be sensorless from Hobbywing or Carson or Mtroniks. In an off-road application sensorless is just fine. A 3300kv is more than adequate for a 4wd buggy.

If you decide you want to up the speed even further consider buying a 3S lipo, this ups the voltage by 50% and the gains are quite hilarious. 

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Since the TT-02B Neo Scorcher comes with a TBLE-02 ESC, your cheapest option would be to switch it to brushless mode and run a 13.5t brushless motor with it. You can pick up a 13.5t "Bluebottle" on eBay for under £20 - an absolute bargain considering how well the motors perform, which is every bit as well as the top racing motors from a few years back.

As for the speed difference between the Lunch Box and Dual Ridge - you say the Dual Ridge was RTR? In that case, unless you have upgraded it, it will be running bushings rather than bearings, which given that it has a 4WD drivetrain with many more moving parts than the simple 2WD Lunch Box, would equate to a lot more drivetrain friction and consequent lower performance. Even with bearings, it is still a heavier car with more moving parts, so would be slower in a straight line all else being equal.

There is a lot to be said for matching spec when racing with kids. They very quickly notice if Dad's car is faster than theirs, and won't give you any credit for winning. At worst it might put them off the hobby. So for the Dual Ridge upgrade, again I'd recommend the 13.5t Bluebottle motor and a TBLE-02 ESC.

As for other upgrades, the car already comes with oil shocks and a steel pinion, and you have already mentioned bearings, so all I'd add for starters are metal diff gears at the rear and perhaps slightly bigger wheels/tyres for a bit more ground clearance. The stock propshaft isn't very pretty, but is surprisingly tough for a plastic piece. I wouldn't worry about upgrading it until it wears out.

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17 minutes ago, ChrisRx718 said:

Budget-wise and staying brushed, I can't fault the Hobbywing 1060 ESC as it is a lipo-compatible, cheap and reliable unit as a good replacement for the kit ESC with the ability to handle a motor down to 12T. 

A generic 19T brushed motor will be noticeably quicker in your TT02B without dramatically shorter runtimes.

If you go brushless, again the cheapest systems on the market will be sensorless from Hobbywing or Carson or Mtroniks. In an off-road application sensorless is just fine. A 3300kv is more than adequate for a 4wd buggy.

If you decide you want to up the speed even further consider buying a 3S lipo, this ups the voltage by 50% and the gains are quite hilarious. 

Sorry to hijack your thread Dave but I've seen the Hobbywing 1060 recommended a few times now, where's a good place to pick one up Chris? 

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Thanks for all the advice. It seems those 13.5T bluebottles are from China, so I’m guessing it’ll be quite a while before I see them. Is the Tamiya Sport Tuned a reasonable upgrade? Might throw one of them into my sons Dual Ridge for now. Or if there’s something cheaper and just as good/better and easily available, I’m all ears. 
 

Thanks all. 

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Some bluebottles are dispatched from China, others from the UK. I typically choose a UK seller and get it in 3 days or so. 

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5 hours ago, davedirl said:

Thanks for all the advice. It seems those 13.5T bluebottles are from China, so I’m guessing it’ll be quite a while before I see them. Is the Tamiya Sport Tuned a reasonable upgrade? Might throw one of them into my sons Dual Ridge for now. Or if there’s something cheaper and just as good/better and easily available, I’m all ears. 
 

Thanks all. 

You may be surprised. I ordered some receivers from Banggood in china on 31/3 and they should be here tomorrow, according to the tracking.

While the Sport Tuned is an upgrade I don't think its really worth buying one. I have one in a TT02D that came with the kit and tbh I don't really notice it as much faster, I just count it in with the silvercan and torque tuned powered cars. It would probably be well suited to an F1 car though. 

Have a look for other sensored 13.5T motors that are available locally as any should work well.

Banggood have the Surpass Rocket V2 or V3 or V4 motors, the V2 is the oldest and cheapest but they still go well. I run the V4S in my race buggies and they keep up with the latest race motors, but they also cost a lot more than the V2 which is what I would get for backyard duty. Actually thats a lie, I would buy a new race motor and retire a V4S (into the spare B6D roller that somehow ended up in the garage...)

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Again, thanks for all the advice. I ordered a couple of brushless motors and ESCs from Banggood. Let’s hope they don’t take too long to arrive. 
 

Next question, the ESCs will have deans connectors. I have a number of nimh batteries with tamiya connectors on them. I know the cars will run better with lipos (I have one which I use in the Impreza) but was wondering if I picked up a deans to tamiya adapter, will the Nimh be safe to use with the brushless motor? 

 

 

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The Tamiya connectors aren't great as they have a fair amount of resistance and will rob your car of performance even if they don't overheat. However with the moderate current draw of a 13.5t, you probably won't melt them. I would however suggest getting the type of adapter that has one plug going directly to another without the cable between. With the battery cable and ESC cable already in play, you are unlikely to need a further piece of cable cluttering up the works. 

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