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toyolien

Which chassis for a Beetle build? DT02, DT03 or Bltizer

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I've been looking at building up a 2wd beetle for a little park bashing with the kids. Originally I was going to buy a Blitzer Beetle, but then I got thinking about a DT02/3 with a Kamtec body. Is the DT02 still a viable chassis to buy? I do prefer the dt03 but suspect the extra wheelbase might cause some issues. Any thoughts welcome.

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I’ve not long bought a nib dt02 Holiday buggy kit for £75 posted so still available at a good price. I’ve been thinking of a kamtec beetle body to put on the dt02 once built. I would of loved a blitzer beetle kit as was my first off road tamiya model when I was younger but the dt02 was way cheaper.

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Somebody has started something similar on a DT03...

Seeing how tough the DT03 is for bashing I would be leaning that way if it was me. 

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1 hour ago, Re-Bugged said:

Somebody has started something similar on a DT03...

Seeing how tough the DT03 is for bashing I would be leaning that way if it was me. 

the dt-02 is a solid platform had one for over ten years now, broke a front shock tower when a nitro hpi savage got its wheels in there and revved... only broke the back tower recently with multiiple awkard landings upside down in a row on a 17 turn motor on 2s.

from what i heard the dt-03 chassis is a side grade from the dt-02 one, thinking of buying a dt-03 though.

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4 hours ago, Re-Bugged said:

Somebody has started something similar on a DT03...

Seeing how tough the DT03 is for bashing I would be leaning that way if it was me. 

That would be me :) 

Kamtec shell is a perfect fit length wise for the DT-03. Front arches needed a lot of trimming to clear blitzer wheels and front suspension arms. Rear as well, especially to clear the gearbox. Could have saved a bit of hassle by going for the Baja crawler version of the shell. It’s the same but without the front arches. 
Sure it would fit a DT-02 as well, may even need less trimming at the back as it’s a bit shorter. 


Can confirm the DT-03 is tough. Have cracked part of the chassis nose but only because I like to jump it and had added a 3400kv brushless. 
 

Obviously a Blitzer kit will be easier and probably cheaper in the end, but the figuring out process is half the fun. 

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Thanks for all the replies. @bikerclubby I've read your build thread, looks just the sort of thing I was thinking of. Are you going to use buggy wheels or blisters?

Also, I wondered how durable and worthy of upgrades (if any) the blitzer is seeing as it's a much older chassis?? My lhs has a blitzernin stock so was tempted by that. Decisions decisions....

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I've had a Stadium Blitzer for a couple of years now and despite starting off with the stock silver can on Nimh (was a bit slow for me) TEU 104 BK ESC, then added a Sport Tuned then went TBLE 02 and 2s Lipo.Then went 1060 HW ESC and 13.5 Brushless, nothing has ever broken.

The rear stock tyres don't last long at all though, literally a few runs, Proline 2.2 Trenchers/ Dirt Hawgs fit on the rear as do some Schumacher tyres. Mine now wears Sand Paws for trips to the beach. I've found the fronts to be fine. Hard Pinion & Bearings are the only other non stock parts from new. 

The screw pins on the suspension wishbones tended to come loose but I've stuck them in with no more problems. It gets well used and abused and is always ready to go again. If it were a Blitzer Beetle I'm not sure the hard body would have tolerated the abuse as much?

The next step in time would be going 3s as it owes me nothing for the fun I've had with it to date :)

Its been in some fairly dusty places...

38FC78AE-EB53-4AB5-89AE-0C9937ED21DF.md.

65CB0A77-C62C-4046-8B1B-D16DB219D632.md.

7E149AEE-6FB6-49B5-890A-44F0BFB7CA4C.md.

IMG_5827.md.jpg

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@Re-Bugged I assume the stadium is the same chassis as the beetle? I did see one YouTuber say that he broke something everytime out with his blitzer so ended up using a dt03 instead, hence my question. But you say you haven't broken anything? It might be the way he drives I guess. I am tempted with a blitzer kit to save the hassle mounting the body etc on another chassis. I'll have a think.

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Going to use buggy and blitzer wheels depending on where in running. Bought blitzer uprights and can space them for buggy wheels, although one is broken at the moment due to collision with tree. 
If you don’t plan on running buggy shell as well, my journey is a more expensive one. Other option if you want dt-03 is to buy an aqroshot, then all you need extra is a Kamtec shell. 

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8 hours ago, toyolien said:

@Re-Bugged I assume the stadium is the same chassis as the beetle? I did see one YouTuber say that he broke something everytime out with his blitzer so ended up using a dt03 instead, hence my question. But you say you haven't broken anything? It might be the way he drives I guess. I am tempted with a blitzer kit to save the hassle mounting the body etc on another chassis. I'll have a think.

Yes the chassis’s are the same, I even bought the mounts for the Beetle body to use my Sand Scorcher body, but the SS body has some slight differences. It would have meant drilling out the holes for the side mounts and the bonnet hole is in a slightly different spot, so I just never bothered. The nose cone is also slightly different. 
I haven’t seen the video of a Blitzer breaking every run? I can only speak for mine. It’s been jumped and rolled more than a few times with no problems yet used 99% off road, so it doesn’t get smacked into concrete kerbs on a regular basis. 
@78Triumph has put a nice lexan shell on his which I believe hasn’t had any problems with either? 
 

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I'd go blitzer chassis, hard body for the shelf, Kamtec body for doing skids.

It's a tough dependable chassis and takes modest brushless setups in its stride.

I have two, love 'em.

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2 hours ago, Re-Bugged said:

Yes the chassis’s are the same, I even bought the mounts for the Beetle body to use my Sand Scorcher body, but the SS body has some slight differences. It would have meant drilling out the holes for the side mounts and the bonnet hole is in a slightly different spot, so I just never bothered. The nose cone is also slightly different. 
I haven’t seen the video of a Blitzer breaking every run? I can only speak for mine. It’s been jumped and rolled more than a few times with no problems yet used 99% off road, so it doesn’t get smacked into concrete kerbs on a regular basis. 
@78Triumph has put a nice lexan shell on his which I believe hasn’t had any problems with either? 
 

Yes, the Team Blue Groove lexan body has taken a lot of abuse.  It's a nice thick lexan shell. 

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I've been doing some research in to the Blitzer Beetle. Seems the only weakness is where the front suspension bolts to the front of the chassis. Has anyone had any issues with the chassis snapping at the front?

And, are there any other issues with the Blitzer? I'll be running a Hobbywing 10BL60, 13.5t motor and 2s lipos. I assume Lipos will fit in the chassis?

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3 minutes ago, toyolien said:

I've been doing some research in to the Blitzer Beetle. Seems the only weakness is where the front suspension bolts to the front of the chassis. Has anyone had any issues with the chassis snapping at the front?

And, are there any other issues with the Blitzer? I'll be running a Hobbywing 10BL60, 13.5t motor and 2s lipos. I assume Lipos will fit in the chassis?

Don't know myself, but i think AMPRO have some front strengtheners for The Falcon which would work? 

https://youtu.be/UtgGAYWmcRM

 

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Thanks Cy. I did see those and wondered how 'needed' they were. Doesn't seem to be much info online about chassis's breaking.

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12 minutes ago, toyolien said:

I've been doing some research in to the Blitzer Beetle. Seems the only weakness is where the front suspension bolts to the front of the chassis. Has anyone had any issues with the chassis snapping at the front?

And, are there any other issues with the Blitzer? I'll be running a Hobbywing 10BL60, 13.5t motor and 2s lipos. I assume Lipos will fit in the chassis?

There is a really comprehensive thread by a TC member Ian16vGSI? From a couple of years ago, he ran and modified a Blitzer and I’m pretty sure he drilled through the front mounting points and replaced the 4 top and bottom screws with a pair of long M4 bolts and nuts which sounded like a good idea to me. 

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1 minute ago, toyolien said:

Thanks for that. I'll see if i can find it and take a look.

 

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Amazing, thanks for your help.

*edit: Shame all the pics have gone.

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1 minute ago, toyolien said:

Amazing, thanks for your help.

*edit: Shame all the pics have gone.

After the beach bash the other week the car got a full strip down and clean, when I rebuilt it I drilled through the front end mounting points on the chassis and used some long M3 bolts to hold it together which has done the trick in keeping the front end more rigid.

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I made my own chassis braces from angle bracket (hardware store, around $5.00) and covered them with carbon-look tape. Edit: the raw bracket can be seen in the upper right of this photo which was also used for front body mount support as I still use the hard plastic body)

IMG_20200128_193950.jpg

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11 hours ago, toyolien said:

I've been doing some research in to the Blitzer Beetle. Seems the only weakness is where the front suspension bolts to the front of the chassis. Has anyone had any issues with the chassis snapping at the front?

And, are there any other issues with the Blitzer? I'll be running a Hobbywing 10BL60, 13.5t motor and 2s lipos. I assume Lipos will fit in the chassis?

Haven’t had any trouble with the front end on mine, most jumps are done on soft surfaces like dirt or sand though as I struggle to hit a ramp that’s 6 feet wide at speed, but a 1 inch post in the middle of an acre field, that I could probably do with ease and eyes shut.


I run a Gens Ace square hard pack that measures 

138mm x 46mm x 25mm 

I did have to trim the ribs in the battery tray area to accommodate it as it’s shaped for a normal stick pack. It’s hardly anything and hasn’t failed. It also helps the battery terminals come out the top too.

8FA56209-AB6E-4F2C-BEC7-51ECCD73465E.jpg

it’s not shown here but the kit battery retainer still fits with this battery.

One other thing, when I first built it I used a thin silicone grease in the diff, but that was useless because when I hit the brakes it would just spin end for end. So cleaned that out the diff then stuffed it full of AW grease instead which is still working a treat now 👍🏻
 

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The Blitzers come with a 13T 32dp pinion but there are holes in the casing that you can fit a 15T 32dp too. 

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On 7/24/2020 at 1:01 AM, Novamadcars said:

I’ve not long bought a nib dt02 Holiday buggy kit for £75 posted so still available at a good price. I’ve been thinking of a kamtec beetle body to put on the dt02 once built. I would of loved a blitzer beetle kit as was my first off road tamiya model when I was younger but the dt02 was way cheaper.

Hi, Can you post a link to where you got your Holiday buggy kit as I am looking for a chassis for my Holiday Buggy body shell. Thanks, Mike

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4 hours ago, mcvwuk said:

Hi, Can you post a link to where you got your Holiday buggy kit as I am looking for a chassis for my Holiday Buggy body shell. Thanks, Mike

Hi it was bought on eBay thanks

mark 

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