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Nicadraus

Tamiya FF Club

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3 hours ago, Carmine A said:

I've found them vastly superior to Ball Diffs. Everyone has an opinion.... but I like that after I've found the Oil weight that I like, I don't have to mess with it! Unlike a Ball Diff, that needs frequent fiddling. 

I have to say up until this year I would have agreed with you, especially as someone who regularly melted ball diffs in buggies. However, I have raced an FF01 with a ball diff all season this year and its been good as gold. I think if you run them tight there's no need to rebuild them all the time. That said, they aren't as set and forget as the ta06 gear diff. 

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2 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

I have to say up until this year I would have agreed with you, especially as someone who regularly melted ball diffs in buggies. However, I have raced an FF01 with a ball diff all season this year and its been good as gold. I think if you run them tight there's no need to rebuild them all the time. That said, they aren't as set and forget as the ta06 gear diff. 

I haven't been able to try any new ones. I've been apprehensive about the TD4 because of Ball Diffs.... 

Maybe they're making them better!!

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If you want to skip changing the entire gear case and converting to gear diff but want a well performing differential, you can modify your ball diff by using aluminum joint cups (because the stock plastic ones don't last and will wear out quicker) and use AWG (anti-wear grease) instead of ball diff grease. Tighten the thrust screw according to your desired diff tightness. This will give you a similar result like oil viscosity/thickness in gear diff. Also with this set up, less frequent rebuilding and zero grease leaks. Both Tamiya and Yeah Racing have the aluminum joint cup. I used the YR. 

FF03-069BU - Aluminum Ball differential Joint set 

https://www.yeahracing.com/aluminum-ball-differential-joint-set-bu-for-tamiya-ff03-ff03-069bu-00032530

I have done this to one of my FF-03 (FF-03RR), and works really great. The car is mostly for street bashing and rallying and have performed really well, better than I expected.

 

 

 

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Thanks for clarifying @rich_f   Yes lots of simple kits have gear diff standard and  upgrades are ball diff.  I guess next step up is oil filled gear diff.  
 

what are issues with ball diffs?

 

also do oil filled gear diff leak?

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4 minutes ago, Frankster said:

 ......also do oil filled gear diff leak?

Better ones come with quality Gaskets and O-Rings. I enhance my Gaskets by using a THIN coat of RTV Silicone. 

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6 hours ago, Frankster said:

Thanks for clarifying @rich_f   Yes lots of simple kits have gear diff standard and  upgrades are ball diff.  I guess next step up is oil filled gear diff.  
 

what are issues with ball diffs?

 

also do oil filled gear diff leak?

On the FF03 it is the other way around. The simple kits come with the ball diff and the hop up is the oil filled gear diff. I think only the FF03R came with the oil filled gear diff as standard. When we are talking here about the FF03 there is no basic unsealed gear diff like on the older buggies. The only fear diff option is the oil filled TA06 diff. The only time I had one if those lean was using very thin 3000cst oil in the rear of a 4wd car. And even then it wasn't much. With the thicker oil you want in a FWD it will be fine. 

The issues with the FF03 ball diff directly are the plastic parts - specifically the outdrives and diff nut. They are OK if you are careful. The other issue is that they are supoosedlybadjustablecsobyou can run them looser or tighter, but I have always found running them in any way loose leads to excessive slippage and melting. @Nicadrausis right about those upgrades and grease use. If you have metal parts and they don't slip too much then they are fine.

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8 hours ago, Frankster said:

Thanks for clarifying @rich_f   Yes lots of simple kits have gear diff standard and  upgrades are ball diff.  I guess next step up is oil filled gear diff.  
 

what are issues with ball diffs?

 

also do oil filled gear diff leak?

With my experience in both the FF-03 and XV-01 which uses the same gear diffs, yes they do leak. That's why I also upgraded the diff covers with the aluminum one. Solved the leak issue.

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I'm not enjoying my Schumacher Mission FT at the moment and want to replace it with something from Big T.

So FF04 - short lived but capable car, and no longer available. What do people think would be the issue with doing a new build version of this?

I have an XV01 front gearbox, alloy steering set, a pile of suspension blocks, some SSBBs and TRF419/20 arms in the parts bin - so I think I would only really need to get chassis plates cut by FiberLyte to be most of the way towards creating an FF04 Evo (other than a rear bulkhead to mount the rear suspension on).

What am I missing / not considering? Feels like it would be cheaper going this way than building and hopping up an FF03 with the parts I have availble

Any thoughts appreciated!

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1 hour ago, BuggyGuy said:

I'm not enjoying my Schumacher Mission FT at the moment and want to replace it with something from Big T.

So FF04 - short lived but capable car, and no longer available. What do people think would be the issue with doing a new build version of this?

I have an XV01 front gearbox, alloy steering set, a pile of suspension blocks, some SSBBs and TRF419/20 arms in the parts bin - so I think I would only really need to get chassis plates cut by FiberLyte to be most of the way towards creating an FF04 Evo (other than a rear bulkhead to mount the rear suspension on).

What am I missing / not considering? Feels like it would be cheaper going this way than building and hopping up an FF03 with the parts I have availble

Any thoughts appreciated!

Sounds like an ace project! You would need shock towers too as the FF04/XV01 use 55mm shocks, not the 45mm long SSBBs. But you're right, a rear bulkhead of some description, and a way of a attaching a top deck between the gearbox and the rear bulkhead, plus some kind of battery retention. 

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1 hour ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Sounds like an ace project! You would need shock towers too as the FF04/XV01 use 55mm shocks, not the 45mm long SSBBs. But you're right, a rear bulkhead of some description, and a way of a attaching a top deck between the gearbox and the rear bulkhead, plus some kind of battery retention. 

I'm thinking TRF420 battery retention, top deck mounting on FF04 was a couple of alloy posts. So should be easier enough to work out the height based on the height of the back of the XV01 gearbox. For shock mounts I think buying XV01 TC Pro or TA06 damper stays and using them as a pattern for drawing/cutting a pair of custom cut stays is probably as close to the FF04 stays as once would get. The images on the KenTech blog of the damper stays for the FF04 Evo build makes me think they were based on the XV01 TC Pro or TA06 carbon stays with an approx 5mm drop of the holes (so I'm assuming the FF04 Evo used the longer V parts on the bottom of the SSBB's - though haven't checked the manual yet!)

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12 hours ago, BuggyGuy said:

I'm not enjoying my Schumacher Mission FT at the moment and want to replace it with something from Big T.

So FF04 - short lived but capable car, and no longer available. What do people think would be the issue with doing a new build version of this?

I have an XV01 front gearbox, alloy steering set, a pile of suspension blocks, some SSBBs and TRF419/20 arms in the parts bin - so I think I would only really need to get chassis plates cut by FiberLyte to be most of the way towards creating an FF04 Evo (other than a rear bulkhead to mount the rear suspension on).

What am I missing / not considering? Feels like it would be cheaper going this way than building and hopping up an FF03 with the parts I have availble

Any thoughts appreciated!

This is interesting. I always admired people who exert effort in planning, custom building, modifying and all than just a typical kit manual build. Sounds like a hybrid and will definitely look forward to this build. You can also probably use the rear end parts of the FF-03. bulkhead, shock tower, etc. The 419/420 arms should look great on this build.

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@BuggyGuy Actually thinking about it the easiest thing by far would be to just use the XV01 rear gear case without the internals as a rear bulkhead. It has the tabs on the front for the camber link mounting plate which is bound to be same height as the front gearbox, so there is your top deck attachment. 

As for shock towers, they will need to be 10mm lower than the XV01/FF04. Both cars use the 42102 55mm long TRF dampers. I just checked the FF04 manual to be sure. 

 

 

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So I ran the FF-03 Pro-R at a local track today. That's after more than two years of not running it on an actual on-road touring track. I'm really so impressed how this car performed. This is the first time I tested it on a high grip track with the gear diff. Two years ago, it only had the stock ball diff. 

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Currently, the diff is filled with 30k oil. It is also fitted with steel bevels and aluminum diff covers so there is zero leaks. The outdrives are so clean! cornering was simply perfect for an FF car. Very minimal understeer which can be corrected easily by lessening the throttle or a fast quick throttle release just before cornering then punch once in the corner. My car was running with 3 Xpress XQ10 and a TB-05R. It kept the pace with those cars and I'm very, very happy. 

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Hi hello good morning!

This is my first post here so I figured I'd stick up something I obtained recently. And this thing's impressive - at least to me - so!

I picked this FF02 up off eBay from a seller in Japan. Based on the wheels, I believe this started life as Kit #58245, the Alfa Romeo 156. It was the cheapest FF02 I could find at the time and I didn't pay a lot of attention to what it came with until I received it and started looking it over. Aside from being exceptionally clean - like I don't believe it's ever been run - it appears to have virtually every single option available to the FF02. Tamiya-branded bearings, Tamiya-branded universals, the ball diff, the heatsync, the swaybars, the adjustable links, the CVA shocks and the arms and uprights/knuckles/hub carriers appear to be upgraded as well. Especially after I compared them to the stock units the car would've come with. It also has the obligatory battery quick release and the sport-tuned gold-text motor. 

 

But I think the coolest thing that came with it was the ADSPEC Sport kit. All of it. The transmitter, ESC/Receiver combo, steering servo, battery and charger and none of it looks like it's ever been used. It does work, and I'm definitely going to use it because I honestly feel it adds to the car's character, but this is really cool. I knew these kits existed but I've never seen one in person. And they're obscenely expensive...

 

But anyway, yes! This is my new-to-me FF02 that was a labor of love for someone, and whoever built this did a spectacular job and an even more spectacular job caring for it for 20+ years...

D42lo6f.jpg

rrFGziz.jpg

0eVPqHc.jpg

hjIz69B.jpg

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@wun1jee That looks brilliant! My FF01 was like that. Bought from Japan, good price (although mine had clearly been used), but so many hop ups! What body are you going with? L and L models do loads of the cool 90s BTCC cars.

2 hours ago, V8 Rumble said:

Looks like the larger version of my m03. That ff02 looks great! Have fun with it👍🏻

That's exactly what the FF02 is. M03 with longer wheelbase insert and TL01 arms and shocks.

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2 minutes ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

@wun1jee That looks brilliant! My FF01 was like that. Bought from Japan, good price (although mine had clearly been used), but so many hop ups! What body are you going with? L and L models do loads of the cool 90s BTCC cars.

 

My current plan is to try to find an ABC Hobby DC2 ITR body. But the more I look the more I see how crazy-expensive those ABC Hobby bodies have gotten. I mean I'm not totally against spending $100 on a body but it's still a tough pill to swallow.

 

I just recently found L and L while looking for an Elite/Exige body for my M04! They've got some amazing stuff. I'm half-tempted to do a 10th gen Civic-R because my sister is nuts over those. But then she'll want to drive it...

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13 minutes ago, wun1jee said:

 

My current plan is to try to find an ABC Hobby DC2 ITR body. But the more I look the more I see how crazy-expensive those ABC Hobby bodies have gotten. I mean I'm not totally against spending $100 on a body but it's still a tough pill to swallow.

 

I just recently found L and L while looking for an Elite/Exige body for my M04! They've got some amazing stuff. I'm half-tempted to do a 10th gen Civic-R because my sister is nuts over those. But then she'll want to drive it...

Bittydesign HC-F racing shell is a good approximation of the FK2 Civic. I had one on my FF03 for a while

20200516_204946

 

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21 hours ago, wun1jee said:

Hi hello good morning!

This is my first post here so I figured I'd stick up something I obtained recently. And this thing's impressive - at least to me - so!

I picked this FF02 up off eBay from a seller in Japan. Based on the wheels, I believe this started life as Kit #58245, the Alfa Romeo 156. It was the cheapest FF02 I could find at the time and I didn't pay a lot of attention to what it came with until I received it and started looking it over. Aside from being exceptionally clean - like I don't believe it's ever been run - it appears to have virtually every single option available to the FF02. Tamiya-branded bearings, Tamiya-branded universals, the ball diff, the heatsync, the swaybars, the adjustable links, the CVA shocks and the arms and uprights/knuckles/hub carriers appear to be upgraded as well. Especially after I compared them to the stock units the car would've come with. It also has the obligatory battery quick release and the sport-tuned gold-text motor. 

 

But I think the coolest thing that came with it was the ADSPEC Sport kit. All of it. The transmitter, ESC/Receiver combo, steering servo, battery and charger and none of it looks like it's ever been used. It does work, and I'm definitely going to use it because I honestly feel it adds to the car's character, but this is really cool. I knew these kits existed but I've never seen one in person. And they're obscenely expensive...

 

But anyway, yes! This is my new-to-me FF02 that was a labor of love for someone, and whoever built this did a spectacular job and an even more spectacular job caring for it for 20+ years...

D42lo6f.jpg

rrFGziz.jpg

0eVPqHc.jpg

hjIz69B.jpg

What is the website where you find your used cars?   I need to go virtual window shopping 😆

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I just finished this last night. Bittydesign hiberya body on my ff04. I have the protoform version which seems closer in scale to the cupra but this one looks just as nice. 

 

I'm sure it will sharpen the handling.

20220325_203226.jpg

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5 hours ago, V8 Rumble said:

I just finished this last night. Bittydesign hiberya body on my ff04. I have the protoform version which seems closer in scale to the cupra but this one looks just as nice. 

 

I'm sure it will sharpen the handling.

20220325_203226.jpg

That looks sharp!

Please update us how the race went. Good luck! :)

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9 minutes ago, Nicadraus said:

That looks sharp!

Please update us how the race went. Good luck! :)

It'll be next Sunday 3rd of April. I have been getting the car ready again. I had put it up for sale then regretted it and just decided to keep it. The race will be for fun and proceeds will go tho a fellow racer and our resident race caller to help with medical bills. So it will defintley be and most importantly help someone who has been a great help and contributor to the hooby.

 

I want to do the 419 suspension upgrade to it. I am not the fastest racer out there but I have fun doing it. I will post some pics and my results good or bad :D

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3 minutes ago, V8 Rumble said:

It'll be next Sunday 3rd of April. I have been getting the car ready again. I had put it up for sale then regretted it and just decided to keep it. The race will be for fun and proceeds will go tho a fellow racer and our resident race caller to help with medical bills. So it will defintley be and most importantly help someone who has been a great help and contributor to the hooby.

 

I want to do the 419 suspension upgrade to it. I am not the fastest racer out there but I have fun doing it. I will post some pics and my results good or bad :D

That's the most important to me now since I went back to this hobby. Have fun!

Serious racing has been fun but stressful as well. Not to mention the cost of replacement parts every race which is inevitable. Now, I just go to the track whenever I want to. Primary is to have fun, second is to see if my own set up performs the way I want it to perform and third is to enjoy the day with fellow RC mates. The cause of your race will be very touching to those who will benefit from it. 

Good luck again and update us with pics of your car and the event too. :)

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Hey guys! Some good news. I finally ordered some 42102 dampers from Hong Kong for my FF03. Yay! They are impossible to find. And some other news. I finally painted the Castrol Civic body I bought for my FF01. I seem to have misplaced the side mirrors. Does anyone have a pic of what they look like as they come out of the bag? I mean, it comes with mirrors, right?

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36 minutes ago, RichieRich said:

.....Does anyone have a pic of what they look like as they come out of the bag? I mean, it comes with mirrors, right?

My FF03 came with the Civic Body, but the Mirrors were part of the Chassis Parts Trees... 

I'm not saying for sure, this Old Fart has been wrong before! 😜  But I'm certain that one of these Guys will know. 

PICTURES!!! 😎😁😁😁

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