Tamiya FF-03 Pro

Cool. What recommendations for the tires ?

Not sure, but you cannot go wrong with sorex...I would guess 32's would be better as it is getting cooler, but 36 on the front might be better given that they are going to wear quicker...

Right FF03 on the way, ordered this afternoon.....yahooo, and I can retire the Evo 4.

I accidentally put a Volvo BTCC shell in the shopping cart, and forgot to remove it when paying, silly me. I have a cockpit set here from the old Lancia, so I will paint it up and make the car as 'scale' as possible.
I have ST, SC, GT-tuned and a 13T BL. Between all of us running this class, we will have to try and find a happy medium for some fun running!

Ha the old Volvo TC shell. I guess u went for the civic FF03?

Yeah, went for the NO options version....might have to sell off a few of the unwanted parts...lol.
I suppose trying it out in stock guise, and then improving it is part of the fun. Find weaknesses and fix them...you ordered yours yet?

Sam?

The Civic is placed in my shopping cart . Added some other bits for the M05. Thinking about any possible parts for the Tb EVO 5.

Looks like i wont be making any big orders until a sort out a new 1:1 car to get me to work and back as i dont have the joys of a company car any longer. Not that my last company car was much joy.

FF03 is in da house! Construction commences later today

Damn the pressure is building up.

Yeah....get on it Sam....you ordered yours yet?

cathurga wrote:

FF03 is in da house! Construction commences later today

and then there where 3!!!!

sam, dan hit that order now button

Damn talk about peer pressure. Hahahah
it's been there on the shopping list for 2 weeks. Got the TB EV05 just recently.
Want to spend some bench time on that car first .

Paul, we will have to start segregating the time at Meydan soon. 15mins for minis, 15 mins for touring, 15min for FF

I think we need to do as Ian had suggested, FF class is SCALE class....you have to have a FWD body shell on an FF car? Whaddya think?

Sounds good, and I'm definitely keen on a scale class

Need to plan my paint scheme for the gti

It's built! Now needs some body painting. I am waiting on some decals from the UK for the Alfa but might build up the civic in the interim.
One thing I noticed on the build is that the stock outdrives are too small for the bearings that they fit in!! I did some searching and found another guy who also had the same problem. The diff wobbles around in their like a marble in a bucket. I am disappointed in Tamiya about that. Normally everything is a perfect fit but this is glaringly obvious. I can imagine why people have had idler gers stripping out....with that much play there is way to much chance of uneven meshing. They need to do a recall on this. Having to glue the diff plates to the outdrives is also a VERY lazy design attitude, they could easily make them d-cut so that they cannot spin on the drives....it is very likely the reason why so many people have had problems with slipping diffs...
If anyone is going to buy one, I would STRONGLY recomment to get the normal car instead of the PRO, and the biggest upgrade you could do is the alloy outdrive set and a set of shocks. Do that and you have a better car than the pro. Hands down. The rest is all bling. Having said that I LOVE bling, it just adds to the looks and makes it LOOK stronger...I will be buying some along the way for this car...
I also managed to get a TB03 64T spur to fit in it, with what I think is a 29T pinion (n o writing and I cannot be bothered to count them LOL )
The TB03 spur holder will NOT work, the inside diameter is too large as it is designed to go over a std thickness drive shaft. ....
The 3 Racing shocks I got are ok, but with some work they could be better. I think if I had to do it again, I would stump up for the TRF's, they just work, and are solid and reliable.
I replaced the 3 Racing lower shock mounts and spring stays with the Tamiya ones, they fit better and are easier to adjust. The springs I changed for obvious reasons....I have RED (soft) on the rear, and YELLOW (Medium) on the front. I also replaced the front oil with some very thick oil to reduce nosedive on breaking. I haven't noticed on your setups, but it looks like this desing is going to want to lift inside reear wheel on turning....
Looking forward to a test drive on Sat...

nice andy!

saw in one youtube the same problem with the outdrives being loose thats why i ordered the aluminum ones along with the kit so i wont encounter that issue.

as for my current set up, i returned to hard front and medium rear spings with stock oil. i noticed last week that it reduces the nosedive than in my previous set up (medium front/soft rear springs)

as for the sway bars, changed it from blue F/R to yellow front, red rear. i dont know if that sway bar works but i think i will return to blue/blue as i noticed my kit are more prone to rollovers than in my previous set up.

changed also from sorex to sweep tires and the wheel spin is lesser now during accelleration from turns. it is less grippy but does not bounce during turns.

i tried the TB03 spur mount holder to the FF and it really does not work as the inside diameter is larger. better get the ones meant for FF03

if we can have a proper video and a slow motion of the turns on our FF03's, we'll see if the rear wheel really lifts as i saw in youtube a video of FF03 in slowmotion and the rear wheel really wants to take off! hehehehe

Ian, it is a problem for me with the diff issue, I am going to write to them and try to get a replacement.
I did order the alloy diff anyway, I prefer them in all my cars. I am not going to use swaybars at all, and I reckon the hard front will be the next change. I have a set of sweep tires as well I may have to put those on first.
Last week was a really bad judge of handling, there was a lot of wind and it was blowing sand all over the track. Maybe we will have to get some 'broom-handling' duties going before we have races.....3 brooms, 3 teams of two and we sweep that track clean. And someone coming afterwards witth the traction compound....then we will see some racing.

I have seen some of the videos, and they do drive like typical FWD cars.....I am going to try and get my cockpit set out and paint it up, then make the drivers head on a ball socket so it moves left and rigth when cornering.....

Then we will need some pics...

More gripes from me......the Civic bodyshell does not fit with the bumper on!!?? WTF is Tamiya playing at....the muppets

what the F... stock shell and it does not fit? is there a part of the manual that says cut the damn foam to fit the damn bumpers? hehehe


this is your balldif issue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_rPfw0zp14&feature=related

watch this guys...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K12jN-eJxJI&feature=related

This does not sound like Tamiya qualiy. Maybe they have outsourced the production
to cut corners.

is this possibly not an initial batch problem???

i have just checked mine and it all seems pretty tight, even if i compare to my other cars it seems fine no more or no less movement

the shell not fitting is bad especially when its a kit....they could at least say cut the foam....

the ff03 doesnt like a lot of shells....i have tried most of my shells on it and only the 09 impreza fits with out cutting the foam.... even the GTI is gonna need a foam trim

Ian, yeah that is the problem, I measured mine with a digital caliper and there is almost a full mm difference in the sizes.....rediculous....

...and the body shell I assume is just from the orogonal civic mould so is based on the FF01....even the rear holes need to be drilled away from the dimples.

That video is cool, wish I had got the volvo, but I have a really cool scheme for the Alfa anyway.

Civic will be box-art.

@ paul, my integra shell fits well without cutting the bumpers and the good thing about the FF03 is you can adjust the tower post to fit the old shells without making new holes on the shell. so far it can fit the 96, 01, 09 subaru shells just by moving the front tower and putting spacers in the rear tower.

maybe you got a lemon car andy as paul's FF03 encounter no issues?

go for the volvo shell! looks really cool. just like bringing back the good old touring days

Ian, it actually does say to cut the foam, but I am not impressed that they do that. It is a generic chassis, with an old body set thrown in.
Anyway, it means I will need to go shopping for a new bumper to use with the Alfa bodyset because I think it will all fit under that shell....so, I will have to go shopping at rcmart....


....while I am there, I thought I would consider some aftermarket parts

You guys already have the fake engine heatsinks and things, and I would like to have as much cooling as possible WITHOUT a fan...I think the DF-03 heat bars in conjunction with 3Racing (#FF03-09/LB) Front Bulkhead Stiffener For FF03 might be the best option. The 3Racing part looks like it replaces one of the DF03 bars with one that goes all the way across to the bulkhead stiffener so it will effectively draw heat from the motor, to the motor plate, through the bars to the stiffener...as long as the alloy can transfer the heat quick enough, it should be good cooling.
Alternatively, the fake radiator with the fan might be more efficient, but it means having a fan onboard which is a pain, they always get destroyed by the dust.

Other things on my shopping list will be CVD axles. The dogbones have a lot of 'chatter' at full lock, I would like to eliminate that completely....

I think Tamiya is going to have a lot of recalls on this product....even if it was ONE batch that had bad outdrives, it could be a lot of badly made cars....in that video you can see how much play there is. Even with the alloy oudrives I did some shimming to get it right, and now the transmission is super smooth. I soaked the gearbox bearings in carb cleaner to remove all the tamiya grease. Then put some triflow in them....silky. The gears are running dry...

good that you got your gears sort out... now its play time!

i guess you go with the alum bulkhead stiffiner and the imittion engine cover to cool the motor. as for the df-03 heat bars, its good too and should transfer the heat to the stiffiner. for the cooling fan, i did not use the stock fan that goes with the 3racing and used the tornado from yeah... cools better and does not break easily.

univ shaft is also a must upgrade for the kit.

this tamiya item we should have... 54260. its a trf 201 slipper clutch