CWHFSR

Hey!

I happened to get one of these recently off of ebay and I'm loving it! Was already put together (just nothing done with the shell, I painted it and my 11 year old put on the stickers) with several upgrades (the biggest one for me was the slipper clutch) and it was brand new! Anyway, I'm running the stock electronics until I burn them up but have a brushless system from my VXL Rustler waiting in the wind once needed. I've got a 2c4200 but have been running some of my 3c2200's through this as well... BIG difference in speed with a 3c.

I do have a question.... anyone running larger 3c batteries like in the 3c5000 range? Do they fit? If so, what brand?

Well, enough of my rambling post, I have a couple pictures:

Edit: My dogs sometimes get chased by the car.... don't know anything about that.... but they saw a chance to attack so had to pick it up after the pictures, you can see they were moving in!

str8.krooked

Are there any motor/gearing restrictions for the DF-03 RA? I'm currently drifting, but would like to get a rally car going. Also, what are other 1/10 electric rally options? I googled it, but didn't come up with much.

aflipz

My Feedback: (10)

There really isn't much on the market right now in terms of rally cars; other than discontinued or vintage cars, or converting touring cars to rally this is pretty much it, and this is a brand new, different approach to the rally car. It has it's shortcomings (mainly battery placement and steering linkage) but it seems to be ahead of the previous rally attempts, mainly because of it's off road buggy DNA.

The kit includes 2 spur gears and 2 pinion gears, a popular option is the slipper clutch, which was originally intended for the Dark Impact and includes an 82T spur that is too big for the gear cover but otherwise fits.

If one were strapped to find the optimal gear ratio within the 2 included spurs, the two included pinions and the "wiggle room" left for larger or smaller spurs, I suppose one could try fitting the dark impact gear cover over larger spurs. Motor restrictions; there's room for a 540 can in there though I suppose a slightly longer can would fit. There is only one possible bolt pattern to fit motors, (two elongated holes allowing for a bit of gear mesh adjustment) Gearing looks nice and strong but a well adjusted slipper clutch is the best defense when using high power brushless systems especially since I head the rear ball diff can take a dump if fed too much power.

I think as far as mods go, smart money is on an improved steering linkage, slipper clutch, an upgraded power system and the rest is mostly going to be suspension/alignment fine tuning according to your intended use is going to be about it for the time being at least that's the plan for me, adding better quality rubber sealed bearings down the road when cleaning/oiling the stockers no longer cuts it. Reinforced diffs would become an option if I ever have problems with them but i'll cross that bridge if I get to it in spite of having a slipper.

Before ordering a 3racing steering set I decided to try a better servo saver; this helps a lot but there still a lot of slop in the plastic steering linkage parts so I will have to change that.

Otherwise, I got the titanium screws by 3racing intended for the dark impact; they work, like 95% of the screws are shared; only I'm left with two very long screws that I don't need but after replacing all the steel screws with Ti ones I have a few left over and don't have any steelies on the car anymore.

I'd love to see a ball stud set, suspension hinge pins, gearbox pins and drive shaft all in Ti that would take off quite a bit of weight.

CWHFSR, nice ride. Welcome aboard!

CWHFSR

Thanks for the comment!

I really don't know a lot about RC cars as I've been out of the hobby for like 20 years. Like I said prior I got the vehicle used but in brand new condition. The guy I bought it from said he built it and ran it 2x's and you couldn't tell. It already has upgraded shocks (they work really well), the slipper and one way set (but don't know what it is for). I think something with the steering was upgraded as well because it is blue aluminum.

Right now I have the stock silver can and ESC. I was thinking of upgrading to the VXL Brushless Venilion (sp?) system as I have a Rustler that I'm not using. Don't know if this will be TOO much for the car and the wires look like they may give a problem. The other thing is having no idea how to gear it with the upgrade.

Anywho, lets get this thread moving!

MD6

I don't know about the brushless system. Some cars aren't designed for that. I know in the TCS they run 19t in the DF03. You may want to call or email Tamiya's customer service and ask them. I'm going to convert a DF03 to an RA. My friends and I are considering doing some rally racing. Here's a video that you might find interesting. A little rally racing from Europe.

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.rallybrno.cz/galerie-detail.php?id=80" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(21, 80, 236); ">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; ">http://www.rallybrno.cz/galerie-detail.php?id=80</span>
</a></span>

aflipz

My Feedback: (10)

If I had that brushless system (velineon) I would probably pop it in there and try it with my weakest pack with the smallest pinion and largest spur. Then, I'd run it with my data logger (which you probably don't have) short of that I'd just do short 2-3 minute runs and hit the esc and motor with a temp gun, if things are cool i'd try my stronger packs and repeat the short drive tests. If i'm happy with the results it stays as is but if I wany more speed I'll change the pinions/spurs around until I find something that gives me the speed I want without frying the system.

aflipz

My Feedback: (10)

I just "Czech'd out" the video... man how dumb do they look running behind their cars, so glad I bought it for bashing and not competition... Seriously if your car is slow enough for you to keep up with it running behind it I am not interested in trying it. LOL


And by the way there are plenty of people running brushless motors in these things world wide...

MD6

I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Those Eastern Europeans are some "wild and crazy guys." I would like to see rally become a regular part of the TCS. I know it's included at Trackside, but I don't know if it's any where else. I'm anxious to get my DF03 converted. I know the mini drivers in Australia run brushless and it probably depends on the gearing. I know Traxxas vehicles often come with brushless ready gear boxes.

CWHFSR

I actually just saw the vid as posted on another site I've seen that kind of racing before. It isn't that the cars aren't fast enough, there are no long straights where they can get up to speed-so they are slow for the corners.

I think I'm just going to stick with the can system for now as it is good enough for me. I've got one 2c4200 pack and then a coupld 3c2200. Everything seems fine so far. I'm not going for speed so brushed should work fine for my needs. At least I have a backup in place if something does go wrong.

You're right that I don't have a data logger. I have a tester for my planes to run static tests for AMPS and such, but nothing that will log what is going on. I've not needed a temp gun to this point so don't have one of those either... I've been doing the finger tests. So far on any run I can put my finger anywhere and hold it there. I'll be investing in one soon.

aflipz

My Feedback: (10)

corners or not, they still look like the cars are waiting for the slower runners... and... when you chase after your RC car on foot, there's no way around it; you look like a retard! no if's and's or but's

No doubt they are having fun though!

I just don't get why they can't set up rally races the way they do "normal" racing I mean it's no different than a road course with lots of left and right hand corners.

str8.krooked

Found this and I think I'm pretty much sold. It just looks like too much fun!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4udq...eature=related

aflipz

My Feedback: (10)

Yeah that track looks awesome, and see; it looks/feels like rally driving to me only... no retards running behind the cars

str8.krooked

For sure!

str8.krooked

I've also seen FWD rally cars that are much slower all the way around. I think that's what it is in the other video. That looks boring to me.

MD6

str8.krooked - That's a good video. It's the first rally car I've seen that can take the jumps well. It may be because of the chassis b ing based on a buggy. Thanks.

MD6

CWHFSR - Here's a video with a Traxxas VXL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKk-7...eature=related

<br type="_moz" />

str8.krooked

Yeah...he/she looks like a pretty good driver too!

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BillMill

My Lancia DF-03 Ra kit just arrived last week. This will be my fifth Tamiya R/C kit in 12 years and every time I receive a new one I am amazed at the quality -all the parts are beautifully made and such a pleasure to assemble. I snagged a cockpit set from the TT-01 kit off e-bay for a little added realism [8D] and a few hop-ups. Can't wait to start building it!

CWHFSR

I've been really enjoying mine since getting it at the end of December. Looking into getting some drifting wheels now as I'm really loving doing that. Enjoy!

Casper06

**WARNING**

For those of you wanting to pop in a VXL motor you cannot do it without maybe hacking away at the chassis somewhere. The problem is the way the motor wires feed off off the motor and the size of the hole the motor goes into. I wish I would have taken some pictures but I never got around to it. Castle motors will fit fine without much effort, that's what I have powering my car.

aflipz

My Feedback: (10)

or, one could modify the motor end cap so the wires stick out the correct side; people have managed to fit xerun ".5" motors in there which appear to be designed exactly the same way minus the end cap that prevents you from being able to solder the wires in from the other side. Even then it's not an easy fit but apparently it does go in one way.


On the other hand my new ezrun 9T fits in there just perfectly. These are only 380 sized brushless motors at the core but have a rather large heatsink machined into the can who's outside diameter is the same as the 540's.

Running it on 3 cells on ice and packed snow (relatively low grip surfaces even with studded tires) it seems to be doing alright. This will definitely be too much in the summer heat so I ordered a couple of two cell packs, even in the winter i'll run 2S most of the time and gear/time according to the speed I want. On 3 cells, it's stupid fast; no way I can apply all that power to the ground, and not sure I would want to as I'm not a fan of replacing multiple parts every time I run a car.

From the power meter graph it seems like the high points of the curves tend to stay in the 30-35A range most of the time, though my data logger did record a 71A/625 watt spike. To put that in perspective, the legal limit for electric bicycles in many countries is something like 400-450 watts.

CWHFSR

Yea, I was wanting to put my VXL system in but figured it would not work because the way the wires were sitting. I'm just going to put it back into my Rustler. I may look into another brushed system since I don't race and really don't care one way or the other... I think brushless would be way too much power. Plus staying brushed I won't have to get another speed controller

aflipz

My Feedback: (10)

I don't know... I ordered the (very affordable) ezrun setup at the same time I bought the car; the only reason I even bothered with the included brushed lump that comes with it was to get a first taste of how the chassis handled. Then immediately tried to kill it with a 3S pack, 3-4 runs like that on it before the brushless system arrived to replace the sad silver can and black box, and turning over the brushed motor manually I can feel the brushes were about to go (increased effort is required to turn the motor and audible sounds of grinding brushes can be heard)

On 3 cells the brushed motor had what felt like much less top speed as the brushless would on 2s, similar run times but lousy torque, lousy throttle response and too much drag brake for my taste, and weak braking too.

You are right; too much power is no good when you have way more than you can get to the ground and all it does is cause you to get into trouble all the time. I think one would have to worry about that in this car when you get to those "X.5" turn brushless like the mamba max, novak, xerun etc. 60+A continuous systems with 540 sized rotors, talk about overkill! My little system producing just over 1/2 that much power is already more than I want on 3s lipos, on two cells or 7.2 packs I am guessing it'll still trump even the best brushed setups with some advantages; longer runtime, no maintenance, very long lifespan, smoother throttle response, better braking, almost no drag braking (unless you program some in)

IMO with a mild brushless setup and a slipper clutch option this thing is as fun to drive as it's going to get and doesn't risk tearing itself apart too much.

Last I looked a good tuned 540 costs about 45$, less than two of those buys you a system that used right (and with a bit of luck) should outlast the rest of the car.