Sunday, December 6, 2009

F104 Softening the rear

Going to put the Soft T-Bar on the F104 soon.

Soft_T-Bar

Also, I got my hands on some hard friction damper grease. Last time I was at the track it was a fail of epic proportions, my F104 was un-drivable. The weather was cool for southern California (60’s F), not sure what conditions they recommend this for but I bet it’s hot. Tamiya makes a medium and a soft version as well. I’m interested in getting the soft one to see what the difference is.

Friction Damper Grease Hard

Tamiya Formula Tuned Motor

Formula Tuned Motor

When I first got my F014 I used the silver can motor with a gear ratio of 4.16:1 and it felt pretty good to me. But when Tamiya announced their Formula Tuned motor I had to try it out. At the time the only place I could get it from RCMart and on their product details section it said that the recommended gear ratio for this motor is 3.7-3.75. I’ve only used this at the Tamiya track in Aliso Viejo, CA with a gear ratio of 3.72:1 a couple of times and it made for a lot of torque that didn’t fit my driving style (I’m still a Novice don’t forget :)). Had to be super careful on the throttle coming off the corners or I would spin.

The last time I went, my car suddenly stopped. I thought it was a receiver or battery problem at first, but when I popped the body off I found that the end bell had popped off and that one of the brushes had broke! So now I’ll have to find a different motor to use in my F104. Any recommendations?

Formula Tuned Motor Endcap popped offFormula Tuned Motor broken brush