TOPIC:

Undercowl has been trimmed. The various bodies are a better fit now.
A bit of titanium and some washers should be on their way to be the improved solution for fitting the undercowl.

And I couldn't resist going for another hop up that even the Evo did not have... ceramic diff balls!
A mate of mine on the Dutch forum had a good experience with the generic Chinese items on eBay.
This car having 2 ball diffs (and thus 16 diff balls), Tamiya originals are not within reach...
But the generic ones come to about 25 eurocents each when bought in bulk.



Since 3mm is a very common size, I'll be able to use them on any of the diffs my cars are equipped with.
Including the F cars and Group C...

Weighing in at only a bit short of a kilo and a half :

Titanium screws and countersunk washers in the house!


Because the T-brand only has blue washers available separately, I had to take off the anodisation...
I tried the "soft" approach first - with bleach. But that didn't do much on these parts so sodium hydroxide was next.
The black smudge tells they are made from an alloy with a high content of materials other than aluminium :


A nitric acid bath cleans up the surface :


The result after etching (on the right below) gives a good insight in the molecular grains. Almost looks like granite!
On the left a washer after a first polish with the Dremel and some special paste.


Needless to say there was more work to do...
Ending up in probably the job with the highest ratio of labour to part size I've ever done.
Nothing compared to finding a Higgs particle though.



A definite improvement on fitting the undercowl :


Still needed a second (flat) washer on the rear but much better than before :


I decided to get some extra titanium screws for the parts that hold the plates together on top :


Of course not only the circled items but their twins as well...
The red dotted parts are the aluminium chassis mounts. On the bottom the previously mentioned undercowl screws go...
Six new bits of titanium in total :


I am not a fan of mixing different types of screw heads but hexes do look nice :


So I might be tempted to swap all the other ones in the future...
But not before I find a 2mm hex driver that matches better.
I feel the tool I'm using right now makes the titanium heads quite vulnerable, especially the countersunk ones.

edou you have a ta better than a TRF made

Donkey question ,
Why the manta ray has some transmission pieces are in alu and really les endurant than delron?

stingray-63 wrote:

better than a TRF

There's still quite a bit to wish for on this car though - and don't underestimate all the options the Top Force Evo had!

stingray-63 wrote:

some transmission pieces are in alu

I can only imagine you mean the black aluminium C-hubs?

Oh my (DF01) master, you have strayed of the path of genius but please let me correct you

Instead of the silly washers that will hook up with everything they meet on there way
->I\ /I ,swap them for some cool Tamiya rosette wing washers (Tamiya - 9805631)

My choices were determined by Banzai's stock but I must admit I was not aware these existed. Good to know...

With these I could have avoided the de-anodisation process. You never know what's underneath.
I considered these but decided otherwise...
Of course I had considered the "hook up factor" of it all but I'll be using it on tarmac only.
Besides that, the car has more ground clearance because of the 2.8" wheels.
So I thought I'd get away with it...

And I was wrong that the same washers weren't available in silver.
Not in a regular spare part though...
But I wonder what makes it that these ones are especially for hex screws.




Edit - Oh my, Banzai does have the rosette washers!

Right here

On backorder that is...

I really don't know if it is on the manta ray but I have a rear crown with alu gear attached. It is the crown wich is connected on the motor pinion?????

I know what you mean - the 2-piece spur and aluminium idler gear in the rear gearbox...
But I have put it an all plastic TA02 gear set.
Together with the slightly smaller spur (69T instead of 74T) from the Skyline.
Besides that, I have also replaced the aluminium AV pinion with a hardened steel Robinson.
So there's no alloy in the transmission anymore...