Help TAMIYA TA02 Questions!!!!

[Rebels22]

Hi everyone, I need help, I own an old Tamiya TA02 4WD car. Recently I've been racing a few friends who own the Team Associated Team TC3, HPI RS4 Pro 2 as well as the HPI RS4 Sport 2, my car had a Trinity Midnight 2 motor in it, a Sanyo 1700 6 cell battery. I decided to upgrade to a faster motor and i called Tamiya. Tamiya told me i would need to upgrade to bearings before upgrading to a modified motor. I purchased metal shielded bearings and a Trinity Speed Gems 2 11 turn triple. I have a 17 tooth pinion gear in the car with the stock 74 spur gear. The problem is that i have trouble adjusting the motor to touch the spur gear and when i finally did get it to touch, there is a loud noise when i run the car sounding like an old car starting up. I also have a Tekin Rebel Speed controller in it. does anyone know how i can fix this? Could it be that my pinion gear is too close or too far from the spur gear? Also What mods can i do to this Car to beat the cars listed above....my friend runs a Trinity Speed Gems 2 14 turn double in the TC3 and a Trinity Speed Gems 2 13 turn double in the RS4 sport 2.....I want to show them that an old car can still hold its own but i can't seem to figure out why my car makes such a loud noise...is it tuned correctly???

I know this email is long and i'm sorry, but i am new to this board....

Thanks

[Project TL01]

It's been awhile since I had a TA02, but if I'm not mistaken, it has preset mounting holes for the motor with a specific pinion. It should be noted on the outside on the gearbox where the motor screws go in. If your gearbox sounds like it's grinding, it probly is. Also check your drive shaft. If it's bent, it'll vibrate against the chassis and sound real bad.

As far as holding it's own... I dunno. It's an old design and it may be time to look into a newer chassis like your friends HPI Sport 2.

[Rebels22]

Thanks for the tips, as far as the mounting, i did follow the preset holes to mount the motor on, the thing is tha ti have a 17 tooth pinion, and when i screw it on the 17 tooth pinion preset holes it doesn't touch the spur, so i have them on the 16 tooth preset (anyone that has a TA02 will know what im talking about) I actually beat my friend's Team Asscoiated Team TC3 with the old TA02. He has a 2400 Sanyo battery, Novak Cyclone and a Trinity Speed Gems 2 14 turn double motor installed. I can take him pretty well on a straight away and even from the start with my setup....the only problem is i don't know if i have it tuned to its fullest potential because of the sound it makes.....

Thanks

[RichieRich]

Okay, two things:

1) Make sure you are mounting the motor with the little pointy thingy facing down and toward the rear of the car.

2) Double check that you are using a metric 48 pitch pinion gear. "Normal" 48 pitch gears are a little on the big side. (I think)

[Rebels22]

Thanks, at first i had it pointing towards the front of the car....that didn't work, now i have it pointint towards the rear but and the 17 preset hole still didn't fit right.....it was slipping when i hit the throttle...its on the 16 hole and it still makes that noise....maybe the TA02 wasn't meant to handle an 11 TURN? Anyone out there ever put a modified in a TA02?

[KIWIRCGUY]

Yeah Ive run mods in a TA02.. The noise from your gearbox could be that the little white plastic caps that go on the ends of the small shafts could be worn out.. I had this problem and it took me ages to figure it out.

[Darksiede]

Well, what you might have is pitch mesh problems.. Tamiya uses an oddball metric .4 pitch gear setup in all of thier cars, stock.. if you are running a 48 pitch standard pinion, they look close, and mesh like oil and water.. that loud noise you are hearing, is them fighting each other for dominance..(read: "eating each other for lunch") usually with the steel/aluminum pinion winning out over the plastic spur..
Hope that helps..

Darksiede

[RustlerBoy]

Get the Tamiya :eek: FRP chassis :eek: at Tower Hobbies. It is lighterm, and handles better. It looks trick to!

[TA03 Drive Hard]

Oh boy this is my terf :D Weeeell i have the 02... FRP chassis, front & rear FRP shock towers... speed tuned gears and all...

That grinding noise is the meshing of the gears... i had that problem and still do... be sure you have a tamiya pinion... other pinions wont work... check also the motor mount be sure you mount the motor according to the pinion you are using...

...if you wanna talk more on the 02 there is a forum for it... it's listed in the "Vehicle Forum" and look for "Tamiya TA02 Forum"

Drive hard dudes :cool:

[Timba]

My 17 tooth works perfect, but everything is less than a year old. You might want to make sure that you have the pinion gear spaced out the proper distance from the motor. I've also heard that the stock plastic motor mounts can flex when you use a powerful motor. They make an aluminum motor mount that might help you.

[Billy]

Yep the plastic motor mount is weak i had problems with mine flexing and striping the gears and all i was running was a GM3 pro.

[RustlerBoy]

I run a P2K. It works great. What gearing should I use?

[Billy]

I run a 22t pinion with the 69t speed tuned gear works great with 27 turn motors well at least it does for me :)