Porsche Fun with an MF01

[OSRC]

All the trail trucks are built, cleaned, maintained, and ready for spring. I'm kinda bored until my Enduro and IFS kit arrive, and have the itch to build something....hmmm. Cheap Tamiya kit to the rescue! The plan is to take an MF01 kit (Rear motor) - widen it out with some TL01 parts, stretch it to 1:10 and slap on a Porsche body. I love a kit where the motor sits where the 1:1 has it and this seems like a good match!

A quick trip down memory lane: I'm now on my 3rd MF01 kit... First one I tried as a Jimny, hated it, built a car out of it and sold it. It was pretty badass, but I needed the funds for other projects.


I regretted it ever since, so I had bought another MF01 a while ago for this exact build, but quite honestly once I built it up and took it for a test drive, I loved it.. So I used the parts I bought and built up both a MF01 and TL01LA (of sorts) - both came out pretty good. Mixing Tamiya parts is fun!



Doesn't really look it, but the Beetle is an absolute hoot to hoon around with. it's quick, stable, the body rocks all over the place, and it's just a blast.

I didn't have the heart to tear them down, and this project has been in my head forever so I sold off an M06 and put it towards another MF01 kit. I picked up another Beetle Rally version and a few hop ups. I had the Porsche body laying around from my previous attempt. The WB on it is a slightly shorter 251mm though it is standard 190mm width.


My shelf queen TL01LA was torn down to donate parts for this project. I'm not sure if all the suspension bits will work or not due to the quirks of the MF chassis, but we'll give it a go anyway.


Plus a box of goodies from my previous MF project. Can never have enough parts when mixing and matching kits.


Love it when the workbench is filled with parts trees, manuals, and tools. Going to be a good day!

[Zukiiholic]

Some really nice looking cars.
Love the Honda.. I can see why you'd miss it.

[LincolnofDeath]

Go, dude, go! Love it!

[OSRC]

I could have used my TL01 diffs, but decided to start fresh with the MF kit parts. I built the diffs with Lucas Red and Tacky grease inside. It's a bit more viscous then Tamiya grease, but not nearly as thick as AW grease. I've got a ton of options here - stiff AW diffs, light diffs with no grease, ball diffs, one ways, etc. ... starting with the stock diffs both front and rear. I mark them with a sharpie so I know how they are set up.


Rear gearbox built with the upgraded motor mount. Anything to help dissipate heat... the motor on my Bug gets quite warm! Not a lot of airflow back there.


Rear suspension options.. .the LA parts, some Yeah Racing bits left over from my Konghead, and regular TL01 bits.


Not sure how well the LA bits are going to work - the upper link mounts are far more inboard than the others...Can't bolt the extenders to them, so not sure what I want to do here yet.


Plus, I had to flip the hubs due to the rear toe, and the upper link mounts are way offset compared to the MF versions. Definitely need to think of something, or just revert to the stock TL bits - they work fine.


Setting up the chassis... using all the spacers in the kit brings it right in the 251mm ballpark. It's just mocked up below, but it's for sure very close. Interestingly using the leftover small spacer from my previous MF takes it right to 257mm by my math. Interesting info for a future build.




Front gearbox being built up. Upgraded servo mount installed as well. Nothing wrong with the stock unit, but I cannot resist Tamiya blue!


One thing I don't like with newer Tamiya kits are the diff outdrives are no longer aligned with a pin. In the splined outdrive days, they were kept aligned and seems to be a more solid setup.


Finished up, the front diff was very grouchy. Tight and notchy on the diff action, though the trans gears themselves spin fine. I'll have to tear it down and investigate. The red inserts are suspect...might be some flashing I missed or something.

[OSRC]

Making a little more progress on the Porsche...

No matter what I did, I could not get the stock front diff to turn smoothly. Tore the diff down, looks fine, and spins perfect out of the chassis. Took out the red inserts, sanded and re-installed - nada. Finally I swapped in a ball diff and it's perfect. I'm still not sure why the stock front diff is not playing nice. The rear diff was slightly notchy too, so before going further I swapped in a ball diff back there too.


Now that the drivetrain is happy and free, started on the chassis and suspension. I glued the chassis extensions together. Not sure of it helps rigidity or not, but I figure it can't hurt.


I am out of Bondene, so I used CA. Worked very well, though it left some blobs on top of the chassis that I had to sand down. Ended up sanding quite a bit. Looks terrible.. :( Though I added a few decals to detract from it. "MF01X Concept" - that kind of works!


Front LA suspension was bolted on. I am apparently out of shims, so I'll have to go back later and shim everything up. The big U-bolt is just temporary in that case, I'll swap in some stainless pins when it's ready to go.


I was dreading this part... fitting the center shaft. Taking advice from another forum, I used my Dremel to mod the gears a bit and trimmed the ends of the TL01 shaft. So far it seems to fit and spin fine.... I did chuck it in the drill and polish it up before installing.. it is probably 20 years old and looked it. Now it looks good as new!



Tamiya 2 piece wheels were in short supply... after scouring around, there were none of the Porsche wheels stateside that I could find. Not really a fan of the BBS type which were everywhere. While the Tamiya tires look the part, they are not super grippy. Doing some digging, I found that Traxxas wheels from the GT have a wide offset out back and a more narrow offset in front. Hmm.... Took a chance and picked up a set of new takeoffs for $25 and they seem like they'll work very well. Good fitment and grippy to boot! I could help mocking everything up...

[JatoTheRipper]

You put Ford wheels on a Porsche? Nothing like reducing reliability and horsepower in one, fell swoop!

I think it looks good. Hopefully I see it IF we have an on-road day this year.

[OSRC]

Been a long time since I fabbed up some aluminum bits. Used to love doing it, but I burned out a bit I guess. In any case, needed 3 parts for the Porsche and I think they came out ok.

First piece is a simple shock tower... even with the longer rod ends, the mini CVA's were too short. Plus, I think they shocks would have been laid down too much using the stock holes. So I made a small tower that pushes out the upper mounts a bit. Worked out perfect!



Second idea was to do something about those rear upper links so I could bolt on the LA suspension. I came up with make some rear extensions out of 2mm aluminum.


Then bolting them to the rear hubs...there's not enough room for 2 screw heads, so i got inventive. I used a standard Tamiya tapping screw (to match the rest) to tighten the assembly and a small 3mm headless screw to keep the mount from rotating. Works perfectly!


Since the hubs had to be flipped a certain way for proper rear toe, I needed a long spacer up top... bolted together, it all looks a little wonky, but it works!


Finished with some YR turnbuckles I had in my stash.


And just enough room for the shocks to mount. Nothing fancy needed here, they bolt right on. I used gray mini CVA's since they matched the gray chassis.


Most of the chassis is done - still need to do some shimming, they should be in the mail today!


Had to put the wheels on. Love it! Ride height is pretty much spot on for our usual parking lot adventures




Oddest rear suspension I've ever seen, but it feels fine on the bench. We'll see how it does on the road...


Steering might be an issue. That's full throw, and though I haven't fine tuned anything yet, I don't think there's much more there. The geometry of the LA kit was never designed for the single pivot servo steering of the TL01, or the MF01. Definitely have some tweaking to do here.


And a quick beef....Tamiya, can you please do the body mounts separate? To get both front mounts if ever needed, I'd have to buy 2 parts trees, with a ton of parts I'll never use. It's a total waste!


Onto electronics and body mounting!

[OSRC]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

You put Ford wheels on a Porsche? Nothing like reducing reliability and horsepower in one, fell swoop!

I think it looks good. Hopefully I see it IF we have an on-road day this year.

I saw Boscov's is having a blow out sale on winter themed tablecloths. Just in case, you know, you want to upgrade.

[OSRC]

I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel here!

Tamiya shims were out of stock everywhere, so some Yokomo and MST shims did the job. I went though everything, even the C-hubs and steering knuckles. Takes forever, but now there is no slop anywhere on this thing. Well worth the time and effort.


Went with the kit TT motor for now.


I dremeled out the recess towards the front of the chassis. There's a slight lip front and rear, and I've found if you grind off that lip, the Tamiya ESC fits perfectly. It does fit if you orient it side to side, but I much prefer it pointing in the right direction.


Got all the wires in...I don't trim them down as I move things from vehicle to vehicle as needed. I did shorten the on/off switch for the ESC, but otherwise just zip-tied everything and called it good. I did add a small wire clamp in the middle of the chassis to keep the wires away from the prop shaft. Eventually I'kk have a BL motor in here, but the TT will certainly do for now.



And onto the body... I used some TL01 body posts out back as I thought they fit the body profile a bit better. Always makes me nervous drilling the body post holes - been doing this for nearly 30 years and can still easily screw this up - especially when there's no dimples! Took my time and got it about as good as it's going to get.


Got the wheels about as centered as I can. The front is off slightly due to the different in WB, though I can certainly live with it.



The tires almost fill the wheelwells. I think it's a bit narrow - pretty common with Tamiya....some fine tuning with some wider hexes should solve the problem.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by OSRC

I saw Boscov's is having a blow out sale on winter themed tablecloths. Just in case, you know, you want to upgrade.

Good! We can put one under your Forsche, or is it Pord, to catch all the oil drips!

Looking forward to seeing it painted.