TOPIC:

Hello,

I started with RC cars somewhere in the 90's with my brother's TA01 chassis. He allowed me to buy a new body for it, it was a Toyota GT-Four Repsol (58119). At a certain point I came with him in a German toystore, located in the center of Cologne, and I saw the FF01 Renault Clio Williams. This was immediately the car I wanted, since I followed a little bit this crazy car on French and Belgian rally roads. So this was my very first own RC Car: the FF01 Renault Clio Williams. After a few year I sold the car, don't even remember to whom.

Today I wanted get my hands back on this nice little car. So I looked the web for an FF01, which I found for a very decent price.

Here it is:


The wheels on the picture are some I still had on the bench here. The chassis has almost no scratches and really looks good. There are however no options installed or whatsoever...

The idea is to get this car running and use it on racetracks as an FWD Touring Car. I want to be as fast as the current M-chassis cars, which use a Carson Cup Machine. So I'll use the same motor and try to get the same final drive ratio (considering wheel size).

Unfortunately I cannot get my hands on a Clio body, it was available again a few years back, but I missed to boat. So I will look for another small FWD hatchback.

I'll keep you up-to-date with my project.

Welcome on board. The clio is a very good choice. You maybe could find a body on stellamodels. The clio is a small wheelebase ff01. But by turning some pieces of the rear «gearbox» you can have a standard wheelebase and put the 1993 1994 civic body easier available.

Welcome to Tamiyabase HaCo, Nice back story I found a body for you

I should restaure mine. I think that I have a body and rims nib in my mess

andyaus wrote:

Welcome to Tamiyabase HaCo, Nice back story I found a body for you

Ouch! Almost the price of the real one!
However nice project HaCo!

TBH I don't like to pay that much for a body. I found others as well, the price is quite high and the risk of extra costs for importing it is also there. I race all my body's and cars, so they'll get hit for sure...

So I decided to go for the less and less available JAS Motorsport Honda Civic R3. I saw these cars in real live screaming in the high revs and it is a true front wheel drive. So, perfect for my project.

In the mean time I redesigned the upper deck. I actually don't need one (to place electronics), and with the original one I'm not able to fit my shorty's in. I race the Belgian Tamiya Cup and I only use shorty's for this purpose. After printing, and slightly removing some plastic on the chassis itself, the parts come nicely together.


(this image is actually from the first version)



Thanks for your reactions, next update will be about the option parts I will add.

Nice transformation.
For your clio's body, ask to team blue groove. They make nice repro.

I don't think TBG has one, already had a look, you would need to send them one for them to make a mold, but I believe that destroys the original.

Another update on my project...

Some parts arrived. I don't think I ever had so many tuning parts on my previous car, but these days some things just have to be on it, I think, like ball bearings and a proper pinion.



So time for some drivetrain upgrades. The gears actually still looked good, but I replaced the original spur (71T) with the small one (66T) anyway and replaced the gear between the spur and the diff as well. Normally I would not grease the gears for drag reasons, but I actually want this car to last so I added it anyway.


The ball diff was completely opened. I think I read on this forum to replace the ball thrust bearing (Tamiya 53136), so I did.
Compared to the stock one:


The diff was assembled and was quite smooth. It was a long time since I assembled a ball diff again, I used Kyosho ball diff grease since I still had it on my bench.


The Year Racing ball bearing kit (YB0227) felt OK. Cleaned each bearing with brake cleaner, then used the provided oil to lubricate. Unfortunately one bearing size (1260) was wrong, so I had to reorder this one.


Assembled the front gear box, together with the Yeah Racing universal shafts (CC01-015). These are normally for CC-01, but fit in an FF01 as you can see on the image.


I'm still waiting for tires and rims, in the mean time I can start making my body. Also the dampers need proper setup as well.

Keep you up to date