TOPIC:

Hi Guys,

I found my Manta Ray sitting at my parents house and decided to revive it, I also found my dirt thrasher sitting next to it. Both are completely stock.

As part of this project I plan to rebuild the Manta Ray first and then the Dirt Thrasher, my plan is to eventually get them both running so I can race them with friends and family. I plan to use it on and off road.

So I have done alot of reading on TamiyaBase and come to the following conclusion of parts to buy:

1. Ball Bearing Kit - Which kit do I go for? A rubber or Metal seal? I was looking at the following BB Kit
2. Tamiya 53127 (OP127) Skyline Speed-Tuned Gear Set
3. Tamiya Manta Ray ball diff fo TA02,M05,TL01,FF02 53070
4. GPM Tamiya TA01 Aluminum Modified Main Drive Shaft - 1 Set Blue - Already purchased
5. GPM Tamiya TA01 Aluminum Motor Mount for 16T, 21T Silver - Already purchased

Is there anything else I should add to the list above?

The only thing I am unsure of is what Motor and ESC to go for, I would prefer to go for a Brushless motor. Someone recommended the following Ezrun are they any good and powerful enough? What I want is plenty of top end speed and torque, but I don't want to be constantly breaking internals.

While I decide on what direction I will go, I bought a new battery and charger to get me started since my old batteries leaked, I went for a VENOM 7.2v 5000mah NiMH BATTERY and VENOM Pro Charger. I will eventually purchase LiPo batteries once I get up and running.

Thanks for your advice in advance

Con

1. Ball Bearing Kit - Which kit do I go for? A rubber or Metal seal? I was looking at the following BB Kit
- rubber seal on the wheels and were they make contact to the outside world in the gearbox you can use metal for the rest (its probably easier to get complete rubber set)
2. Tamiya 53127 (OP127) Skyline Speed-Tuned Gear Set
- if you run brushless you dont need that
better get these Tamiya 50529 (that gets rid of the aluminium gears)
3. Tamiya Manta Ray ball diff fo TA02,M05,TL01,FF02 53070
- manta ray ball diff=ta02 diff
4. GPM Tamiya TA01 Aluminum Modified Main Drive Shaft - 1 Set Blue - Already purchased
5. GPM Tamiya TA01 Aluminum Motor Mount for 16T, 21T Silver - Already purchased

get a steel pinion instead of the aluminium one. (RRP's are OK)
and you could get alu 12mm hex, hardened diff shafts 53217/53218 and wheel axles 54048(or use Universal Shafts 53791(GPM makes some same as dt02) to prevent wear.

con139 wrote:

...

The only thing I am unsure of is what Motor and ESC to go for, I would prefer to go for a Brushless motor. Someone recommended the following Ezrun are they any good and powerful enough? What I want is plenty of top end speed and torque, but I don't want to be constantly breaking internals. ...

Welcome on board, Con

I have one of those setups in my Bigwig, with the smallest pinion I could fit & the "punch" setting turned down to minimum it's still very rapid in my back garden ...

Hi Guys,

Thank you for the reply. I will take that advice on board.

In terms of the Ezrun, what combo can I go for that's a bit more crazy?

Maybe the 13T hasn't got what I want now that I have slept on it. Would the following 5.5T suite?

Con

Hi Con, first of all welcome!

I'll start with the the brushless set... a 5.5T will blow up your Manta Ray.
There aren't even that many modern cars that will handle it well.
I would draw the line at a 13.5T myself and even then I expect that to be tricky.

When installing a brushless, I would go for a "half turn" model.
These are always more suitable for off road but will also work fine on road.
A set up that has a "whole turn" is more for on road and thus will not work so well off road.
Since you would like to run both surfaces, the first should be the better choice.

I don't like the EzRuns so much myself. Mostly because they are unsensored and require a lot of set up.
Also heard some stories of them dying out on people unexplainably.
If the budget were there I'd choose an Lrp set up - expensive but brilliant. And world champion.
I was also charmed by the Speed Passion set up recently and thought they were affordable...
Although they are not as cheap as the EzRuns.
Otherwise I'd stick with a high quality brushed motor myself. A 17T for example.

Concerning your other upgrades... I see you did your research. You chose the most effective ones.
When ordering GPM parts, I would also get some alloy front uprights. They are usually a vulnerable spot on the chassis.
Btw - since you're not going for the stock set up, a TA03 ball diff is a bit better design and will also fit.

And I'd go for rubber sealed ball bearings. They keep out the dirt better - especially good for when you go off road.

Good luck with the build - hope to see some pics soon!

Hi Edou,

Thank you for the advice. I will take you advice and not go for anything greater than a 13.5T. I get a little greedy when it comes to power.

Which LRP 13.5T motor do you recommend? Is the LRP Vector K4 13.5T any good?

What would a good ESC be to go along with it?

I will also get a set of the GPM uprights and go for the TA03 ball diff, is the code of the diff 53267 ?

What is a good high torque servo to replace the original as well?

BTW I have been keeping a very close eye on your rebuild as well, pretty impressive, I can only hope mine is half as good as that.

Thanks again

Con

Guys,

I got some pictures.

I am a little concerned about the wood screw holding the dirt thrasher together.

Hi Con, cool you like my Manta Ray project. Hope I'll be able to finish it soon.

First I'd like to mention a detail I forgot about the TA03 ball diff.
Which happens when it's the first one for the car... that is that the diff joints will most likely not match with the dogbones.
So getting a complete set would be a bit wasteful and you'd have to buy an extra set of diff joints with longer cups...
Might be better to get the original diff first ( 53070 ) so you'll have all the parts needed.
If you happen to find a seperate TA03 diff later on, you could place that instead of the original set up.

A high torque servo saver is a very good idea.
Tamiya has one ( 51000 ) but I ordered some by 3Racing to see if they're a good alternative.
They're three times cheaper.

I'll respond more later. Take a look at a suitable Lrp and your cars first...
First glance tells me they're in nice shape.

I've had a look at some of the specs of the Lrp motors.
First of all - the Vector K4 series are a derivitive from the world championship winning X12.
Makes me drewl a little.

tinyurl.com/Lrp-IFMAR-news

For the Manta Ray, I would choose the 17.5T though.
Then again - the parts are easily available so it would be very interesting to see what it would do with a 13.5T brushless.
It will certainly start to show wear... the difference in power is substantial - 175W against 230W.

17.5T Vector X4
13.5T Vector X4

I see that Lrp is not that much available on eBay. They're produced by our neighbour country so we're in luck with that here.
But I will put up some links of suitable ESCs from their site.
If you get a combo like that, I'd certainly have some envy.

Edit :

Lrp allround ESCs

Either one of the first three will do. The blue "A.I. Brushless Reverse Digital" is about 80-90 euro here.
The third one is just awesome (but not cheap) having motor management software for fine tuning.

Btw - might be best to ignore my overcomplication with the TA03 ball diff.
An easier upgrade would be the Manta Ray ball diff with a one piece ball thrust bearing.

Tamiya 53136

That's about as close to a TA03 diff with the original parts...
RcMart is out of stock though but they are available elsewhere.

hy there great car manta ray i have raced mine at club level many times , i did not see these tips on here or if i did i apoligise for not reading correctley .

no 1

but the rear gearbox cover on the top , place a big washer on the right hand side screw at the back , ( page 5 in manual top section screw BA3 on part B6 . powerful motors tend to make this screw pop open making the ideal gear come out of sink so a big washer resolves this .

no 2

rear shock tower part B5 the 2 ba3 screws holding it to the rear gear box will not take much stress from any jumps at speed etc remove them and put a longer bolt through with a nut on each side and this will resolve this .

no 3

i once had the top force and sold it major regret for me , but the manta ray front steering
bar that connects to c4 and c5 is badely designed and will soon make the holes bigger making the wheels have play on the steering , i find bending the ends of bp7 bar resolves this by making the fit tighter .


Good luck and hope this helped