Hi, I'm getting back into RC after a thirty year break

Back in the early 80s I used to race Associated 1/12 scale and had a Sand Scorcher! Have lurked a bit on this forum, and we're not in Kansas anymore, lol.

This time round I'm getting into it with my 6 year old son. We want to set up a XV01 so that it can run on bumpy car parks, a bit of gravel, and at the local RC club in the dad and son novice class.

Re this last point, I want to ask:

1) How low can the XV01 be lowered? 5mm? And is it easy to adjust the ride height?

2) Can I mount road style rubber or sponge wheels?

3) What other Tamiya bodes fit on the XV01 chassis? Am thinking M05 or TT01 but am not sure.

I read through the other XV01 thread here but these issues didn't pop up, and since I have a specific objective in mind, I thought it reasonable to start a separate post.

Thanks in advance.

RCRetro (and son)

#1 I can only view the manual for the pro, I don't know how much of the stock version is adjustable out of the box, the car does claim to have an adjustable ride height, but not an adjustable droop. Camber and Toe are also easy to adjust on the Pro not sure about the stock.

#2 It uses standard 12mm hex 26mm Touring wheels so Rubber, Drift, Rally, Slicks all fit. I think you should get him a set of racing slicks, and a set of bashers and just swap them out.

#3 All the Tamiya 190mm wide, 257mm wheel base (long) will fit it. M05/6 bodies are 210mm, 225mm & 239mm wheelbase. The 251mm wheel base bodies will not fit, I believe the Golf is one among others.

For what you want, an all purpose basher that's able to race I don't think there's a better option in touring. I'm very torn about what I would use a XV01 for. I think either a TA06 or TB03 would be a better club spec tourer and a DF03Ra would make a better rally car, while for a young kid a TT01 might be the best choice for parking lot action and he can put the thing together himself which I think would be a true source of pride, and he wouldn't be scared to pull it apart to fix it himself.

In theory the XV01 is meant to be the chassis that is a Jack of all Trades and I don't think I've seen a good* review of the thing yet to make that determination. Look up the PDF Manual and give it a read, my only real complaint is it looks heavy for on road touring racing, but you should be fine in a beginner league.

Edit: Just to be clear here when I say a Good review, I mean an informative one not a positive one, that being said the closest thing to a review I saw explained it was a new car from Tamiya.

Well I finally got my xv01 standard kit today.

It has all the tuning options the pro has. Comes with 26mm (wide) Tamiya rally block wheels.

As above, you can fit any 12mm hex 24/26mm (wide) touring type wheels, and the body is 257mm / 190mm wide.

I think you can adjust height, but not in standard form. I think you can add your own grub screws to the holes in the arms to then have adjustable height, I'm not sure yet entirely.

I highly recommend the standard kit. Comes with body and wheels, and the steel adjuster links and ball connecters are far more durable than the pro aluminium ones. Yes it does come with the foam dust covers for the ball joints too. Just add the optional slipper (I got one for mine), and you're good.

Now I'm confused, does anyone know what the pro has going for it? Or are the blue parts it?

Tamiya's site lists the same hop ups and the pro has a list of 105 parts to the kit's 104. Both kits lack an ESC and unless the kit is a standard motor and the pro the BZ I don't know why you would get it.

I have found out what the pro has going for it based on a build up at RC soup.

It comes with a set of TRF shocks, 2 pairs of Universal Shafts.
I don't know what Universal shafts it uses, they have a 44 written on them. I'm estimating $20 for a pair and $50 for the TRF shocks adds up to $90 for $50 more on the sticker price, your required to bring your own Body, Motor and Esc.

And you need to bring your own Esc for the Normal anyway.

(Yes I left out Servo, but no Tamiya kit I know of comes with a Servo only the pre-builts.)

I have both pdf manuals.

Pro also has aluminium ball nuts, ball studs and upgraded low friction ball joint connectors. Also aluminium motor plate and aluminium turn buckle shafts. Also a high torque servo saver. And trf suspension balls (50994).

Plus some building differences;

Page 6 step 7, the pro has long ball studs that screw into part k2, standard uses ball nuts on 12mm grub screws.

That's all I can see for now actually. Don't know why they bothered. Either kit requires the slipper clutch to gain 48p pinion compatibility.

Hey guys, thanks for all the comments.

Very useful, especially Dknight's first post. That's exactly what I want the XV for - some real world fun on bumpy asphalt and the occasional novice race at the track. Also some capability on wet roads without puddles. If my son really takes to racing, I can always upgrade to a TAO5 later.

I'll just stick with the stock kit, though I might get a proper Subaru body on it, i.e. the old school 'bug eye' from 2000 with gold wheels, yeah!

I should have said that we just got an ECX Ruckus which is great for backyard bashing. So I think the XV will complement that nicely.

The biggest upside really (aside from reliving my childhood) is bonding with my son

It's hard to see the difference in the manual.

So beside all those bits being aluminium are the normal kits metal?

The slipper Clutch is a part they expect to sell lots of, I guess that means it will never be in a kit. Tamiya often have that one part that should be in a pro kit but never is.

Ride height is easily lowered. Tamiya shocks come with internal limiters you can install in the shocks - 2 and 5mm. Should still have plenty of movement on the shocks.

Yes, they're all coated steel. I'm almost finished the build. I'm up to trying to fandangle my esc in (hpi sc15wp). There are lots of included shims/spacers that arn't actually used. The only real major problem I had was the 2nd diff I put together. The first was smooth as, the 2nd had a "catch" in it when spun. I ended up taking it apart a couple of times and making sure all of the gears were trimmed absolutely flat. It ended up being a hard shaved off bit was stuck in the teeth of one of the gears. Grr. Flicked it out with the scalpel, and the diff is now smooth as. So pro tip, make sure they are all clean after you trim them all.



For the ride height, I never bothered making the shocks in the kit, I put on a spare set of eagle racing blue aluminium shocks I have, and the arms are riding high off the limiters, especially on the rear. Looks like there is plenty of height gain to be made.

And yea, The holes on the arms can indeed take a long screw for adjustment.