Clearance cars are my kryptonite. The Tamiya FF04 Evo Black Edition

The most intimidating thing for a writer, is a blank sheet of paper.  

And so i'm terrified. 

Aah, that's a bit better. 

I'm not a fan of FWD. (Front Wheel Drive) Though my car collection would make one think otherwise.  Between the M07, two M05s, MST TCR, MG Evo, and FF03, you'd think I was a fan of FWD.  I'm not.  But FWD ends up being where all the interesting racing happens.  In Mini classes FWD has the consistent lap times, and better braking.  In touring car classes FWD has efficiency bonuses, sometimes weight benefits, and you keep the AWD braking strength. 

I had a sky high goal of getting my FF03 down to some disgustingly low running weight, and while I did end up with a light car, it's not as light as I'd like, and it wasn't exactly competitive.  I think the MST TCR is going to take up that role. 

While cruising the Tamiya USA website, I keep an eye out for the "outlier" car prices.  The FF04 Evo stood out to me.  Special edition parts, special edition colors, all of the high end bits...  for $225. 

The FF04, excepting the three gear transmission, is entirely a modern touring car.  But I think that needs some explanation. 

FWD r/c car racing really started after touring cars became a thing.  And like most of the big classes, started with some crazy decision by execs at Tamiya.  The TA01, a descendant of Tamiyas buggies started the touring car craze.  Being the sort of scale people they are, Tamiya wanted a FWD chassis to put under their FWD bodies.  From this, we got the FF01.  

The FF01 was closely related to the TA01.  And this is going to be a trend with the FWD chassis.  It's a tub, but at the time, so was everything else. 

The FF02 was a M03, with stretched arms, and a longer center chassis spacer.  I'd call it at best, unremarkable. 

The FF03 shared a lot with the TA05, and the TRF418.  That is, the arms, and suspension setup.  The FF03 I've covered in the blog a lot.  But the FF03, in the end, was a narrow plastic tub, that depended a lot on chassis flex for what it did. 

Well the FF04, is a full on double deck touring car.  No excuses given, and evidently, none needed. 

Lets start with the bling.  Check out this carbon:



Isn't that a thing?  I was very impressed with what I pulled out of the box.  speaking of which, the box, was shockingly empty. 



I swear there was an echo in there.

I really miss buying kits that, when you open the box, they feel full.  Even the CRC Gen X 10 I bought with it's tiny box, felt like it was swimming in the packaging.  This had better be worth it.  

The manual, is generic Tamiya.  This is a good thing.  Steps are short enough to not be confusing, and make very few assumptions of the users capability.

So time for a little backstory.  I started this build at about 9pm.  I was in my buddys basement, after making a solid attempt at being a plumber.  Sadly, we were not successful in that endeavor.  I had the car with me, to show it off (as he's got a few cars of his own.)   He bought me a present, and suggested we assemble the car so I could use it.  We'll get to that in a bit. 

Much like the FF03, transmission comes first.  

Look at all those little bits.  They're all completely normal if you've built another touring car.  If not.. why are you starting here?  This is "as good as it gets" in the Tamiya stables.  

And here we run into the problem with a black edition tamiya model.  How do you get any kind of contrast?  Here's the complete transmission.  It seems that the drive-train is half of a XV-01.  When I was done, there was a complete separate transmission case.  

Motor plate, and bumper brace attached.  I think these bits might be FF03 compatible.   Amusingly, the aluminum bumper brace, is a Black Edition only part, and not available any other way.

I really liked how the transmission turned out.  It's very rigid, and even with the extensions, the shock tower is nice a stiff.  

It does look purposeful.  I kinda want to get the aluminum anodized some confusing color.  Like orange, or red.  

This is a modern touring car, so it's got a modern touring car bellcrank.  These parts are all aluminium.  This might be the coolest steering rig I have, that's not on my XRay.

Now it's time to build out the pan.  

I couldn't figure out what felt strange about the steering.  Turns out, I was expecting a drive belt.  That's.. not a thing when you're going with a FWD car.

The rear front suspension is in place, ready for the next bits.  That prsent I was alluding to earlier, got their first use here.  I was given a left handed thread forming tap.  These were the most pleasant turnbuckles I've ever built.  I usually end up with bruised and sore fingertips by the time I'm done building a set for a car.  With thread forming taps for both ends, these are a breeze.

The front arms, with shafts and spacers in place.  It's a lot of spacers.  Between the front and back of the car you get something like 8mm of wheelbase adjustment.  

I love the way touring cars look as they get their arms mounted.  Of note, these are TRF418 arms, I think, which match my TA07, and FF03.. I think.  They're also the carbon arms, straight from the factory, which is nice.  Also, they needed zero fettling to flop around as they should, and to have as little slop as I consider "ok to race".  It all just bolted up, and worked. 

And the transmission and bumper brace.

That tap on the right.  That made everything so much better.  If you've read anything else I've written about building cars, you'll know I talk about buying a M3 thread forming tap.  Building the TA07, it knocked 45 minutes off the build.  Well, as you get to better and better cars, you run into more tapped aluminum, so it's less of a deal.  The $10 for a left hand thread forming tap is a major quality of life improvement.  

The car also came with DCJ's.  (Double Cardan Joints)  Color me impressed. 

And now the cars got knuckles.  

The rear arms are a lot like the front.  

And all the spacers and balls installed.

They bolt on using the usual plastic suspension mounts, with what looks like 3deg of rear toe.  

The rear end is standard touring car material.  Two aluminum bulkheads, joined with the shock tower.

The upper links are on mounts that can be spaced out, giving you upper link length adjustment. 

Here's the whole rear tower assembled.

when you get both ends on a touring car, it really feels "complete".  Defintiely on the easy side of this build.

Links installed.

The shocks installed, servo mount, and top deck.  At this point in the build, I was tired.  It was almost 3am.  so.. I just forgot to take pictures.  The shocks are the large diameter ones, and come with the proper springs.  The car also comes with a rear swaybar, with two strengths of bar.  

My local carpet track is still in flux.  So it will be a while before this sees the track.  It's going to be run in USGT for now.  At least that's my plan. 

The build went really well.  The kit parts were the best I've ever had from Tamiya.  For the $225 I paid, my goodness it was worth the money.  I can't wait to run it properly.