Tamiya M05 Pro Build

July 13, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · by simon

The Tamiya M05 Pro has been built. The ridiculous amount of plastic is indeed ridiculous, as at the end of the build I still seem to have a lot of bits left over!

I’m going to race the M05 at DMCRC, where it will be racing against other M05s, and M03s. With that in mind I built it for carpet racing.

The basic kit goes together okay, and the gearbox is the same inside as the M03. I took the ball diff from my M03, and the carbon shafts, and dropped them in the M05. I also put the CVDs on the front from my M03 too.

The bearings with the M05 seem good enough, a bit greasy, so I flushed that out and re-lubed. The rear of the car got the hardened axles from the M03, as you’re guessing now, I’m basically taking all the nice bits off the M03!

I used a set of Tamiya TRF shocks too, the original ones, some blue ones would be nice, but I don’t tend to have spares of those kicking around, unlike Ed, who has them coming out of his ears. These have a lot of spacers inside, to reduce droop, and they went straight onto the M05, and provided exactly the same ride height, even though the top mount geometry is totally different.

(I didn’t even consider building the clear shocks, they look just stupid, and I’m sure I’d break them before they even got on the car…)

The front anti-roll bar from the M03 fits straight on (with a little trimming of the link to clear the gearbox), but the rear one doesn’t fit at all, the mounting it totally different.

The steering on the M05 is nice, the bump-steer is virtually gone, and the geometry will be better. But, the stock plastics are rubbish in this area, there’s a lot of slop, bending of the ‘rack’ and I’d say as soon as an alloy replacement is available this would be a very god area to upgrade.

(Along with front alloy hubs, which shockingly aren’t included in the Pro kit, even though Tamiya do them as an option! What’s all that about?)

The electrics slot in so neatly at the back, a huge improvement. The received and speed control have plates to sit them on, but I decided to mount them vertically instead, very neat, less plastic.

The battery mounts are totally different, but I didn’t even take them off the sprues, the quick release one went on instead. The servo rod is so long, and too shiny, so I stole the idea of heatshrinking it to make it blend in better.

Body posts are in the same place as the M03, so existing shells drop straight on it. Which is a good thing, seeing as they don’t supply one with the Pro kit.

The verdict? It looks excellent, a general improvement over the M03 in several areas, and I think it will handle a lot flatter and more keen to change direction. Recommended!