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Noob TC3 resurrection - info needed


optimus

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Hi, I'm a new member and this is my second topic.

Firstly my TC3 intro:

I have an old TC3 that was bought preowned many, many moons ago. I had a Tamiya TL01 at the time and just wanted a car that had better build quality and fiddleability. The local model shop owner (who was also a racer) recommended the TC3 and of course conveniently had one he was selling for someone. So off I went with my new (to me) car. It had a bells and whistles forward only waterproof limitless esc in it and a 12 turn motor. It was rapid compared to the stock TL01 so I went through lower suspension arms at a furious rate while I learned to drive it. I went through a couple body shells too. During this time I also bought a few factory parts for it like a graphite chassis and aluminium driveshafts.

I never joined a club because I preferred to spend it on other things like K Cider and partying but I used the track at Crystal Palace when I could.

I have to say Ioved the car and the way it handled but I didn't love the motor servicing. After a while, life took over from my hobby and I passed the car on to my younger brother who enjoyed using it while smashing even more lower suspension arms for it. Eventually also he became interested in the other distractions of life and so the TC3 was tucked away in its box until it came back to me 6 years ago. I promptly place it into my loft and it stayed there until last week when I decided to buy myself a cheap truggy for bashing after buying my eldest son a pre owned buggy a few weeks earlier. My sons buggy came with some nicads and that got me thinking about the dormant TC3 in my loft so I went and got it to see what state it was in....

Thankfully it was in a half decent condition but it needs a be stripped down, cleaned and oils/grease replaced. It also needs a new rear arm (I have a couple spares). I also found out it needs a new motor cam because one of the screws holding rejoined when I tried to remove it (the tab on the motor that the negative wire was soldered to snapped so I need to rotate the motor to get to the other tabs). A bonus was that while my brother had it, he replaced the esc with a newer improved model.

...so now I'm going to need to get a replacement. In the mean time I soldered the power wires to the other tabs anyway but one wire protrudes quite badly from the cutout in the chassis under the motor. I don't really want to dump the motor yes as the brushes and comm are in fairly lean with little in the way of wear or carbon deposits so I'm going to see if I can attach the wires another way with my uber soldering skillage. If that works I'll use the motor until it dies, then I'll swap it for the brushless setup that came in my truggy (a new brushless setup can go in my truggy because that needs more oomph for the terrain I use it on).

Sorry for the wordy post but I came across this forum the other week and it just reminded me of how much I enjoyed RC. I'll post some pics shortly of the car and the motor cam I need to get hold of.

Is there anywhere that is uk based where I can get spares for the car? Any info will be gratefully received. Cheers.

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572BD5E8-C01B-4915-B6AE-8953324AC7A8.jpg

Motor cam with rounded allen head screw, I'll be needing a new one as I have no way of removing the screw.

2ED5EB0B-2797-4895-BF5E-3C423CBC75A4.jpg

No tabs on this side of the motor! I'll have to figure it out...

470B90CB-7884-45AA-A2DC-6017BB7AF48F.jpg

Soldering the wires to the other side of the motor seemed like a good idea until I noticed the negative wire poking out the bottom of the chassis...

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I may av one of those motor cams left over from my tc3. Il hav a look tonight when im home. You could try superglueing ur allen key into the rounded screw. I also havw a 12x1 motor laying in my toolbox as im now brushless.

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You could also try forcing the allen key/driver in at an angle and giving it a sharp turn anti clockwise to get the initial undoing process started, if you're lucky!

 

Beware though, associated use metric sized screw heads iirc!

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I may av one of those motor cams left over from my tc3. Il hav a look tonight when im home. You could try superglueing ur allen key into the rounded screw. I also havw a 12x1 motor laying in my toolbox as im now brushless.

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A few more pics

3BE1B703-A034-4919-A08B-0B6E9321D1DF.jpg

B5B05388-9580-4840-921F-DA5E763CB98C.jpg

C9AB8136-A742-4F8C-B993-703BB3A6C50A.jpg

The MRT was a proper bit of kit back in the day. Now we have brushless motors and ESC capable of chewing up 14V and spitting it out in the form of silly speeds. Funny how things move on...

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ebay is a good place to look for tc3 parts, or even whole cars if you need any :)

 

I used to own one many years ago, but as times change, so did my car choice.

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An update. Unfortunately the allen dome head did not come out with the superglue trick or me ramming the allen in with brute force. So, I guess that's where the adjustment cam will stay.

I did however have the bright idea of rotating the motor cap 180 degrees.

I realised it wasn't a bright idea when the car behaved erratically and drove backwards bearing in mind the ESC is forward only. It didn't move at all when I reversed the setting on the Tx.

Then I had another great idea. Use another cap from my fried 12T brushed motor. The cap has seen better days but I put it all together (using the brushes from the newer motor) and it actually worked. I can't say I've noticed any difference in performance wether positive or negative because I haven't had a chance to stretch its legs anyway.

8682BA7E-7839-40D1-B3A7-E4548A835631.jpg

DF098A14-2697-451B-B15C-F0BF514D56C5.jpg

Please excuse the soldering. I don't have a solder sucker thing, motor working station or helping hands.

My next issue now is that some of the screws that attach the castor blocks and diff housings have stripped their threads. I'll blame my little bro for that, but yeah, I found this out when replacing a rear suspension arm. Are there any tricks to sorting this issue out? Or is it just a matter of finding the next size up countersunk allen screws? I don't really want to buy any new parts other than bearings or suspension parts because of the age of the car and the fact that diff housings seem to be scarce on the bay.

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  • 3 months later...

A little off topic, but did you know that MRT speed control has launch control?

 

I have it in my Tamiya. Hold brake for around 5 seconds and you'll hear a single beep. Then when you floor the throttle it has full launch control enabled. It proper works, too!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you are still struggling to get a rounded screw out I usually find using the nearest imperial driver a little larger works well

Never did get it off. I sold it as part of a roller the other month. My TC3 is no more....

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A little off topic, but did you know that MRT speed control has launch control?

I have it in my Tamiya. Hold brake for around 5 seconds and you'll hear a single beep. Then when you floor the throttle it has full launch control enabled. It proper works, too!!

You know I completely forgot that it had launch control. Not that it would have been much good to me but it was a great little unit. Well built, compact and never gave me an issue. It even handled 2s lipo but the electrical interference was ridiculous and I didn't have anything to kill the "noise".

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