Tamiya FF-03 Project

Page 2: FF-03 Upgrade Set

Here are all the parts the come with the FF-03 upgrade set knolled out on my work surface. Everything is carbon or aluminum here.

As I convert my standard FF-03 chassis to the upgraded version, I'm also going to make a few other improvements. Here I am replacing the standard ball differential with a sealed gear differential and using aluminum drive cups. I'm also installing a carbon motor stay, aluminum bumper mount, aluminum motor heat sink plate, and aluminum front upper arm mount. None of these parts came with the upgrade set.

The upgrade set uses twin vertical plates as battery supports which also stiffen the chassis. The battery sits right along the center line just like it does with the plastic chassis (shown for comparison). I had actually installed the assembly in the wrong holes on the chassis in this picture. The whole battery area should be shifted forward. Even so, the battery is further back on the upgraded chassis than on the standard chassis. The carbon "side pods" are platforms for installing the electronics.

Now I can prepare the aluminum suspension bridge and carbon top plate. These parts are shown on the left and came with the upgrade set. Apart from the change to a carbon chassis, the primary difference between the upgrade set and the standard FF-03 is the conversion of the inboard front suspension front lateral to longitudinal. This narrow bridge replaces the much wider one from the original. The aluminum cranks shown on the right are aftermarket upgrades, as is the sway bar.

The aluminum steering parts came with the upgrade set and look really cool. The turnbuckles are reused from the standard chassis. There is a lot of chassis plate in front of the steering because there needs to be room for the motor ahead of the front suspension.

Now the steering can be encapsulated by the suspension bridge and top plate. After that, the front gearbox and motor mount assembly can be installed. The shocks have been reused from the FF-03R as has the entire front suspension assembly.

Here we can take a closer look at the front gearbox and suspension assembly and see that I've added a sway bar. On the right I've added the foam bumper and an upgraded carbon bumper support. Some heat sinks have been added to the motor mount. I've also installed the body posts.

I've added the aluminum suspension mounts myself (they are not part of the upgrade kit). The parts on the right include an aluminum rear bulkhead and a carbon shock tower. Both came with the upgraded model I bought but are not part of the Tamiya upgrade kit. The rear suspension is re-used from the R.

Now I've completed the rear suspension. The aluminum uprights are aftermarket and the TRF shocks are from the R. Note the very wide arc of holes available for the top attachment of the rear shocks.

Here is the completed FF-03 with the Tamiya upgraded chassis installed. Many of the other upgraded parts are from the FF-03 R, but I've added a large number of additional upgrades so this model is actually far beyond what you would normally get with the upgrade kit.

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