Tamiya Takata Project
Page 2: Upgrades!
The only upgrade I made to this car was to change out the shocks.
The stock CVA shocks are OK, but they tend to leak and I cannot deny
that I also wanted the look of a bit of aluminum. These TRF shocks
are among the best that Tamiya makes. I also bought a set of
medium weight shock oil.
It's amazing how many parts are involved in building a set of
shocks. Many of the parts from the plastic trees you see in the
background go unused, but even so every shock has a body, a lower cap,
an upper cap, a preload ring, a spring, a spring collar, a rod, a rod
end, a piston, a bladder, a foam spacer, 2 E-clips, and a pile of
o-rings. The only plastic part is the rod end because these shocks
even use aluminum spring collars. Very, very nice, and smooth as
silk once built. The pistons have a fluorine coating that really
make them move effortlessly. The kit even comes with low friction
ball ends for the model. The right hand image shows a comparison
with the stock shock. You can see that the new version is slightly
shorter.
Wow, those sure do look nice once installed. The performance on
the road was noticeably better with less bounce and more control over
bumps and around corners.
©2017 Eric Albrecht
