I took a couple of days off work to use up some vacation time. I decided to clean out my closet when I found the box containing my TA02, and the two others I picked up for parts. I decided to start the rebuild.
At first, everything went smoothly. The front and rear gearboxes were assembled with no problems. The suspension went without incident as well. Then, life got in the way, and the rebuild fell by the wayside.
Then, about a week ago, I decided that now was the time to finish the rebuild. I cleaned off my desk so I would have a work station, and pulled the TA02 out of the closet, and continued with the rebuild that started almost two years ago.On the first day, I got to the point that I needed to test and install the electronics.
But, I hit a snag: I didn’t have a battery. After some quick research, I ended up choosing the NiCd pack over a NiMH pack, since I would just be using this for fun. I visited the local hobby shop (I had moved twice since starting the rebuild) only to find out they don’t sell r/c cars. They only sell trains and models. I could have just as easily ordered the battery from Tower, but I didn’t want to wait for it or pay for shipping. I tried Radio Shack on a whim, and sure enough, they had a cheap battery and charger.
Once the battery was charged, I tested the radio equipment, and everything worked fine. I then went to install the servo to find out that the pieces that secure the servo to the car were missing. So, I pulled them off of one of my other broken TA02s.
Things were coming together when I hit another snag: the propeller shaft that I bought was stock. The previous owner of the car upgraded to the short type hard propeller shaft. I looked and looked for one online. It took about a day to find places that still carried TA02 parts. None of them had a shaft.
A guy on eBay had one in his store for $32 + shipping. I didn’t want to pay that much since the car didn’t cost me that much. Plus, his listing expired about a day earlier. So, I kept looking. eTamiya did not have one, nor did any other place that still carried TA02 parts. But, after nearly two days of searching, a place called AsianTees.com in Hong Kong had one. It wasn’t an authentic Tamiya shaft, but it was for the TA02, so I jumped on it. It was $14.90 + $5 shipping.
AsianTees said it would take 10 – 14 days to ship, so I waited. Once it arrived, I began installing it only to find out that despite being marked as a part for a TA02, it was not a TA02 part. It was about 3/4 of an inch too long.
So, I pulled one of the old shafts, including the connectors, off of one of the TA02s I bought for parts and installed it. I don’t know why I didn’t think to do that earlier.
After installing the prop shaft, I assembled the complete chassis, which includes attaching the front and rear gearboxes. I hit another snag. It looks like the person who owned the TA02 before must have had an accident because one of the tie rods had been replaced with a makeshift tie rod. It was a couple of millimeters longer than the other.
I tried, and tried to adjust it, but it would never line up straight. So, I left it with a little bit of toe-in just to test it. I’ll pull one off of one of my other TA02s later.
Everything was assembled and ready to go. I put on the wheels and tested it out. Success! After nearly three years, the TA02 was complete.
Next: Finishing Touches Pt. 1 Previous: Tear Down
