Mini-Z, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer, MR-03, MR-02, MA-010, Forums, News, Pictures, Parts, and Shop - Mini-ZRacer.com
Forums, Mini-Z, MiniZ, Kyosho Mini-Z, Kyosho MiniZ, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer
Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Mini-Z Parts, MiniZ Hop-Ups, MiniZ Parts, Kyosho Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Kyosho Mini-Z Parts, Kyosho MiniZ Hop-Ups, Kyosho MiniZ Parts, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer Hop-Ups, Racer Kyosho Mini-Z Parts
Old 2006.07.13, 01:50 PM   #1
Spoon
DCGTG FET Guy
 
Spoon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 3,444
First Hopups

This question has been asked a thousand times, but the point of this thread is to try to make sure it's not answered ever again. Hopefully...

All new Mini-Z drivers like to know what their first hopups should be. Here are my thoughts, any additional input is welcome. Conflicting opinions openly welcomed.

Phase I - Bare Essentials (Best bang for buck, probably required to make a competitive racer)
  • Tires
  • Bearings
  • Carbon H-plate (MR01/MR02)
  • Damper System

Phase II - Good to have. Helps fine tune handling. Higher Performance.
  • Ball Diff
  • Toe In-Out Rods
  • Camber Knuckles
  • Springs
  • Upgraded motor

Phase III - Durability for Mod Racing and/or Bling
  • alloy motor mount(s)
  • Ti Damper Kits
  • Alloy Knuckles
  • Alloy or Ti Dogbones (MA-010)

For a little more discussion and a couple of links, you can reference the full article on the mini-zracing blog.

Enjoy
Spoon is offline  
Old 2006.07.13, 05:53 PM   #2
soyverde
Hack Job Driver
 
soyverde's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: NoVA
Posts: 604
Hmm, my phase I suggestions would only include tires and rechargeable (NiMH) batteries. Carbon H plates would be a distant third (possibly phase II), as depending on your preferences they may be more for reliability than performance (look at how well chucky does with stock plastic plates). They are typically one of my first upgrades, though. I would put bearings and (non-stock) damper systems in phase two, as I don't consider either particularly necessary to someone starting off.

I would also suggest that a decent digital controller might be useful before any of the stage III items, but then I don't care much for alloy, and that's pretty debatable.
soyverde is offline  
Old 2006.07.13, 06:12 PM   #3
Spoon
DCGTG FET Guy
 
Spoon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 3,444
That's good input. I forgot about the rechargable batteries.
Spoon is offline  
Old 2006.07.13, 07:50 PM   #4
FasterTHANu
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 24
Which Damper system should I use, the one that goes on top or the one that goes down either side? I've seen pics of cars that have both, is that over kill? Also what H plate should I use? Thanks
FasterTHANu is offline  
Old 2006.07.13, 08:48 PM   #5
Spoon
DCGTG FET Guy
 
Spoon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 3,444
Quote:
Originally Posted by FasterTHANu
Which Damper system should I use, the one that goes on top or the one that goes down either side? I've seen pics of cars that have both, is that over kill? Also what H plate should I use? Thanks
I would do a search or start a new thread asking about dampers. If you do start a new thread be sure to post which type of chassis it's on because the dampers are chassis specific. As SoyVerde mentioned though, a damper may be a later upgrade, definitely after tires and batteries.
Spoon is offline  
Old 2006.07.15, 09:04 PM   #6
bermbuster
GF Racing
 
bermbuster's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Metro NYC
Posts: 2,959
your logic is spot on as far as upgrades...im new to mini z s but not RC cars/trucks. What is confusing is the wide range of hop ups and mfgs of them.(partial to kyosho) Now when i buy tires im getting 4 rears or 4 fronts per pack. The cool thing for me is that the 2 cars come with different tires(slicks &treads) and im getting an education from them. So now i need to make sure i get the right combo for the surface I want to run on. What tires work best on RCP track? My plans for now are bearings, tires, and maybe ball diffs. What spare parts do you reccomend we keep in our pit box??? Thanks again for all suggestions.
bermbuster is offline  
Old 2006.07.16, 11:36 AM   #7
Fish
Registered User
 
Fish's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Richmond, BC
Posts: 299
Send a message via MSN to Fish
A lot of people also recommend replacing the stock lugs with nylon threaded ones right away. It'll decrease the chances that your wheels will come off during a race.
__________________
<><

miniRC ca
Fish is offline  
Old 2006.08.03, 02:36 AM   #8
Spoon
DCGTG FET Guy
 
Spoon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 3,444
just bumping this thread to try and get more input. I am going to clean it up and post the FAQ version soon so speak now or forever hold your peace.
Spoon is offline  
Old 2006.08.03, 10:49 PM   #9
HammerZ
Master of Thrash
 
HammerZ's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 4,980
Send a message via MSN to HammerZ
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spoon
Conflicting opinions openly welcomed.

Phase I - Bare Essentials (Best bang for buck, probably required to make a competitive racer)
  • Tires
  • Bearings
  • Carbon H-plate (MR01/MR02)
  • Damper System

Phase II - Good to have. Helps fine tune handling. Higher Performance.
  • Ball Diff
  • Toe In-Out Rods
  • Camber Knuckles
  • Springs
  • Upgraded motor

Phase III - Durability for Mod Racing and/or Bling
  • alloy motor mount(s)
  • Ti Damper Kits
  • Alloy Knuckles
  • Alloy or Ti Dogbones (MA-010)
If anything I would bump the damper system to a phase II. I know some swear up and down on these, I just think you can get by without it for a bare bones car. Metal wheel nuts would fit there nice though, I like to upgrade those with the bearings. They also save headaches later when you are cleaning the car. When you have one car it would work to trick it out with everything, just when you have a few more cars those hopups add up quick. I figure I am doing good to have ball diffs on all my racer chassis.
__________________
HammerZ is offline  
 

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
FS Mini Z F1 with hopups rc_speed Mini-Z Marketplace 1 2008.06.17 04:20 PM
FS: MR015, Radio & HopUps: Ready to Race Drew_Cat Mini-Z Marketplace 0 2008.04.03 12:29 PM
Hopups list.. help me out here Dirtbag Parts and Hop-ups 4 2002.11.05 02:53 PM


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:36 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2011 Mini-ZRacer.com
Mini Inferno Sale - Up to $85 Instant Savings!
Micro-T Hop-Ups
RC18R, M18, Micro RS4, Mini-LST, TamTech-Gear, Minizilla, RC18T, RC18B, RC18MT
shop.tinyrc.com Products

more»
Tiny RC Community News
[03/22/17] MZR was on vacation, didn't... : All kidding aside, the host experienced a bit of a server meltdown last week and efforts to restore the site to a new server took longer than anticipated. The current server is temporary until - more»
[11/25/15] Did You Hear? Our Black... : Hey Racers,
We're getting started a bit early with our Black Friday sale this year.  Generally we're not supporters of retailers opening early on Thanksgiving, but in our case, we're - more»
[06/30/15] shop.tinyrc.com: Have You... : Hey All! Just a quick reminder to everyone that we post all of our shop.tinyrc.com Newletters here on the MZR Forum. If for some reason you miss them in your email inbox, you can always see the - more»
Mini-Z, Mini-Z Racer, MR-02, MA-010
M18, M18T, RC18T, Mini-LST, Mini-T, Micro RS4, XRay, 1/18, 18th scale
XMODS, XMOD, Micro Flight, ZipZaps, ZipZaps SE, Bit Char-G, MicroSizers, TTTT, Plantraco Desktop Rover, SuperSlicks, Digi Q
Mini Inferno, Mini Inferno ST, half EIGHT, 1/16, 16th scale
Epoch, Indoor Racer, 1/43, 43rd scale
E-Savage, eSavage, eZilla, e-Zilla, HPI
Robots, Bots, Bipeds, Wheeled, Manoi, Roomba, NXT, Lego, Hacking
Crawling, Crawlers, Micro, RC, Losi Mini-Rock Crawler, Duratrax Cliff Climber
Kyosho Minium, Caliber 120, Minium Forums
Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Mini-Z Parts, Mini Inferno Hop-Ups, Mini Inferno Parts, M18 Hop-Ups, M18 Parts