I'm really disappointed that we don't see them around: FF Buggies! When I first saw these buggies a few years back (the
Ryuz FF for example), I fell in love with them. They are beautiful, quirky and a comeback into the 2WD scene would make things very interesting! It's not likely this will happen anytime soon as many organisations state in their rules that FF buggies are to be run amongst 4WD buggies.
Anyway, in 2009 I already set myself the task to make a basic FF buggy from a Tamiya FF01, using Tamiya DF01 suspension arms:
http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/inde...howtopic=51668
http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=90871
The goal was to make a conversion without making custom parts. It went rather well and it was absolutely a blast to drive, but of course with a chassis from the early to mid 90's, no slipper clutch and 70mm shocks I wasn't going to get anywhere on a track without the car falling apart.
For a while I just put the idea of making an FF buggy aside. Recently I picked this project back up, but not with the car you see above. I plan to build a new chassis that is ready for testing on the track. The screenshot below shows what I built up this weekend in Solidworks:
The chassis will be based on a TRF201, as I already have one (so they can share the same bulk of spares). The gearbox and front suspension will be taken from a TRF201, the front uprights and caster blocks will come from the DB01/TRF511. The front suspension arms are to be considered as Tamiya's existing buggy arms would make for a front end that's 260mm wide instead of 250mm (plus, the TRF201 driveshafts are about 5-8mm too short on each side with the existing arms). There are a few things which I need to clear up, which are how I'll mount the top end of the shocks and what steering assembly I'm going to use.