MR03: Bind Free frontend

Hi Guys,

I finally got to drive this MR03 last night! First thing I noticed on the car was the inconsistent pull/drift on one side when on the straight-away.Our current track layout has a chicane in the beginning of the straight-away and when the MR03 is almost at the end of the straight, it sometimes pull to the left. I looked at the frontend and noticed that this frontend is binding badly and that "left pull" I feel is probably coming from one of the binding arm/spring unloading in the end of the straight-away that causing it to pull on one side. So I did what most of us will do... call your bestfriends, Mr. Dremel and Uncle sandpaper. LOL

This is a comparison of polished (right arm) vs stock non-polished (left arm). You can see the left arm is sitting on top because it is not smooth enough to where it should be down.

1. Tools that you'll need:
-dremel
-1/16 philips screw driver
-1500 grit sandpaper
-polishing compound
-kyosho kingpin dry lube
-qtip
-cloth (this case I just used my pit mat aka face towel. hehe...)

2. Remove the two screws that holds the front clip. (this car is already using ti screws but for stock, use regular philips screw driver).

3. Remove the plate with two knobs/nipples that covers/holds the springs using a long nose plier or tweezer.

4. Remove the springs using tweezer.

5. Flip the car over and remove the c-clip from the kingpin by using your finger to push on it.

6. Using the 1/16th philips screw driver, remove the screw that holds the top arm.

7. Pull the pin out.

8. With your finger, pull the top arm out.

9. Then the knuckle.

9. Remove the shim/s that is on the king pin.

10. Push on the kingpin like so (It should pop right off).

11. Insert the kingpin on a dremel.

12. Turn the dremel on and polish it using 1500-2000 grit.

13. Apply polishing compound.

14. Also polish the screw/pin that holds the top arm. This is probably not necessary but I did it anyway since it only took 1min to polish one.

I had to hand polish it using 1/16th philips. I didn't have the right locking tool for my dremel.

with the dremel, you want all the pins to be mirror like finish. Mine was just to remove the paint since I didn't use dremel

15. Insert the knuckle on the kingpin and let it run for about 20-30 seconds at a very low rpm.

16. Apply drops of kyosho dry lube on all the pins.

17. Place the kingpin back on the lower arm. I used my nail to kind of push it in.

18. I spun the kingpin with the dremel for about 20 sec at a very, very low rpm. This is to break the hole in. Make sure to not over do it!

19. Then put everything back together and you should be set!

MR03 Review (10.31.2009).

Ok, so I was finally able to test this car with the bind free frontend and WOW but before we go there, let me just say that we had a race last night that consisted of MR02's with stock frontend and PN A-Arm frontend and their fast times were:

MR02 stock frontend (plastic chassis)= 10.05
MR02 PN frontend= 10.08
MR02 PN frontend= 10.01

That being said, I knew it is still possible to shave couple of tenths in a few days but that is it. I was predicting 9.8's with the MR02 but this has to be race cells, fast motor and full concentration while driving... Right when I put the MR03 on the track, it already did a 10.3X and then on it's 3-4th lap it was already doing 9.9X fast laps and this is on a battery pack that I used from last nights race. Right away, I placed my 750R1 batts on the charger to see how this MR03 will do with a freshly charged packs. When the pack was done, the car has so much speed that I thought I'd loose the steering but it didn't. The car still had the initial steering off-power and on-power steering (this is comparing to MR02 stock frontend)!!! After less than 20 laps on the track with the new pack, the car was dropping hot consistent laps of 9.7-9.8 and dropped a 9.6 fastest lap!!!

I feel that you can throw this car anywhere and still get the steering that you're looking for. Bumpsteer? Not with this frontend. Wandering? Once you get rid of that binding, this car will track straight like how your stock MR02 frontend would. The new electronics made the steering super precise and did I mention that the car was tested on a stock frontend with stock H-plate? Yes sir! Only mod we had on the car were:

ATM titanium Damper Plate
PN Damper disc V2
PN/Kyosho Diff
PN 94-98 pod
PN rear shocks
PN6 rear (radials)
PN20 fronts (slicks)
+1 offset front
+1 offset rear
Atomic USA motor
53/13 64p PN gears
SC430 testbody

everything in the front was pretty much stock except for the wheels and tires.

I don't have an 03 yet (thanks kyosho america!) so I had to borrow my friends car for test and tune. After playing with this car for about 4-6 hours. I must say, there will be a lot of MR02's that will be on ebay shortly.  ;)

Thanks for reading! Dont forget to rate this post. Thank you!