Fast Pace Racing

Welcome to the finest indoor RC racing shop in the Bay Area!  Our track is currently the largest at over 900 sq. ft!  Aside from our vast selection of Mini-Z replacement and performance parts (PN, Atomic, Kyosho -- to name a few!), we also carry E-flite helis and parts, and the new MicroCrawler from Losi.  Our customer service is unparalleled in our industry.  You will leave our shop knowing you were completely taken care of -- that's the FPR promise.  Swing by and race your Mini-Z, Xmod, Iwaver, and other on-road 1/24th- 1/28th scale R/C today!

 

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Tj's MR03 latest setup (updated 3.1.10)

Updated: 3.1.2010. Please see bottom of this page.

The best part of not being sponsored by any manufacturer is the fact that I can run whatever works for my driving and not having to worry about promoting something that does not work for me. What I have listed below are parts that works great!

MR03 Set-up (02/23/2010)

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MR03 New Front end... which one to buy?

Ok, it has been two weeks ever since I started receiving email/pm about MR03 front end set up. I couldn't post it just yet because all these new products were coming in almost everyday, its ridiculous!!
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Erratic Steering Movement on idle FIX

Apparently, some of the MR03's have erratic steering movement on idle. Just like video's Part 1 and Part 2 that I posted here. If you have this type of movement on idle or on-throttle, this is not normal. I will show you guys how I was able to fix this erratic movement on both of my cars. Assuming you guys already know how to take the frontend apart.

With the ASF board cover (PCB) and servo cover OFF, remove and two counter sink screw and pull the servo assembly upward using long nose pliers.

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Glueing Front Tire Sidewalls

Why do we glue the sidewalls on the tires? We glue it not because it is  coming off from the rim. If it is, you need to glue the tire onto the rim or use the right wheel offset or stop crashing! lol... j/k  We glue it so that we can lessend the front bite that you get when coming into the corner. Usually, if there's too much front bite, the car traction rolls even if you're smooth with your steering wheel ( I will explain more on my blog later). Glueing is also good for even tire wear for MR03's.

What you'll need:
1. Exacto Knife, pin i.e., paper clip or tooth pick, etc..

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'07 350Z Body Reinforcement

Definitely a good body for racing however, the body is loose when in the car. A slight hit can cause the body to come off or even crack the front clip insert (the sides) and the front bumper/fender. Here, I will show you guys few tips on what you can do to make that body fit on that new MR02/MR03 chassis with no rattle noise and less chance of breaking.

What you'll need:
1. Glue (thin CA glue)
2. A pair of Scissors
3. Exacto Knife or Blade
4. And medical cloth tape <-- this is the secret stuff. ;)

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Left Diff Hub Adjustment

Here I will show you guys how to adjust the left diff hub so that you have a smoother, bind free, zero to minimal play on that rear left diff hub.

First, you'll need the backing paper from the tire tape. Then your allen wrench to tighten the set screw.

With the left wheel out and left diff hub loose, squeeze the paper right in between the left bearing inner raise and left hub. You can try to put a little bit of pressure onto the left hub towards the motor, then tighten the set screw. 

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MR03 STEERING AND THROTTLE GLITCH

MR03 STEERING AND THROTTLE GLITCH
 
First off, Fast Pace Racing would like to thank Doug Graham of PN Racing, an active local driver, for helping us find root cause of the infamous glitch and his willingness to share this in our Mini-Z community. Thanks Doug!
 
As some of you know, a few of us Kyosho Mini-Z MR03 owners are suffering from the “AM” syndrome – also known as the “MR03 glitch”. This glitch is very inconsistent; it comes and goes whenever it wants to. This made it a bit harder to troubleshoot.
 
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How to solder motor wires on the board

I just finished an article on how to fix the glitch for MR03. That being said, I'll make this tut quite simple and straight forward. :)

Before we want to just solder the motor wire on the board but we dont know is that if the wire is not properly soldered, we are actually causing resistance to the motor. Which is something we do not want. This is how you want to solder your motor wire for less resistance.

Apply solder around the motor tabs. More than this MR03 2nd batch solder...

More like this;

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2WD Ball Differential Rebuild (QteQ)

I know we already have tons of "how-to rebuild 2wd diffs" but it is easier for me to tell FPR local drivers to check the site for tutorial rather than telling them, "go to, www.blah-blah-blah.c0m"... if you know what I mean. :)

Tools you need:
-600-1000 grit sand paper (I use 600)
-small flat head screw driver
-2mm lug/lock nut
-1.5mm hex tool
-setup board or flat/even surface
-tweezer
-diff grease (I use AE diff grease)
-x-acto knice
-CA glue
-CA glue accelerator (if you cant wait)
-motor cleaner or rubbing alchohol

Step 1:

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MR02 Basic Set up

Hi Guys,

This is the only car I use when I race. It has a pretty basic set up. I try to keep it as simple as possible... it even has stock 3010's fets on it. ;) Enjoy!

-PN low down white springs
-PN +1 wheel offset front (I just recently started running +1 upfront and it made my car very stable. I switch it to 0 offset from time to time but so far I'm liking the stability I get from this offset so, I'm keeping it for now).
-ATM yellow plastic shim on top
-PN 2x shims bottom knuckle (I forgot the thickness of it but I'll post soon once I find out what it is)
-PN 20 slicks

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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

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PN Double A-ARM Setup

 This is my car with the PN double a-arm set-up.

Front tires: PN 20 slicks or kyosho 30 radials
Rear Tires: PN 6 radials


 

 
 
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Prep before the race

This is to share with you guys on how I prepare my car for race events. I do all the preparation a day before the race.

1. discharge and charger your practice cells (2-4 packs)
2. discharge and charge 2x race packs, bring 2x discharged cells at the race and charge it there.

Both of my practice and race cells are "matched". This is the only reason why I use ice charger. I don't use my ice if my cells are not matched because it false peaks sometimes.

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how much it weigh..?

Concern about how much does these stuff weigh? Well, I'll try to post those items here and if you have request, please let me know and I'll try to post them here as well.

PN 53t spur with center bearing of course: 1.1 grams

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Matched Cells

In this tutorial, I will share how I maintain/matched my batteries. Keep in mind that my race cells are the same as my practice cells. I personally don't have "race" cells...

I do this with 4 sets of same kind cells (total of 16 cells).

First thing I would do is mark down all my cells. I'll number them individually. I would number them and put a date on each cell. You want to use same date cells if you want to do my battery maintance.

As an example, we will use these number for each cell. C5, C6, C7, C8,... C17, C18, C19, C20

*note: I only dicscharge my cells using PN Discharger if I have a race the next day. I don't store my cell after I discharge them. You dont want to do that, you want to keep them with charge if you plan to store them even for couple for days. I keep them to 1.2x volt when I store them.

Step 1:
Discharge them using PN discharger v2.

 

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Motor Wire Route... PN pod v2 94mm wheelbase

PN motor pod is the best pod in the market right now. So if you're still running that Atomic pod... it's time to upgrade.

A lot of the newer drivers don't really pay much attention to those motor wires hitting the body, rubbing on the tires, etc... but guess what? This scale is so small that when that motor wire hits the body, it actually causes a "tweak" feel to the car.

Where do we run the motor wire? Well, anywhere you want as long as it is not too short or too long. Too long like PN70 motor wire and installing the wires without cutting the length. Those wires is what I call, "too long". So you must shorten them. Too short would be less than an inch where you can visibly see the rear end of the car, not even or balance when looking at it from the rear. This can be caused by having a short wire that's already pulling the motor or too short that when it's soldered to the board and the motor, you can see the kink on the motor wire pushing the rear pod on one side. This too is too short. What you want is to have the motor wire away from the disc plate, top shocks, wheels and differential shaft.

This is how I run my motor wire. (+ positive side wire is a bit long but that's because this car was a 98mm setup before...)

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Transponder wire route

Where to run xponder wire aka pig tail.

1. Open the Board Cover and reamer a hole in the front part of the cover.

2. Insert the wire side of the pig tail into the hole.

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2009 PN 2wd Stock Setup

I have been practicing my car with PN regional layout for the past 2 weeks and even had a friend of mine (fast driver) to test the car. Both of us can only do fast lap of 9.41... again, that’s for two weeks. Usually, most of the drivers would drop that time today, then the next day or so they would drop a faster time. Didn't happen to us with my old setup.

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Cheap Body Mount

Tired of having having a body popping out of your car during the practice or race? Sick of taping the body and having a residue after removing the tape? How about having a body that rattles like crazy while driving on the track?Thanks to our friends in Texas for sharing this body mod to us. Simple and effective!

Tools and parts that you'll need:
1. Allen wrench
2. x-acto knife
3. countersunk screw M2x4
4. machine screw m2x8 (you can use countersunk or button head)
5. PN damper plate (it has the shock mount position)
6. Damper post


 

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Loose Front Clip Thread

Sometimes, for some odd reason. My front clip screw just comes off on its own. Could be because it's worn down/loose thread already. To fix this, here's what I do:
 
IMG_0111.jpg picture by Teejay_Cynthia