First, we'll start off with a look at some of the major parts of the TB Evo 6 Chassis Kit.
Here you can see the TB Evo 6 lower deck beside a standard TRF418 lower deck. Obviously the shape differ, but there's more too. While the TRF418 lower deck is 86mm wide the TB Evo 6 one measures 90mm. And while the material looks exactly the same from the top (both also 2.25mm thick), it definitely feels different. So even if the top layer is similar, this is a softer type of carbon used.
Again, the TB Evo 6 upper deck beside a standard 418 upper deck. They are both 2.0mm thick and these appear to be of the same carbon material. Just to make it clear, the 418 and Evo 6 upper decks are turned opposite in the picture so don't get confused by the front/rear shape.
Now, let's look at (imo) the most beautiful part of the TB Evo 6. A fairly complicated part it really is very beautiful with excellent finish and Tamiya blue anodizing. As you can see the front leg that connects to the centre of the chassis is a separate piece keyed to the main part. The motor mount is also surprisingly light.
The front direct drive unit (spool) follows a similar lightweight design to the TRF418 one.
The prop shaft is of course Tamiya blue and with a TB Evo 6 logo etched.
The spur gear holder is a very slim design, here with the very minimalistic main shaft fitted. It followes the similar design of the 418 with a solid axle mounted to the motor mount, while the gear holder itself holds bearings and spins around the axle.
The lightened center shaft and rear input shaft with polished surfaces for the bearings. Should mean a very precise and play free fit.
Aluminium diff joint cups for the rear gear diff. You also get steel bevel gears for the diff (plastic gears also included).
Here you see the carbon reinforced gear cases (54089 Carbon Reinforced A Parts - TB03 (Gear Case)) as well as alu upper deck posts, which mounts to the gear cases to form the mounts for the upper deck. Would have been so nice if alu bulkheads/gear cases had been included with this kit...
The new alu damper stay mounts included front and rear. Although again lighter than it looks there would have been no need for these parts high up with alu bulkheads... :) However, the finish of these parts is just as excellent as all the other aluminium parts of the Evo 6.
With the damper stays being so small they are obviously very light. They are 3.0mm carbon fibre front and rear. Big adjustment range.
The new aluminium/carbon floating servo mount. Since the car har a prop shaft right in the center of the chassis the 418 one can't be used. Although not as rigid as a one-piece item, the part is well designed and executed.
The same part looked at from the bottom. The alu center mount is quite chunky.
The Evo 6 gets 418 steering arms but a new Evo 6 specific steering bridge.
The suspension blocks are of the updated type already introduced on the TRF418, but not yet available with normal 5 digit part numbers. Although very similar and fully compatible with the older type, these have a strengthening rib added at the rear edge. The blocks included are - front; 2 x 1B, rear; 1XB and 1D.
The TB Evo 6 also gets the new caster blocks, or 54580 Carbon Reinforced Hub Carrier (4 Degree). These are a new design which was introduced on the TB04 but now available in a carbon reinforced version. They allow you to remove the driveshafts without disassembly, and also does not use the 0.7mm spacer which was always a pain to install on the old type. They appear to have a very high percentage of carbon and are very stiff compared to the old type.
Some of the damper parts included with the Evo 6. The dampers should be new according to Tamiya product descriptions, but appear to be very similar to the 42273 TRF Short Damper. Yes, there are some small differences but critical measurements appears to be the same. I need to properly measure and compare and will post a follow up on this. One new part though is the new one-piece bushing/rod guide. Large diameter spring holders are included.
The new large diameter springs are included; the medium (black/black) for the rear and hard (black/yellow) for the front. These are now available separately as a set; 42278 Damper Large Diameter Spring Set (TRF).
Classic TB Evolution design stickers included.
Building starts off with the rear gear diff, actually (if memory serves me right) the first sealed, oil-filled gear diff I build. Compared to the TRF418 the housing and complete diff is obviously smaller, which means the internal gears are also smaller and therefore it's probably a good idea steel gears are included. However, you can choose to build it with plastic gears too since they are included. The actual construction also differ slightly, with bushings supporting the joints inside the diff housing. I replaced these with 5x8mm bearings. As always I also used the red o-rings (42259 5mm Gear Differential O-Rings (Red/8pcs.)). The diff is not as smooth when built as on the 418 but let's see how it feels after being run in.
Fully assembled diff. Alu joints are included to be used with the white blades on driveshafts. TRF fluorine sealed bearings are included throughout the car.
This is what the center bulkhead looks with the center transmission parts all mounted. As you can see everything is fairly tight with not much room to spare but it's a beautiful construction. Once completed everything spins freely but you can tell that Evo 6 might be fairly loud out on track, just as expected.
Another view of the center bulkhead mounted to the lower deck. Here you also see the updated suspension mount.
A lot to see in this picture with the rear gearbox now fitted. You can see the aluminium upper deck posts now added to the gearbox to make a solid mounting point for the upper deck. As you can see the H5 ball connectors as used on the TRF418 are also in the Evo 6 kit. Finally you can see the rear input shaft and center shaft meet. The rear input shaft has a simple groove where it meets the center shaft, and obviously power is transfered to the rear axle through the joint.
The Evo gets 418 steering arms but they are turned upside down. The steering posts are specific and finally has a 7mm nut part at the bottom of the alu post for easy installation. The steering bridge is again TB Evo 6 specific with the steering link/ball connector hole offset.
Fully assembled spool. Not much to mention here except that it has the blade-less joints.
Front gearbox added, obviously the same as the rear gearbox.
The TB Evo 6 logoed prop shaft fitted to connect the center and front drive.
Upper deck added. Fit and precision surprisingly good and here you appreciate the alu upper deck posts. The chassis assembly is fairly soft when you try to flex it. Feels right!
Basic TRF418 suspension and roll bars. Perfect fit with no need to trim or shim. The Evo 6 uses the old 42mm swing shafts at the rear - blue aluminium. Rear roll-bar is 1.2mm while the front roll-bar is 1.4mm.
Again, you find the 418 suspension up front. There are a few differences though, as the Evo uses the new caster blocks and also 43mm suspension shafts or hingepins. Standard with the excellent 44mm double joint driveshafts.
The new F Parts or caster blocks allow the driveshaft right through without disassembly. As mentioned in a previous post they are also very stiff in this carbon reinforced version and do away with the 0.7mm spacer. 5mm wide wheel hubs (hexes) are used both front and rear as opposed to the usual 4mm.
I questioned previously if there was any real difference between the Evo 6 dampers and the TRF short dampers previously included on the TB-04 and also available separately, but I found it and yes these hold a bit more oil. I will do a separate post on the dampers later to clear up the differences. The damper shafts included are the ones previously released for the M-chassis TRF spec dampers. The upper dpring retainer is similar to those on the TRF418 with separate surfaces for larger and smaller diameter springs. The lower spring holders included are the large diameter TRF ones (42192 TRF Damper Large Diameter Retainer (4pcs.)) to fit the new large diameter springs included. Again as previously mentioned the rod guide is a new one-piece design replacing the old 2-piece one. Feels solid with good precision, but obviously means you now have to put the o-ring on top of there whereas previously you had the choice to put the spacer or o-ring on top (you could swap their places). I usually have had the spacer on top, then the o-ring below.
Damper stays fitted to their mounts.
Dampers all built up to 57.5mm length (makes them 4mm shorter than original TRF dampers).
Front end ready with steering and servo mount also visible.
Rear end ready.
Right hand side full view with bumper and body posts added.
Final picture of the TB Evo 6 Chassis Kit ready and waiting for electronics to be added. I will return to the kit when those are added and then later for a test report, all within the next couple of weeks.
Easy to install the electric stuff in this car as there's plenty of space.
In the second picture you can see the corner weights and weight distribution of the Evo 6 as it is now, thanks to the SkyRC corner weight system. This is obviously no exact science. But this is how it turned out just building the car and putting it straight on the corner weight system with no extra weight added, spring preload the same left and right etc.
I will do more experiments with this system later, trying to make the conditions the best with a super-even surface etc.
Again, just putting the 418 on the corner weight system after a re-build, this is how it turned out with left and right spring pre-load the same. The 418 has 40g of weight right in the center of the chassis. But as you can see the weight of the cars is about the same with this (Evo 6 is missing a transponder so with that it would be very close to the same). The 418 also has a slightly heavier ESC and a front diff which is havier than the spool in the Evo, which overall means the 418 is considerably lighter as expected.
TB Evo 6 Shakedown
Run the TB Evo 6 for the first time yesterday.
The conditions were a bit tricky but improved throughout the day, and I had the 418 setup with the same components for a comparison. I spent more of the day running the Evo 6 and had the 418 with me more as a reference point. For this test I run 0-timing and 10.5, which is the Pro Stock class here.Both cars I run for the first time on this track.
Based on this first test these are my notes:
- the Evo 6 was better than I expected and handling was good from the start
- as I expected the car is quite loud
- the motor stayed quite cool in the car, this will be partly be because it's sticking out so far that it gets more airflow, but it also means that the drivetrain is fairly free
- no reliability problems, although the servo mount is not as well designed as on the 418, and will move to throw tracking off-center if you hit something hard enough with your front wheels
- the car feels quite easy and safe to drive but with good steering
- the 418 is still the faster car though, proven when I switched back to the 418 late in the day and immediately went quicker - it was 0.1-0.2s faster (if this is the same with both cars perfected I cannot say, but I believe so)(now both cars did not have the perfect setup)
- 418 need a lower deck made out of the same material as the Evo 6 one...
TB Evo 6 Shakedown
I promised in my TB Evo 6 build post that I would post more on the Evo 6 dampers.
At first look it was a bit difficult to see any difference to the already available 42273 TRF Short Dampers with all external measurments appearing the same. However, since there is no part number for some damper parts in the Evo manual and Tamiya have written about big bore dampers in Evo 6 introductions, I figured there has to be a difference. Of course there is one, it just took some measuring to find it since the difference is in the internal measurments of the damper cylinders.
The difference is small though with the inner diameter being just 0.5mm larger on the Evo 6 dampers. Therefore also the pistons are 0.5mm wider. It might seem an insignificant increase, but with the cylinders just a couple of millimeters shorter it means the cylinder volume is very close to the same as in the standard TRF dampers which we find for example on the TRF418.
The shafts included are the TRF M-damper titanium coated ones already available for a couple of years and 2mm shorter than the normal length TRF damper shafts. Overall this makes the dampers 4mm shorter which means they are 57.5mm normally built. Significantly, normal length springs can still be used, which means all normal springs like HPI and Yokomo, as well as the included new 42278 Damper Large Diameter Spring Set (TRF) fit. As can be seen by the completed TB Evo 6 photos, this means the upper spring retainers are only turned about 3 turns on the Evo6 to achieve normal ride heights.
Perhaps we'll see this configuration on the TRF418 cars at the Worlds this year...?
