Kyosho Mini-Z Buggy Brushless MB-010VE 2.0: Aluminum Upgrades and Review

In the last video, we installed the big bore shocks and got them to move freely. Today, let's install more aluminum parts and see how they do. I don't know what it is about red anodized parts. They look so cool. Kyosho produces quite a number of aluminum parts for the buggy.

Let's start with steering. We have MBW027RB steering tie bars in different lengths, and MBW017RB steering knuckles. Last year I already installed MBW018R which are the hub carriers. In my experience, alloy tie bars tend to reduce steering slop at the servo pin, so I'm excited to get it into my buggy. There's a trick to removing the tie bar from the buggy chassis. First, slide the bar all the way to the right. The chassis intentionally leaves an extra notch on this side so that the protruding pin holders of the tie bar can come out.

MBW027RB comes with 5 tie bars in different lengths, including -2 and -1 (toe out), 0 (neutral), +1 and +2 (toe in). In general, front toe in provides more stability, while toe out increases turn in agility. I'm going with -1 (toe out). I don't race or drive in a large space. The buggy is already plenty stable. Keep in mind with metal parts, there are lots of metal-on-metal screws, so use some loctite! For example, I applied loctite on the ball studs on the tie bar. Also, insert the tie bar back to chassis on the right side.

Next up, we have the knuckles to install. Durability-wise, I can see the benefit of holding bearings with metal parts. Note here I put the steering link ball on the inside hole of the knuckle, hoping for more steering angle. This didn't work because the steering link would touch the suspension arm.

MBW015RB is the front shock tower. Yes, it's more rigid than the stock plastic, but if I roll the buggy over, plastic might be better. The blinged out frontend looks great! All the parts have flawless finish and fit perfectly together.

Next, we have the rear shock tower MBW016RB. Note that the aluminum rear shock tower changes the body post too. Instead of a plastic post clipping into the lexan body, it's now dependent on a traditional body clip.

The last aluminum part I have is the front and rear bumpers, MBW029RB. Now, don't get me wrong. I like the red accents and the Kyosho logo there, but rigidity isn't what I'm looking for in a bumper. Perhaps there's something I'm not seeing. Kyosho is generally sensible when it comes to making option parts functional. For example, Kyosho doesn't make alloy suspension arms because it's a bad idea.

Here's the finished product! Because the buggy is seriously already a good performer out of the box, upgrades aren't necessary. These aluminum parts, while awesome to look at, are strictly nice-to-have. Some of them I can see will improve durability. I think the front hub carriers and rear hubs in aluminum should definitely improve durability. I like that the upgraded tie bar can swapped to tune front the toe angle. It also seems to decrease steering play. The aluminum big bore shocks, detailed in an earlier video, improve upon the pretty good stock oil shocks. It's hard to convey over youtube. The dampened suspension action from the big bore is extraordinarily plush. By the way, the tires shown here are the Carisma GT24 rally tires (CIS15639).

The temperature in NYC is getting warmer so some outdoor driving can start happening again. The buggy is so fun to drive. The big bore shocks allow the tires to maintain consistent traction. The extra weight from the metal parts doesn't seem to have any impact.

Another side note is the power efficiency of the Mini-Z Buggy. I need to measure how long I can drive with each set of batteries. It's gotta be well over 30 minutes. It's being efficient while covering ground at a terrifying speed.

Please excuse my sloppy camera work. I recently acquired a phone mount on the transmitter and I need to learn to use it better. Anyway, the buggy looks handsome and drives awesome! This is Sammy and thanks for watching!

Music: "Instructions for Living a Life", Savfk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBasS6PqbMc)