| 1: Keep a log book of
all changes you make to each chassis and body. Mark
the chassis with a number system that makes sense to
you so you can track the changes you make to each
chassis. This can be crucial to ensuring you know
whether the changes have been positive or not. Also
it is good to know what parts you have used in each
chassis, especially if you plan on competing in
races, each place has their own set of rules, and
you can be disqualified for not following the rules.
Just forgetting you left hot magnets, or silver
brushes in a chassis could ruin your victory, when a
simple record of each chassis could have ensured you
used a chassis that met the rules.
2: Oil your cars
properly. Too much or too little oil can prevent the
car from running at it's optimum speed. I use the
following methods. I am mostly running tjets, but
I'm sure this can apply to most slot cars.
a) I use a heavy
oil (like old red tjet oil) on the bottom of the
chassis where the armature post sits in the chassis.
Do not apply too much oil here, it's easy to get oil
on the brushes, oily brushes will degrade the
performance of the car A LOT.
b) I use a combination of a light oil like X2C
and a heavy oil like Red Tjet oil, on the gears, I
am pretty generous with the oil in this area, this
helps quiet the chassis and reduces gear friction.
c) I use a very light (x2c) oil where the
axles go through the chassis, where the crown gear
rubs against the chassis and where the rear gear
post meets the chassis.
If you've oiled the
gears and the pinion and the axles and your car
still squeals a bit, it's most likely the crown gear
spot where it rubs against the chassis...
3: Make sure you have
round tires! Many tires are not very round at all.
Carefully pick tires that don't have flat spots on
them. If your racing class allows, true the tires. I
use the spin-sand method. I put the tires (even if
they are fronts) on the rear hubs and hold the car
just above a piece of fine sand paper. Then
accelerate so the tires spin and lower them slowly
to the sandpaper, this will round the tires out
pretty evenly. Make sure your car is level or you'll
have one tire a different diameter than another.
Using a tire gauge or micrometer you should ensure
the two tires are as close to exactly the same size
as possible. Round front and rear tires help a lot
in both acceleration and cornering.
4) Pickup shoe tension
can cause hopping or stuttering. Hopping is
especially notable when you are accelerating. The
car will literally lift and hop as you floor it.
(first check that your front tires are round)
Generally the spring tension is too tight if this
occurs. I take a small pair of diagonal cutters
(dikes) and start by cutting off a half of a ring at
a time. Each spring can be different and you want to
have them both exactly the same. One way to tell if
the springs are different is to carefully eye them
and count the number of rings on each spring, then
also note the height to ensure they are also
stretched the same. Another way to tell is if you
note a ridge developing in one of your pickup shoes,
try cutting a half or full ring off of that spring
and replacing the pickup shoe, or grinding it flat
again with a dremel, and you should notice that with
even properly adjusted pickup shoe springs, the car
will run smoother, handle better, not hop and not
wear the pickup shoes as much. The car rides on
these more than anything, so this is probably one of
the best ways to adjust your car's handles. Now, the
other problem can be caused by cutting too much off
of a spring, or just having a very compressed
spring. If the car stutters, the spring tension may
be to weak. Try taking the pickup springs and
stretching them out a bit. If you can't get that to
work, try replacing the pickup shoe springs with a
brand new pair, with brand new pair, you may end up
needing to start the cutting again if it hops of
course...
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