Car Building Tips & Tricks

Parts

• "Malaysia" "Tyco 2 or 3" Pan Chassis
• "Check mark" front bulkhead
• "4 dot" rear bulkhead
• Stock Tyco Arm
• Matched motor magnets
• Reverse zapped traction magnets
• Protech or Wizzard Silver brush barrels (match depth)
• Wizzard or ScaleAuto Silver brushes
• Slottech .006 Brush springs Prt# 2010
• Stock Tyco pickup shoe springs
• Protech 236 pickup shoes
• Wizzard independent front end set
• Front tires: 380 outside and 370 inside front tires
• Stock tyco rear axle
• SuperG+ 25t crown
• Super G+ 7t pinion- Grey not Black
• Rear tires: Wizzard Procut LLT whites .446
• Tyco Pro guide pin
• Assortment of plastic and metal spacers

Tools

• Pleirs needle nose
• Twisers
• Pin point Oiler
• Pit Box (Plaino Tackle Box)
• Dremel Tool
• Xacto knife
• Wheel press
• Wheel puller
• Pickup shoe cleaner
• Masking Tape
• Super glue

Build Plan

1. Clean chassis with tooth brush and Denatured alcohol
2. Clean bulkheads with same Denatured alcohol
3. Polish/reem/deburr the armature holes in both bulkheads with SimiChrome and a pipe cleaner
4. Reclean bulkheads
5. Select Armature. The arm is completely stock (no balancing, no truing etc.) Check arm for balance with level razor blades in clay block or Tradeship Armature Balancer from Futuretronics.
6. Check Ohm readings across com plates. You want the same reading across all 3 plates. I look for 6.5 or less across each com plate gap.
7. Clean com plates with 2000 grit sandpaper or polish with Simichrome.
8. Polish armature shaft front and rear with Simichrome.
9. Inspect the entire arm for small fibers or hairs and clean with electronic parts cleaner. Make sure the gaps between the com plates are clean.
10. Install bulkheads and arm. No Mags. Spin the arm to make sure it rotates freely. If not try different combinations of bulkheads. What you are doing here is testing the alignment of the holes in the front and rear bulkheads. Two things have an effect on good alignment: the bulkheads themselves and how they sit in your chassis.
11. Clean all mags with electrical parts cleaner
12. Install bulkheads, motor mags(white mag on driver’s side), and armature. Make sure to remove all spacers from armature before installing.
13. Spin armature several times until it centers itself in the magnetic field. Improper spacing forces the arm to run outside the center of your motor mags natural field, which adds resistance.
14. Check gap between the front of the com and front bulkhead. Disassemble and install the appropriate number of spacers to fill that gap. As a rule of thumb for the front I will not go more than .015s. The last spacer next to the bulkhead is a .005 metal spacer. Reassemble check gap.
15. Add spacers to the rear of the arm leaving about .003 to .005 of play. Again having the plastic spacers next to the arm and .005 metal spacers at both ends next to the bulkheads.
16. Clean brush barrels inside and outside with Denatured alcohol and a pipe cleaner. Repeat until pipe cleaner comes out clean. Shoot inside the barrel with electronic parts cleaner. A clean barrel will give the springs good travel.
17. Test: Insert brush springs in the barrels and then tip the barrel upside down. The spring should slide out quickly and smoothly.
18. Clean brush springs with Denatured alcohol
19. Assemble brush barrels with springs and brushes
20. Assemble entire motor unit (Arm, magnets, brush barrels, and pickup shoe springs)
21. Install reverse zapped traction magnets in Midwest configuration (like poles on diagonal from each other in relation to the motor magnets)/li>
22. Install motor unit and a set of pickup shoes
23. Apply oil front and rear and break in at 6 volts for 15 minutes. Breaking in the brushes at low speed is very important. Listen to the motor as it breaks in. You should hear it pick up speed as the brushes get seated. Listen for the sweet high pitched whine. If you break your car in on a stand (which means you are not holding it in your hand) you will want to do so with a battery so you can feel the car for vibrations. Any vibration or extra noise is bad.
24. Run the set up for about 4 minutes absolutely dry at 9 volts
25. Apply valve grinding compound to the pinion and the crown. Run at 9 volts for 5 minutes. Stop, reapply valve grinding compound and run again for 10 minutes. You should be able to hear the mesh improve.
26. Remove axle and pinion from chassis and thoroughly clean both. This is very important because if you leave this compound in place it will destroy the crown and the pinion.
27. Reinstall the axle in the junk motor set up and coat the pinion and crown with Simichrome and run again for 5 minutes. Listen for excess gear noise. If needed repeat step 23 for another 5 minutes.
28. Remove axle and pinion from chassis and thoroughly clean both.
29. With gearing in junk motor, mount tires on the axle and role the axle by hand. It should role smoothly. If not inspect your crown and pinion carefully for bad teeth.
30. Remove axle and pinion from chassis and thoroughly clean both one last time.
31. Apply a small amount of Duralube White grease in the axle seats and install lapped pinion and rear axle/crown in race car with rear tires mounted. Make sure the pinion and crown are set up exactly as they were during break in. I tend to run my mesh on the last third of the pinion.
32. Since I run without a gear boss, proper spacing on the axle between the crown and the chassis is very important. .003 to .005 works well. Too much play and you can wreck your pinion and your crown.
33. Mount front tires on independent front end set. Mark outside hub. Install in chassis with the larger diameter tire on the outside. Wizzard front hubs need to be shaved to fit a Pan Chassis.
34. Take 2 laps to check shoe profile.
35. Take laps at 50% and check rail clearance. On this track the best tire height for my chassis is between 446 and 452.
36. Increase shoe spring tension. I bend the top of the spring back towards the bulkhead. For my oval set up I go with more tension on the outside spring. Test at speed with body on to check handling. Increased tension will give you better speed due to better shoe contact with the track rail but will also decrease handling.
37. Heat Prep - Oil all key points. Run on battery to remove excess oil.
38. Between Heats: Clean tires, oil, clean shoes, coat shoes with Denatured alcohol.