36 replies to this topic

[dc-65x]

The Rod & Custom race series of 1966 is a personal favorite of mine. Of course, this is just my personal opinion as some might think of these cars as "piles" and prefer more modern racers. To each his own .

What I personally enjoy about the R&C cars is their much slower cornering speeds. They jet down the straights for sure but with a 3" track width (2-3/4" for GP cars), 1/2" wide tires, and 1/16" track clearance front and rear, you have to actually drive them through the turns... no punching. Did you ever see Dave McDonald go through Riverside Raceway's turn 6 at full opposite lock in a King Cobra like this?



I have... maybe that's why I love this era.

So, enough babbling, here's the race report:





Check out this beautiful Lola T70:









Two of my personal favorite cars in this race are Mike Steube's:



And the car I'm using as inspiration for my current project, Mike Morrissey's race-winning Lotus 40:





Here are my Pile-O-Parts to get started on a rolling chassis:



Onward...

[dc-65x]

I started out using my Rick's chassis jig and machinist parallels to center the motor and axle bracket:



Then I pre-bent and pre-trimmed all the rails and well the chassis just started going together so nice I just couldn't stop until I finished it in record time (for me anyway):









This is what I'll be using for a motor. A Russkit 23 end bell and can with 1968 Mabuchi armature and magnets:



The 68 Mabuchi runs, in our opinion, like a low power track, early '66 rewind and is pretty reliable. They run fairly cool and their strong magnets (over 600 gauss) mean they have brakes too. I'll epoxy the arm, grind the stack and static balance it. With its red wire it will look the rewind part too.

For the magnets to fit the can you need to flatten these little buggers out. This is my hi-tech solution to the problem. Bugger on the left is flat as a pancake; bugger on the right is ready for squishing. Brass strips keep the can unmarred:



I used the tired and true scribe lines and center punch for the end bell mounting screw holes:



But to drill the holes I used my neato Foredom grinder with quick change hand pieces. The little one with the drill chuck is really handy to use instead of a full size pistol drill:



Time to make the motor............

[endbelldrive]

You had to drive them down the straights too. A lot of old tracks had bumpy straightaways with those darned whoopdeedos ...not to mention funky transitions in and out of some turns. The article mentions the stiffness vs. flexibility philosophy, traction, power, weight distribution etc. Love those old lightweights!

[dc-65x]

Hi Bob,

Yep I forgot about the bumpy straights. I'm spoiled by Eddie's nice smooth tracks .

Here's the armature all spiffed up:



And the motor broken in and ready to install:

[68Caddy]

You are still killing me when I look at your work and the subject matter blows me away. Have to say I feel like I'm visiting a doctor who is going
to preform surgery and you are right Mikes car is sweet.
I waiting for the next installment.

Happy New Year to you

Nesta

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

The arm, I am guessing, is 65/30 which isn't as hot as Cukrus or Stube was running, but good enough. These days I always run a bit softer in the car. Simply, pushing to the limit means a rebuild after every Run.

Good Fun.

Fate

[Jairus]

Very nice motor, painfully vintage including the com!

[dc-65x]

Onward we go. I had the car together last night but when I slipped the body on I remembered why you see all those old pictures of Russkit Lotus 40's with the body bubbled over the guide post........ARG! Mikes body may have the bubble but I don't see it so I ripped the drop arm apart and reworked it with a low profile guide post tube:



This setup fits without bubbling the body. For the combed out braid on Mike's car I used REHco repo Cox super soft braid modified like so:



Here it is installed on a guide modified like Mike's:



The next problem was stretching old Russkit 1/32 scale front tires over 1/24 scale Russkit rims. It felt like the old tires were going to pop in two. Then I tried heavily coating the tires and rims with ZIP Grip and......



..........they just popped right on and even aligned themselves good deal .



Here's the finished roller. The rear tires are still a little oversize. I wait a few days to let them shrink before the final grind:







Time to see how many holes I have to poke in the body to get it mounted right

[Tex]

You and Jairus are building enough "old" cars to have a truly retro/vintage race using '66 rules!

Looks great, Rick.

[tonyp]

Rick, No bubbles for guides or flares until next years series... Beautiful so Far!

[Pablo]

Boy, that was a fast build

Those springs look huge

Sano to the max

[dc-65x]

Thanks gentlemen . I'm on a roll.......well........I've also been on vacation all week . Anyway time to get a body on this puppy. Here we gave an Electric Dreams repop Russkit Lotus 40 body, repop Booth Russkit Lotus 40 interior, original Russkit Decals (I just received some Pattos repops to try first) and original Russkit chrome bits that I paid dearly for on Ebay. The ED body isn't good for much with out the detail pieces:



I got the body mounted and then the same old problem with the interior showed its ugly head. The thing is made for a full sidewinder application and won't fit an inline. Here's a fix that looks pretty good and only takes about 10 minutes. Put a stripped can and end bell in your chassis like this. I used some Teflon tape on the can just to make sure it wouldn't stick to the interior. I'm not sure this is really necessary though:



Tape the interior into the body and force the body onto the chassis. Turn it upside down and apply heat from your soldering iron and



BAM! The interior will mold itself around the motor can:



Here is the modified interior on the left and stock on the right:



Hmmmmm, I run out of other things to do. I guess I have to paint the thing now

[Jairus]

Poor baby....


Actually, don't let me do it as I'll just screw it up!

[tjsguns]

Rick,
You are THE Master! True genius!! Everything I see you build is the finest of its type. No one can re-create the chassis and motors from cars of the 60's like you can. My motors may be fast, but they can't hold a candle to the kind of detail and authenticity you achieve!

[dc-65x]

Thanks Tom but there are many people building beautiful cars out there. Most are just too busy building to post pictures of their projects. Hopefully more builders will join the forum so we can all enjoy their projects together and learn from each other.

[JimR]

Time to see how many holes I have to poke in the body to get it mounted right

Boy, does THAT sound familiar ....

[TSR]

Rick,
the REH "repop braid" is in fact NOS from Cobra...
REH still has a pile of it.
Beautiful job so far on a really neat car.

[dc-65x]

Rick,
the REH "repop braid" is in fact NOS from Cobra...
REH still has a pile of it..............

Thanks Philippe. The fact that the braid is vintage is even better . It's good stuff for old cars.

[TSR]

It is. Especially knowing that the genuine Cox "quick-change' braid is becoming harder and harder to find...

[HarV Wallbanger III]

Nice chassis work Rick! Brings back many old designs.

Thanks Philippe. The fact that the braid is vintage is even better . It's good stuff for old cars.

[dc-65x]

Here's the finished Mike Morrissey - Rod & Custom Series tribute car:



Mike told me he often painted his cars orange so orange it is:







I love wheel inserts :



Russkit's chrome bits just make there bodies pop:





Can't wait to try it at Eddie's

Onward...........

[slotbaker]

Beeyootifulll
Wouldn't be great to see a track full of cars that look that great.
Thanks for taking the time to share.

[One_Track_Mind]

WOW!

Really,really, nice car, Rick.
Simply it.

Only 1 small detail I see missing from your car is a rear view mirror on the dashboard.

[GTPJoe]

Rick,

A beautiful finishing touch to an awesome build.

Yes, orange looks great and it's easy to see and fools others with your speed. When I used to race HO cars I always went with orange to see those liitle things. Other racers would always remark how fast my cars were, of course the timer proved them wrong.

A chassis question: Is the front body mount tube also the hinge tube for the drop arm?

Thanks!!

[Noose]

As always, great job Rick!