664 replies to this topic

[Slot Car Rod]

Don, yes I have accumulated lots of Champion jaildoor chassis over the years.  When the slot car world converted to anglewinders, the inlines were almost worthless.

 

The jaildoor Champion chassis work well with modern black foam road race tires.  Drag race tires are way too soft. 

 

The Champion front wheels look great, but they are on the large diameter side.  I like running the chassis with a vintage set of set screw wheels trued on the Hudy tire machine.  The end results are front tires a hair undersized, and less pressure with the front wheels on the track surface.  Guides are firmly planted in the track with guide spacers if needed.  Soft Cox braid or equivalent is a must.  Cox quick change guides work great.  Also, weight added to the drop arms helps with faster cars. Well, that is the Champion jaildoor world according to me.  Thanks for your interest, Don.

 

Rodney

 

[Slot Car Rod]

In the middle of the multi-rod/jaildoor inline chassis era came chassis made with brass strips used for main rails. 

 

I built this brass strip chassis following the Chris Chan Chaparral 2F build article (Model Car & Track December 1967). 

 

A Dynamic Mirage body is used.  Mura rewind power.  Dynamic guide flag.  Riggen drop front axle and front wheels.

 

Rodney

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[Isaac S.]

Don, your questions help me greatly also. 

 

Since I don't have the chassis yet I was wondering if the motor mount accepts a standard 16D endbell. The motors I have seen used was the 26D and the Champion 507 and 517. The EB bearing for the Champion motors is larger than the Mabuchi.

 

You did a great job replicating the brass strip chassis, looks like it could be the original.  

[Martin]

Nice cars Rodney.

Isaac I got the sense the Mirage is an original chassis from way back.To be confirmed?

Rodney has been "resto-biulding" for a long time

[Slot Car Rod]

The Champion bracket for the 16D size motor will fit Mabuchi and Champion endbells.

 

A Champion 16D bracket with bushings, looks to have the upper mounting screw sitting a little low.  A Mabuchi motor will still mount fine.

The Champion endbell does fill up the center bracket hole.  The 16D bracket with axle tubes lines up nicely with the mounting screw.

 

All 26D motors fit the Champion 26D bracket.

 

The red Mirage chassis was built around 10 years ago.  The red paint is Poly-S water based.

 

Rodney

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[Isaac S.]

Thanks, that makes sense. The pictures are great also. 

[Martin]

side note, I have seen and bought the Champion end bells for sale as NOS. I will look at the package and report back if you plan on needing them ?

[Isaac S.]

Got it today and I am 99% sure it is for a 26D but I don't have one to compare it to. I plan to sell the Lil Cuc to make back the money I spent on the chassis and maybe have some extra to get a motor for it. Not to take over your thread Rodney,  but if someone has a Champion 26D (607 or 617 would be preferable) PM me. 

[Jay Guard]

Rodney:

I'm in the process of restoring a Champion 4" tapered jail door chassis exactly as shown in your post #233 of this thread.  Can you tell me what the overall width is at the outside of the body mounts.  I have the proper Champion #285-2 mounts but just wasn't sure of the overall width they used back in the day.

Thanks!

[Isaac S.]

It seems we all have some Champion jail doors!

During my investigation work mine is the 4 1/2"  "stocker" frame (stock #286). This proves that it is for the 26D. I'll show this picture again. Thank god I have a nice stock car body. 

Jay, since the body mounts are off you have the option to build it to the dimensions of the body you plan to mount it on. That is what I plan to do. It seems that people liked to turn these into GP chassis. Is this the one you got-https://www.ebay.com...=p2047675.l2557? I was going to bid but then I got the one I have.

[Slot Car Rod]

Jay, the chassis for the yellow Lotus is a little larger than 2 7/8" wide.

 

Isaac, the 4 1/2" stocker frame with a 26D will be fun to drive.

 

Rodney

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[Jay Guard]

Thanks Rodney, just what I was looking for!

[Slot Car Rod]

Another brass strip chassis.  Note the piano wire main rails along with the brass strips.  Real clean build.  Dubro Honker body.  This one is from the late Mark Manion.

 

Rodney

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[Isaac S.]

Interesting chassis design. Looks very stout. Thanks for showing it. 

[Bill from NH]

Mark built many fine looking cars & chassis. I used to enjoy looking at his vintage collection, which was on Frank Sarkela's website. Was it called "The Back Room" or something similar? 

[TSR]

 

Love the Gulf Mirage. The Revs Institute now has the original car https://revsinstitut...1966-ford-gt40/.

Isaac, Grady Davis' car on display at the Revs Institute is not one of the three "Gulf-Mirage" built, but a standard GT40. The Gulf-Mirage were special Ford GT cars on which a new lower, lighter and more streamlined roof structure was fitted following a design by Len Bailey. The Lancer body of those "Mirage M1", available in 1/24, 1/32 and HO scales, is of that car, which won only one race (in the rain and because other faster cars ran into electrical issues) and proved no better than the standard GT40 while hampering its drivers' head clearance. they was later reconverted into standard GT40s, and again re-reconverted into the low-roof version because they are worth more $$$ this way. Greed is what runs vintage racing cars "transformations" today.

 

[Isaac S.]

Okay, reading it again it makes more sense. I thought it had been converted back but had started as a Mirage as you mentioned. It was just talked about on the website as it was a Gulf entry. 

[Slot Car Rod]

Here are a couple of more Fords.

 

I painted the orange Mk lV back in the day.  The blue Mirage was purchased pretty much as shown (decals and stripes added). 

 

Both chassis are plated.  I have been told Mura marketed them. 

 

Rodney

 

 

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[Slot Car Rod]

Here are a couple of my original slot cars from around 1966-67.

 

The Ferrari F1 is one of the first slot car chassis I scratch built.  The drop arm was made from brass that was narrowed with a file.  I did not own a Dremel tool yet.   The Champion 617 can bearing fell out so little tabs were made to hold the bearing on.

 

The Dynamic Ferrari P4 has a nice production frame.  I do not remember what the brand is.

 

Back then, I favored 26D size motors over 16D motors.  With lots of torque, I found them easy to drive.

 

Both cars were hand painted with Testors TCL paint.

 

Rodney

 

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[Bill from NH]

Those two chassis in post #268 were sold by Mura. I think other companies sold them too. They probably were manufactured in Japan by AYK.   I've seen one without pans for F1/Indy cars, but I don't recall if it was factory, or had been user-modified.

 

I like the chassis on the P4, but have no idea who built it. I just noticed that P4 chassis uses a plate for motor mounting, rather than a U-shaped motor bracket. Classic included such plates with their 26D motors, but yours may have been scratchbuilt by the chassis builder. The motor bracket on your Ferrari F1 appears to be a U-GO Smith item.

[Isaac S.]

The  chassis could be an Auto World "Team Russkit" frame. There are a few similarities but the way the chassis rails are bent back and soldered to the piano wire makes me think it isn't. 

I think the motor bracket on the GP Ferrari is Champion not U-GO. 

[Bill from NH]

Some place on here is a thread discussing these "Type Russkit Team Frames" that took place in the past. If I recall correctly, they were chassis created for Auto World to sell. Rodney can tell us if Champion parts were sold on the West coast in the day.

[Isaac S.]

http://lascm.com/Vin...scale-pro-kits/

[Bill from NH]

Did AW ever advertise  Team Russkit Type Frames for 26D motors? The above link shows one the LASCM has with what looks like a Dynamic bracket. That might mean they used whatever they could get their hands on when building these chassis.

[Isaac S.]

At the bottom left corner of the pic above it talks about a 26D frame.