12 replies to this topic

[Steve Okeefe]

Dawn of Time

By Rick Thigpen

 

I’m going to be building what might be Roger Penske’s first “Unfair Advantage”, the 1962 Zerex Special:

 

 

 

 

The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America had this to say about the car:

 

A wrecked Formula I car transformed into a two-seat sports racer, the Zerex Special met the letter if not the spirit of the law. With it, Penske blitzed the fields at Riverside and Laguna Seca to win the country's premier sports car races of 1962. Coupled with two more victories in Puerto Rico and Nassau, Penske pocketed $34,350 a princely sum by the standards of the day. At the same time, he also pointed the way toward a new era of major-league corporate sponsorship.

 

I think it is a fascinating car. A Google search will yield you more info on it. Now to the slot car version......

 

For this “Dawn of Time” car I’ll be using a Bonner motor. I’m going to be following Bob Braverman’s hop up article in the Oct. 1964 issue of Rod & Custom magazine.  To see the article click here

 

Here is a comparison of the stock motor on the top and the modified motor below. The commutator wrapped with string and the armature epoxied. Then I did a static balance on it;

 

 

Both end plates were opened up for cooling and ball bearings installed:

 

 

 

Here’s the finished “powerhouse”:

 

 

The parts for the build are the Bonner motor, Russkit wheels,  front tires and slant guide, Classis bevel gear set, Dynamic 3/16” OD bearings and Germans for tires. (I’m also going to try a modern silicone reproduction of the Russkit rear tire):

 

 

I made up this motor mounting plate from sheet brass:

 

 

To hold the rear axle inline with the motor armature shaft for a smooth gear mesh I came up with this little gizmo:

 

 

Then I cut rear bearing holding tubes from 7/32” tube and set everything up in the chassis jig. Temporarily I used a bearing on each end of the tube to align it and spacers to position them side to side. The motor mounting plate is screwed to the bottom of the motor and it’s time to start soldering:

 

 

I decided on a space frame out of 1/16” brass tube. It just evolved free form into this:

 

 

The finished chassis:

 

 

 

 

 

These old cars are pretty simple and go together quickly. All the parts are on and we have a finished roller ready for a body:

 

 

 

 

 

To see Rick's 1962 Penske Zerex Special body painting article click here

 

The finished car:

 

 

 

 

 

Swoopy!

 

[rvec]

Hey Rick,

 

The Penske car looks great!  Although, I'm not so interested in cars of the past, I think your renditions look super.  I'd like to invite you over again the next time we have a practice session or just for a one on one.  Bring over samples of the sports cars in lexan/plastic or whatever.  I like the scale bodies and would love to see how the vintage stuff runs. 

 

Below is an image of my hardbody 512

 

 

Rich Vecchio

Electron Raceway

Roseburg, Oregon

[dc-65x]

Thanks for the invitation Rich, that sounds great

[idare2bdul]

The mods on the Bonner are a good idea because in stock form it was the worst motor I ever had. It got hot very quickly and made little power doing it. Nice looking frame, as usual.

[mdiv]

Rick,

I thought I remembered seeing pictures of you working on the motor for this car... but a search on Slotblog has shown nada.  

I recently acquired a cool-looking 1/32 car with a Bonner, and I have two RAM 3/32" ball bearings that I would like to mimic your mods. I thought for sure you did an article with taking it apart, cleaning, cutting, etc.
 
Do you think it would be wise to, once I have the car (it is still en route) and verify it spins, have the magnets zapped as a full motor? I read in an article that the motor you built basically gave out...
 
Thanks for any advice!

Mikey

[SlotStox#53]

Very interesting-looking motor, love the look of the Zerex Special, both real car and the beautiful body that Rick painted.
 
Love that little thing to align the axle to motor shaft, Rick. Looks really cool and I can see it working for just about most frame builds of this nature.

[dc-65x]

I thought I remembered seeing pictures of you working on the motor for this car....but a search on slotblog has shown nada.  

I recently acquired a cool looking 1/32 car with a Bonner, and I have two RAM 3/32 ball bearings that I would like to mimic your mods.  I thought for sure you did an article with taking it apart, cleaning, cutting, etc.
 
Do you think it would be wise to, once I have the car (it is still en route) and verify it spins, have the magnets zapped as a full motor?  I read in an article that the motor you built basically gave out...

 
Hi Mikey,
 
I looked at my original topic, "Dawn of Time..." and it didn't include much about the motor mods. I'll post the entire Bob Braverman motor article here.
 
My motor died because we were zapping it incorrectly. SteveO figured out they need to be zapped top and bottom of the motor and not side to side like a Mabuchi.
 

... Love that little thing to align the axle to motor shaft, Rick. Looks really cool and I can see it working for just about most frame builds of this nature.

 
Paul,
 
It's one handy gizmo. I used it in my six-wheel racer build, too.
 
Here's the R&C Bonner motor Hop Up Article:
 

 

 

 

[HarV Wallbanger III]

Very cool build! Bravo!

[Ramcatlarry]

My two bonner cars were the fastest thing in 1/32 scale in the early 1960's.   Still have some to work on again....

[mdiv]

Thanks Rick!

 

Car is out for delivery today but I have to run to the Dr's.

 

Just wondering for sure which orientation should you zap the motor?  The zapper looks like this:

 

 

Thanks!

Mikey

[Steve Okeefe]

Mike,

 

Here's the drawing I sent Rick some time back.  This illustrates the correct way to zap Bonner motor magnets:

 

 

Because we are so familiar with can motors there is a stong tendency to zap as the RED arrow shows.  This won't actually hurt the motor, but the motor won't run at all (ask Rick). 

 

Zap as the BLUE arrow shows and you will have motor happiness... 

 

The difference in magnet orientation between the Bonner and a can motor (such as Mabuchi) is exactly the same as the difference in brush orientation between the Pittman DC-196 and DC-196A/B.  In each case, the magnet/brush orientation in one motor is rotated 90 degrees compared to the other.

[SlotStox#53]

Wow Mike that's one serious Raceway sized zapper!!!

[mdiv]

Steve:  Perfect information, thank you so much!!

 

Paul: