38 replies to this topic

[don.siegel]

Bob, 

 

When I first started vintage slots over 20 years ago here, there were a couple guys who loved the K&B Challenger motors and they probably tried out over a dozen of them, mostly the Super variety. They said that performance was very unequal, but the best were actually pretty fast. And like I said above, some were close in speed to a middling 36D... 

 

Of course, when evaluating the speed of 50 year old motors, all bets are off! And we didn't have a rezapper either, still don't come to think of it! 

 

Don 

[havlicek]

John,

 

So did you ever  try to make that K&B motor hot? (I know there are 2 versions.) Maybe do one now and see what magic you you could extract from it?

 

I had the Ford GT40 K&B which I ran in junior league events on short tracks.

 

 

Never did.  Honestly (and I guess like most other kids), I was taken with the can motors as they had a lot more "potential".  I really don't even remember much racing that didn't involve Mabuchis of one sort or another.

 

-john

[Michael Rigsby]

Ditto what John said.

 

Though I am intrigued by the padlock motors, and they were still around for a little while when I got into the hobby in the very early 60's, my first slot cars were all Mabuchi motored.  Even when the hot thing for a little while was spending beaucoup bucks to build a rewound Globe, I stuck with Mabuchi motors and literally got some of the first "good" rewound arms to expand my racing program and be more competitive.

 

I like looking at all the pics of the old padlock motors, and seeing the builds that you guys do with them, but even as a kid, the one's I did see were mostly on a display in a case. Heck even my first home race set, a Marx road course with birdcage Maseratis for cars had Mabuchi motors. I guess this is one part of the slot car history class that I just missed experiencing firsthand.

 

I do like the looks of that chassis, Mike.  Is that plated piano wire, or is it stainless steel??? It looks very, very clean for its age.

[Lone Wolf]

In fact, John H. rewound a Super Challenger arm for me. I installed it in my Proxy entry and the motor ran great. Here it is in case you have not seen it before. A ton of work went into this one. One limitation of these motors is the limited gear ratio/rear axle set up options. I installed Weldun 64 pitch gears on my as an experiment. 

 

Here is possibly the only rewound Super Challenger '33 Willy's, Ronald McDonald piloted drag cars out there 

 

 

 

[don.siegel]

Did you rezap the motor too Joe? Had forgotten this was rewound.... 

 

In fact, K&B offered a bunch of different axle/gear ratio combos, but they're not always easy to find! I think the stock is something like 2.67:1, then they have 3.4 and 4.5 from what I remember offhand. 

 

They also did a Super Challenger conversion kit, to convert the regular Challenger motors, with a 6V arm and the new endbell... picked up a couple of those on ebay a few years ago and should have gotten more! The brushes and springs are hard to find, and often missing in these motors! But they must have sold a lot of them, given how many we see on ebay. Like the Pittman DC704 family, any motor with built-in gears is a lot more attractive to first-time scratch-builders. 

 

Like above, altho I grew up reading about the Pittman style motors and believing they were the only "real" powerplants, by the time I was doing any serious racing, it was all Can! And those are the ones I really worked on... never had a chance to use any of the padlock style motors at the time, just the odd Dyno-Charger, RP66 and Scuttler... but cans quickly seemed a lot cheaper and faster! The Pittcan was the best of both worlds, but never used one of those either at the time - but bought one in 1974 after I finished college, which must mean something - a DC65 too, come to think of it... 

 

Don 

[hiline2]

So ! how does "Ronald" run !!!

 

There are a few sets of the K&B gear conversion sets on ebay..

[MSwiss]

I do like the looks of that chassis, Mike.  Is that plated piano wire, or is it stainless steel??? It looks very, very clean for its age.

Not sure if it's piano wire, but's it's plated.

Same kind of finish like my Riggen anglewinder chassis from back in the day,
which IIRC, was made by AYK in Japan.

This chassis might of also been built by them.

[Lone Wolf]

Don, never got to zap it due to time limitations. I only took one side plate off to try to retain the "charge". K&B claims in their instructions this is OK. I'm pretty sure a zap wouldn't hurt but who's to say on these motors until someone actually does it and tests the results. I agree, brush hardware very hard to find.

 

Paul, bit of a touchy subject on what she actually ran that I will not elaborate on here.

 

So far only two runs under her belt with a 1.6 best.

 

I think she has a little more in er'.

[hiline2]

Hey  she ran better then my #3 in the Proxy ! Ask Gator B!!

[Gator Bob]

Ditto what John said.

 

..... my first slot cars were all Mabuchi motored.   

 

Ditto in 1/24 but 1/32 Atlas came first so I guess I started with open frame motors first.   

 

I like looking at all the pics of the old padlock motors........

 

Eye Candy - Sunglasses recommended.  

 

 

I guess this is one part of the slot car history class that I just missed experiencing firsthand.

 

Good news, it's not to late.   

 

 

I do like the looks of that chassis, Mike.  Is that plated piano wire, or is it stainless steel??? It looks very, very clean for its age.

 

Pretty sure its brass

[Gary Bluestone]

The challenger motor in 1/32 cars is great. The magnets have to be strong to get any performance at all. We race the Aurora , K&B cars in their own class  just to be fair, but generally they will out perform most other classes. The Aurora brand RTR was supplied with the sets, while the K&B were kit cars The 1/32 motor case has the axle hole in a different height then the 1/24 version . I once tried a swap, but the motor was too low and hitting the track. We also have a class for 1/25,1/24 K&B cars(they made both) and they are generally slower than the 36d powered classes, however I built a Lola T70 with a NOS Super Challenger and Cox wheels and tires and it will easily beat the Cox sidewinders, and just about everything, on our track.

K&B made 3 different chrome tube dragsters, one with the upper roll cage, one with only the lower part and one with a triangle cage marketed as 1/32.

[don.siegel]

Thanks Gary - have you also noticed that the 1/32 cars have a nice magnetraction effect on Carrera track? 

 

In fact, which type of track are your running on? A number of years ago, the K&B cars seemed to be competitive, but now a lot of the guys use Atlas AT206 motors with the ball bearings, or 16Ds and they seem to be much faster - but we've got a relatively high-speed course in Bordo, with one long straight... 

 

Don 

[Gary Bluestone]

We are still using old Strombecker track,not the stapled version .,, 4 lanes,66 feet per lap, 11 or 12 ft. straights, , . Never noticed the K&B cars having any magnatraction but my competitors were complaining that my Atlas (Auto World) F1 Brm was out running them due to it's magnatraction and they were right. Maybe it's time to bring out the 1/32 Atlas Porsche 904 to see if it is competitive. All of our K&B Aurora 1/32 cars are running EJ's tires except one GTO which has silicones and is probably disqualified from competing .

[MSwiss]

   Received it promptly, on Wednesday, 48 hrs. after I bought it.

It's cool.

To be honest, maybe not $95 cool.lol

 

 

Just checkin' out the gear train on this baby, I bought today.

 

Assuming it moves at all, IMO, definitely $19.97 cool.

 

9 inches long and "STANDS UP ON ITS OWN".

 

Sounds familiar.