139 replies to this topic

[Tim Wilkins]

Looks like you were running an oval, Greg.

[Cheater]

Yep.

 

That's the wildest chassis I ever built: three-gear sidewinder, trailing arm front suspension, and double-hinged reverse inside floppy pan. Raceway closed before it was fully developed, but there was a lot of promise...

 

Here's a pic of the bottom, just for jollies.

 

[Half Fast]

That is some precision drilling, Mike. 

 

Cheers,

[MSwiss]

That's the wildest chassis I ever built: three-gear sidewinder, trailing arm front suspension, and double-hinged reverse inside floppy pan. Raceway closed before it was fully developed, but there was a lot of promise...

 

Very cool, Greg.

I've always tell people there is more to you than meets the eye. LOL.

[John Gorski]

We had problems way back with the old Red Fox guides. I started by getting rid of the front and rear points on the guide. When they take a direct hit or you drop it on those points it makes the guide snap easier. I round the front and rear points and file edges so they are smooth. File the leading edges all around also.

 

Never broke a guide (don't want to jinkx myself). But it works for me.

 

Here is a picture of the new and old Red Fox guides rounded off. Mike's pin is a great idea.

 

[MSwiss]

I'm still on vacation but I just got confirmation I got a large shipment of guides back in.

I should be back to work on Monday and will start filling the orders for these ASAP.

[Tom Eatherly]

That is very slick. Gonna have to try that myself since the ones I have... uhhhhhhh... didn't come from Chicagoland Raceway.

Jim, do you think those new flags would be much help, if any, on BPR's flat track?

[JimF]

Jim, do you think those new flags would be much help, if any, on BPR's flat track?

 

I have zero idea on that because I have not done head to head testing on any track. They do seem to work well enough and anecdotal evidence seems to be they are an improvement I just can't confirm that. There's a chance that I'll make it down for the flatster race on the 8th and if so, I'll have these on at least some of my cars.

 

As an aside, testing in such a finite range as a tenth is a bit problematic. A track can change that much one way or another in a short time. I can say that I have a wicked new anglewinder that has tested exceptionally well on the diabolical "Yellow Dragon" at FTH. That car has one of these guide flags on board. Don't know one way or t'other if that's the secret on this car but fer sure... the RF guide is staying on.

[MSwiss]

My opinion.

You need the flag. Virtually everyone that has tried one says the performance is better.

I wouldn't worry about a pinned one until you start seeing breakage with them on that track.

[Tom Eatherly]

Good enough, Jim. Hope to see you on the 8th.

[Tom Eatherly]

You need the flag. Virtually everyone that has tried one says the performance is better.

 
Yep, you're probably right.

[JimF]

I'd go with Mikes opinion because he (or his crew) has done the back to back testing that I have not.

 

The general opinions seem to be that the RF guide is faster because of less friction. I'm not really convinced that that is the reason but IAC... consensus is, they be better. For whatever the reason, I'd go with that!!!

[Pat Skeggs]

I got 4 new guides, 3 out of 4 car ran faster. From 4.3 to 4.27, from 4.17 to 4.15 from 4.15 to 4.07, then 4.33 to 4.35. I have crashed with these new guides and have not broken one yet.. But I have not crashed hard head on yet. One thing you must do with these new guides is leave the blades long. I raced Tuesday and my laps were not counting because the flag is longer you need a longer brade to make sure you trigger the lap counter.

[Brinkley47]

I got 4 new guides, 3 out of 4 car ran faster. From 4.3 to 4.27, from 4.17 to 4.15 from 4.15 to 4.07, then 4.33 to 4.35. I have crashed with these new guides and have not broken one yet.. But I have not crashed hard head on yet. One thing you must do with these new guides is leave the blades long. I raced Tuesday and my laps were not counting because the flag is longer you need a longer brade to make sure you trigger the lap counter.

i feel your pain on the counting issue...

[Eddie Fleming]

Pat what kid of lap counter trigger are you using?

[MSwiss]

I had a good question.

I will continue to boil them, like I did for the last 100, or so.

As mentioned, while I'm not sure it will help, I don't think it could hurt, so I boiled all of the new batch that came in while I was on vacation.
 
Anyway, I'll tie myself to the drill press and get all the orders done, ASAP.

 

 

[Pat Skeggs]

I'm not sure Ed, I race at Port Jeff. It could be lap master. Wii B had the same problem and would have Retro Palooza running away. I'm guessing his braids were short also.

[Eddie Fleming]

I got four new guides, three out of four car ran faster. From 4.3 to 4.27, from 4.17 to 4.15 from 4.15 to 4.07, then 4.33 to 4.35. I have crashed with these new guides and have not broken one yet.. But I have not crashed hard head on yet.

 

One thing you must do with these new guides is leave the blades long. I raced Tuesday and my laps were not counting because the flag is longer you need a longer brade to make sure you trigger the lap counter.

 

The first post has leave the blades long so I was trying to figure out what that had to do with it. I should have realized it was braid. 

[MSwiss]

I got four new guides, three out of four car ran faster. From 4.3 to 4.27, from 4.17 to 4.15 from 4.15 to 4.07, then 4.33 to 4.35. I have crashed with these new guides and have not broken one yet.. But I have not crashed hard head on yet.

 

One thing you must do with these new guides is leave the blades long. I raced Tuesday and my laps were not counting because the flag is longer you need a longer brade to make sure you trigger the lap counter.

 

I'm not sure, Ed. I race at Port Jeff. It could be lap master. Wiil B had the same problem and would have RetroPalooza running away. I'm guessing his braids were short also.

Ok, I now get your first post.
 
It's supposed to say "leave the braids long," not "leave the blades long."

[MSwiss]

I made a pretty good dent on the tricky part, the drilling. The mindless stuff, like the pinning and threading, should go pretty quickly.

[gc4895]

"Got four guides and three out of four the car ran faster."

 

So, can you return the slow guide? Is there an exchange program where slow guides can go to be fixed? Maybe these are like sealed motors where there are fast ones and slow ones... you just don't know till you try out the guide. This adds a whole new layer of testing complexity! Now I have to go back and try all my guides on the same car to find the fastest one. Never can test too much.

[Bill from NH]

Maybe some take a longer break-in than others.

[MSwiss]

I don't think Pat got them from me (which is fine).

[MSwiss]

Started pinning them today.
 
That is going well, so I should be able to start shipping some out tomorrow.

 

 

This view, with my drill press light in the background, better shows the internal pinning.

[MSwiss]

I have quite a few orders for these, but I've been getting them out for a few days now.

 

Please feel free to post any feedback in this thread, positive or negative.

 

If a racer does break one, I would appreciate if they detail the severity of the wreck, if not in excruciating detail, at least on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being a whopper of a wreck.