3573 replies to this topic

[don.siegel]

You're very welcome John - us Wildcat fans have to stick together!

Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah!

Don

[havlicek]

You're very welcome John - us Wildcat fans have to stick together!

I'm pretty sure I'll be doing that 60/30 wind in this baby with a set of those magnets we spoke about. To me, that is THE wind for this thing for a non-race application. That should come in around .5-.6 ohm on the full length Mabuchi stack, and with a little endbell protection should be a torquey and super fun motor. In a light/skinny F1 type car geared right, it would go through tires pretty quick

-john

[Alchemist]

I've never seen one of these motors before. What a beautiful motor!

I can understand being excited about a motor from the past that makes your heart beat fast! I'd be super excited to acquire one of the "Hemi" motors with the red endbell and have you rewind it for me John! But understand, I get excited every time I look at the motors you've rewound for me!!

I'm looking forward to seeing what you're going to do with the arm of this motor.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Ernie

[havlicek]

Hi Ernie,

While some of the Mabuchis had different winds (they were sold according to some arbitrary voltage-rating system...like a "9V Motor"), the parts were all the same, and the can color was all that differentiated them. So if you had an FT16D endbell drive motor and were going to rewind it, there was no reason to favor any over another...but as kids that's just what we did. The K&B Wildcat was "it" for me and Don has said he favored them too! Others liked the Russkits especially...but the Classic, Monogram, Cox motors all had their fans among my friends. So seeing this little gem made me think of my "Stingray" bike, my paper route, hanging out under the Throggs Neck Bridge and throwing rocks at rats...all the neat stuff we did

-john

[HarV Wallbanger III]

Hey John.... you are always doing things for me so.... while not a clean example as the one Don sent ya... I have this and I'll send you the setup in your next "care pak".... I know you don't need the vintage rewound arm so I'll keep that for something else and you can have my Wildcat bud....
BTW my "IT" was Classic orange motors.... what else!
Merry Christmas to all vintage hounds out there!

Attached Images

• 

[havlicek]

Not at all necessary Barn, those "care packages" have been pretty neat.

BTW my "IT" was Classic orange motors.... what else!

How's that possible Barn, when everyone knows that "yellow" is a faster color than "orange"?

[Victor Poulin]

John,
What are the differences between the Wildcat and the Bobcat motors?

Vic

Oh almost forgot,
Merry Christmas to everyone, and Happy New Years !!

[havlicek]

Vic...the Wildcat is the FT16D and, surprisingly...the Bobkat is the FT36D. I think, but I'm not sure, that K&B marketed a 13UO as well...but I might be wrong about that and I'm not sure if they had a 26D. If they did have a 26D, I think that one may have been the only non-yellow motor of theirs, but again I'm not sure.

-john

[Kim Lander]

John...you and I have the same love of the K&B motors as you well know....damn thats a beauty.
Ernie...I have a K&B and an old Hemi motor that John refurbed for me....I have them both on my hisory shelf mounted in old Dynamic chassis, ...love the old motors, John ...keep them coming, I love to see them that nice., as a matter fo fact, that particular one is SOOOO nice I might would leave it as is just for old time sake.
Kim

[havlicek]

Hi Kim,

I know what you mean, the motor is almost "too pristine"...but...I gotta be me

-john

PS...seems like the europeans have squirrelled-away a whole bunch of beautiful vintage motors!

[Bill from NH]

K&B's 26D, with a nickel plated can & yellow endbell, was called Jaguar, their 13D, with a yellow can & white endbell, was called Cougar.

[Alchemist]

Hi Kim,

I had to do a search and was fortunate to find the page that John shared a photo with us. Gorgeous motor Kim!! Sir John is a the "diamond motor dealer!!"

I just finished up motor #1 of 5 for Kim Lander...a nice clean Strombecker Hemi. It's a #29 single wind and sounds very very nice...probably about what a period rewind should sound like. With the strong magnets and endbell on these things, I probably could have gone hotter with no problems. Then again, I don't know where you'd get replacement brushes for these things (pencils???) so I stayed on the conservative side. Nice motors .


Next up for my buddy Kim, a Champion 501 to rewind. Shaft is deeply notched, so that one will need a bit more attention.

-john

[havlicek]

K&B's 26D, with a nickel plated can & yellow endbell, was called Jaguar, their 13D, with a yellow can & white endbell, was called Cougar.

Hey thanks Bill. I wasn't sure about either!

-john

[Victor Poulin]

Vic...the Wildcat is the FT16D and, surprisingly...the Bobkat is the FT36D. I think, but I'm not sure, that K&B marketed a 13UO as well...but I might be wrong about that and I'm not sure if they had a 26D. If they did have a 26D, I think that one may have been the only non-yellow motor of theirs, but again I'm not sure.

-john

Thanks John,
I should have picked up on that right away lol. As you can tell I'm still learning about the vintage motors.

Vic

[Kim Lander]

Earnie...some day I will take some pics of all my "History" cars and motors and send you them via e-mail (I havent learned how on this blog yet), John has helped me with some very nice old motors,and a few "ROCKETS" for the TODAY cars. I still love to wind and build as in the old days but no one around here runs the old stuff. I have a shelf with all my old Dynamic chassis and bodies , and an old wire and brass chassis, visitors love to see them and compair to the new cars, John makes the cars look real nice.....Kim

[Champion 507]

The most complete source of Mabuchi and Hemi motor info can be found here:

Can Motor Spotter's Guides

[Alchemist]

Earnie...some day I will take some pics of all my "History" cars and motors and send you them via e-mail (I havent learned how on this blog yet), John has helped me with some very nice old motors,and a few "ROCKETS" for the TODAY cars. I still love to wind and build as in the old days but no one around here runs the old stuff. I have a shelf with all my old Dynamic chassis and bodies , and an old wire and brass chassis, visitors love to see them and compair to the new cars, John makes the cars look real nice.....Kim

Hi Kim,

Whenever you get the opportunity to send those pix, I would really enjoy looking at them. Thank you for your consideration and generosity Kim!

Happy Holidays!

Ernie

[havlicek]

Here's one I haven't run into before. I have a load of motors to send up north and the first one is a Mabuchi FT16D. While the airgap measures fine, no matter what I do, the arm hits the magnets. I then take those same magnets out and install them in another Mabuchi FT16D can and the arm clears fine. I then try them in a third FT16D can and they also clear fine in that one. Here's the kicker...the airgap measures very close to the same in all three cans, yet the arm doesn't clear in the first one, and I mean it really doesn't clear! Obviously something is way out with that can, so into the gahr-bage it went!

-john

[Bill from NH]

That can might just need to be straightened. Dig it out of the garbage, if you still have it, & I'll try if you want.

[Kim Lander]

Can and can bearing out of alinement...put mags in with arm slug and float the bearing while endbll is in place,all should be Kosher after that.If you have a can alinement slug to square the can itself that would also be good.....Kim

[havlicek]

Hi Kim,

Can and can bearing out of alinement

There really is no can/bearing alignment (in the traditional sense) with the Mabuchi caged bushing If the bushing were a fixed type and were out of alignment, I'd more expect the arm to not spin freely than to off-center it so much it hits the magnets with a good airgap...yet the arm would spin perfectly with no magnets installed in the can! I've really never come across this one before, even on some REALLY beat-up Mabuchi cans.

Hi Bill,

That's it for sure, I have a "garbage" bin for parts like this, so I really didn't throw it away...just in the "garbage" Thanks for the kind offer though! I may just take you up on that sometime!

-john

[Pablo]

Some glitches are worth fixing, and others are not.
Sometimes things just don't work no matter what the math or eyeballs say.
John, I have a "junkyard" bin also - I find myself going there all the time looking for bits.

That bad Mab can sounds like an excellent candidate for a drill out, and installation of a BB. Which kind of agrees, and fixes, what Kim said.

[havlicek]

Yep Pablo. If I remove the caged bushing and solder a fixed bushing or a bearing in a slightly "sloppy" hole (here comes the off-color humor!) with a slug to align it, it should come close to being right.

-john

...oh yeah and, 10-4 on the garbage bin. Some of the stuff in mine is better than some of the motors I get for repair sometimes! On the other hand, some people send me motors that are so gorgeous, they look better than new after 50 years hiding somewhere!

[havlicek]

The last of a group of motors headed up to the Great White North for Chris Walker. This one a minty Mabuchi FT36D with Arcos. Chris' instructions were that I could do whatever I wanted, but to keep in mind that the motor will be raced/run hard. One of my favorite winds for these is a #28, this one coming in at precisely .431 ohms per pole (measured at the com). I reamed out a Mura commutator for the larger shaft and "welded" (hard-soldered or brazed...whatever) the connections. These Mabuchi 36D arms always seem to balance right up with not much problem, and this one was no exception:



I wound him a set of springs from .015" wire, soldered the hoods and sleeved the spring posts to complete the package. The motor is awfully smooth and strong running, barely getting warm, and draws about 1 amp. That puts it right "there" for this particular wind as they've come out in the past. It should be a strong runner as well as a reliable motor.

-john

[Alchemist]

I'm excited to see the completed motor John!

Ernie