[Wraith]

Guys and gals,

Now that I have joined an analogue club I have the need to upgrade some cars.

I would like to fit new motors, which is simple enough, but I would also like to upgrade gears and wheels.

I know some makes seem top have their own sizes but I wanted to stick to a single upgrade route of Slot.It parts.

Can anyone confirm if I need to do anything else but buy the wheels and gears for the following makes. I'm thinking items such as axels, bearings etc.

Scalextric
Ninco
Fly
Spirit

Also I keep hearing mention of ball-raced bearings, coming from a R/C background there were always the preferred bearing. I have not however managed to track these items down?

Many thanks in advance

Colin

 

[stoner]

You will have to buy axles and bearings in 2.38mm-3/32 if you want to interchange parts. 3/32 flanged or plain ball bearings are plentyfull, search ebay or google them. they have to be glued in unless you want to pay the slot car manufactures prices. john

 

[mrrc65]

I have ball bearing in a few of my cars, but it is realy no difference in a plastic chassis with tame motors(30k and less). slot it parts are ok, but i prefer NSR., >Motors i prefer NSR and scaleauto and avant slot hurricane.

If club allows Scaleauto wheels with tyre are awsome (pro comp) otherwise nsr ultragrip.
best off luck

PS if you need to lower car, eccentric bushing are available from MB slot and sloting plus.

 

[PeteN]

Fly and Spirit have un-knurled 3/32 axles already, but the Ninco and Scalex will need neew bushings and axles.

 

[MrFlippant]

Does the club not provide rules/specs for each class or series? Unless it's an open class, aka "run what you brung", then there are usually rules that you have to follow to keep things fair.

 

[Screwneck]

Just do one car and then compare the times before and after upgrade. Then carry on altering that car until it's perfect for you. Certainly do not change all your cars in one crazy cashfest feeding frenzy or you will lose sight of real improvements as you'll have no comparative performance base.

The main thing to remember is that lots of people fork out a fortune on metal upgrades with the honest and genuine belief that metal magically makes model cars perform better. It does not necessarily make a difference to all model cars.

Ballrace bearings are a wate of time and money. They are nothing more than a rish kid's luxury that are more demanding of lubrication and more attractive for collecting hair, dust, and muck that needs frequent cleaning. They also do not improve performance. Brass standard bearings are the best, but even chaep nylon Scalex bearings are 100% fantastic and last for years without needing much lubrication.

The main things to change are motors and gear ratios and tyres. If your wheels and gears can take better tyres and motors without changing them then simply keep them. For example, standard Scalex 11:36 SW gears work perfectly fine and you'll get no better performance by upgrading to metal parts unless you change the ratio. Metal parts alone make no difference whatsoever.

Even some metal wheels make no difference whatsoever over modern quality plastic standard parts. Anything older than 2005 might show poorer quality for the brands you mention, but after that most wheels are simply fine.

 

[Bigtone]

You haven't said what sort of track you will be racing on, if it's a routed track the main thing to change is the guide. You will need a longer and deeper guide on a wooden track. I don't think ballraces will make much difference on a plastic car, but if you want to try them go for fully shielded ones. They require no more maintenance that bronze/brass bearings and will last just as long. In a metal chassised car with a high power motor they are essential, some of my cars have had ballraces for over 20 years and are still fine.

 

[300SLR]

Hi Wraith
If you haven't tried this already, it's well worth asking at the club where you aim to race about what upgrades work best (and even which ones are allowed). There are plenty of upgrades and tuning tips are really effective in some conditions and of no benefit in others.

One upgrade that can make a big differance is the tyres.
The right type of tyre for the conditions is important, and that depends on what other guys at the club are using. Some tyres work great if everybody else is using the same type, but don't work properly when some other types of tyre are depositing or removing rubber etc. from the track surface.
Find out what works at the club you race at.

Getting the tyres accurately round is also important when racing without magnet traction (although less so in magnet racing). If you haven't already got a tyre truing machine, its a sound investment.
It's the outside running surface of the tyre when it is on the car that's important, the wheel inside it is much less important.
A tyre truer that does individual wheels is great as long as you don't loose significant accuracy moving the wheel from tyre truer to car. (Set screw metal wheels are good for that)
A tyre truer that takes the whole axle assembly is better if using plastic wheels that cannot be removed /replaced with ease and accuracy.

For the chassis you are talking about (Scalextric, Ninco, Fly, Spirit) don't need motors from very far up the performance spectrum. Indeed they can easily be overpowered and loose more in the corners than is gained on the straights. I doubt ball races will give any significant advantage in that sort of car.

Yes, ballraces are pretty much essential for higher performance slot car motors, particularly at the drive end. In this sort of application, ball races are less demanding of lubrication and last MUCH longer than oilites or plain bronze bearings.

 

[fl_slotter]

Wraith,

Have you considered using an HRS2 chassis - all Slot.It parts you mentioned are in there - just use the body and put the HRS2 chassis under it.

I do believe in the long run it will be a better upgrade and probably cheaper to boot.

 

[zendragon]

Check the website, most of the rules are on there, and you will be able to ask at the club to check them out, for any additions changes that have been made, but standard does mean 'club standard', which can lead to a lot of strange interpretation
Zen

 

[Wraith]

Guys,

Thanks for all the feedback but I don't think I worded my question very well.

I know all the rules and regs as I have just re written the website. I have tyres , truer etc.

I was more questioning how you fit a 3/32 axle, gears and wheels onto a chassis designed to hold a different size axle.

For info the cars are running on Ninco track.

Again, thanks for all the information and suggestions.

 

[mrrc65]

Hi, the easy way is to buy a complete rearaxle (axle,bushing, gear, wheels) from NSR or Slot it. that fits your car.
look at for example at MRE under "spares and tune-up" choose make slot-it, type spares-axels. and see special complete axel sets for different makes, alt the same at pendle.

 

[HAPPY]

Some months ago, I fitted two Scaley Ferraris F 430 with Slot It (axle, pignion, bushing and crown) and Sloting +( wheels) parts (By keeping the original Mabuchi motors). I have to say that they are now slightly slower than my third "standard fitted" F430.

Changing parts isn't as easy and advantageous as I thought (on small track as mine). I suppose that metallic parts need to be grinded for a long time before giving their best...

 

[Savage]

QUOTE (Wraith @ 31 Jul 2012, 00:02) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I was more questioning how you fit a 3/32 axle, gears and wheels onto a chassis designed to hold a different size axle.

Again, thanks for all the information and suggestions.

Slot.It, NSR (among others) do bearings that snap right in, you can then use axles and wheels etc.
A word of warning: NSR 3/32 axles are not quite the same diameter as Slot.It 3/32, so ensure you use the same make bearings, axles, gears and wheels to ensure compatability.
Ninco do do 3/32 upgrade parts for their cars, but are nowhere near as good quality as the likes of the above.
In the case of AW or SW cars, measure the diameter of the spur gear and pinion as different makes do somethimes have different sizes. Slot.It and NSR have this covered.