My 1967 Chaparral 2F

[Ned]

Here are a few pictures of my 1967 Chaparral 2F.







That view above is the one you'll have when racing against this machine !

I don’t know the brand of the slot car body. Got it from Lasp.
To marry the Chaparral body to a standard mag car chassis, I had to remove much of the interior of the body and devise a way to attach the body to the modified chassis. See photo below.



I made the following modifications to the chassis:
I reduced the wheelbase by cutting the frame between the battery compartment and the support for the steering coil and re-connecting the 2 pieces of frame by gluing a plastic plate on top with epoxy. Also relocated PCB (chip) slightly forward and elongated the hole under it. Raised PCB to allow Steering plate (tie rod) to go under the corner of the PCB. See photos below.





I reduced the front track by reducing the width of the front wheels and recessing the wheel hub on the inside.
I reduced the rear tack by reducing the width of the rear wheels, recessing the wheel hub on the inside, relocating the motor slightly toward the midline of the chassis, and notching the frame in front of left rear wheel.
I removed the plastic protrusion on the + end of the battery compartment and plan on using a shorter magnet in the hole.
I removed the plastic protrusion for the - terminal of the compartment and plan on using a shorter magnet in the hole.
I rerouted the wires from the motor to the PCB around the ends of the battery compartment instead of over top of the compartment.

In the photo below, a standard chassis is on the left and the modified one is on the right. You might notice a little dirt on the standard chassis. That’s because my track is located outside. I wonder if these cars would run in the rain? I tried it on a frosty track this morning and it was just too slippery.



Here's the bottom of the modified chassis with the Chaparral body attached.



The body with the wing and 2 mounting magnets weighs 24 grams, twice as much as my painted stock McLaren M8A vac formed body. Nevertheless, it performs very well. The top speed is slightly slower than my fastest car, (which has larger diameter rear wheels) but it handles better than before the modification and the car experiences less front end shimmy now (less oscillation of the entire front end) at high speeds. This was my first modification. It took a lot of time but I'm pleased with the results. Next one will go faster.
If you like detailed, realistic, and well performing cars, it's possible with magracing, the best model car racing system available today, thanks to Wes.

[rex craemer]

wow, very nice ned. but you made yourself much more work as you must. to adjust the lenght, i only cutted the rearaxlebearing and moved the motor. cutting in front of the akku and replace the rc unit was difficult i think. you made new rearaxlebearings too, so if you glued the plasticplates on the original rearaxlehold, you only had to drill the new holes on the right place, in the right lenght, reinstall the motor and thats it. also you had the weight more on the rearwheels. but to install the rc unit higher, and let work the steering under it, is a good trick to reduce the length for very short cars. and yes, more weight dont cost much speed, but make te car handle better. hope it works fine , have much fun with it. regards markus

[Ned]

wow, very nice ned. but you made yourself much more work as you must. to adjust the lenght, i only cutted the rearaxlebearing and moved the motor. cutting in front of the akku and replace the rc unit was difficult i think. you made new rearaxlebearings too, so if you glued the plasticplates on the original rearaxlehold, you only had to drill the new holes on the right place, in the right lenght, reinstall the motor and thats it.

Thanks Markus. You are correct. I'm not sure why I cut the frame in front of the battery compartment instead of behind the compartment or, as you state, just drill new holes for the axle in the plastic plates that are glued to the original rear axle supports. My new rear axle bearings were made by drilling the holes in the plastic plates first. Then gluing them on to the original rearaxlehold with the axle running through the holes in both of the original rear axle supports to assure proper axle alignment. I don't believe I have the needed equipment to precisely drill the holes in the plastic plates after they are glued in place. Also I don't think I have the tools and equipment to cut the original rearaxlebearings off of the frame and gluing them precisely in place. In hindsight, I could have cut the frame between the rear wheels and the battery compartment to shorten the frame enough. That probably would have been easiest for me. Thanks a lot for all of your help.

[rex craemer]

hi ned, if you do it again, make some spacers to find the right place for drilling after gluing. they can easyly built out of wood or plastic, cut an ,,L,, with the right measures , and lay it in the corner at the akku, than drill in the corner of the ,,L,, and if you use the same spacer on the right and on the left, the holes are exactly equal. send my your adress, and i will send you some of the tubes to make the rearaxlebearings longlife. you have seen them here in forum under ,,rearaxlebearing,,. i have a lot of it, and dont use them anymore, because i change the complete rearaxle into ,,slot it,, parts in all my cars. but with original axles they work perfect and you will drive 1000 miles without worn bearings, and much more bad, without wrecking the gears in a short time. you only have to drill the holes a little greater and push them in. i got drillers in 0,1 mm steps and drilled the holes 0,1 mm under. you have to press them with a little violence in the holes. so you get a strong hold without glue. want to see the ferrari.hurry up.

[Ned]

Thanks for the idea about using an "L" shaped spacer for locating the holes. Do you use a drill press to bore these holes or a small handheld rotary tool like a Dremel? If I had a micro milling machine I think drilling holes accurately would be much easier. I have a small workbench drill press, handheld power drill, and a Dremel rotary tool. I would certainly like to receive some of your tubes to make rear axle bearings. I'll send you my address via PM.
I have to finish my Porsche 911, then I'll resume work on the Ferrari 512, probably late this week. Many thanks for your help.

[rex craemer]

drill it with the dremel or something small, so you have a finer hand as with a big drillingmachine. its not hard like iron,

[rex craemer]

cant find the tubes, so i made some for you, hope 40 pieces are enough at this time, so you can tune 20 cars.

[rex craemer]

[rex craemer]

by the way, if anyboby else is interesstet, tell my, its not a big work. less than 10 sec. per piece.

[rex craemer]

ned , you can make the spacer for adjustment in two pieces. first you cut a block in the right high, so you can use it for any car you have to change the lenght. the highness is the same on every car. so you have only to cut a block in the right lenght for every car. i think thats much easyer than building it in one piece.