[KensRedZed]

A few friends recently acquired an aluminum chassis. Here's a step by step on how I fumble through a typical assembly.

Part 1: Installing the body to the chassis.

Glue the hood in place. I paint the body. Some people prefer to paint it after installing the body posts. Less chance of damage from handling. But, I have no patience.

   
   

Glue and true the tires to the diameter written on the chassis.
Press the bearings in by hand.
Install the axles in one front and rear wheel flush to the edge of the axle.

Now you'll need to guess on how many axle spacers it will take until the tires barely touch the inside of the body on all four corners. It will take a few tries to get the spacing just right. Too loose and the body falls off the chassis. Too tight, and the body will flex/break apart. Or, unglue the tires by force.

I have a drawer filled with various sizes of axle spacers from 0.06mm to 4mm.

This chassis required 11.15mm axle spacers in the front, and 11.88mm at the rear to create a snug fit to the body.

   

Here's the body sitting on the bare chassis. If I pick up the body. The chassis comes with it as one piece. I can set the ride height, etc.

   

Once I'm happy with how the car sits. I insert a toothpick through the body post hole and measure it to get a close guess on the post length. The Charger came out to 28mm front, and 29mm rear.

Install the body posts to the chassis and do a dry test. If all looks good, you can start preparing the body and posts for the epoxy.

   

Note the area where the posts sit in the body and scrape the paint off. Then use a sharp blade to make X-cuts in the plastic where the epoxy will be applied.

I also sand/rough up the end of the body post by hand. It helps the epoxy stick.

   
   

Then while the posts are still attached to the chassis. Apply epoxy to the inside of the body and on the posts. Make sure a small dab of epoxy goes into the posts. Quickly set the chassis into the body allowing the tires to center everything. You can adjust the chassis to make sure it's square, and that the tires line up with the wheel wells. Gently hold it together, and check it several times. Allowing the epoxy to harden while upside down to create a better glue fillet.

Ten minutes later, the 5-minute epoxy has hardened.

   

Now remove 1.15mm spacers from each corner of the front axle, and 1.88mm spacers from each corner of the rear axle. The tires have clearance, and body is square to the chassis. The end result is 10mm of axle spacers on all four corners.

Now that the chassis is at it's final and proper width. I can measure the axles to see how much to cut off each axle. The back end of a set of calipers do the job well.

   

Body installed on the rolling chassis. Axles cut.

   

This was the build sheet.

   

Motor and guide installation is next.

Thank you for looking,
Ken

[ScorpiusWireless]

I love a good R/T.
Black is my favourite colour.

I had an Aussie 1971 R/T 6 pack Charger like this. One of the best muscle cars I ever owned. 
Triple Webbers, one barrel per cylinder, closet thing to injection.
13.9 quarters. Not bad for a 19 year old. 
   

[KensRedZed]

Your car looks great!

If the grocery store was only 1/4 mile away. You could get milk, butter, and bread in just 13-seconds. And be back in 26-seconds.   

[ScorpiusWireless]

Funny story on that.
I lived at the end of a long straight road. I took off from a set of stop signs roughly 1/2 mile from home. Absolutely hammered it. 
Pulled up in driveway and went inside. 2 seconds later a cop in a Highway Patrol, a Holden Commodore pulled up.
I went outside to investigate and he said “Jesus what’s in that, I couldn’t catch you”. I pulled the bonnet and he was super impressed. I asked what was in his and he went on to tell me the cops swapped the 308 Holden donk for a 350 cubic inch Chev motor. I asked could I have a look, so he showed me. We talked cars for 20 minutes and he drove off happily, no ticket. 
Unfortunately I lost any photos of it when I moved out of home. So that’s one I got online, but mine was identical. And mint condition.
Here’s a publicity shot by
Chrysler Australia. They are a 4.3L (264 c.i,) inline 6 tuned by Weber in Italy. 
Mine was dyno tuned by Peter Brocks mechanic in 1983. Sold it to buy a house. Big mistake. 

https://primotipo.com/tag/valiant-charger-r-t-e49/

   

[KensRedZed]

Part 2: Motor installation.

The spur is a 38T x 19mm dia by MrSlotCar. Pinion is an 11T x 6.5mm dia. The motor is a 25k Fox-10 from Professor Motor.

Dry test fit to make sure the pinion is centered on the spur. The motor is locked in and touching everwhere the arrows are located. The pinion is touching the spur. The motor is pushed in and up into the aluminum chassis.

I had to come up with an easy way to create backlash. Locking the motor into the chassis was the ticket.

   

The epoxy surfaces are too shiny. Nothing a little 150-grit sand paper won't fix. Clean well after sanding.

   
   

Soldering the wires to the motor would be wise before motor goes in. Heat and urethane tires don't mix. Ask me how I know?

I used an off-cut of scrap aluminum from a chassis as a spacer (1.5mm). I apply the 5-minute epoxy to the motor, and lock it into the chassis. Then slide the spacer between the axle and motor to create the backlash. Hold for 5-minutes and it's done.

How much backlash is another topic. Too loose or too tight are both bad.

   
   

Guide installation is up next.

Thank you kindly for looking.
Ken

[Kevan]

Nice and neat Ken, I like it a lot 

[KensRedZed]

I humbly thank you, Kevan.

Part 3: Installing the guide and braid.

The different guides have different plate thicknesses. The aluminum chassis are designed for the NSR 4859 deep wood guide. Since the front axle is not adjustable. This is the only guide unless otherwise specified.

   

https://www.professormotor.com/product-p/nsr4859.htm

This next part will come from two different builds. It's hard to hold several parts while taking pics at the same time. Both builds come to the same conclusion.

A small 3mm spacer is required for the guide stem to take up the excess space above the chassis. Rolling a knife across some plastic tubing on the table works great.

   

The guide is installed and ready for the braid.

   

The tools I use for this are a small box cutter. Small flat head screw driver, and two (only one pictured) Allan key drivers with 2x3mm set screws already sitting on them. Two lengths of Slot.It competition braid cut to about 23mm long.

   

The braid is inserted into the guide. Then the knife is used to open the sock enough to get the screwdriver in, and open it wider. The folded end of the motor wire is inserted into the inside portion of the sock. The set screw goes outside the sock at the top of the guide and into the hollow.

   
   
   

Having the wire to the inside of the guide minimizes the wire travel during cornering. Keeping a layer of braid between the wire and set screw prevents the screw from cutting the wire. Taping the wires properly is important so the guide returns to neutral when the car has an off.

   
   
   

It's a perfect braid sandwich when the tires are the right diameter.

   

The car runs. Bumpers, chrome pen, inserts, driver, glass, etc are next. This last part takes longer than everything else.

Thank you very kindly for looking,
Ken

[KensRedZed]

Part 4: Bumpers.

These were designed as static kits. A touch of glue will usually do for a static model because it never has an off.

The prep is very important if you want it to survive as a slot car. These cars have experienced some very hard hits, and they still survive.

Besides removing the paint and chrome. A box cutter with a fresh blade was used to mark X's on both glue surfaces and surrounding areas.

   

While holding the car in one hand. The front bumper was held in place with one finger. 5-minute epoxy was liberally painted on the inside of the car. The car was held nose up to prevent expoxy from seeping past the bumper.

   

Same treatment for the rear bumper.

   
   

The extra weight is worth the improvement in strength. It's starting to look like a car now.

   
   

Note: Always read the kit instructions before you start. I didn't notice that the rear valance panel was glued to the rear bumper and needed to be painted separately. The green paint will be dry by morning.

More to follow.

Thank you very kindly for looking.
Ken

[KensRedZed]

Part 5: Windows, inserts, and driver.

The final details seem to take more time simply trying not to wreck the paint. Setting the body on paper towels seems to help.

The chassis has room to install a full interior from the static kit. But they are way too heavy.

I prefer a painted driver, and a card interior.

   

Just before the windows go in. The window chrome trim needs to be done. Molotow chrome pen to the rescue.

To install the windows. I clean the paint from inside the body. Then hold the window in place with one finger. Then paint the window in with 5-minute epoxy. One window at a time, or you'll end up with a big mess. This car has side glass too. PITA if you ask me. They could have rolled that window down.

   
   

The inserts were painted gold. Then highlighted with a Molotow chrome pen for contrast.

   

The front grill got a little flat black treatment. The car looks ready to race.

   
   
   
   

There's lots of room for decals if desired. Up next: Tuning.

Thank you very kindly for looking.
Ken

[KensRedZed]

Part 6: Tuning.

The all up weight is just over 130-grams. The target weight is 140-grams.

   

A piece of 2" inch brass by 0.032" thick does the trick nicely. Cutting a piece just over an inch wide should give about 10-grams of weight.

A line is scribed down the center of the chassis, and the brass weight. The mating surfaces are rough sanded with 150-grit sandpaper, and wipe clean. Then the weight is epoxied to the chassis with both lines lined up. A clamp is used to keep it in place for 5-minutes.

   

The weight hangs under the chassis at about 1.5mm off the track. Stick-on lead weight can be added to the top of the outer wings if needed.

   

Urethane washers that properly fit the 4-40 screws were purchased from DArt Hobbies.

   

This is the tricky part. Setting/keeping the washers in place while installing the chassis. Practice makes perfect.

   
   

Success!

   

The final step is important. The screw needs to be somewhat tight and allow a little body float. It will get loose over time. A good piece of tape is required to prevent the body screw from backing out during racing.

   

You're ready to race. Don't forget to oil the bearings.

Tire profiling is also very important for tuning and handling. But, that requires another thread altogether.

Thanks to everyone here for your patience.

I hope this inspires a few friends to complete their new cars.

Ken