by ListerStormGT » Fri Nov 29, 2013 4:57 pm
I decided to go ahead and pick this car up as I really like the 512 body style. Today I had time to really dig into this car and see what I could do to make it run better. All the things Harry mentioned in the review was true with mine also except my guide, it was tight but not tight as was mentioned in the review. When I received my car the screw post holding the car to the base had snapped and the screw portion was still in the chassis. As I heard rattling in the box before I opened it, this had me worried but luckily nothing was broken or got damaged bouncing around loose during shipping.
The first thing I noticed when I put the car on the track was the loud gear noise (nuts in a blender come to mind), second was the car bounced around like it was driving in a earthquake. So with that said here is the tuning I did today.
To try and quiet down the gear noise I put some rubbing compound on the gears and ran the car for a few minutes, then re coated them and did it again. This helped quite a bit, although not silent its a big improvement. I then turned my attention to the front axle and put in 2 set screws to get rid of the up and down play as it was too much in my opinion.
The other thing I noticed were the front wheels, when I removed the tires I saw that the wheels had little burrs on them that prevent the tires front sitting flat on the wheels. I took some 220grit sandpaper and sanded the center rib section of the wheels which removed the little burrs and smoother out the center rib of the wheels.
For the rear I used my tire Razor to sand the rear wheels because the rears also had the burr issues like the front. After that I did the rear tires on the Razor and by doing that it stopped the rubbing issue on the interior that Harry mentioned in the review. I glued in the rear bushings and put some oil in them. Put the car back on the track and now it runs really nice, no more bouncing or shaking and the gear noise is much quieter now. I knew the car had potential but just like any classic fly cars they need a little tuning, nothing major to make this a good running car. It never stopped us in the past and its a great looking car so it would be a shame not to take the time to get the most out of it.