Home Racing World

I have several cars that would benefit from having the body lowered. The stance would improve and the center of gravity would be better. But, I am not sure of a way to tell if I have lowered the body as far as it will go. Any suggestions? Also, when you cut (or do you sand?) the body posts, is there a trick to getting them even? Right now I am working with the Carrera Cheetah, but I doubt that really matters.

Carrera models only go so far until the interior hits the top of the motor of course, so those are easy :)

Sometime I use a extra fine Sharpie and draw a straight edge on the post. It helps as a guide. Most times I just eyeball it and use a small flat file.

They are all a bit different but have some similarities. Some, such as Scaley, have the valances cast and some other lower body panels as part of the chassis. Others, like some Carrera and most Revograms, clamshell the valances. bumpers and even grills between the body and the chassis. In those cases, you usually have to cut these parts free and reattach them to the body where they belong. Like Harry said, the interiors then begin to foul somewhere or the other. In those cases you just have to find the offending part and remove material. This can get elaborate in cars with full interiors depending on how far that you want to lower. I don't have a Carrera Cheetah so am unfamiliar with the particulars but many modern Carreras tend to have elaborate intertwining castings that don't like it when they are put out of their original alignment. In that case surgery is often in order.

How about taking out the interior and replacing it with a photo card of an interior and adding a drivers head? :twocents-mytwocents:
Marty

That certainly is doable and it does a lot to lower the center of gravity as the OP was looking to do. But a lot of people like to retain as much originality as possible. Many times, I have cut the bottom half of the interior off and sealed it back up with sheet styrene or card stock. You can usually retain the stock roll cage, seat and driver after they have been trimmed the appropriate amount and glued back into the new floor. Most cases you would be hard pressed to see the change from a casual look from the outside.