Building a Hot Rod on the Honeycomb

[Retro Racer 44]

[J Y D]

Totally Cool ... I love the chassis build.

Thanks for sharing ... J Y D

[btaylor]

Great Start there Keith! Looking forward to seeing these!

Bob

[TsgtRet]

To paraphrase Mick Dundee: "Now that's a bumper!" :o
Very cool build and it ought to stand up well to the rigors of jalopy racing!

[HomeRacingWorld]

Yes sir. Looking good. I like your gluing advice for the bumper systems. I have done the same and it creates a very solid system. I actually did this on my chassis where you adjust the wheelbase just to test it. Still straight.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Keith, has it ever been problematic to run (and crash) a soldered motor mount/ axle holder? I never even considered soldering one, but it would be easier than precise bending by hand and drilling. While I'm at it, what are you using to produce those precision cuts on the brass bar stock?

[Retro Racer 44]

waay;

The biggest problem is cutting and drilling the pieces. I am also careful to pin it up straight on the board, then solder the rails to the sides first and the motor plate after. It is also important to have an axle or axle tube in there to hold everything together and aligned while you solder it.

I tried bending a few of these up, but never could get it right. This works every time, and I have never had one come apart while racing. I screw my motor to the plate, but then do not solder or glue the motor in place. I can get a half dozen or so of these from the same $ of brass as a PM forged one. Also I can size it to the right distance from the axle to the pinion.
I started building like this when BWA rear brackets were discontinued, as I had no other rear bracket options for an FF 050 motor.

Call me old school, I use a normal sized hacksaw with the brass in a drill press vice. Angles are just eyeballed and sometimes wrong.

Cheers,

Keith

[HomeRacingWorld]

I cut most of mine with that Harbor Freight cut off saw OR just the cut off disc in the Ye Olde Dremel.

Then dress the ends with a Amish Palm Sander (file). :character-oldtimer:

[Retro Racer 44]

Since I posted this thread, I have built two more chassis that are similar to the one shown, with one major difference. Bob inspired me to put the guide under the car where it wasn't visible, so I tried that. I didn't have a D3D front bracket to use, so I just cobbled one out of brass. I rigged up the running gear on both chassis and taped the body on with masking tape and gave them a test. There was not a great difference in the performance at first, and then the plastic pinion on the above one started to spin and I could no longer compare, but tested the one with the guide inside. I am quite satisfied, as it is easy to drive.

Tonight I built up a second one with guide under, and again left all the pins in place and will make a third as well. Since our club tracks are all three laners, my plan is a set of IROC hot rods for occasional club racing. I will post some pics when I get the third one done.

Keith

[chappy]

Nice work Keith, I really like the chassis design.
I have often wondered about the placement of the guide in these builds.
Looking for the ideal distance of guide to rear axle center, or always hidden.
or at least within the confines of the chassis design.
Bob C

[Retro Racer 44]

[Audi1]

Looking very, very good, there!

Allan

[TuscoTodd]

Great looking build!
Always enjoy seeing the tutorials on here as they are a GREAT source of ideas for my own builds!
:text-goodpost: