SRC Porsche 907 L

[ElSecundo]

I have that same book, and yeah, you have to be a dedicated reader. lol Great information, though.

I've been up close with some 917 LHs, but they never seemed small. Low, yeah (just barely over 3 feet), but they're almost as long and a few inches wider than a 1969 Dodge Dart. It's an aerodynamic pancake.

[goosenapper]

I've updated the review a bit after looking at the car with a bit fresher eyes. Those two little block-like protrusions sticking from the top of the guide flag are not what is causing the flag to bottom out and push the front of the car up. It's actually a combination of fat tires and the guide's spring. Removing the spring drops the nose a bit, and my guess is that sanding the tires or replacing them with thinner ones will get it even lower. Obviously I'm not looking to make an ice-scraper out of the nose, but I do think it's a little bit on the high side.

Back to those two blocks on top of the guide, they are very much necessary. Since there is virtually no excess wire from the guide to the motor, these blocks are there to stop the guide from turning too much to one side and ripping the wires out. It's a good design, really. You still get somewhere between 165-170 degrees of rotation in the guide, which should certainly be enough.

Counting the gearing, I see 11 on the pinion and 38 on the spur. Can someone else with the car double-check this for me? I'm not that great when it comes to seeing up close without a magnifier and tons of light, two items that I did not have when I counted the teeth this morning.

I also dialed back the harsh wording a bit by no longer referring to this car's innards as "junk." No, they are still not great, and yes they do move the car- albeit poorly- but there are worse slot cars out there on the market. They say that writing is rewriting, right? I sure am thankful that there's an edit button on this message board!

[goosenapper]

As awful as this car ran out of the box, it has settled in to quite a pleasant runner after just minimal tweaking.

First, I cut up and added a bit of sheet lead just behind the guide.

Then I removed the guide spring and swapped out the braids for Ninco super racing ones. (only because I had them lying around- any braid that is softer than the stock SRC will be an improvement.) Take care when removing the guide. The clips that hold it in the shaft are very strong, and the chassis portion that the guide connects to is extremely flimsy. I held the guide shaft and chassis in place with some pliers as I pinched the clips and pressed the guide out. (This took a lot of force!)

You could probably leave the braids stock if you wish, but I highly recommend removing the spring on the guide. Since the chassis is made of very flexible plastic, the spring actually presses the guide shaft up and distorts the chassis when it is in the slot. If you are able to add extra weight directly on the guide shaft, or even use some styrene to reinforce that area of the chassis to make it more rigid- do it! I'm sure that the flex in the chassis here played a large role in the general uneasiness that this car displayed out of the box.

Front tire rub was also an issue, so I swapped the stock tires with some old Fly 911 tires. From the side, they still hold the visual appeal of the stock tires, but they are just slightly smaller in both width and height.


This change was all that it took to eliminate the threat of fender rub. I also installed shims on both sides of the front axle.

Doing all of the above dropped the nose of the car from this:

to this:

That may not look like a large change, but I'm sure that it contributed to the car's stability.

After some oiling of the motor and bushings and greasing the gears, the car turned out to be a blast to drive! The awful squeaking is gone, as is the spastic hopping. The car glides around the Scaley track, and even fishtails are easy to come out of now. The downside of these changes is that the braking suffered a bit, but I feel that is a fair trade for a car that now takes to my track like butter on a hot skillet! Sure, there is plenty more that can be done to this car, with gluing the bushings and in place and securing the motor at the top of the list. I will do those two things next, and possibly more in time, but for now this car has gone from merely looking good in its case to being my daily go-to car when I want to unwind with some fun in the slot!

[goosenapper]

[goosenapper]

[HomeRacingWorld]

Bravo. Good links and info!

[Bomberto]

Nice review and thanks for saving some money, to much money for a car needs a lot work I'll stick with my Slot.it and NSR's.
Bomberto.

[ElSecundo]

Well, here's an update, not one I expected to give. Normally, we run cars no-mag on wood, or on plastic tracks set at 11-12 volts. This time, we were at Steve's (SADCO Racing) on his Sclaextric Sport (about 90 feet) set at 13.5 volts or so. So how was it as a mag racer not starving for voltage?

It came alive in a big way. Easy and fun to drive, easy to push. Quick cars were turning 5.5 second laps, and once I decided to risk some of the nice detail, it wasn't too hard to push this stock car down to 5.1 seconds. A little tire truing, and glued bushings, that's it.

The sound is different now, the gears have really bedded in. This one keeps getting better and better. :)