What else can I do

[abrasivereshaping]

Hey everyone,

My son and I are getting ready for districts and was wondering what else we can do with the car.

So far here's what we did.

-removed burrs on axles and polished incrementally up to 1350 grit(my paper said 8 micron)

-Lightly lathed the stock BSA tires then polished them

- 5oz on the nose with a COG of 1.5"

- Low wedge style rounded off everything

- Using Hob-E-Lub

-4 tires on the ground

-On our Best-Track @ 42ft it averages 3.126...running the car backwards and it slows down to 3.22X

My goal would be to see this car go 3.000's something.

How much time reduction would I see if I moved the COG to 1"?

What else can I do?

Thanks in advanced for your help.

[Welsh Racing]

Are you allowed to raise 1 wheel? How's the alignment?

[Sappington R]

Are you Riding the rail? Are you running stock BSA wheels? Can they be lightened and trued? Is your bore & axle tight?

When is your district & where are you located?

[ProQuest]

Welcome Abrasivereshaping.

What can you do?

First, I'll follow Welsh's lead -- if allowed, raise one front wheel so that only three wheels are touching.

Second, I wouldn't stop at 1350 grit sand paper. You can get sand paper up to around 2500 grit, then I'll polish the axles with Flitz or Mother's metal polish.

Third, If you have not already done so, polish the wheel bore using a whitening tooth polish and a soft pipe cleaner. Be VERY careful when inserting the the pipe cleaner into the bore not to scratch the inside of the bore. Go at it for at least a solid minute.

Fourth, a cog that is 1.5" in front of the rear axles is way to conservative, even for a bumpy track. Go 1" to 1.125" max. If you are running on an aluminum track, or even a well made wood track with relatively smooth joints, you can and should get more aggressive. I raced two cars last weekend in a local race. The main difference between the two cars was the cog. One was at 1.125" the other at .875". Diff in speed -- .008 seconds.

I realize you may not have lots of time. Try these things and measure the improvement. Then let us know. Depending on how much time you have, we may want to discuss rail riding.

Good luck.

ProQuest/Steve H.

[abrasivereshaping]

slowjoe said:

Are you allowed to raise 1 wheel? How's the alignment?

We are allowed to raise one wheel which I'm going to do. I would say my alignment is very good

[abrasivereshaping]

proquest said:

Welcome Abrasivereshaping.

What can you do?

First, I'll follow Welsh's lead -- if allowed, raise one front wheel so that only three wheels are touching.

Second, I wouldn't stop at 1350 grit sand paper. You can get sand paper up to around 2500 grit, then I'll polish the axles with Flitz or Mother's metal polish.

Third, If you have not already done so, polish the wheel bore using a whitening tooth polish and a soft pipe cleaner. Be VERY careful when inserting the the pipe cleaner into the bore not to scratch the inside of the bore. Go at it for at least a solid minute.

Fourth, a cog that is 1.5" in front of the rear axles is way to conservative, even for a bumpy track. Go 1" to 1.125" max. If you are running on an aluminum track, or even a well made wood track with relatively smooth joints, you can and should get more aggressive. I raced two cars last weekend in a local race. The main difference between the two cars was the cog. One was at 1.125" the other at .875". Diff in speed -- .008 seconds.

I realize you may not have lots of time. Try these things and measure the improvement. Then let us know. Depending on how much time you have, we may want to discuss rail riding.

Good luck.

ProQuest/Steve H.

So far the car has done a best time of 3.085 on our Best-Track 42Ft. It has gone faster the more we run it...I would guess 40-50 runs by now.

As far as lubes go I tried Pinewood Xtreme and Hob-E-Lub

Pinewood Xtreme in the car ran consistant 3.160-3.169 for 12 runs then a freak run of 3.148, never ran that again.

Cleaned the axles out with alcohol and blew them out with a compressed air can, reinstalled the Hob-E-Lub and the car immediately ran
3.150
3.121
3.126
3.148
3.142
3.124
3.125
3.127
3.137

So after that I reapplied the Hob-E-Lub then pumped more on the nail head area (where the spokes are)...kind of piled it on and spun the tires several times. Here's what that netted me

3.118
3.113
3.099
3.092
3.101
3.085

So I think for my car and application Hob-E-Lub seems the best for me. I'd like to try Hodges GM to see if there's a difference.

I will keep you updated with progress...keep throwing ideas at me to try

[abrasivereshaping]

sappingtonr said:

Are you Riding the rail? Are you running stock BSA wheels? Can they be lightened and trued? Is your bore & axle tight?

When is your district & where are you located?

Forgive me for asking but what is rail riding?

I am running the stock BSA tires. The bore & axles are on the loose side of what I would like...a little wobble.

Our rules state we are allowed to remove the injection nipple but no heavy mods.

[Sappington R]

Here is a good link on RR: pinewoodp.proboards29.com/index.cgi?board=prohelp&action=display&thread=1203369703

There has been a lot of discussion in other threads as well. You will find them. You may also want to check the other MB:

pwdracing.proboards91.com/

Many builders/racers post on both. You may find something overthere that you didn't find here.

But in a nutshell: RailRiding (RR) is to steer the front end towards the center guide strip so that the FDW makes continuous contact with the center strip. It must be the down wheel that steers into the rail. The raised wheel hitting the strip is a recipe for el sluggo The theory goes something like this: Since it is nearly impossible to align a car to NEVER touch the rail, and that you want to avoid bouncing off the rail side to side, (which creates to much friction) bias the car with front steer so that you eliminate the "bounce". In some circles this concept is considered hogwash. However, I know from observing the very best league racers and also in speaking with consistent league champions, that this is the way to go. Don't take my word for it though. Try it for yourself. I am by no means an expert builder and certainly don't have the fastest cars, but this concept is widely accepted. I hope to master it myself one day

However, you need to be careful so that you don't steer in to much and cause "braking". Most RR'rs will agree that something like 1-2 inches of steer over a 5-6 foot test board or closet mirror should be adequate.

You are fortunate in that you have access to a track and can therefore experiment. That is a luxury that many of us do not have. May I ask, do you own this track or does it belong to a pack or someone else?

A few other thoughts: If you believe your wheels wobble and are loose, then, they probably are. You may want to consider getting a new set and starting from scratch. Many builders have had great success with the DerbyWorx tool line. The wheel shaver will help true the outer surface. That may help. As far as the bore to axle size. From what I understand, it's best to have a snug fit. I will be happy to share my online vendor experiences with you in a PM (private message). There are many good online retailers that carry all of the tools and wheels, ect.

How much time do you have before the race?

[Knothead Racing]

Abrasivereshaping, If your running .08's on the same track that we run on every month. Maybe you should be telling us what to do.

Only the top cars are running that good. And I would be willing to bet, that they are all three wheelers.

Send it in, if they ever post the videos, maybe we can see something.

But as for right now, it looks like your running pretty good to me.