New and addicted!

[Follow Me]

Good day all! Glad to be apart of this site. I built my first Awana car this past February and loved it! My 6 year old daughter also built a car that did well although I did everything that pertained to power tools. She was 4th out of 16. I was 3rd out of 5 adults.

I'm already building next year's cars and hopefully will go faster.

 

[Roadrunner]

Yeah, that’s how it begins. Welcome. You will learn a lot here

 

[Jupiter 2.9]

Watch the videos of the races, pay attention to the bottom of the cars when they are staged & the angle on the wheels.
Read & read some more then start your next build.
Enter some league races, the bug will bite & the speed will come.

Have fun with it

 

[Follow Me]

Watch the videos of the races, pay attention to the bottom of the cars when they are staged & the angle on the wheels.
Read & read some more then start your next build.
Enter some league races, the bug will bite & the speed will come.

Have fun with it

I have a couple questions.... I didn't know this before the race but the track was a homemade wooden track with a painted center strip to hold the cars. I built a car that steered into the center strip but all it did was bounce around left to right nullifying any steer. Doesn't it make more sense to build a straight driving car for next year given this unique circumstance? The 1st place car was a straight (non steer) 3 wheel, zero cant/camber car and his car bounced less often.

Edited:
Second question... Do I need to buy an axle straightener/truer for the rear axles or is this minimal benefit. My first car I bent the axles, on this new car I'm drilling the axle holes with a tool and it has a special hole for canting so you don't have to bend the axles for canting.

 

[Jupiter 2.9]

You need to build steer into the front end, I'm not sure anybody tries to go straight it just can't be done on any track.
A true pro may have a different opinion, but I've never seen it.
You'll need an axle bender not a straightener.

Try and find the post, "What do I need for a BASX car" CivilWarTalk put it up.
It's the best starting point I've seen.

 

[Jupiter 2.9]

I'm already building next year's cars and hopefully will go faster.[/QUOTE]
Go ahead and except it, your building next months car not next years car.
I built one for the kid, one for the wife, one for the dog even the fish got one. lol

 

[Follow Me]

You need to build steer into the front end, I'm not sure anybody tries to go straight it just can't be done on any track.
A true pro may have a different opinion, but I've never seen it.
You'll need an axle bender not a straightener.

Try and find the post, "What do I need for a BASX car" CivilWarTalk put it up.
It's the best starting point I've seen.

I've edited my question to better reflect my thoughts. I did use steer for the front axle and I used bent axles for the rears to provide the cant.

When I say straight, I mean straighter! As in less bouncing off the center strip. Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.

 

[DerbyDad4Hire]

You used bent rear axles. That is one huge problem. Drill the rears canted properly and use 6 degrees bent axle for front steer with 4 inches over 4 feet and you will dominate.

 

[Follow Me]

You used bent rear axles. That is one huge problem. Drill the rears canted properly and use 6 degrees bent axle for front steer with 4 inches over 4 feet and you will dominate.

I had 3 inches steer over 4 feet but it still bounced a lot more than I was expecting. I have a video but don't know if I can post it.

Yes! I bent the rear axle nails with a block of wood and a hammer! Lol. My goal was to not spend any money but still look cool and be fast. This new car I'm spending money on now that I'm back to working full-time.

The new nails I have for the rears aren't perfectly straight, should I attempt to perfect them?

 

[Roadrunner]

Didn’t want to spend any money? You’ll get over that...

 

[Follow Me]

Didn’t want to spend any money? You’ll get over that...

Lol, I only spent $5.99 on weights that I melted down into my car, my daughter's car I used washers and a bolt. I also spent $6.99 on the Jesus foam sticker. Oh, and paint and paint brushes.

 

[T-Bone Racing]

I had 3 inches steer over 4 feet but it still bounced a lot more than I was expecting. I have a video but don't know if I can post it.

Yes! I bent the rear axle nails with a block of wood and a hammer! Lol. My goal was to not spend any money but still look cool and be fast. This new car I'm spending money on now that I'm back to working full-time.

The new nails I have for the rears aren't perfectly straight, should I attempt to perfect them?

That’s great if the car is straight at 3 inches of steer, but mine usually wiggle at 3. Mine have usually 5-6 inches of steer, and almost never wiggle.

As for bent axles, I have had success tuning the, to get speed. I don’t know how bent yours are, but I’ve tuned scour axles which are slightly bent.

 

[Follow Me]

I'll post a description of my build process for some constructive criticism. Let me know any errors I have made please. I'm competitive, So I wanna win every thing I do!

Shaped the block on a mitre saw and belt sander, used a 90°square and a hand saw to make the axle slots underneath moving the rear axle to 5/8 inch from rear of car, drilled large hole in rear of car, melted lead weights into it then glued it when it cooled because it fell out, filed the inside of the axle head, polished the axles in a drill press with 600/1500/then liquid polish that I had from 10 years ago on a terry cloth pad, smacked the rear nails with a hammer on a piece of wood with another piece of wood in between to get my cant, hand sawed the front right wheel a little deeper to make a 3 wheel car, bent the front left axle to allow for steer, lightly sanded the mold marks on the inside of the wheel, notched a screwdriver slot in the head of the axles for tuning, added graphite to axles and spin the wheels for fun, painted car, inserted axles, eyeballed the gap between wheels and car, set rear axles with cant and toe in, tuned car for 3 inches of steer over 4feet on my hardwood floor with the 4th wheel not touching the track, added more graphite until the wheels spun for 17 seconds. The total weight of the car was only 4.9 ounces when done but I had spent way too much time on it so I didn't care anymore. I now regret that. My time was around 2.84 seconds and the fastest cars were 2.79.


I now have an axle tool so I won't do the square and hand saw next time, I also now know not to bend the rear axles, I'll add more steer, I'll use a gap tool for the wheels, I'll use a proper tuning board instead of the hardwood floor, and I'll make the car 5.09 ounces next time. Anything I missed?