All of you builders of Street Stock - You are missing the best bet to make a good showing at the races.
Street Rod uses most of the same preperation and parts rules as Street Stock, but nobody is taking advantage of it.
1. There are currently very few entrants, and if that doesn't change, GOOD BYE to the Street Rod class.
2. A Street Rod is as easy to build as Street Stock, and in fact not any where near the time requirements to be competitive.
3. The possibility of winning a trophy or placng high are 100 x easier.
4. You will learn all the same secrets of winning/placing as exist in SS.
Below is an updated formula that I posted earlier (updates in blue):
OPARENNEN POST FROM MONTHS AGO:
You builders should seriously consider building a Street Rod. It takes less time and cost to build a good Street Rod, than to build a good Street Stock. AND, you will instantly be more competitive.
Here is how to do it.
1.Go to http://www.toytechracing.com/dragcars.htm and buy a body.There are hundreds available, and most of them only cost $5.00. My two cars from the national June and August races are TR107 and TR090. There are also TR5107 and TR5090 bodies of the same shape. The first two are .010 in thickness, and the second two are .015 -- .010 is slightly lighter in weight.
2.The bodies are all clear Lexon. Painting is easy, just spray the inside of the body, and the car is instantly shiny on the outside.
3.Buy or make a normal Pinewood Platform 3/8” thick.
Also buy a 24 inch 3/8 x 3/8 balsa stick.
a. Determine where the axle holes should be drilled. My axles are 5.5 and 6.0 inches apart, but you could also go with a longer span. You need to move the front wheels forward so the car nose does not touch the track at the transition point, plus the car will be more stable. Drill the front axle holes striaght, with the NDW slightly higher.
b.The rear axle holes should be canted and placed to the rear of the car as far as is possible.
c.Rout a pocket out between the front and rear axles (for putting weight in the rear, and to reduce weight at the front end). I like the pocket on top of the platform, but it can be either top or bottom. If top, the bottom will be nice and smooth. In both of my cars, I drilled the weight pockets all the way through the body, then glued a 1/64th piecd of balsa on the bottom of the car (also covering the 3/8 in balsa extensions all the way around the car (see below), and then I applied a piece of Monokote on the bottom to make it super smooth.
4.Glue pieces of Balsa on all four sides of the main block.
a. A piece at the back, just large enough to attach the lexon body.
b. Two pieces between the wheels on each side.
c. Three pieces at the front, again long enough to attach the body.
d. Depending on how forward the front wheels are, you might need 2 small 3/8" pieces forward of the front wheels on each side. The Lexon bodies have no wheel wells, so you can cut them where ever you want, but move the wheels forward just enough to be sure the car's nose won't touch the track.
5.Cut off the excess flange from the Lexon body, then set the body on the platform, and draw an outline around the shape of the body. That line will be entirely on the 3/8"balsa rails.
6.Cut or sand off all the excess balsa so that the Lexon body slips tightly over the platform.
6a. Weigh everything (including axles, wheels AND the Monokote botom cover). Then bring the weight up by placing tungston as far to the rear as possible (with such a long car, just put the weight to the rear and forget the COM).
6b. On my cars, I also removed a lot of the Lexon from the rear of the car's body, so it didn't sit so high.
7.Insert the platform into the body, and glue or bolt the two together.
a.You can push the rear of the platform higher into the body to reduce the overall height of the car (i.e. lower the overall profile). Then cut of the excess Lexon per 6b.
8.The Lexon bodies do not have pre-cut wheel wells, so you can use a dremmel with a sander bit to cut out the wheel well wherever you want it. I even had to remove a bit of the Lexon from the body top, just on top of the wheels.
9.Prep and install the wheels and axles exactly as with a Street Stock car.
10.Set the “drift” (something over 10 inches over 8 feet), but be sure the nose doesn’t drag at the transition point of the track. My drift was 12.5 inches.
11. My red car uses Cheetah wheels, but my yellow uses DD4H's lessor cost wheels
Street Rod uses most of the same preperation and parts rules as Street Stock, but nobody is taking advantage of it.
1. There are currently very few entrants, and if that doesn't change, GOOD BYE to the Street Rod class.
2. A Street Rod is as easy to build as Street Stock, and in fact not any where near the time requirements to be competitive.
3. The possibility of winning a trophy or placng high are 100 x easier.
4. You will learn all the same secrets of winning/placing as exist in SS.
Below is an updated formula that I posted earlier (updates in blue):
OPARENNEN POST FROM MONTHS AGO:
You builders should seriously consider building a Street Rod. It takes less time and cost to build a good Street Rod, than to build a good Street Stock. AND, you will instantly be more competitive.
Here is how to do it.
1.Go to http://www.toytechracing.com/dragcars.htm and buy a body.There are hundreds available, and most of them only cost $5.00. My two cars from the national June and August races are TR107 and TR090. There are also TR5107 and TR5090 bodies of the same shape. The first two are .010 in thickness, and the second two are .015 -- .010 is slightly lighter in weight.
2.The bodies are all clear Lexon. Painting is easy, just spray the inside of the body, and the car is instantly shiny on the outside.
3.Buy or make a normal Pinewood Platform 3/8” thick.
Also buy a 24 inch 3/8 x 3/8 balsa stick.
a. Determine where the axle holes should be drilled. My axles are 5.5 and 6.0 inches apart, but you could also go with a longer span. You need to move the front wheels forward so the car nose does not touch the track at the transition point, plus the car will be more stable. Drill the front axle holes striaght, with the NDW slightly higher.
b.The rear axle holes should be canted and placed to the rear of the car as far as is possible.
c.Rout a pocket out between the front and rear axles (for putting weight in the rear, and to reduce weight at the front end). I like the pocket on top of the platform, but it can be either top or bottom. If top, the bottom will be nice and smooth. In both of my cars, I drilled the weight pockets all the way through the body, then glued a 1/64th piecd of balsa on the bottom of the car (also covering the 3/8 in balsa extensions all the way around the car (see below), and then I applied a piece of Monokote on the bottom to make it super smooth.
4.Glue pieces of Balsa on all four sides of the main block.
a. A piece at the back, just large enough to attach the lexon body.
b. Two pieces between the wheels on each side.
c. Three pieces at the front, again long enough to attach the body.
d. Depending on how forward the front wheels are, you might need 2 small 3/8" pieces forward of the front wheels on each side. The Lexon bodies have no wheel wells, so you can cut them where ever you want, but move the wheels forward just enough to be sure the car's nose won't touch the track.
5.Cut off the excess flange from the Lexon body, then set the body on the platform, and draw an outline around the shape of the body. That line will be entirely on the 3/8"balsa rails.
6.Cut or sand off all the excess balsa so that the Lexon body slips tightly over the platform.
6a. Weigh everything (including axles, wheels AND the Monokote botom cover). Then bring the weight up by placing tungston as far to the rear as possible (with such a long car, just put the weight to the rear and forget the COM).
6b. On my cars, I also removed a lot of the Lexon from the rear of the car's body, so it didn't sit so high.
7.Insert the platform into the body, and glue or bolt the two together.
a.You can push the rear of the platform higher into the body to reduce the overall height of the car (i.e. lower the overall profile). Then cut of the excess Lexon per 6b.
8.The Lexon bodies do not have pre-cut wheel wells, so you can use a dremmel with a sander bit to cut out the wheel well wherever you want it. I even had to remove a bit of the Lexon from the body top, just on top of the wheels.
9.Prep and install the wheels and axles exactly as with a Street Stock car.
10.Set the “drift” (something over 10 inches over 8 feet), but be sure the nose doesn’t drag at the transition point of the track. My drift was 12.5 inches.
11. My red car uses Cheetah wheels, but my yellow uses DD4H's lessor cost wheels
