Okay, my son's car won the Cub division and Pack today, 3rd year straight. /images/boards/smilies/thumb.gif
As usual, I cut out the car, do the weight, and he polishes his axles and wheel bores.
This year, we used plastic polish, a Q-tip, then Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Polish. Looked real slick. It said it was their "most hydropobic wax ever", or something like that.
Then burnished with graphite. Hob E Lube.
These are BSA wheels. Not sure what the axles were, a friend gave me a bag of old stuff, and I liked them because they had no crimp marks. They were about .086-ish after polishing. (old set of calipers with a dial gauge)
I thought he left too many scratches on them, but it was HIS work.
Car is 4 wheels, rail runner. 1 wheel BARELY touches, other front axle bent slightly for steering. Rears are canted.
So he won...but not by as much as I had expected. Our pack has an old, old homemade track.
I have a Piantedosi 2 lane wood track. Much smoother than the old 1983 model Eagle Scout project track the Pack uses. I thought it performed pretty well on that one.
Now maybe everyone's car is just that much better this year because we held a build day and told them some of the tricks everyone here already knows....but I'm not feeling super good about his chances at District.
So....IF I were to maybe look into a few DD4H products for some quick speed, what? We have to run graphite. I know about the deal where you run oil and smudge graphite on the body and wheels, but am not going to do it.
What, then? Wheels? Axles? Re-do our current wheels with some Red Rocket and DD4H's graphite? Would any of that really be THAT much better than what we have already?
If so, where is the best "bang for the buck", so to speak? Which one or two quick upgrades would make the most difference? This is, of course, ASSuming John isn't so covered up that he could get us this stuff before we turn in the car next Friday.
As usual, I cut out the car, do the weight, and he polishes his axles and wheel bores.
This year, we used plastic polish, a Q-tip, then Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Polish. Looked real slick. It said it was their "most hydropobic wax ever", or something like that.
Then burnished with graphite. Hob E Lube.
These are BSA wheels. Not sure what the axles were, a friend gave me a bag of old stuff, and I liked them because they had no crimp marks. They were about .086-ish after polishing. (old set of calipers with a dial gauge)
I thought he left too many scratches on them, but it was HIS work.
Car is 4 wheels, rail runner. 1 wheel BARELY touches, other front axle bent slightly for steering. Rears are canted.
So he won...but not by as much as I had expected. Our pack has an old, old homemade track.
I have a Piantedosi 2 lane wood track. Much smoother than the old 1983 model Eagle Scout project track the Pack uses. I thought it performed pretty well on that one.
Now maybe everyone's car is just that much better this year because we held a build day and told them some of the tricks everyone here already knows....but I'm not feeling super good about his chances at District.
So....IF I were to maybe look into a few DD4H products for some quick speed, what? We have to run graphite. I know about the deal where you run oil and smudge graphite on the body and wheels, but am not going to do it.
What, then? Wheels? Axles? Re-do our current wheels with some Red Rocket and DD4H's graphite? Would any of that really be THAT much better than what we have already?
If so, where is the best "bang for the buck", so to speak? Which one or two quick upgrades would make the most difference? This is, of course, ASSuming John isn't so covered up that he could get us this stuff before we turn in the car next Friday.
