ok these should be pretty straight forward I hope.

Can someone explain how to boil a chassis? I know why it's done but do I use a pot of water or do I do something else? How long do you have to have the chassis in the water before it will straighten out/soften up so to speak?

On ebay I keep seeing these pink chassis that someone balanced and blue printed, anyone know what the guy is doing to get the chassis like that? I think it would be kinda cool to get the chassis to various colors like that.

Thanks,
Xence

I used to boil nylon RC car parts and airplane props. Supposedly to releive stress risers left from the molding process. The RC car parts usually got dyed black as long as they were in the water anyway. 15-20 min was usually plenty. I doubt a bent chassis will straighten out without being clamped in a fixture of some type. I've seen the XT cars on eBay too. It's probably a dyed white chassis. I suppose it could be a painted black chassis too, but that would be a lot of work and wouldn't last long.

Test one first too. I once boiled and dyed an entire Tamyia Frog chassis for an RC show and discovered that nearly all the parts had shrunk when they were boiled. Nothing like trying to locate a Japanese RC car kit in the States 2 days before a 3-day show.

Last time those chassis were on fleabay, in a few of the pics you could see spots where the paint was chipped off. The seller was questioned and if I remember right did honestly answer that they were simply spray painted, though it still isn't mentioned in the listings.

the idea behind boiling a chassis is to reduce any warpage. you heat the plastic up and hope when it cools it is straighter. for t-jets, you can buy a boiling jig from RTHO.

http://members.aol.com/rthoracing/index.html

i have one, but have only had modest success. over time, the chassis seem to warp back to their twisted state.

if you do use a boiling block, you must keep the block off the bottom of the pan, or you will melt the chassis. i melted a number of JLTO learning that.

for fun, add RITT dye to your boiling water to dye your chassis.

a twisted chassis can often be a fun runner. often all you need to do is to use two different sized front tires. i do this on XTs often. i use o-ring to replace the front tires. just put a smaller o-ring on one front hub and a larger o-ring on the other, and you can cure alot of warpage. in fact, some of my faster chassis have staggered fronts.

a twisted chassis can often be a fun runner. often all you need to do is to use two different sized front tires. i do this on XTs often. i use o-ring to replace the front tires. just put a smaller o-ring on one front hub and a larger o-ring on the other, and you can cure alot of warpage. in fact, some of my faster chassis have staggered fronts.

Where do you get different size O Rings for AFX fronts? The only size I have found that fits is the #78 available at Home Depot and Lowe's. Will I find more variety if I go to a plumbing store?

Thanks...Joe

Where do you get different size O Rings for AFX fronts? The only size I have found that fits is the #78 available at Home Depot and Lowe's. Will I find more variety if I go to a plumbing store?

Thanks...Joe

Yes you should. The Inner Diameter (ID) will be the same, where you'll see the difference is in the Outside Diameter (OD) or thickness of the ring. I know of at least two sizes and there may be more. I was looking at a small local Mom & Pops type hardware/grocery store that had minmal plumbing stock. :) rr

i am fortunate to live near an industrial supply company that stocks LOTS of O-rings. Tacoma Screw Products.

i went in one day and bought one of almost every o-ring size (except those obviously the wrong size). they have metric sizes and franctional inch sizes. they also have o-rings that are the same metric/fractional size, but in different material thicknesses. with those variations i was able to find three or four different heights to use on XTs, and several sizes for JLTO/Tjets as well. I could "fix" quite alot of chassis that way.

i recently moved and slots are still in boxes. if there is any interest, i could make up some packages of say 10 o-rings of useful sizes.

mike