Question 1 -- Do they Tyco 440 and 440X2 (and later Mattel 440HPX2) all use the same armature? If so, What is the Ohm.

Question 2 -- Is there anywhere out there in the known slot universe a set of weights to replace the bar magnet in the original 440 or later 440X2 variants?

Question 3 -- If not, does anyone know a good metal shop guy that could do something like that for cheap? Would seem to be easy enough.

Just thinking about stuff and these Qs came to mind today while I was working on the next Lego project and chugging Monster Lo-Carb.

Question two:What a coincidence-I was thinking about the same thing just awhile back.After getting my first G-Jet.I thought it would be interesting to try it the weight thing out on a Tyco.I dont think it would be too tough to make a brass bar weight for the 440. :)

Lego project.... keeps bringing me back to this:

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z262/FresnoPete/800px-LegolandCaliforniaMiniland.jpg

Slot car track at Lego Land near San Diego.

Not sure on the arm for the later Mattel car,but the other 2 use the same arm.
Ohms can be anywhere from about 6.2 on up past 7,not uncommon to find them in the 6.6/6.7 range.
If you're running a higher ohming arm,take advantage of it's torque output and try an 8 tooth pinion.Usually the higher the ohmage,the torquey'r the arm,and vice versa for a lower ohming arm,it'll RPM higher,but take longer getting there,so you need to gear accordingly

See my response in the BSRTvsGJet thread regarding making lead weights to replace the traction magnets. The 440 bar magnet might be a good candidate, the X2 magnets may place weight too high in the chassis. My thoughts in the thread mentioned was to replace the traction magnet with a lead weight and test the car after turning down to 12 volts.

Gary
AKA LeeRoy98
www.marioncountyraceway.com

I've been running a lot of my Tycos sans magnets, though I haven't tried weights yet. I just pull out the traction mags and replace the rear tires with silicon spongies. At 12V, they're a blast! They definitely reward aggressive driving, as they give you a chance to save the car if the back end slips out. I'd be interested to hear how weights change the handling, though...

How does the Arm react to the lower voltage ?

Are there any long term ill-effects ?

Interesting subject here.

Any thoughts on the old TYCO HP&'s or Tomy Turbo ?

Gonegonzo

It seems like lower voltage would only make the motor more reliable. (Is that necessarily right?) The cars are curiously loud, though. Maybe this is due to excessive chassis vibration? I wonder if weights would help with the noise...

I've played around a bit with pulling the traction mags out of Turbo and SG+ cars, too. I didn't have much success with the Turbos -- the Turbo/SRT can motor still gives the car a surprising amount of downforce. They're definitely slower (I ran them either on 12 or 15V...can't remember for sure), but they don't give you any warning that they're about to spin. Very unforgiving at the limit. In a lot ways, it's just like driving with traction magnets, only a little bit slower, and they tend to spin out instead of flipping. I have to admit that I only fooled around a little bit -- I didn't really spend much time tinkering to try to get it right. Has anyone out there had success with mag-less Turbos?

The SG+ responded a little better without traction mags. They were also run at 12V, this time with slip-on sillies. Like the Turbo, you get a surprising amount of downforce from the SG+ motor mags. For whatever reason, though, handling seems to be a bit more predictable. It's still just about impossible to get controllable drifts, though. Overall performance reminds me a lot of the original G+.

Without a doubt, I prefer the performance of the Tyco over the Turbo and SG+. It's easy drive and it's very predictable at the limits. It seems like it's got just the right amount of downforce. Remember that Tyco motor mags are quite a bit farther from the rails than Turbo or SG+ motor mags, so there’s quite a bit less downforce from the motor. I've been toying with the idea of replacing the stock 440 arm with one from an HP-7 motor, with the hope that it would allow me to run at a full 18V without getting crazy wheel spin. One of these days I guess I'll have to sacrifice an HP-7 and give it a whirl...

It seems like lower voltage would only make the motor more reliable. (Is that necessarily right?)

Definitely so. Less arcing on the comm and less heat build up in the arm.

I've raced Tyco 440-X2s with a single traction magnet in place for something in between a full-on magnet car and a sliderific tail wagger car. The Tyco 440-X2 magnets are basically square blocks so fabricating a slug to fit in the traction magnet holes should be pretty easy. The bar magnet equipped 440 and HP440 should be equally easy to fabricate weights for. The last shop I raced at set the track voltage to around 12V-14V for stock magnet cars and it helped out the kids quite a bit. Really young kids ran Life-Like M cars at 9V and got to enjoy some real racing.

I know it's hard to believe, but hopped up superstock cars do still fishtail more than you think, especially on lower downforce track like Tomy. I've been put into the wall on many occasions by the car on the inside of a tight turn and seen plenty of bumping going on trying to get through a series of s-turns side by side.

In my mind, the three best investments you can make with HO slot cars, in terms of improving the overall FUN factor of running/racing them, in order:

1) Invest in a top quality race management system.
2) Invest in a variable voltage power supply.
3) Invest in a decent controller that can handle all of the types of cars you run.

Not sure, but it's possible that the Slottech P-Jet may use Tyco-compatible weights. if not, the same principle could likely be applied to make your own.

http://slottech.net/PJET.aspx

i happen to have a ton of HP-7 motors. send me your address and ill a send a couple for you to play with.

why do i have a ton of HP-7 motors? well....a while back i found a deal on tomy turbo chassis with all the parts except the motor and front axle, and a deal on HP-7 motors, and bought both lots. ended up with more motors than chassis. i made turbo hybrids with the HP-7 motors and the turbo chassis. performed ok, but the normal turbo motor has lots more power.

since then, i found these motors: http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/m2651.html

turns out, the arm shaft is too short to use as a direct replacement for a tomy turbo motor, unless you have a really long pinion. marchon and artin both use really long pinions. the artin gear mesh is quite good on the tomy crown, and the marchon is acceptable, especially if you shim the crown.

just last night i used some of the short shaft mabuchi motors and a marchon pinion and replaced the HP-7 motors in a few of the hydrbids. i liked how they performed.

i tore apart an HP-7 motor and tried to get the longer shaft arm into the surplus shed motor can, but it was a pain in the a** and didnt work very well. hard to get the can to regrip the end bell once youve taken it apart.

but long story short, i got lots of HP-7 motors i dont need.

mike

I popped a Marchon can into a Turbo chassis last night. <Side discussion -- are there two types of Marchon motors? This one looks more like the HP7 can than the Turbo>. I used a Tomy pinion for good gear mesh. The motor shaft was a bit short, but it worked pretty well as long as the pinion wasn't pushed all the way onto the shaft. Without the traction magnet, the thing was absolutely ridiculous, even at 12V. It was pretty much undriveable as it fishtailed all over the place (much less downforce from the Marchon motor vs. the Tomy motor). With the traction magnet, though, things started to happen. It was smoother, quieter, and a bit slower than a Turbo. It still had a lot of magnetic downforce, though. I'm curious what would happen with a smaller traction mag...hmmm, more stuff to 'spearmint with!