After buying 100 Wizz brass lexan body pins for $23.00 + shipping and losing 92 of them on various impacts i am looking for a new mounting idea. I just made a bracket type clip (19 guage wire) that goes into the body posts. That works pretty nicely is cheap and ugly. i wondered if anyone had any other ideas on that line or completely different ideas. I have several of the SDC plastic mounting clips but they are tight and bind the chassis and don't allow the motor to spin. Maybe i can modify them cause they work for other people. Let me know. mj

citylights, I think you are not mounting your bodies securely. You should not be losing pins at that rate you describe. Here's some advice for mounting bodies for casual use and fun running, not necessarily national level racing where hundredths of a gram are a concern.

1) Determine where the holes on your body should go. I assume you have a way to do this.

2) Cut a rectangle of parachute tape (Lucky Bobs, Wizzard, etc.) or clear packaging tape so it is wide enough to cover both holes on a side and about twice the height of the body.

3) Place the sticky side of the tape rectangle on the inside of the body so it covers the two mounting holes. It should adhere to the inside of the body and be sticking up in the air so the sticky part that is not adhered to the body is facing the outside of the body.

4) Use a pin or tiny drill, poke a hole through the body and tape from the outside of the body.

5) Push the body mounting pins from the outside through the hole you just made. Make sure you push them in so their heads are flush with the outside of the body.

6) Fold the part of the tape that is sticking up on the inside of the body over the bottom edge of the body such that the tape adheres to the outside of the body, covering the heads of the body pins you just pushed in flush with the outside of the body with the tape.

7) This technique wraps the pins in a sandwich of tape and dramatically improved the durability of the mounting system.

8) Do one side at a time.

Variations and alternatives:

a) Instead of wrapping the tape around the bottom edge of the body you can just cut two rectangles. One goes on the inside and one goes on the outside over the pin heads. This is usually required with parachute tape because it is ultra sticky and you only get one chance to get it to fold over the bottom edge of the body.

b) If you are using Wizzard chassis you can use an ordinary staple instead of body mounting pins. These are dicey for racing situations because ordinary staples don't hold up like the pins do. Some vendors (Slottech) sell special hardened staples for this application.

c) Some racers omit the outside tape that covers the heads of the pins. I prefer stability over saving weight. This may also be necessary if the tape you use is thick and adding two layers would prevent you from meeting the maximum width requirement.

d) If you prefer to run naked pins, without tape on either side of the pin, then get yourself some VibraTite and coat the very tips of your body pins with the VibraTite material. VibraTite is a thread locker material that stays flexible and sticky. Some racers like running their bodies loose, or floating on the body mounting pin. If you put some VibraTite on the tip of the pin and drill the body mounting holes on your body slightly larger than the body mounting pin diameter, the pin will stay secure in the body mounting tube (because of the VibraTite) but the body will still float a little on the pin. Some racers swear by body float as a handling enhancement.

I love using the Wizzard pre-cut body pins on all of my racing lexan bodies, on everything from G cars, Tycos, and Wizzard cars. But a 100 pack should last you a very long time unless you are manufacturing mounted bodies for resale. For runners in the basement I use staples on my Wizzard cars and Tycos. When I put body tubes on my Tycos I space them to accept staples. When you put put a small kink at the very ends of your staples you can get them to hold very well. Even so, for organized racing I always use body pins and try to make the mounting system as bullet proof as possible.

If you run cars with set screws on the brush tubes you will want to invest in some VibraTite anyway. Another topic for another day...

AFX Thanks for the tutorial on mounting. Much appreciated. It took a while to lose all those pins (9 mons) but i didn't want to spend $25 bucks to buy more!! I have been doing all of technique A except putting tape on the outside. it would work but i like a cleaner look. the wire brackets i made are working well but a little costly in weight. I will try the slottech staples and the Vibratite. thanks again mj

AFXII,have you tried using the new "White" duct tape instead of parachute tape,we've been using it for awhile now,and find it stands up better then the old parachute tape does.
It's also usually easier to track down in your local hardware store:woohoo:

I've also found some wire marking tape that sounds like the duct tape. It's pre-cut to the right size and comes in several colors in the package. It is more flexible and the glue it uses tends to coat the pin enough to give it good stick. I've seen medical tape used too. Whatever works is good.

With wizz chassis, if you want a little float use a standard staple but curl the ends slightly once they are through the body.

if you dont mind trimming your own pins to length, try these gold jewelry pins from michaels craft store

they have a fairly large diameter head, and are fairly soft, so they bend and cut easily. you can get them in a pack of 80 or so for about $4

after trimming off the head, i have used the wire for pinning the rear axle on a superstock. the wire is soft enough you can bend it to conform to the rear of the G3 chassis, so you use a single pin instead of 2. looks very clean

mike

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=bd0552