grungerockjeepe
06-30-2009, 01:43 AM
Ok, so now as promised here are my tips and info on the Tyco HP-7:
Unlike the Curvehugger, the HP-7 has no real variations in the actual chassis design that Ive ever seen. Outside of some different motors over the years, and a different bend on the pickups, there's only one other development that I know of. So first off, a little info on these chassis:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00133.jpg
Earlier HP-7s had the naked copper spring plates and pickups like on the left. These almost always had the greenwire motors as far as I know. The silver plated ones as on the right came on later. Ive seen every type of motor used in these, but unless you get it NIP, who's to say whats been swapped around. Speaking of motors...
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00134.jpg
The greenwire motors were what Tyco used pretty much exclusively in the first few years of HP-7 production. They seem to be the same type of arm used in the HP-2's and US-1 trucking chassis but with the commutator timing set for the leaf spring com brush setup and a longer rear pinion of the US-1. They are all widegap arms and are usually very strong runners. In fact Id say that my strongest running HP-7s are greenwire motored cars, but like with the HP-2s, there are some inconsistencies in these and not all of them are screamers. Some of these had one magnet marked with reddish orange paint, some with yellow. If there is any difference in magnet strength, its pretty much negligible.
The bottom center and bottom right motors have the more common goldwire motors, but these are widegap arms as well. These came after the greenwire cars, and were probably used up till the late 80's. I honestly have no idea what the difference is in the black endbells vs the milky white ones. But what I do know is that the chassis with black endbells seem fairly common on set cars from the 80s. The widegap copper arm motors are also very strong, and run comparably to the greenwire ones. They seem a bit more consistently fast, but it seems that the strongest green ones will edge out the strongest wide copper ones. Every widegap copper arm motor Ive seen has had one motor magnet marked with reddish orange paint.
Finally, the one on the bottom left is the narrow gap copper wire arm motor that was used from the late 80's right up to the mid 90's when HP-7 production ended. These dont have the bottom end torque as any of the widegap arms, but seem to do just fine on top end power. These all had either one magnet marked in reddish orange, or no paint markings at all.
All HP-7 motors use the same magnet can in galvanized steel and have the same strength motor magnets.
The chassis frames are all pretty much the same, I havent seen any variations on them. When getting ready to modify one for better performance, there are a few points of interest which Ive marked with some paint. *note that this frame is a junker, the rear motor bulkhead/front magnet mount is broken out of this one*
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00135.jpg
First thing you want to do is completely dismantle the chassis. The only thing that wont get in your way is the traction magnet so it can stay.
The yellow ridges under the front of the chassis go up under the leaf springs, and are meant to tension the springs against the pickups. The red dots help locate the spring plates, along with a couple little tabs just inside of the spring hangers. The white ridge on the inside right of the rear axle box is all that keeps your crown gear meshed onto the pinion. The teal gussets or 'wings' in front of the rear axle give a little stability to the rear axle box but also necessitate the excessively wide rear track.
The first mod is going to be to the ridges under the pickup springs. They are the reason why the tension is so hard to adjust and your car is always deslotting: they only allow the final 1/3 or so of the spring to have any flex at all. You want to take your razor scraper, and carefully shave that ridge completely off. Whatever you do, do NOT shave off the little round nubs to the insides of them, they locate the spring plates. Oh yeah, and dont go slicing up your fingers, either! In the foreground, you see what it should look like once you razor off the ridge, and in the back ground, how you'll shave them off:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00138.jpg
Now, you can re-install the spring plates and guide pin. Now would be a good time to get out your dremel and use your rubber emery wheel to polish up any tarnishing on the spring plates, especially the full leaf springs and the rear tabs that contact the brush tabs on the motor. Also, you might want to ditch the stock aluminum guide pin for a steel one from a 440 since its a LOT more durable. Compressing your springs will show you how much more range of motion you now have.
Here's the leaf spring at full compression on a stock, unshaved chassis:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00142.jpg
And here it is laying flat against the underside of the modded chassis:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00143.jpg
Now that you have infinite adjustability on the leaf springs, there will probably be an infinite number of opinions on how to bend and adjust them. Whats worked for me is the spring itself completely straight, and bent at an angle so that the tip is at the same height as the tabs that the pickups lock into:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00141.jpg
The pickups themselves have had 2 different bends on them. The earlier design (some silver plated ones, and all bare copper ones) have a bend putting the peak of an angle as the only contact with the track rail--its the one in the background. It means smooth running over criss-cross tracks and intersections, but a poor contact patch with the track rails, and accelerated wear. The later design has the front 1/3 or so of the pickup bent so that its a nice flat contact with the rails as in the foreground:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00136.jpg
With a pair of small flat nose pliers, one of these can be bent into the other, but I prefer the later design. Either way, if you cycle the installed pickup thru its range of motion on the modified chassis, you can see how much better tension it has and how easy this is to adjust. The tension is constant, and will keep your pickups planted but not so much to cause the front tires to lift up and cause your car to deslot. Your pickups will last much longer too, since they no longer support the weight of the front end, the front axle and tires do. I have done this mod on ever last HP-7 I own and it will be mandatory for every one I get in the future. I think once you try it, you'll agree that this is how Tyco SHOULD have made these.
Unlike the Curvehugger, the HP-7 has no real variations in the actual chassis design that Ive ever seen. Outside of some different motors over the years, and a different bend on the pickups, there's only one other development that I know of. So first off, a little info on these chassis:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00133.jpg
Earlier HP-7s had the naked copper spring plates and pickups like on the left. These almost always had the greenwire motors as far as I know. The silver plated ones as on the right came on later. Ive seen every type of motor used in these, but unless you get it NIP, who's to say whats been swapped around. Speaking of motors...
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00134.jpg
The greenwire motors were what Tyco used pretty much exclusively in the first few years of HP-7 production. They seem to be the same type of arm used in the HP-2's and US-1 trucking chassis but with the commutator timing set for the leaf spring com brush setup and a longer rear pinion of the US-1. They are all widegap arms and are usually very strong runners. In fact Id say that my strongest running HP-7s are greenwire motored cars, but like with the HP-2s, there are some inconsistencies in these and not all of them are screamers. Some of these had one magnet marked with reddish orange paint, some with yellow. If there is any difference in magnet strength, its pretty much negligible.
The bottom center and bottom right motors have the more common goldwire motors, but these are widegap arms as well. These came after the greenwire cars, and were probably used up till the late 80's. I honestly have no idea what the difference is in the black endbells vs the milky white ones. But what I do know is that the chassis with black endbells seem fairly common on set cars from the 80s. The widegap copper arm motors are also very strong, and run comparably to the greenwire ones. They seem a bit more consistently fast, but it seems that the strongest green ones will edge out the strongest wide copper ones. Every widegap copper arm motor Ive seen has had one motor magnet marked with reddish orange paint.
Finally, the one on the bottom left is the narrow gap copper wire arm motor that was used from the late 80's right up to the mid 90's when HP-7 production ended. These dont have the bottom end torque as any of the widegap arms, but seem to do just fine on top end power. These all had either one magnet marked in reddish orange, or no paint markings at all.
All HP-7 motors use the same magnet can in galvanized steel and have the same strength motor magnets.
The chassis frames are all pretty much the same, I havent seen any variations on them. When getting ready to modify one for better performance, there are a few points of interest which Ive marked with some paint. *note that this frame is a junker, the rear motor bulkhead/front magnet mount is broken out of this one*
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00135.jpg
First thing you want to do is completely dismantle the chassis. The only thing that wont get in your way is the traction magnet so it can stay.
The yellow ridges under the front of the chassis go up under the leaf springs, and are meant to tension the springs against the pickups. The red dots help locate the spring plates, along with a couple little tabs just inside of the spring hangers. The white ridge on the inside right of the rear axle box is all that keeps your crown gear meshed onto the pinion. The teal gussets or 'wings' in front of the rear axle give a little stability to the rear axle box but also necessitate the excessively wide rear track.
The first mod is going to be to the ridges under the pickup springs. They are the reason why the tension is so hard to adjust and your car is always deslotting: they only allow the final 1/3 or so of the spring to have any flex at all. You want to take your razor scraper, and carefully shave that ridge completely off. Whatever you do, do NOT shave off the little round nubs to the insides of them, they locate the spring plates. Oh yeah, and dont go slicing up your fingers, either! In the foreground, you see what it should look like once you razor off the ridge, and in the back ground, how you'll shave them off:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00138.jpg
Now, you can re-install the spring plates and guide pin. Now would be a good time to get out your dremel and use your rubber emery wheel to polish up any tarnishing on the spring plates, especially the full leaf springs and the rear tabs that contact the brush tabs on the motor. Also, you might want to ditch the stock aluminum guide pin for a steel one from a 440 since its a LOT more durable. Compressing your springs will show you how much more range of motion you now have.
Here's the leaf spring at full compression on a stock, unshaved chassis:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00142.jpg
And here it is laying flat against the underside of the modded chassis:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00143.jpg
Now that you have infinite adjustability on the leaf springs, there will probably be an infinite number of opinions on how to bend and adjust them. Whats worked for me is the spring itself completely straight, and bent at an angle so that the tip is at the same height as the tabs that the pickups lock into:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00141.jpg
The pickups themselves have had 2 different bends on them. The earlier design (some silver plated ones, and all bare copper ones) have a bend putting the peak of an angle as the only contact with the track rail--its the one in the background. It means smooth running over criss-cross tracks and intersections, but a poor contact patch with the track rails, and accelerated wear. The later design has the front 1/3 or so of the pickup bent so that its a nice flat contact with the rails as in the foreground:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/grungerockjeeper/HP7%20101/DSC00136.jpg
With a pair of small flat nose pliers, one of these can be bent into the other, but I prefer the later design. Either way, if you cycle the installed pickup thru its range of motion on the modified chassis, you can see how much better tension it has and how easy this is to adjust. The tension is constant, and will keep your pickups planted but not so much to cause the front tires to lift up and cause your car to deslot. Your pickups will last much longer too, since they no longer support the weight of the front end, the front axle and tires do. I have done this mod on ever last HP-7 I own and it will be mandatory for every one I get in the future. I think once you try it, you'll agree that this is how Tyco SHOULD have made these.