tools fer cheatin!

[Charlie don't surf]

A buddy of mine worked at Demon in the UK . One of his duties was motor testing for the team drivers. Basically he would spend hours on end cherry picking motors. Lowest current draw highest RPM. IIRC.
I know he used to also zap the magnets on his modified motors, weaker magnets less torque more rpm, and vice versa.

This can fall under cheating WHEN they are handouts. I experienced this while sponsored and once I was keyed in that WE were assigned the best motors I nuked mine in practice and had a non sponsored guy go buy two more, and then I ran them. Left that team after that race.

[Lonestar]

For me I will just be an average Joe all my life, accept that and enjoy what I have.

So I take it you aren't who I was hoping you were

(the one and onlz Jamie B!)

[Lonestar]

the discussion about crimped comms to get more timing and sub-27 winds is pretty sad by the way guys... I will look at you who admitted it very differently from now on. I can't believe you are actually bragging about it. I'm done, not talking about it any more...

[Racer_X]

Sorry I'm late to the party.

Back in the day, this wasn't called cheating, just an exaggeration of the rules. Almost everyone who raced knew about how to work the motors and some of the stuff listed wasn't ever illegal...it was what you did to go fast(er).

Original silver cans: Break in the motor running in reverse and dipping it into water (caused it to break in faster). Polish bushings with chrome cleaner or some other abrasive polish so that they were smooth and almost worn out (this was done by driving the new motor with a slave motor). The armature shaft didn't have splines on it so lock the motor into a vise with a long motor screw (to keep the rest of the armature from moving) and using a pair of vice grips you could advance the timing some. Too far would damage the wires going to the comm and wreck the motor (okay, this was questionable as to legality). Crush the can in the same vice to get the magnets closer to the armature (also questionable). I also remember there was a special tool that could go inside of the vent holes and move the brushes advancing the timing (definitely illegal). Also it was possible to open the cans by dropping them on the shaft or with a tool, but if there were ANY marks on the locking tabs the motor was declared illegal (and some came with marks from the factory). The steel sleeves were fairly common...either alone or under the motor heatsink. Also rezapping was something that every motor had done. The original magnets had very little magnetism so they had no torque.

Later 'rebuildable' open endbell motors: I'll have to see if I still have any of these tools (I may have). There was the brush hood aligners that had a shaft that replaced the armature and a square aluminum part that went through the shaft and brush hoods. I also had a brush serrater that was used on EVERY set of brushes. As for drilling holes int he brushes, once again, it was done by everyone and common knowledge. Drill hole, serrate brush face, fill with comm drops, race, then do it all over again before the next race. Nothing illegal here that I recall. I do remember having a brush box with at least 24+ different compounds of brushes in it. 'Tweeking' a motor was a combination of finding the best brush/spring/cut for the conditions.

I do recall one other exaggeration of the rules that we were doing at the ROAR On Road Nats (?) one year. People were dezapping the magnets (removing the magnet field) and then moving the motor 25-30 degrees and rezappinig the motor, in effect advancing the timing. I wrote the race report for Xtreme R/C for that race and included that info in a side box so everyone would know about it and could look for it being done.

[limestang]

Not really for cheating, but very helpful when trying to install a vintage tire on a rim. Spread a little Armorall on the tire bead prior to inserting the paint lid tool and sliding the tire into place.

- Limestang

[RC10th]

Not cheating but a lot of the factory guys were tweaking their bearings somehow, I've never figured out how but I think heat was involved in the process.

[Racer_X]

Thanks for the reminder: after polishing the bushings on a stock motor, we always ran ATF fluid for lube. ATF is designed to remove heat and lubricate so the bushings wouldn't heat up and expand (as much...or so the theory goes).

As for bearings, remove 1 shield and clean out grease with alcohol or motor spray and lube with light oil.

Some people would have something like a wick that would trickle com drops onto the motor while running...didn't really work that well. Also, I remember using circuit board freeze spray to supercool the motor so it would run cooler (for the first 20-30 seconds).

[foots]

Ahhhh, Memories...

[Lowgear]

I've seen a coin used on the pinion gear before.

[NWarty]

paragon had the comm dropper bottle you put on the chassis and it dripped comm juice on the motor as it ran. it was quickly deemed illegal.
also BIG mess if you attempted it for offroad use..

Dan,
I actually ran the Paragon set up on my Bolink Eliminator 10. Yes, it did get messy. Yes, it was stupid fast, and yes, it did get banned really quickly

[dinglem]

Wow.

The mind boggles. I raced competitively over in the UK for many many years (late 80's to early 90's) and yet never knew about any of the stuff i have just read about

Amazing ingenuity, and possibly explains why my car was never ever the quickest down the straight. I used to receive hand-picked standard motors when i was racing in the National Series (from MG) and did consistently well, but there were always guys who had significantly quicker cars.

My cheat was having my father with me. Engineering ace, he would re-work and set up the cars for me and that was a part i never really had to worry about. I was just the driver really. He did throw a lot of money at the cars looking back too. I look forward to showing him some of the tricks outlined here, just to see the look on his face!

I kind of feel a bit better about the successes I had now.

Great thread!!!

[AllenB.5979]

buddy of mind re-wound a motor to have 2 armatures with 26 turns of wire. Motor is long sold.

Two armatures? Dude, sorry, sounds impossible. Were there some gears inside the can? Maybe I'm confused.

Mark

Pretty sure he meant two winds. As in a 26 turn double. Don't be a douche. Not everyone's first language is English here. The meaning was kinda obvious.

[AllenB.5979]

Just to make an on topic comment. Where I raced Buggy and dirt oval outside DC back in the day cheating was dealt with quite easily. Stock classes, if you want your win recognised or you want that trophy your motor was coming apart for inspection. This was just done on the top 3 spots but it kept things even Ish.

[TRX-1-3]

buddy of mind re-wound a motor to have 2 armatures with 26 turns of wire. Motor is long sold.

Two armatures? Dude, sorry, sounds impossible. Were there some gears inside the can? Maybe I'm confused.

Mark

Pretty sure he meant two winds. As in a 26 turn double. Don't be a douche. Not everyone's first language is English here. The meaning was kinda obvious.

Hey, good for you......I like your "signature" too.

[AllenB.5979]

Two armatures? Dude, sorry, sounds impossible. Were there some gears inside the can? Maybe I'm confused.

Mark

Pretty sure he meant two winds. As in a 26 turn double. Don't be a douche. Not everyone's first language is English here. The meaning was kinda obvious.

Hey, good for you......I like your "signature" too.

We'll I guess I was kinda hard on you. My apologies. I just read your reply and thought... Well damn. No worries.