Monday, September 15, 2008

Body Post Repair/Replacement Kits

How many of your slot car bodies see limited use (or can no longer be used at all) because of broken/damaged body posts like the one in the accompanying picture? You don't have to race 1/32 slot cars very long to experience some sort of problem with the body mounting posts. While in extreme cases they may break right off the body, more often they crack or split. Body post cracking and splitting can have many causes - some common examples include using the wrong screw (too large in diameter and/or the wrong thread), over-tightening the screw, or excessive screw insertion/removal cycles. Whatever the cause, repairs typically involve replacing all or part of the post, reinforcing the existing post or filling/retapping the existing screw hole. In all cases, there is a good chance the repaired post will eventually fail again.

Slot Car Corner now offers specially designed inserts and accompanying mounting sleeves which offer a fresh approach to repairing body posts. In fact, serious racers may want to consider using this approach to beef-up the stock body mounting posts and eliminate the stock body mounting screws and their limitations altogether. Our inserts accept standard M2 machine screws (included in all kits) which will replace the stock body screws to secure the body. Here's a picture of the inserts.


Special Thanks to Jan Levine who first brought these wonderful inserts to our attention.

Note the inserts have a flange which makes them perfect for mounting inside a brass sleeve. This system offers another important advantage over plastic body posts and (metal) body screws. With stock body posts, even posts that are in good condition, body screws have a tendency to work themselves loose and in some cases, fall out altogether. In either case, the car's handling and overall performance is adversely affected (in extreme cases, the car may not be able to continue racing). Threadlockers (e.g. , Permatex, Loctite) are one potential solution; however, ordinary threadlockers are not plastic compatible. In contrast, these inserts and the mounting screws offer a metal-to-metal mounting system - this allows ordinary medium-strength (removable) threadlockers to be used to keep the body mounting screws exactly where you want them. A step-by-step, illustrated how-to article which describes the entire process is available on the Slot Car Corner website (click here). Here are some examples of body posts replaced with the SCC inserts and sleeves:
Example 1 - Scalextric Nascar (Old Style 2 Post Body):











Example 2 - Slot.it 956 Porsche:












Example 3 - Ninco BMW:












Example 4 - Porsche 911:











Several kits with the inserts are offered - for more information, please visit the Slot Car Corner Online Store.

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