Got my "Basics" back from Mid-Americas

I would like to go down that rabbit hole.

We can send in our Basico cars to Nipwordle for June.

Congrats on sub-3!

Nipwordle, That freaking cracks me up!!

Let's hear the story VK. 

Your last name starts with H and your car was .02 faster than mine in the BASX? Maybe I do need to use polish.

Well, okay then buckeroos! Saddle up for storytime!

So to begin with, I wasn't even gonna send in at first. Never liked MA Scout rules, and I figured, eh, Greg's got enough high profile guys racing that it doesn't matter if a dude like me supports his efforts or not. But then I noticed the snub his Pro division was getting from all of the Halliburton loyalists, so I felt like I needed to send something in, just to show a little love. So I decided to raid my parts to see if I could find enough stuff to put a build together.

Wheels:
I was initially just going to use heavy stock wheels, but then I remembered I had a bag of wheels that Joel had sent me a long time ago when I needed some example wheels to give to our District inspections guy for comparison. He'd also sent me some race-quality wheels (2g and 2.4g, among others) so I figured I should use some of those. Unfortunately, I was only able to find two wheels that were at 2.4g. The others were like 2.35 or something. I was tempted, but I decided to stick to the letter of the rules. I took the two 2.4gs for the rears and used a stock wheel for the DFW wheel (and obviously another stock wheel for the raised one). I did remove the double-step on the stock wheel with my Derbyworx hub shaver tool.

I polished the wheel bores with Novus 2 on a Tamiya swab (87106) followed by a final buff with a fluffy pipe cleaner. I didn't do any specific prep to the inner or the outer hubs.

Axles:
Since I race Box Stock, I didn't have any aftermarket axles onhand. I did, however, have some extra Awana axles onhand. So I grabbed three of these, cut K-house slots into the top and then grooved and beveled them in my drill press. I polished the axles with wet sandpaper, starting at 1k and working up in .5k increments to 3k. I also hit them with Brasso for the final polish. One of the axles, I bent (with pliers and a wood block) 3 degrees for the DFW.

Body:
A friend (Patrick Racing) had sent me a laser cut basswood body (5" wheelbase) a long time ago, and I figured this was as good a time as any to use it. I discovered, however, that he'd drilled the rears straight in it (knowing my obsession with bent axles), and the DFW straight as well. As it was, micro had EXTREMELY generously hooked me up with a slightly blemished (though 100% functional) drill jig, so I decided that I should go ahead and redrill the holes in the body. Filled 'em with a toothpick and epoxy and redrilled the rears. The body actually cracked the first time (I suspect the rear support structure was too brittle and I was pushing too hard with the drill). I had to glue up the body (with some support strips of birch plywood around the rear axle block) and refill the holes. After this, I was able to drill the rears, and it worked perfectly. To accommodate the fat Awana axles, I 'chased' the holes with a 3/32" bit, taking car to let the holes lead the drill bit, as opposed to forcing a path. For the DFW, I drilled this on the drill press, with a block-and-spacer to set the DFW axle at 7 degrees of positive camber.

The body had recesses for slide guides, and I had some hard black plastic (Mylar?) that Patrick had provided along with the body. I drilled these with a slightly larger hole than the axle hole, then affixed them into the side of the body with superglue gel.

For ballast, it turned out I had a tungsten shortage. Figuring that the tungsten was most important in the rear, I put two rows of six behind the rear axle. The rest of the weight I made up with some 1/4" tall lead bars that I'd poured a long time ago. It didn't take up too much more space than the lead would have, though I wasn't able to bias the weight towards the DFW much. For the sake of curiosity, the weight on each wheel is as follows: DFW (Right front): .58oz, Right Rear: 1.88oz, Left Rear: 2.48oz.

The lead, I secured into place with a dab of superglue. The tungsten I just wrapped around with foil tape.

Prep: 
I was able finally carve out time for prep...the evening before the car had to be mailed out. That meant that if I applied a coat of wax (I have some Liquid Glass, and a very small amount of Blackfire), it wouldn't have time to fully cure before I had to insert the axles. In light of that, I decided to go with Pony Express' last minute Max-Pro option. I sprayed the axles with Max Pro, shook them and put them under a paper bowl to dry for a few minutes. Then I also sprayed a small amount of Max-Pro into another bowl and let that sit (covered loosely) for about 15 minutes. Then I used a fresh Tamiya swab to dip into the pooled Max-Pro and I used this to coat the inside of the wheel bores and the inner and outer hubs. I let this dry for about half an hour (I think...it was very late by that point).

For oil, I used a single drop of Maximum Velocity's Krytox oil on each axle, and swiped off any excess with a tiny strip of paper before inserting into the wheel bore, giving it a spin and eyeballing the gap.

Tuning:
For the raised wheel, I used a bent BSA axle and aligned the wheel according to Ca$h Racing's recommendation. I have it on good authority that proper position of the raised wheel can buy you a few thousandths. For the DFW, I pulled out my 4' tuning board and set it to about 5.5" of drift, anticipating a lot of wind on the six lane track.

Anything I leave out? Anything jump out as "oh, you could have totally gained some speed doing X, Y or Z"?

VK - First, I notice a complete lack of bent rear axles. WTH, man?! You've got a reputation to uphold!

Okay, now that I've got that out of my system... What would you do differently with more time?

Wheels: Is the only polishing you do to your wheels the Novus 2? Traditionally, I'd done toothpaste, rinse, Novus 2, and buff. Now I have some Legends (I believe), and have added that to the prep. In reading your missive, I've realized that I need to allow for much more cure time on it. Like I said to Micro when he was hoping to get *my* secrets (ha!), I need to be much more diligent in my wheel prep.

I think that a hub and wheel edge polish is in order for the BASX cars.

Axles: I have pretty much the exact same prep. I use a narrow file to put in the axle groove first, though. And, as I'm typing, I wonder if I'd be better served to put in the K-House groove in before polishing. Once polished, I punch them into a cardboard box and spray with Jig.

Body: Not much to say, there. I need to get another pin vise, as my own does not hold a #43 or #44 bit. It'll hold tiny, tiny bits, or ones that are significantly larger than our pinewood bits. May be lack of understanding on my part.

I have #43 and #44 bits because of the Pinewood Derby and the AWANA Grand Prix. I used the #43 for AWANA axles. My memory of it was it was too big for PWD axles, and needed to be reamed out similarly to PWD Axles and the #44 bit. It's been a few years since I built an AWANA car or used the axles (I discovered a small stash a couple months ago, so they'll be put to use soon)

Also, I'm really getting confused on rule sets now. The mystery washers you used are legal for BASX? BS? I was surprised when I read you used them as I thought they were verboten. I think we need to put a spreadsheet together to detail the rules for the classes (fenders allowed, shields allowed [between hub and body?], wheel weights, etc.).

I really need more info on and a supply of the washers...

Weight: Didn't you buy a pound of tungsten recently? Adding wheel weights will help condense the weight in your car (especially when using lead). I just cannot remember which classes they are legal in now...

Oil: You took off some of the oil? I've only ever added a drop to the axle, then carefully slid it into the wheel.

I'm kinda thinking we should all have a Skype prep-party...