Project Strombecker / Polistil Elf Tyrrell !

I am not sure when these were made - but I picked up one that had "parade" laps on it only...
I thought it looked cool, and the price was right - so I was happy... at least until I got it and tried to run it....
I am not sure if all of these are like this - or if I was just "blessed" - but for having only parade laps on it (which based on the braids, tires, etc I believe) - the drive train on this was loooooooooose as a goose and was already eating itself! :(
So thanks to the tips/tricks I have learned on the boards, some parts from the "spare parts pile", a set of Paul Gage skins and some time - I have a car that is now ready to make a "second" go at running up at the track! :)
I think the biggest issue with this particular car was that the rear bushings were way loooooooooose on the axle.
That, combined with a motor that had some freedom of movement in the chassis did some ugly things to the gears.
I addressed the issue with the bushings using the "super glue" trick - which snugged those up nicely! :)
Unfortunately, the gears were still pretty rough looking and "questionable" in their long term viability - so I decided to replace them...
Not having a pinion gear as small in diameter as the factory one, I made an attempt to go with a more modern replacement for both it and the crown, using a 9 tooth press on brass unit and a standard Parma crown gear. The Parma gear had too much thickness to the back of it to fit with the new pinion, without removing some material from the back side of it - so it was back to the "spares" pile, to see if I didn't have something that I could use without modifying. In the hunt, I found a nice Cox(?) 30 tooth that fit the task at hand nicely. While I was at it, I decided that since I was going through all of this, that I might as well upgrade the power plant to go with things! (maybe somebody is on the look out for the original motor?) So out came the Polistil power plant and in went a lightly used H&R Hawk I had sitting here for another project... :whistle:
With all said and done - she has a fresh motor that is nicely secured, upgraded pinion & crown, trued and nail polished front tires, glued and trued Paul Gage tires on the rear all resulting in a nice, relatively "smooth" feeling drive train!
Whether all this effort was fruitful or not will be told in it's next track outing - but in the mean time it looks neat and is no longer sounding like it is going to eat itself like before. :)
Here are a couple shots of her as she now sits:


I thought it looked cool, and the price was right - so I was happy... at least until I got it and tried to run it....
I am not sure if all of these are like this - or if I was just "blessed" - but for having only parade laps on it (which based on the braids, tires, etc I believe) - the drive train on this was loooooooooose as a goose and was already eating itself! :(
So thanks to the tips/tricks I have learned on the boards, some parts from the "spare parts pile", a set of Paul Gage skins and some time - I have a car that is now ready to make a "second" go at running up at the track! :)
I think the biggest issue with this particular car was that the rear bushings were way loooooooooose on the axle.
That, combined with a motor that had some freedom of movement in the chassis did some ugly things to the gears.
I addressed the issue with the bushings using the "super glue" trick - which snugged those up nicely! :)
Unfortunately, the gears were still pretty rough looking and "questionable" in their long term viability - so I decided to replace them...
Not having a pinion gear as small in diameter as the factory one, I made an attempt to go with a more modern replacement for both it and the crown, using a 9 tooth press on brass unit and a standard Parma crown gear. The Parma gear had too much thickness to the back of it to fit with the new pinion, without removing some material from the back side of it - so it was back to the "spares" pile, to see if I didn't have something that I could use without modifying. In the hunt, I found a nice Cox(?) 30 tooth that fit the task at hand nicely. While I was at it, I decided that since I was going through all of this, that I might as well upgrade the power plant to go with things! (maybe somebody is on the look out for the original motor?) So out came the Polistil power plant and in went a lightly used H&R Hawk I had sitting here for another project... :whistle:
With all said and done - she has a fresh motor that is nicely secured, upgraded pinion & crown, trued and nail polished front tires, glued and trued Paul Gage tires on the rear all resulting in a nice, relatively "smooth" feeling drive train!
Whether all this effort was fruitful or not will be told in it's next track outing - but in the mean time it looks neat and is no longer sounding like it is going to eat itself like before. :)
Here are a couple shots of her as she now sits:

