This article will deal with the “tuning” and upkeep of the LifeLike “M” chassis. The tips and tricks that follow, are a step by step process, that I have used, to get my cars ready for competitive racing. They work well for me, however they may, or may not, work well for you. These tips will make a fast chassis faster!! There is no way that I know of to make a slow chassis fast.

Part 1: Chassis Selection

Chassis selection is an important part of gettting your racing stable full of competitive cars. I usually buy my cars at shows, four to six at a time. They usually will cost me about 10 to 15 dollars each for brand new cars still on the blister card. So you are looking at an outlay of at least forty dollars to get things started. Out of this batch of cars you will usually get one or two cars that are marginally faster than the others, and by faster I mean speed down the straight, not lap times. Those are the cars that you want to concentrate your efforts on. The rest of them will become your parts junkyard! I usually start by “running them in”, and by that I mean actually putting them on the track, after proper oiling, and running at least fifty to one hundred laps with them. An old Aurora steering wheel controller, or a block of wood under the trigger of a Parma, held with a rubber band, will do the trick too!

Part 2: Teardown

To optimize performance of your chassis you will have to tear it all apart, clean it, rebuild it, then run it in again. You will need the following tools, a good pair of tweezers, a small screwdriver, needle nose pliers, dental cleaning tool,(figure 1 & 1a), some paper towels, rubbing alcohol (I buy denatured alcohol at Home Depot), your favorite slot car lube, a paper clip, a Mini-Mite Dremel tool, some small plastic, or paper cups, a Sharpie marking pen and an Exacto knife. Start by removing the pickup shoes and springs as shown in figure 1b. Do this carefully, as those tiny springs will launch themselves into oblivion. Use a small screwdriver to remove the brush tubes, figure 3, be careful, as the brushes are spring loaded, and can become flying missles, never to be found again! Next pop out the rear axle and remove the pinion gear, figure 2 & 2a. Remove the pole piece with a screwdriver, take note which way it sits in relation to the front/rear of the chassis, figure 4, yes, it does make a difference! I usually mark an arrow on it with a sharpie, as shown. Next, figure 5, is removal of the armature, with the help of a small screwdriver. Be careful, so that you do not damage the bearings, a gentle twist is all that is needed to get the bearing boss to pop over the retaining tab, figure 6. Be sure to keep the front bearing and rear bearing separated from each other. So that you can reinstall them the same way as they were removed. Mark the front bearing with your Sharpie. You should be down to an almost bare chassis, all that is left is the magnets and front axle assembly, figure 7. Remove the guide pin with pliers, and take off the front axle assembly. With just the chassis and magnets left, it’s time for a bath!!!!!

Part 3: Cleanup and Rebuild

Get out the rubbing alcohol, Q-tips, and paper towels. I usually dunk the chassis in a plastic cupful of rubbing alcohol to remove race residue, oil and whatever else gets picked up during a race. It is OK to let it soak for a couple of minutes, figure 8. After drying off the chassis, it is time for chassis inspection. Check all important surfaces for molding flash. the axle holes, front and rear, if you find any, carefully remove it with your exacto knife. If I had an extremely fast armature, I would run that same armature till it died, or started to slow down. To replace the old arm, you need to clean the com. I use a dremel with a brass brush to remove all of the carbon residue, and most of the burn marks on the com, and give the com a nice bath in rubbing alcohol to clean all the little bits of residue and carbon off, figure 9. Rub a Q-tip around the com to get any residue you have left behind. Clean any oil or carbon off of the bearings with a paper towel, don’t use alcohol as it will remove all of the oil, you don’t want that, figure 10. If you are installing a new armature, start here. Using your favorite slot car lube, mine is Permatex Silicone based oil, lube the ends of the armature shafts, front and back with a drop of lube, figure11. Insert the arm shafts back into the arm bearings, taking care to put them back on the right way, front and rear, figure 12. The reason for installing them the same way is to ensure the armature and magnets are aligned the same as before. Yes, this is critical for optimum performance. Reinstall the armature/bearing assembly into the chassis, figure 12a & 12b, making sure that the bearings are fitted properly into the retaining tabs. It is easy to remove the brush springs with a paper clip, just straighten out one leg of the paper clip, insert the straightened leg into the small hole in the end of the brush tube and push out the spring gently, figure 12c. If the rules where you race allow it, throw the Lifelike brush springs out. They are junk, for racing anyways, if the rules allow it, use Tyco brush springs. They seem to be a little stiffer and hold up to the heat much better. When setting up a chassis for racing I do not use a lot of brush tension on the motor brushes. Doing so, always seemed to slow my cars down. Also be sure to check the inside of the brush tubes for burrs. Remove them if you find them, or just run a .028 drill in there to be sure. The brushes are supposed to “float” on the brush springs. I also use a Dental brush, figure 13, to clean the inside of the brush barrels of any carbon build up. And yes there will be some, sometimes a lot, figure 13a shows how much, use rubbing alcohol to help loosen it and remove it with the brush, figure 13. Figure 13b shows how I reinstall the brush tubes/brush springs/brushes. Simply insert the outside end of the brush tube first, load the spring into the tube, load the brush into the tube and with a small screwdriver push the brush back into the brush tube, figure14, and snap the tube into place, fugure15. Reinstalling the pick-up shoes and springs is tricky, but with a little patience can be done quite easily. I do not set my LifeLike cars up with a lot of tension on the pickup shoes. This is my personal preference, however, if you would like to try more tension, now is the time to stretch the pick-up shoe springs. Install the pick-up shoes as seen in figure 16, and using a pair of tweezers insert the arm of the spring into the slot of the pick-up shoe and set the spring into the pocket in the chassis, figure 17. With the pickup shoe over top of the spring, holding it in place, figure18, move the pick-up shoe back into position and snap it over the pick-up shoe retainer, figure19. Use the same process on the other side. The pole piece can be bent slightly upward, figure 20, to give you a bit more top speed, but this also gives you less magnetic downforce, be careful, more is not always better. Snap the pole piece back into place over the magnets, making sure it is in the correct position, according to your mark. Take your favorite slot car lube and put a small drop into the rear axles bearing surfaces, figure 21, front axle bearing surfaces, figure 22, and a small drop on the pinion gear boss. Re-install the rear axle after lubing the gear boss, figure 23. The front axle can be switched out for an independent front end from a LifeLike Busch car for a little more performance, if the rules allow. Install the front axle and snap the guide pin back into place.

Part 4: Break In

Break in, is a proces that I use to “run” in the new parts I just installed on my car. It can be done in several ways, with a nine volt battery, with a test track, and on the track. I prefer the nine volt battery method myself, as my cars are “run in” well, in about thirty seconds or so. You may prefer a longer run in time period, if so, do so. I have found it best to “run in”the cars at a slow speed, hence the battery. You may also be wondering about tire selection. I prefer to run my cars fairly high off of the track. I use .436 or .438 diameter sponge silicone or slip on silicones in those sizes for optimum speed. Many racers prefer to get them as low as posssible to the track, some even scraping the rails!

Best of luck to you. I do hope that this article will help you rebuild your cars well.