Tyco Tuning Tips

By   Race-A-SlotTM
The Tyco 440x2 is probably of the oldest of the modern era slot cars available. It is also one of the least understood cars out there. It is difficult to find just the right set-up to make the 440x2 go fast and turn left. Some of it has to do with the magnets (down force), and some has to do with its height, which seems to put a lot more of the weight up high, as opposed to Tomy G+ cars and Life-Likes, which both have a lower center of gravity and also have more magnet down force.

There are numerous things that have to be done to a Tyco car to make it handle and give it the necessary speed to win races and I will touch on a few of them. If you are racing on plastic track of any brand, the first thing you will need to do on a Tyco car is to loosen the pickup shoe tension (HO-USA Volume 12, Number 3, Nov. ‘98). By doing this, you will allow the skis to “float” on the sometimes rough surface of a typical plastic track. Again, finding the right balance between too little and too much is a lot like trying to pass a football over the defense, and directly into the hands of your receiver, thirty yards down field in the end zone. (Well, maybe not that bad, but you get the point).

The next item on your agenda should, of course, be finding horsepower. This is a tough one. You will need a couple things...
A good ohmmeter 10 or 15 dollars at Radio Shack. This is to test the amount of resistance on the commutator (that little three sided copper thing at the front end of the armature). By setting the indicator on the meter to OHMS, then touching the two leads to separate plates on the comm, you can read the OHMS on the arm. A good Tyco armature has a reading of between 6.3 and 6.8 OHMS. Tomy arms can get as low as 5.8 or 5.9 OHMS, but they are rare. If the reading on your particular arm is good, on to step two. 
Take an empty chassis, and just the front and rear bulk heads, and install your arm in the chassis without magnets. This will allow you to spin the arm to see if it is balanced. Another way to check for balance is to take two double sided razor blades and force one end of each, side by side into a piece of wood, making sure that the top edge of both are even, parallel and straight. Allow enough room for the arm to set between the two edges so that you can freely spin it to see if it is out of balance.

Unfortunately, if you have an arm that is out of balance, about all you can do with it is to throw it away, because in Super Stock class, you are not allowed to balance an arm. So, if you have a balanced arm, and it has a good OHM reading, you should (one would hope) have lots of go power.

Another thing that helps is to have good motor magnets. ZAP them! This is important, as magnets lose their power of a period of time, because of heat and the impacts created when one crashes (it was the marshal’s fault!). Adjusting Your Skis for Maximum Performance Last issue, I mentioned that I would discuss how to adjust your pickup shoes. This is an EXTREMELY important part of keeping the power flowing and keeping the handling going. (Hey, that rhymes!)

Check your new ski’s as soon as you put them on. Run a couple laps, pick up the car and check the wear to see is it is even. There should be an even line from front to back on the ski. If not, you need to adjust them. 
On a Tyco car, it is fairly simple...take a pair of small, flat bladed pliers or tweezers, and slide them between the ski and the bottom of the chassis at the back bend of the shoe.
Tomy cars are a little different (and more difficult) because you need to remove the shoe to adjust it. 
This time you need needle nose pliers at the back curve. Bend the curve forward for less contact at the back of the ski, and back for more contact. You will have to learn this one by trial and error, but with determination, consternation, and a little bit of abrogation (that means to replace, or revoke), you just might get it.