# worth a try!



## copperhead71 (Aug 2, 2007)

What types of cars or years doe's this common grey afx non-magnatration come with,does any body use them,do they have advantages?god bless!


----------



## TK Solver (Mar 18, 2004)

I have found these to be the most difficult cars to drive, especially if your track is not wired for brakes. They are pretty fast on the straights but coast well and really want to spin out in the corners. You have to take it easy with them. I suppose in that respect they're one of the most realistic to race. I prefer X-Tractions with a little more downforce.


----------



## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

The last real pancake? I love 'em!

Good silis on back, orings on front, make sure everthing is true. The lightest setting possible on the pick ups without current starve. Make sure the shoes arent toe heavy. Beefier magnets will get ya some brakes. Dress the brass armature gear and then a good toothpaste lapping of the gear train is required for many.

They were the last car made before companies started catering to the idea that they must yeild to 'lil Johnnie's chronic whining that he cant keep his car on the track rather than actually learn the finer points of control and finesse.

Cars that you couldnt drive while coloring, watching TV, and eating a sandwich.


----------



## martybauer31 (Jan 27, 2004)

Bill Hall said:


> Cars that you couldnt drive while coloring, watching TV, and eating a sandwich.


Mmmmmmmmm, sandwiiiiiiiich.


----------



## dlw (Aug 17, 1999)

Afx non-mags were made in the early 70's. Many collectors like to have the dated chassis (either 1970 or 1971), as they fetch a nice price. Any Afx, wide Tomy, or JL/AW Xtraction bodies will fit.


----------



## Mexkilbee (Apr 17, 2008)

I never understood why they didn't catch on. The Chasis is far superior to the T-jet, CG, plastic idler. On the tracks I have raced on there is more Track than car (T-Jet). Meaning it's 90% speed on the straights, with the AFX Non-mag plenty of power that forces you to drive the car on the whole track. More car than track. Think of Talladaga in the 60's and 70's, more track than car, where as nowadays at Talladaga everyone has more car than track and they ride around in "parade". i hope you all fallow this. I think races with the AFX Non-mag shows who the better driver is than builder. Since everyone has more car than needed. yes/no
We will be adding them in Jan/Feb to our racing to see if this all works out.


----------



## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

I like the non-mag AFX chassis -- it's an unruly beast but I find that to be endearing.


----------



## afxgns (Jul 6, 2006)

Good God these things are hard to drive!

We run them on ovals and road courses and they are VERY finiky. I have a number of them and have yet to find one that coasts. Where do you all find those? Most of the time I'm tryin' to induce coast 'cause it's easier to drive 'em that way. The big problem is the brush springs. I can't ever get them right, and when I do, I'm scared to even clean the thing for fear of tweekin' 'em somehow.


----------



## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

These are the cars that set the stage for everything that happened with Aurora and now Tomy in the Post Model Motoring (PMM) era. These cars established AFX, which was originally A/FX, as the single most recognized brand logo in the HO slot car hobby, worldwide.

The A/FX is the apex of the pancake evolution that started with the TJet, and the Super II is the most evolved A/FX ever released. It took me a very long time to appreciate (and accept) the Magnatraction as a worthy HO slot car for racing. Yeah, we'd seen the Magnatractions, and even let one of the neighborhood kids who needed a little magnetic accommodation race one, but when I packed up my slot cars in the mid 70s and headed out into the whoknowswhere I only had one or maybe two Magnatractions in my box, in pristine condition needless to say. By the time I unpacked everything again there were entire new generations of slot cars to be acquired, and I did, but the AFX brand was still anchoring the hobby. So I guess you could say non-mag A/FX was the Lucy for all AFX cars that have arrived on the scene since the beginning of time.


----------



## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

afxgns said:


> Good God these things are hard to drive!
> 
> We run them on ovals and road courses and they are VERY finiky. I have a number of them and have yet to find one that coasts. Where do you all find those? Most of the time I'm tryin' to induce coast 'cause it's easier to drive 'em that way. The big problem is the brush springs. I can't ever get them right, and when I do, I'm scared to even clean the thing for fear of tweekin' 'em somehow.


Mexi hit it on the head, they are a drivers cars.

I prefer to use a modified wizzard brush in place of the stock v/domed brush. It's easier on the comm surface, spreads the load, and seems to help loosen up the overall package. Personally I have found that in the past I had a tendency to set the comm a bit tight so I began to go looser with better results in handling. RE: coast-brake, and twitchiness in general. Even loosened up they are still more than a handful of car. I do agree that it is a very fine line on comm setup. Certainly your magnet selection directly affects the the initial on and off throttle handling. I tend to go one strength under because ....I'm speed greedy! LOL

The brass arm gear should always be dressed, I slip some 600 under it and over it then double down and repeat with 1200. Then I lap all the plastic gears with toothpaste...that includes the crown and the rear axle holes. Some times it takes two applications!

Providing that you have a good power source and adequate power tapping, it is my humble O that the standard AFX benefits a lighter pick up setting. I find many of them to be severely over sprung. Up to a point they seem to be less sensitive with regards to current starvation than say.... a t-jet. All in all I prefer them to be a little more nimble up front unless you are allowing weight to keep the pin in the slot. Todays modern silis play a big role with the shoe tuning as well. They are waaaaaay more grabby than what we once had. What we used to lose in tire fry we have now picked up in acceleration stutter. Much like the comm setting the pick up setting has become an even narrower window due to increased gription. 

I run step or ski shoes and have no real preference other than rolling the forward edge of the contact patch up a just a hair, so that they float over sectional joints and dont plow continuous rail. I also check the shoe hook at hanger plate and add a little more hook if necessary. Occasionally you have to watch the geometry on ski shoes as you will have an extended contact patch that creates excessive drag. More evident in chassis lowered with smaller tire profiles. Even with a ski I dont like to have much more patch than one would with a stepped shoe. At some point I finger that the added drag exceeds any advantage in current transfer.

All that to say that I find that I like them light and loose.


----------



## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Bill Hall said:


> All that to say that I find that I like them light and loose.


All good stuff. :thumbsup:

So, do the guts from those 'junk' early JL T-jet issues work in the non-mag chassis? I have heard something to that effect but never tried it. Maybe it was Magnatractions . . . ?

Anyway, I have a couple JLs disassembled that I never could get to run right that are just laying about in the parts pile. I also have six non-mag chassis I got from Drag that could maybe stand a little pick-me-up in the motor mag department. Would the mags, brushes, springs, arms, & pick-ups move over?


----------



## copperhead71 (Aug 2, 2007)

Thanks to all. I'm glad to have one(non mag) and get top notch tec support ,tune info and history from all the above and below!


----------



## Mexkilbee (Apr 17, 2008)

Coast is the key, No Brakes needed, and when going into the left hander, you know your going to go in "wide" if you lift, right handers your going to "sqeggle" and have to catch before getting back on it. The instructions on how to drive them was right on the box thanks to Jackie Stewert: "Brake on the striaght, roll threw the turn, and excellerate comming out of the turn" or something to that effect, "In slow, out fast" or my Fav. In fast, out faster......then pick car up off floor by water heater..


----------



## dlw (Aug 17, 1999)

> So, do the guts from those 'junk' early JL T-jet issues work in the non-mag chassis? I have heard something to that effect but never tried it. Maybe it was Magnatractions . . . ?
> 
> Anyway, I have a couple JLs disassembled that I never could get to run right that are just laying about in the parts pile. I also have six non-mag chassis I got from Drag that could maybe stand a little pick-me-up in the motor mag department. Would the mags, brushes, springs, arms, & pick-ups move over?


'Doba........Yes the mags, brushes and arms would work. The idler gear and on the top-plate should work, along with the rear axle and crown gear. The springs and pickups are too big/thick to work properly on non-mags.


----------



## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

dlw said:


> 'Doba........Yes the mags, brushes and arms would work. The idler gear and on the top-plate should work, along with the rear axle and crown gear. The springs and pickups are too big/thick to work properly on non-mags.


 
Cooool - I have something to mess with today while re-organizing the slot cave. :thumbsup:


----------



## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

1976Cordoba said:


> I like the non-mag AFX chassis -- it's an unruly beast but I find that to be endearing.


I like the AFX too for the same reason. The trick is to bring it to a controlled slide at the end of the straightaway before going into the turn. It's kinda like setting the car up on a dirt track. I also like the older AFX Turbos. They drive much like the AFX chassis, but at a much faster rate of speed. Either chassis will swap ends in a heart beat if not throttle steered correctly. I like the thrill of running both, but we don't run these chassis here anymore, for all sorts of reasons. "They're crap chassis", "ill handling", "No body can drive'em", "They don't run right", I've heard them all, especially about the Turbos.

I think they just got tired of seeing this car in the winner's circle.









I painted up some more for our '82 Nascar Turbo class, but we never run it anymore.


















Rich
www.myspace.com/northtexasslotcars :thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## slotnewbie69 (Dec 3, 2008)

is the handling that much different than a mag afx?just curious


----------



## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

Those are four real good looking cars, Rich! It's a shame guys won't run 'em. Oh well, that means there'll be less wear and tear on those sweet bodies!

:drunk::hat::freak::dude:


----------



## old blue (May 4, 2007)

Somebody had to say it..... I have super glued a rare earth magnet from Radio Shack to the bottom of a non magnatraction AFX. I had to grind a little plastic away to make it fit but the car handles better. Be careful not to put it too far back. I had one car popping wheelies instead of running.


----------



## TK Solver (Mar 18, 2004)

slotnewbie69 said:


> is the handling that much different than a mag afx?just curious


Yes, the non-mag AFX is just as fast but a lot looser. It's really surprising because the car accelerates and coasts similar to an X-Traction but it really wants to rotate in the turns. They'll spin if you've got too much speed just coasting into the turn. You need to let up a lot sooner on the straight. Then you need to be smoother getting back on the power coming out of the turn. If you just hammer it, the tail can kick out. Overall, you just don't have as much time as you have with X-Tractions. The timing of each transition is much more important with the non-mag. And if you have a bad lap you can't try to make up for it all at once.

I agree with what others have said here about the non-mag being a driver's car. When I'm just hanging out practicing by myself, I enjoy the challenge. Most guests and rookies hate them though so they don't see any race time. I'm happy just to get guests to run X-Tractions instead of the heavier magnet cars.


----------



## copperhead71 (Aug 2, 2007)

Thank's for the pic's awsome!


----------



## copperhead71 (Aug 2, 2007)

also very helpfull!


----------

