# Mattel $2.98 Chassis - what body?



## PumaT (Jul 17, 2008)

Hey all. Based on a post I saw in here a few weeks ago, I went ahead and ordered 6 of the Mattel “ER NASCAR Chassis” they are selling for $2.98 – just because the price seemed like you couldn’t go wrong. They seem like really neat cars; but, I’m having trouble pinpointing what kind of body they fit on. I almost exclusively mess with T-Jets and the occasional AFX but haven’t ventured into the Mattel/Tyco world very much. 

I have picked up a few different bodies over time that came with junkyard lots I’ve purchased to get old T-Jet bodies. One of them fit the Mattel chassis just fine. I don’t know what it is or what it’s called but, I have attached pics (it’s the one with the chasis mounted). I have two other bodies that look like they should work but don’t. I have also attached pics of them along with the top and bottom of the Mattel chassis in question.

Is there anyone out there who could tell me what bodies should work? I would surely appreciate some help.

And, if it’s not too much trouble, can someone tell me if the traction magnets are removable or if they are an integral part of the motor assembly. These cars are generally much faster than the T-Jets and the AFX’s I have; but, as I prefer the non-mag AFX’s to the mag version, I was curious if these Mattel chassis could be made non-mag. I use an old lock and joiner model motoring track and, when you put one of these babies down, it’s down. I thought I’d need a screw driver to pry it off the track. Also, I have found that they don’t just de-slot – they either stay glued to the track or they go flying up against the wall. That’s kind of neat; but, since I don’t really race, I thought it might be fun to see if they could be controlled as sliders. Just a thought.

Thanks for any help you might be willing to offer.

Dave


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## BRPHO (Aug 1, 2006)

The car you have the chassis mounted under is a tyco porsche 914 body made in the early to mid '70s by tyco.

The #66 car body is a high wing Chaparral body made by tyco around the same time as the porsche.

Unfortunately you are going to find some of these bodies will fit the new chassis and some won't based on being too shallow of a body to accomodate that chassis. I believe the chaparral you have is a body that is too shallow for that newer chassis unlike the porsche body.

The chaparral and porsche were originally on chassis tyco produced back then called tyco pro chassis.

The lambourghini body fits the narrower tyco indy style chassis. That is why the body has the 2 tabs on the under side to attach to the narrower chassis.
Not sure why tyco did this by putting this body on that narrower chassis?
A few of their bodies were designed like that.

Unfortunately the only body that will snap right on your new tyco chassis that you have is the porsche pictured which you have chassied already.

As far as your questions regarding removing magnets for magnet/unmagneted racing, I just run my cars the way the chassis come so I'm no help to you there.

Maybe someone else on the board has the answer????

Hope this helps in some way......

With tyco bodies its all trial and error I have found over the years since tyco made so many different chassis and bodies that fit various chassis over the years.

At least with t-jets the bodies fit that given chassis without the many variations of how the bodies mounted.

Wayne :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## FullyLoaded (Apr 19, 2006)

I am pretty sure this was posted before on here but make sure you swap out those vinyl-like front and rear tires on the new Mattel 440X2 chassis as they have a tendency to melt into the track when stored on a track plus I found the tires to even attack their own wheels they're mounted on. I think the chromed wheels are fine since they block the reaction but still can't be stored on a piece of track.


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## TK Solver (Mar 18, 2004)

The "melting effect" doesn't seem to occur when I sand the shiny coating off the tires. Anybody else notice this? That also greatly improves the traction/performance. You might want to wear a paint mask while sanding though... if that stuff melts plastic, I don't want it in my lungs either.


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## twolff (May 11, 2007)

I've just been trueing the tires and not storing them on the track. I'll have a look at the wheels now.

BTW: My son and I have been running the snot out of these. True the tires, a few drops of oil, and a quick tweak to get the shoes flat and that's it. We use the Tyco NASCAR bodies from the 440x2 era.


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## brownie374 (Nov 21, 2007)

Where do you get them for $2.98?


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## twolff (May 11, 2007)

https://store.mattel.com/CatalogBrowser.aspx?cmd=local&cat=139&sec=9225

Select your country and it should take you to the right page.


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## jph49 (Nov 20, 2003)

A group I am aware of in St. Louis tried running the Tyco chassis without the traction magnets. I believe they replaced the magnets with lead weights and they also reduced the voltage to about 12 volts. Reports I heard were that the cars set up this way were controllable and did slide more like the tjets do.

Sorry I don't have any better information.

Patrick


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## neorules (Oct 20, 2006)

twollf--- what ohms are the armatures? Thanks


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## GoodwrenchIntim (Feb 22, 2005)

4 ohm


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## PumaT (Jul 17, 2008)

Thank you all for the information and tips. Maybe I can get a few Tyco's up and running. Thanks, again.


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

These are wide pan Tyco chassis. Tyco/Mattel made two different body styles. Some take the narrow pan chassis (Indy, F1, Lamborghini) and some take the wide pan chassis. The wide pan chassis will fit any body which uses an HP-7 (and probably HP-2)chassis.
I do not believe these tires are track melters. The only track melting chassis I have come across are from battery powered sets. These seem to be earlier chassis.

Joe


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## FullyLoaded (Apr 19, 2006)

The yellow lettered tires from these newer issue chassis did the same thing as the plain tires from the battery box sets on the piece of Tyco track they were on but both seemed to be the same compound. I've seen yellow lettered tires before but they were not like these newer ones.

The smoothie Tyco fronts and rears are safe and the transition tires (Tyco-era under Mattel before Mattel went to the battery-box sets) don't have that vinyl feel to them. I guess Mattel found it cheaper to switch to this compound when going to the battery-box sets. I hate to see those New Old Stock sets in the future with cars inside having melted wheels and possibly the tires melted into the plastic baggie and maybe even the body.


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

FullyLoaded said:


> I hate to see those New Old Stock sets in the future with cars inside having melted wheels and possibly the tires melted into the plastic baggie and maybe even the body.


 Has anyone seen the new tires eat through the plastic baggies? I have a number of the battery set cars boxed away still in their baggies and have not experianced any problems. In my display cases for the shows, where I display the cars on Tyco/Mattel track, I put down paper stickers under the tires. After about a year, they did not do anything to the paper. For this Sunday's show, I have lined the track with masking tape under these problem chassis, so I'll see if it eats through that after a few weeks.

Joe


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## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

FullyLoaded said:


> I am pretty sure this was posted before on here but make sure you swap out those vinyl-like front and rear tires on the new Mattel 440X2 chassis as they have a tendency to melt into the track when stored on a track plus I found the tires to even attack their own wheels they're mounted on. I think the chromed wheels are fine since they block the reaction but still can't be stored on a piece of track.


I have some of these chassis still in the bags - no problem. When I put them under a body, I upgrade the rear tires to Super Tires, PVT, AJs, or Wierd Jack depending on what's handy. Given the chassis is *$2.98*, I am not real worried about springing for a set of tires. I like Bud's Tomy fronts for the other end of the car. When I'm done, I may have $5 or $6 in a nice running chassis. Show me another chassis with silies on all corners for $5 or $6. I have a hard time seeing the problem here.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

A friend got some of these chassis this summer. He only races every once in a while. He put the cars in his Plano tackle box, top shelf. When he went to race with us last week, two of the chassis had melted through the shelving inside the box, one of them almost to the bottom! We were all standing around looking at the carnage when he picked one up, bad mistake. We stopped the bleeding best we could and took him for help. When we got back from the hospital we cleaned up the floor and put the box in a 5 gallon bucket. Another friend worked at a lab so he took the stuff to examine. Best he could tell is there's some sort of radioactive waste used to make those tires. Oh, and the yellow lettering has lead in it.

Just for your information
:freak:


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## grungerockjeepe (Jan 8, 2007)

I ditched the rear tires on all my mattels not because of this issue, but because theyre nearly square in terms of shape. The fronts, Ive left alone for the most part. But I havent had any wheel-melting issues, and I ahve some of these going back to '05 with the batman begins sets, and the set with the charger and superbird on those goofy 'dubs.


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

grungerockjeepe said:


> But I havent had any wheel-melting issues, and I ahve some of these going back to '05 with the batman begins sets, and the set with the charger and superbird on those goofy 'dubs.


 I have not seen any issues with tires on the Charger/Superbird chassis; they have been sitting on track for well over a year and have not melted any track. I have seen it only on the battery powered sets; CARS sets, police/Firebird, HP/Vodaphone F1s. I don't know if I have seen it with the (first) Batman Begins. I would guess you'll see it with both Speed racer sets and the newest Batman set.

I too have not seen any effect on the plastic baggies.

I did call Mattel about this problem when I first noticed it. It was also around the time of Mattel's massive recalls for lead. The girl I spoke with, while nice, did not forward the information; at least, that's the strong impression I got from the phone call. 

Joe


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## Phishead (Sep 19, 2008)

The chassis as they come from the bag will fit the newer Mattel bodies and The U-Turn chassis bodies. I think the HP7 bodies will fit in that location as well but I dont own any so not 100% on that. If you remove the front axle and reinsert it in the far front mounting location you can mount the older 440 wide pan bodies.


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

Picked up a few to replace some older 440X2 chassis carrying stock car bodies. Work great for the kid racers. Not being a TYCO expert, seem to work as well as the originals even if they are for the battery pack sets. I'll let you know if we fry one up. :freak: rr


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## BRPHO (Aug 1, 2006)

I got 4 of these chassis in the mail today that I purchased from mattel.

The tyco bodies I'm putting them under are the 1978-1980 Z28 camaro bodies, 917 porsche and the old tyco AP vette body.

The camaros needed the front axles moved into the very front axle position and the 917 porsche and AP Vette needed the front axle left in the rear front axle position.

Hope this helps some of you a bit.......

I didn't notice any tire melting phenomina going on?

Sounds like a case for the X files!!!! HA HA HA!!!!!

If I notice anything funny going on with mine, I'll call Mulder and Scully in to
check it out first then post and let you all know what has been determined...... HA HA HA!!!!

Future develpoments will be posted.

Stay tuned for future public service announcements......

Wayne :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## GoodwrenchIntim (Feb 22, 2005)

The tires melt the track when being left on it for a long period of time, I have noticed mine sticking an removed them from the track


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