# tjet brass pan : feedbacks ?



## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

Hi, 

I 've seen on several websites some "old school" brass pan conversion kits for tjets.

I 've got a few JL/AW performance/speed tuned tjets, but the handling is quite difficult.

I know there is a lot of hopup parts on the market to improve that (heavy frontends, special rims, etc...), but I think the race prepared tjets (fray class for example) are really ugly... I'm not a competition racer, and one side of my hobby's pleasure is to run good looking and realistic cars, on scenery tracks.

So I want to race my tjets like the "model cars" they often are (some of the JL/AW are great looking, and I like resin bodies too). 

For that I bought some RRR wheels. I know they're are not racing parts too, but offers silicone tires...and are especially good looking. But I 'd appreciate to have pleasure running it on the track too, not only for display.

So I thought about those old school brass pans. Perhaps someones tried it, or like my type of hobby approach, and know good tricks to run good looking but eficient tjets.

Thank you,


dimitri


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

I have a few of the old brass pans. They help create a lower center of mass and usually do improve handling on a stock width TJet. However, they also add weight which tends to degrade the braking performance of the car. I found that they worked fairly well with the old style glued and trued sponge tires, but were less effective with silicone tires. A Fray/VHORS style TJet with all the latest fancy front end kits, gears, wide stance, JL or Super II magnets, and lightweight body will handle much better than a pan equipped standard width car. I have not tried a pan on a Fray/VHORS style car so I don't know whether it would add additional benefit or not, or whether it is even possible, given the lower ride height of these chassis. Maybe someone with a skid pad will conduct a scientific evaluation to quantify the performance of different cars with and without a handling pan.


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

thank you for your answer. I didn't think about the brake effect. My track has no brake wired,so the pan solution could be worst than another solution...

I beleive I'll have to wait to receive my RRR wheels, and try it to see what I can do with classic weight...


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

no other feedback on using tjet brass pans ?

thank you


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## mikeponiatowski (Jan 24, 2006)

*I Love Brass Pans!!!*



demether said:


> no other feedback on using tjet brass pans ?
> 
> thank you


I have different setups with differnet types of T-Jets from stock to FRAY, some of my favorites to run are with brass belly pans. Like you said, running cars that look good with nice wheels work best with the belly pans. FRAY cars won't work (and don't) need them because of their ultra low center of gravity. I have found a variety of brass pans available. RTHO as some nice ones, but I also like those that are a single strip brass pan. These work great for old T-Jet Indy and F-1 type cars. Regarding breaking, just use some stronger magnets. That will do the trick! I have another thread somewhere on Hobby Talk about this same subject.


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

thank you

I'll try to find the topic. The brass pans I found are RTHO too. 














> Regarding braking, just use some stronger magnets


I'm sorry, but I don't understand ? Do you mean motor magnets ? I use JL/AW stock tjets, I beleive their motor magnets are good, no ?

Last thing : with that brass pan installed, do the reed switch lapcounting work ?

thank you


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

hi, 

I just bought some pans tonight. We'll see the result on the track !


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## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

demether said:


> thank you
> 
> I'll try to find the topic. The brass pans I found are RTHO too.
> 
> ...


Demether, mikeponiatowski is referring to motor magnets. Back in the day, we needed stronger magnets (and armatures if available) to overpower the mass of the belly pan. They made the car handle great through the curves but slowed them down on the straights. An original Aurora Tuff Ones with larger diameter AJs or Autoworld silcones on aluminum hubs worked well for me (O rings in front and .2" or .25" wide in the rear). A lot of guy's tracks had "washboard" curve sections to use all of the 9" x 90 degree turns that accumulated after you bought a few sets. This set up was great through these sections.

The magnets in the JL/AW chassis are stronger than any of the magnets Aurora produced. Here is a link to a very good comparison article from slotmonsters. You can find a lot of other great information on the slotmonsters site.

http://www.slotmonsters.com/slot-car-pancake-motor-magnets.ashx

You won't need to change from your JL/AW magnets.

The RT-HO pan is just like back in the day. You should enjoy this chassis set up. Tres Bien! :thumbsup:

Russ


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## martybauer31 (Jan 27, 2004)

demether said:


> hi,
> 
> I just bought some pans tonight. We'll see the result on the track !


So RTHO is selling the pans again? For awhile it seemed like they were out of stock. Let us know how they run, I might have to pick up a few of those....


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

I didn't buy it in RTHO website, PM me if you want the adress :thumbsup:

Hope it will be OK (order shipping and item handling...) 

Thank you Resinmonger for the feedback too. Just for my last question : does it work with reed switchs ? stock tjet works, but here...who knows (I don't think so ?)


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## mikeponiatowski (Jan 24, 2006)

resinmonger said:


> Demether, mikeponiatowski is referring to motor magnets. Back in the day, we needed stronger magnets (and armatures if available) to overpower the mass of the belly pan.
> The magnets in the JL/AW chassis are stronger than any of the magnets Aurora produced.
> 
> You won't need to change from your JL/AW magnets.
> ...


I AGREE WITH ALL ABOVE! YOU CAN PLAY WITH VARIOUS MAGNETS/SETUPS WITHOUT NECESSARILY HAVING BRAKING ISSUES.

ALSO, FYI, THE RTHO BELLY PANS CAN BE MODIFIED/CUT TO FIT VARIOUS CHASSIS/BODY SET-UPSSITUATIONS.


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## mikeponiatowski (Jan 24, 2006)

*My previous link to belly pan subject thread*

Here is the link to a previous thread on on the belly pan subject.


http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=219002


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

thank you all ! my brass pans will be shipped today, referring the seller.

the only unknown thing is the reed switch laptimer compatibility?


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## thunderjetgene (Apr 1, 2004)

Guys - I have a few New Old Stock Aj's Brass pans for sale or trade if anyone is interested. A couple are ones issued by REH (REHco is the brand name) back in the day and are chrome plated AJ's pans- very cool, especially if appearance is important. They look great. 
Also have a few:
- "ol' skool" AJ's 22" silicone/aluminum threaded rears, black or red. New or in near mint shape
- AJ's 32" sponge Indy Radicals(were also called Streakers at one point), great looking deep-dishes intended for A/FX, which may work really well with the pan set-up, as they are taller and wider than the other AJ's. They were the trick setup when I was in Junior High. Silicone versions are much harder to find.
- A/FX hop-up kit aluminum rear with silicones, came with the blue-yellow mags and a hop-up crown gear and two lexan type Can Am bodies(AW McLaren and Ferrari 612)also deep dish and often get confused with the Indy Radicals wheels.
- deep-dish Champion TJet fronts and rears, set screw type with axle and screws.

I polish the wheels so they look good, too. Email or PM me.

And as for braking, use stronger motor magnets such as the JL/AW or the original A/FX hop-up kit "fully-oriented magnets"(they are commonly referred to as "Super II" magnets, and get confused with the "radially-oriented" non-dimpled Super II magnets, which were stronger and more expensive to produce, and are very rare to find). You get more torque and braking no longer is an issue - I would imagine that a good Mean Green would give you the top-end, or even the blue dragster arm.

Gene


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## thunderjetgene (Apr 1, 2004)

*AJ's Belly Pans*



mikeponiatowski said:


> Here is the link to a previous thread on on the belly pan subject.
> 
> 
> http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=219002


Good comments in this thread...


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

demether said:


> the only unknown thing is the reed switch laptimer compatibility?


no one knows? 



@thunderjet gene : I 've seen the stainless version of the tjet brass pan in a eshop, but no picture...could you post one ? 

by the way, I prefer brass finish : looks soooo old school ! :thumbsup:


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## thunderjetgene (Apr 1, 2004)

demether said:


> no one knows?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hey - I have both finishes - 3 brass and a couple chromes.

STAINLESS? Bah! I fart in their general direction! Mere pretenders! :jest:

These aren't stainless copies, these are original AJ's Twinn-K pans - the original that is BEING copied. REH took originals and chrome plated them - now, THAT looks much cooler than stainless, or even the brass! I was lucky enough to have found a complete header card of the REH/AJ's pans, and have a couple extras. :woohoo:
I'll try to get a pic up today.
Gene


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

I've ordered 4 pans for my tjets, I'll post a review here 


bye


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

I received it, it 's a great and easy handling improvement.

But you have to be aware that is not 100% compatible with JL/AW tjets chassis and bodies : the mouting posts are too wide on JL ones, so you'll have to modify a little.


A good news is that brass pan doesn't interfer with the reed switch laptiming system.

Hope it's help.


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## mikeponiatowski (Jan 24, 2006)

demether said:


> I received it, it 's a great and easy handling improvement.
> 
> But you have to be aware that is not 100% compatible with JL/AW tjets chassis and bodies : the mouting posts are too wide on JL ones, so you'll have to modify a little.



Modifications are easy with a Dremel and are usually necessary for both asthetic and performance purposes.


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

yes, you 're right. I think I'll have to move the rear mounting post in the body, and sand a little the rear mouting hole on the jl chassis. i'll make photos soon.


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## mikeponiatowski (Jan 24, 2006)

*Modifications to Pan*

Once you modify the pan to fit, more modifications may be necessary for performance and handling purposes. Running some laps will determine if this is necessary. I sometimes trim the front end for asthetic purposes if the brass sticks out from the body. I have also made madifications to the rear in situations where there is excessive fishtail do to the added rear weight. In either case, be careful not to trim when you start off or you may defeat the purpose of adding the pan. 

Pans that are merely a strip of brass that is placed down the middle of the chassis look better but offer less ability to modify and may not provide the best in performance improvements. 

Have fun!


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

Thank you for the advices 


I was thinking about modifying the body mounting posts instead of the brasspan itself. I would prefer to keep the brasspan stock, to create a homogeneous performances race class. What do you think about it ?

Here's some photos of the little imcompatibility with JL tjet stuff : 


the body (see the rear post, not centred for the brass pan hole)












the chassis (as on the body, the rear hole of the chassis is not centered too) :


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## mikeponiatowski (Jan 24, 2006)

demether said:


> Thank you for the advices
> 
> 
> I was thinking about modifying the body mounting posts instead of the brasspan itself. I would prefer to keep the brasspan stock, to create a homogeneous performances race class. What do you think about it ?
> ...


Whether you modify the body or the pan depends on the value of the body. I only have Aurora T-jets and would not modify the body unless it was not of much value or it was a pure racer. From the picture, the fit with the chassis to the pan looks fine to me, maybe you can open up the hole a littlle around the crown gear for more clearance or open the rear pan screw hole a little. Both are very easy with the dremel. Also, if asthetics are important, I would modify the front brass as it sticks out too far to the sides from the body. That is not uncommon and I do it a lot, just enough to not stick out. If the car deslots too easily even with the pan, the problem is more related to spring tension, pick-ups, etc.

You have to experiment.


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

thank you for the advises. Yesterday, I made a big improvement on the rear axle of my cars, the axle bushing wa&s a way too loose. I 've done the superglue fill trick to fix that. Now the car vibrates a lot less than before.

For the holes, I modified the bodies (simple JL bodies). On the photo with angle we can't see correctly, but there is a good 2milimiteres diference between pan, chassis and body holes.

Today, I 'll finish the track permanent setup, after that I 'll watch for the spring and pickup shoes 


dimitri


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## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

The JL/AW chassis is a little longer between the front and rear mounting holes than the original Aurora chassis, 1.95 in versus 1.88 in. This causes some issues when trying to mount an Aurora body on a JL/AW chassis. Some will work OK but others require filing of the rear mounting position - the Ferrari 250 GTO is one example. Oldly enough, some JL/AW bodies seem to fit the Aurora chassis better than the JL/AW chassis. THe RTHO pan would be sized for an Aurora chassis so the JL/AW chassis may need a little filing of the rear chassis hole to fit.

In any case, your pan chassis looks good and it takes me back about 38 years... :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

It's exactly that problem 

Brass pan is so good looking : old school powa ! (even if I was'nt born when people raced this type of cars, since I'm born in 19....79 ! )


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