Re: Thimble Drome Champion

crankbndr Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:04 am

Wow, keep me posted, I can help with pricing. Been studying price for some time, the pre war cars are out of my reach.
Most of the sellers on eBay are waaayyy over priced but they keep running the listing over and over. I think they don't really want to sell but keep the price up.

duke.johnson Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:35 am

If I ever get the invite, I'll take some pictures for you. We have been talking about this for about a year now.

SuperDave Thu Nov 21, 2013 10:02 am

I wrote this some time back but it might be helpful for those intersted in Cox Chapion cars now: (It's found in the "search" file too)

SD

Cox Champion race car parts vendor recommendation
SuperDave on Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:55 am

.I recently ordered and received cast aluminum parts for my 50's vintage Cox Champion quarter-midget race car. The parts are now installed and the car looks great sitting on top of my computer desk.

If you need such parts try:

TLCEN1@GMAIL.COM or call 734/449-2154 (located at Whitmore Lake, MI.)

TLC Enterprise - Welcome

(Thanks to Indra for refering me to this source).

EssDee Laughing

crankbndr Sun May 18, 2014 11:02 am

I started digging into the Dooling not long ago and there is a lot going on inside.
In the rear is a battery pack, very large fuel thank set over the rear gear housing. To the right of the fuel tank is a condenser, the coil is in front of the tank over the flywheel and driveshaft.
The McCoy engine has a high compression head (blue), in front of the engine is an aux. fuel tank.

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SuperDave Sun May 18, 2014 11:20 am

"it helps, tell your wife you are working on some of those cars for me. lol!

[/quote]-
Duke

Duke:

Wives are usually quite quick to catch on to such subrifuges. Beware! Laughing

SD

crankbndr Sun May 18, 2014 12:04 pm

I don't understand how it works yet but the front aux. tank keeps the fuel from the main tank from flooding the venturi. The main tank sits much higher than the venturi.
Dooling Bros. manufactured a fuel system for this car, I have one NIB from 1946. The tanks in the car are much larger than the Dooling tanks.

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roddie Sun May 18, 2014 12:11 pm

That set-up looks "trick"!

getback Sun May 18, 2014 5:26 pm

WOW some body on hear is a plumber maybe they can help Babe Bee .049

Looks like there way or the hi way Very Happy

crankbndr Mon May 19, 2014 8:06 am

The instruction sheet is small, hard to get a readable scan. This is enlarged about 2X.
So far all I know is the upper large tank is vented through the lower tank and lateral placement of the tanks is important.

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roddie Mon May 19, 2014 10:33 am

Thanks for posting! I saved those scans in my tether-car folder. I've never had a tether-car.. but have been marveling at some I've seen photos of lately. These are "Beast" models.

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This one has a TEE Dee .010!!

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crankbndr Mon May 19, 2014 8:45 pm

Yes, that Beast fellow is quite the craftsman in both wood and metal and if you buy his car you get a free t shirt.
That wood body job in your photo is the only one I have seen that is not powered by Cox.

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crankbndr Tue Jun 10, 2014 7:09 am

I started collecting parts to build a Cox Dan Gurney Eagle tether car. This is the first issue from about 1966, it has a metal engine, axle assembly and the cylinder is horizontal.
Cox quickly changed to a plastic engine, axle assembly and an upright cylinder, bean counters no doubt.
I would be interested in buying any parts for the first issue anyone wants to sell.

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crankbndr Tue Jun 10, 2014 7:24 am

The engine has a thin wall #2 cylinder and a Babe Bee tank, the crown gear is plastic and looks like a weak point in the drive.
I think the flywheel is pressed on to a splined crank

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crankbndr Wed Jun 11, 2014 8:30 am

One of the problems I have is refinishing the front axle carriers, they are chromed plastic.
They can be chromed here http://www.chrometechusa.com/model-cars-and-collectibles.html
I would be happy if they were painted silver, anyone ever work with painting old plastic, removing the old chrome, priming and paint?

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crankbndr Thu Jun 12, 2014 11:25 am

Got the drive assembly refurbished, ready to drop in when the time comes.
Before and after

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crankbndr Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:55 am

I needed to remove the old decals from the body of the Eagle so thought I would give this stuff a try.
It worked great, fast and left the plastic clean and shiny. Used it to clean the whole body.
Ready for the new 1/12 scale decals I found here,
http://members.optusnet.com.au/pattosplace/home.html

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Ken Cook Sat Jun 14, 2014 8:22 am

I had the DG Gurney Eagle given to me in the early 70's. I was fortunate to have a older fellow whom I'm sure is no longer with us nicknamed "Dutch" give me one of these. Dutch was a great guy, he was a large scale R/C flyer who out of the love of the hobby would stop over to see my friends and I fly control line. His son now out of the house and older left the car behind. Dutch gave the car to me one afternoon. I tried forever to get the car to run. My father stepped in and overhauled the car. Finally it was running. I didn't know any better, but my father did and the car required lots of lead in the bottom of the chassis to get it to stop bouncing. At the time I was using Dacron for the lines and one afternoon they broke and the car up to speed went across the parking lot striking a parking sign. The car just exploded. Back to dad once again who used fiberglass and epoxy inside and outside. Some of the parts required him to machine from aluminum such as the front axle retainer. I couldn't wait to break stuff as my dad always repaired it and fixed it better than new. The car was sprayed with Perfect brand yellow and once complete it looked like a brand new car. I wish I still had it as I left it when I moved out of the house and it was atop of the ceiling in the garage. Someone has more than likely found a great piece of history.

I wish you luck in this restoration and if someday you decide to run it, I would love to see it as it was one of my favorite toys as a kid. The rage back when I was running this car was Mattel's electronic football. Everyone had that game aside from myself. I had the Gurney Eagle and no one else did so it would generate an audience and it didn't matter what age. Ken

roddie Sat Jun 14, 2014 8:30 am

Wow! That's coming along NICE! The engine, drive and body look great. Is that a standard Babe Bee backplate with it's four ears tapped for mounting with machine screws? Is the flywheel assy./drive-gear splined to replace the standard prop drive-plate.. or does this engine have a unique case/crank? I'm guessing the former.. because it would keep costs down on mfg. The "exploded view" of the drive shows a 290 style engine. Just curious.

roddie Sat Jun 14, 2014 8:52 am

Here's a little inspiration.. not a great quality vid... but really COOL!!!!! At about 35 seconds; it starts to lean-out and really SCREAM!!!

**RknRusty** Sat Jun 14, 2014 9:11 am

Ken Cook wrote: I wish I still had it as I left it when I moved out of the house and it was atop of the ceiling in the garage. Someone has more than likely found a great piece of history.
Ken

Yeah but hey, you've still got a story that's pretty entertaining. Thankfully for me, my Dad too, was a gluemaster and handy with machines, small and large.
Rusty

crankbndr Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:21 am

roddie wrote:Wow! That's coming along NICE! The engine, drive and body look great. Is that a standard Babe Bee backplate with it's four ears tapped for mounting with machine screws? Is the flywheel assy./drive-gear splined to replace the standard prop drive-plate.. or does this engine have a unique case/crank? I'm guessing the former.. because it would keep costs down on mfg. The "exploded view" of the drive shows a 290 style engine. Just curious.

I think these and some other car engine had a large journal crank and case, the flywheel is pressed on the splined crank.
I didn't tear it down that far to know for sure, I have other car engines with large crank and the crankcase goose neck is much larger than normal and the front of the crank is angled instead of splined
to fit on a angled flywheel hole. I'll see if I can find some pics of those.

**Cribbs74** Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:23 am

I bet that car is still in the garage ceiling where you left it. A lot of folks don't bother with attics and unless you left it out in the open it may still be there.

I would drive by and knock on the door and tell your story to them Ken and take a peek and see.

Good work on the Gurney Crank!

Ron

crankbndr Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:24 am

Ken Cook wrote: I had the DG Gurney Eagle given to me in the early 70's. I was fortunate to have a older fellow whom I'm sure is no longer with us nicknamed "Dutch" give me one of these. Dutch was a great guy, he was a large scale R/C flyer who out of the love of the hobby would stop over to see my friends and I fly control line. His son now out of the house and older left the car behind. Dutch gave the car to me one afternoon. I tried forever to get the car to run. My father stepped in and overhauled the car. Finally it was running. I didn't know any better, but my father did and the car required lots of lead in the bottom of the chassis to get it to stop bouncing. At the time I was using Dacron for the lines and one afternoon they broke and the car up to speed went across the parking lot striking a parking sign. The car just exploded. Back to dad once again who used fiberglass and epoxy inside and outside. Some of the parts required him to machine from aluminum such as the front axle retainer. I couldn't wait to break stuff as my dad always repaired it and fixed it better than new. The car was sprayed with Perfect brand yellow and once complete it looked like a brand new car. I wish I still had it as I left it when I moved out of the house and it was atop of the ceiling in the garage. Someone has more than likely found a great piece of history.

I wish you luck in this restoration and if someday you decide to run it, I would love to see it as it was one of my favorite toys as a kid. The rage back when I was running this car was Mattel's electronic football. Everyone had that game aside from myself. I had the Gurney Eagle and no one else did so it would generate an audience and it didn't matter what age. Ken

Ya, nice story! One thing about the old Cox models they were highly detailed and really look nice new but if played with really took a beating.

crankbndr Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:27 am

Cribbs74 wrote: I bet that car is still in the garage ceiling where you left it. A lot of folks don't bother with attics and unless you left it out in the open it may still be there.

I would drive by and knock on the door and tell your story to them Ken and take a peek and see.

Good work on the Gurney Crank!

Ron

Thanks, I'm glad I tried the Goof Off on the plastic, it works great. Will use it on all my Cox plastics from now on.

**Cribbs74** Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:34 am

I have had good luck in the past with painting over the chrome. It's near impossible to remove without destroying the plastic. So I would light sand the chrome to give the paint something to cling to.

I am not sure what you intend to do with the model, but if you put it on the shelf the paint will last indefinitely. If you run the car it may wear off over time.

Ron

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