AW Super ll dodge charger stocker body sitting on afx pancake chassis

hi serge

as far as the body mounts go all you need is some crude LOL modelling tools and patience to do this. this only will work for the hard plastic body shells, i will give you the rundown.

first thing you need to do is outfit a stripped out old junk chassis of the same type you are going to use with rims and axles, as well as a gear plate, and gear clamp . you need to make sure the mounting ears on this chassis are uncut and in good condition, as these will be the basis for moulding the new body mounts.

NOTE: DO NOT use a guide pin on this chassis as you will be setting the body height to the track height

you outfit this "jig chassis" with front and rear tires that are slightly larger than the ones you normally would run on your real chassis you intend to put under the body you are modifying. this will help you with the final clearancing.

using and exacto knife, or a rotary file in a dremel tool, grind out the old moulded in body mounts off the sides of the body you are modifying. using a bic pen with sandpaper wrapped around it, sand your front wheel openings upward towards the hood to lower the front. using a sharpie marker. wrap this with sandpaper and do the same to the rear. dont go crazy at this step, as its easier to remove the material than it is to put it back.

the reason for the different sized diameter pen tubes is simply that the rear wheels are larger, and the sharpie marker tube is a more perfect fit for shaping the rear wheel openings.

set the chassis on something flat. i use a flat steel block 2" x 4" for this, but anything will do. square of flat plywood even an old piece of track. test fit the body on the jig chassis and keep sanding those wheel openings until you get the rake, altitude, and stance you want.

this is where the 3M DP-805 acrylic adhesive, and flash break tape comes in play. same stuff i used to glue my whole track together. you tape up the mounting ears on the jig chassis with the tape, and trim excess of with an exacto knife. squirt some dp-805 out on an old paper plate, and manually mix it up with a small pop stick. you flip the body upside down,and put a glob of dp-805 on either side of the body where your new mounts will need to go,and set your jig chassis into it.

NOTE: make sure you square up the chassis with the body, and make sure all your wheels are centered in the openings. this stuff sets up in 5 to 10 minutes  and if you forget to do this you will have to grind the dp-805 back out ,and do it all over again.

NOTE: remember the dp-805 is an instant bonding acrylic adhesive/filler. it IS hard acrylic plastic when dry, and is permanently bonding to damn near anything it touches, so be careful working with it, especially if the car you are lowering already has a nice paint job, and you dont want to repaint it

when the dp glue is dry carefully use a screwdriver and pry the chassis loose from the body. you will need to use a rotary file on a dremel to remove the excess dp and shape the mount. you may also have to retape the mounts, snap the chassis back in, and add a little more dp to fill in some void areas here and there to make the mount fit a little better. i have been able to do these mounts in one shot, sometimes 2 or 3 shots. i feel its easier to use a bit less glue, and to add some more to build up the mount as desired than to do it in one shot and have to grind away a bunch of extra dp. 

your actual race chassis should now snap in. since its wheels should be slightly smaller than the jig chassis' wheels you should have some wheel clearance. you may have to file the openings a small amount more, but i have found that if you do this right, most often you wont have to.

the cool thing about this is you can use bodies not meant for different chassis like i did with my charger. i have a tyco chevy nascar super truck body i am thinking of fitting to a pancake chassis next.

hope this helps.

matt