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It seems like I am building a lot of Lola T70 kits at the moment,....this one from AMT. This kit came out in 1965, and despite it being powered by a "chunky" 36D it was one of the better performing/handling kits of the time. largely because of its fairly heavy brass chassis. They made a complete slot car kit, and a static model kit......mine is the Static kit, but I do have an original chassis/motor, and all the other bits.
This is the original Static kit box......I unfortunately, did not buy it for $1.12.
............the kit came with the slot car body mounts, slot car interior, and all the other bits to make this into a slot version.
The body is of the very early T70 Spyder, and is very well molded, but, still needs a bit of work and a good clean up/prep.
The chassis while quite good out of the box, really benefits from a few mods.,..............the guide tongue used a single nut bolt to attach it to the main chassis plate, and by sliding the guide tongue back/forth it was wheelbase adjustable, so it was universal for all the AMT releases in the series. (Lola T70, McLaren Elva, Chaparral, and the Hussein).
Unfortunately, only bolting the guide tongue made it prone to slipping, and also not sitting perfectly square, so soldering it in was a big improvement, and this has been done. There is also a piano wire gusset soldered under the step in the front of the guide mount, which helps considerably in strengthening this area.
The chassis was also prone to bending under/behind the motor. so some .047 wire has been soldered lengthwise to the chassis plate along the bottom of the motor........this helps.
Both the front and rear axle uprights were somewhat flimsy, and tended to bend, which invariably bound up the axles, so a wire brace was made for the rear uprights, and a front axle tube was made from 2 diameters of brass tubing which hold 3/16 x 1/8 sintered bushings,...................better performance, and, much more durable.......priceless
The motor is an original AMT 36D but has been fairly heavily reworked, by John H.......Arco 33 magnets, shims, bushings replaced, better quality comm, bulletproofed endbell, brushes, springs, and a rewound/balanced 55/30 wind armature ( a good step up from stock but, not crazy)
I have had some really nice cast aluminum T70 wheels (5/40 fronts, set screw rear) sitting around for ages,..........they will look great on the car .
Cheers
Chris Walker
This is the original Static kit box......I unfortunately, did not buy it for $1.12.
............the kit came with the slot car body mounts, slot car interior, and all the other bits to make this into a slot version.The body is of the very early T70 Spyder, and is very well molded, but, still needs a bit of work and a good clean up/prep.
The chassis while quite good out of the box, really benefits from a few mods.,..............the guide tongue used a single nut bolt to attach it to the main chassis plate, and by sliding the guide tongue back/forth it was wheelbase adjustable, so it was universal for all the AMT releases in the series. (Lola T70, McLaren Elva, Chaparral, and the Hussein).
Unfortunately, only bolting the guide tongue made it prone to slipping, and also not sitting perfectly square, so soldering it in was a big improvement, and this has been done. There is also a piano wire gusset soldered under the step in the front of the guide mount, which helps considerably in strengthening this area.
The chassis was also prone to bending under/behind the motor. so some .047 wire has been soldered lengthwise to the chassis plate along the bottom of the motor........this helps.
Both the front and rear axle uprights were somewhat flimsy, and tended to bend, which invariably bound up the axles, so a wire brace was made for the rear uprights, and a front axle tube was made from 2 diameters of brass tubing which hold 3/16 x 1/8 sintered bushings,...................better performance, and, much more durable.......priceless
The motor is an original AMT 36D but has been fairly heavily reworked, by John H.......Arco 33 magnets, shims, bushings replaced, better quality comm, bulletproofed endbell, brushes, springs, and a rewound/balanced 55/30 wind armature ( a good step up from stock but, not crazy)
I have had some really nice cast aluminum T70 wheels (5/40 fronts, set screw rear) sitting around for ages,..........they will look great on the car .
Cheers
Chris Walker
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