New Member: WCM K? Grand National - Strip and Rebuild

[SMC]

Ok Gentz... Newbie here in Minneapolis MN

Got a WCM 1:4 Scale Grand National two days ago.

Sadly, it was in a shop which caught fire.... It wasn't in contact with flames, but the heat was enough to melt the body, foam, tires, rims, plastic heims... etc
Then, the guy let it sit outside since early summer.... Booooo.
I move fast on projects, so first pic is crappy at night in the dark, so you really can't see much. I had already peeled most of the body off the tubing and stuff...

Engine is intact, as is the engine wiring... good compression, good spark. Haven't tried to fuel it yet but I will this weekend.

So far she is stripped. Down to a bare frame.

She is soaking with Aircraft Paint Stripper now, since I don't have immediate sandblast access and I'm impatient.

Parts I have for re-assembly:

USED Plastic 2 Piece 4 Bolt Wheels (Which I'll need to drill for my 6 bolt hubs) - nice wheels like new, with OK foam and bands
NEW aluminum drive 'sprocket', two new plastic rear 'sprockets'
USED Aluminum shocks, 3 full sets of springs so I have options. No leaks. Good Hardware. Smooth
NEW Clutch arms/pads/spring
NEW Recoil (The one on the engine works, but handle is pretty janky lookin... warped)
10-15 NEW Metal Heims, and 8-10 NEW Plastic Heims
NEW Carb and filter housing
USED Body, Sponsored by rural suburb bar
Misc other stuff

So, short of a Radio, I have everything I need to get her rockin like new.

I think the motor is gonna be ok... no signs of anything leading me to think it won't be ok. Seems like a Zenoah 230RC??? Is that right? 230RC??
Stock motor as far as I know. Do guys build em and not put aftermarket exhaust and intake on em? Wouldn't make sense to me... all that is stock, so I assume the engine is too. (Not a redcap)

So......

It was laid out for oval... so rear suspension was staggered. I have an extra chunk of axle stock long enough for the proper positioning should I need to move anything out more on the drive side.
My only concerne here is that the dogbone may not be wide enough when I move the trailing arms to their new positions (Outside the frame).... however, with the axle stock, I can space the inner cup (That accepts dogbone)
Might be just fine. We'll see.

Hopefully I'll be painting tomorrow night.
I'll finish stripping and prepping the frame tonight... and there's a couple dents to fix... one slightly squished tube I'll need to braze and sand smooth (Fill)

Chevy Orange for the frame. All suspension and steering just lightly buffed and polished... close to stock aluminum billet, with a lil shine

Anything else will be black or standard hardware color (Zink/nickel/black)

Should look ok.

Anyone in Minneapolis area with a Radio set? Other parts?

Pics:

[SMC]

Hey Hey, Made some Progress last night and this morning.

Finished stripping and prepping frame. Straigtened out a couple dents. Slide hammers rock

1st Coat was a rust inhibitor/base. We used to shoot hotrod/classic frames with it before prime/seal/paint. Good stuff.

2nd coat was a slightly texturized bed liner (Wanted something durable for bottoming out). Stuff is solid, not flexible, slight texture (Sand type) and Paintable.

3rd, 4th, 5th Thin Coats of Chevy Orange Engine Enamel/Ceramic. Figured it'd be good to use something fuel/oil resistant.

Frame looks great!

This evening I'll finish stripping down the suspension/steering components, clean, wet sand, buff, polish.
Also, strip shrouding off engine. Pull carb (Have a brand new replacement) - Prep shroud and pull, and paint those.
If there's time, I'll hit the hardware store and get all the new bolts and other hardware needed.

Should be re-assembling Saturday or Sunday. Might even have her fired up Sunday Evening, but I'm not holding my breath.
I don't want to strip her down again so I'm trying to get all the pretty work done before re-assembly.

She's lookin sharp. I'm really hopin the engine is ok. Sounds like it. Great compression and spark (Though I haven't compression tested or leak-downed... just pull-listen)
Seems solid. This little turds are pretty forgiving in my experience with other projects, though, I don't know the history of this particular engine, so we'll see.

Only part I don't have is a new Brake Disk... The one that's on it is 'ok'... so I should be good to get her up and start test running/dialing... but I'll need a replacement I'm sure. Visible wear and small groove.

How fast are these things when they're stock? (I know the gearing makes a difference, and I have two sets of drive gears (Haven't checked for tooth count yet), but looking for a general idea.
Also, can anyone verify the frame? I think it's a WCM... not sure of their history of models... I'm told it's a K or something? I see their 2010 is a K1E.... not sure what the older models were.

Also, you can see where the frame tube has been crimped due to torquing the bolts, and no doubt from impacts and strain.
I pulled the rails out until the inside edge was straight, so she should line up right.
The diameter of the bolt holes are big enough that I can get some small aluminum tubing I have in there around the bolt,
so I think I'll cut it to length and slide that in with washers inside and out to help prevent further distortion of the tube...
Maybe even some rubber washers as well to dampen just a tiny bit...
Like: MTL Washer, RBR Washer, MTL Washer on each side if it doesn't stack up so thick on the inside that it throws me way off (I think there's some adjustment with the gear?)

[Mike Casey]

looks great so far. Thanks for posting this project. Saw it over on RCU too.

Keep it up!

[bentley marshall]

i told him to come over here

[SMC]

Thanx guys! And thanx for the lead to this forum.

Made some more progress yesterday and today.

Mocked up the new fit. When I got it, it was set up for oval.
I don't intend to compete, and I want overall even performance, wether in a parking lot, bike path, or an asphalt track

So, I changed the position of the rear trailing arms, links, link mount, shock mounts, etc.

I also modified the steering to allow tighter turns, and I picked up a good 15-20% easy.

Unfortunately I snapped a few parts:
A bolt, for the bottom mount of the front passenger shock (drilled, tapped, all better)
Both top mounting bolts for the rear shocks (wanted to reposition anyway, so built new mounts)
BUT, the kicker... Snapped the passenger top control arm Heim (drilled and tapped, but sucks cause I couldn't find a replacement locally this weekend)

Other than that heim, I also need both heims for the brake rod/arm, and a new brake rod/arm (the aluminum arm can spin on the rod... Not easily, but No good)

Then the last hurdle will be aligning the drive gears. Mine has a differential, which, in the new layout, holds the axle gear too far out.
I also have a mount and gear to set it up posi, which would line me up right, but I'm pretty sure I want the diff to help cornering.
The diff 'mounts' won't allow the adjustment I need unless I cut the inner one down, but then I still need to space the outter one to get the wheel back into position, which is a toughy since the outter one seves as the outside of the diff as well as the wheel hub. I was thinking maybe a really thick washer (more like a spacer) for the outter half of the diff, but good luck finding one.

Changing it to the posi setup, it is much narrower and so it would be much easier, but again, I'm pretty sure I want the diff.

I know I could have left the trailing arms in the offset position and just put in a longer axle on the drive side to space the wheelbase where I wanted it, but, that would mess with the geometry of the suspension, which I am setting out to avoid (remember, I am not prodominantely running oval), but, none of my mods are destructive, and I'm doing this all in a way that I could change this out for oval in a 5 minute rush



Can't seem to post pics right now (using my cell phone) so I'll post pics in the morning

Also, painted and started the engine today. Ran good, just need the right size fuel line... stuff I had around is a hair too big and sucks air.

Q's:

1) Can some of you please post pics of drive side axle setups with the wheel off? Would be helpful so I can confirm mine, or get some new ideas.

2) Are these aluminum axles pressed into these rear bearings? And are the bearings pressed into the trailing arms? Or is that an effect of the fire?

3) Is the clutch assembly pressed into that bearing as well? And is the bearing pressed into the plate? Or, again, is this an effect of the fire?

4) And anyone on this forum in MPLS?

5) Again, can someone confirm this kit? WCM Grand National K? Is that right?
I emailed WCM but got no response and didn't see a phone number for them.



Later

[SMC]

Good morning Gentleman

Pics from the weekend:

She's ALIVE ! ! !

[SMC]

Ed, good talking to ya, I'll get a hold of you soon.

Phone dropped the call out in the boonies by that track

Ok, don't jump these cars 20 feet
Long story short, was takin her up the road, cars were comin, so I veered off to the right to get ready to take the next turn, and she jumped right early, and over an entire grass slope down to the parking lot I was gonna exit into. Well, she got there

So, after removing and straightening the rear passenger axle, all was well again.

Took her to a much safer environment to a nearby parking lot, and ran a tank of gas outta her doin ovals and figure 8s.

These things move!

I'm only getting half throttle when on the radio, cause the throttle servo arm is flexing. If I run it by hand I get full throttle, so she's set just right, but the arm flexes really bad due to the tension of the throttle plate spring.

An aluminum servo horn would do it, or should I take the spring outta the carb???????? Is that koscher?

Anyway... aside from the half throttle dillema, everything is pretty cool.

Need some alignment adjustments, and I'm gonna replace the rear axles for good measure, but other than the stuff mentioned here, she's pretty solid

Should be runnin at the track this weekend.

Track owner offered me FEE-FREE track time Said 'You can come out here anytime... I can see you're serious... just pull through here and have fun'

Sweeeeeeeeeet.

He also offered me another WCM, newer than mine, rolling chassis short of wheels.
Very reasonable price..... Gotta think about it though. Would need wheels, engine, receiver, and throttle/brake servo.

But I might have a second one after this weekend.

I'm hooked. I'm gonna let the OCD run free until about the 4th car I think

Gonna try to post a lil vid.... 1/2 throttle after straightening the axle back out after 'the jump'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug7BjlNv1lQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaAph3Z1X4o

Can I take the spring outta the carb??? I think that would resolve the throttle issue.

[SMC]

Repositioned the throttle/brake servo to get better direction on the throttle plate at the carb. Much much better, full range of motion now and wide open throttle.

Modded the brake a lil bit to get better contact position on the 'pad'. Hits dead center now and works much better.

Putting new axles in the rear tonight, and also modding the front end a bit, different spindles and mod to the steering setup to get tighter cornering when I want it. I have a steering range trim on my transmitter, so I can always dumb it down for the track.

After tonight, I'll just run her a bit and keep messing with alignment till I'm happy. Then I'm gonnatear her back down and threadlock everything.

Should have a winner by this saturday

Then I just need to make the bumpers and it'll be done enough to mode on to the next car

[PaulSongas]

Funny.. I bet this car was in the same hobby shop my dragster was in when it burned down.
He told me there was a nascar in there at the time as well.

[SMC]

That would be it.

Jerry's RC

Got it from a dude that got it from him

We're real close. I'm just up in NorthBranch right now.. Temporarily. I'm a Minneapolis guy I'll be back in the city soon. Work there, own a recording studio there that is a second job....

Maybe we should meet up sometime? Would be cool to see your dragster.

Funny, guy I got this from said Jerry had a dragster too... I asked if he still had it

If you wanna catch up some time, shoot me an email (they forward to my phone, so it's quick)

Shortyemcee (at) gmail (dot) com

Nice ta meet ya