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Fly Porsche 911 GT1 and OverDrive Light kits
This article is about the installation of the OverDrive Slot Service slot car lights and exhaust light kits into my Fly Porsche 911 GT1 Racing EVO 2RS. This came about as a test example for Mr. Phil Williams of Slot Car Magic & Hobbies as to the procedures and convenience of putting working lights into a slot car.
I had previously installed a Slot-It light kit in my Fly Jagermeister BMW M3 with good results, so I thought the OverDrive kits wouldn't be too much harder. The following are the procedures I utilized:
STEP 1: Start with the selection of the car for modification. In my case, the Fly Porsche 911 GT1, see Picture 1. I selected the Porsche due to the lack of a full interior, which allows more room for the circuitry and wiring.
STEP 2: I thoroughly read through both instruction sheets for the lights and exhaust kits. See Pics 2; 3; 4; and 5.
I then looked over the circuit boards and LED components for familiarization and damage. See Pics 6; 7; and 8.
STEP 3: I opened up the car and laid out the circuit boards and LEDs in the general arrangement they would be installed. See Pic 9.
STEP 4: Once I was satisfied about the locations for all the circuitry, I began to disassemble the car. I removed the wheels and axle assemblies; disconnected the pick-up lead wires from the pick-up shoe and braids. I would have removed the motor, but Fly duct taped it into the chassis. See Pic 10. I then test positioned the main circuit into the location I wanted. See Pic 11.
STEP 5: I determined that I wanted a circuit board holder for the main circuit board and possibly the exhaust board too. I fabricated the holder out of .010 thick styrene plastic, see Pic 12 and 13, forming a box.
I test fitted the circuit board in the box and in the chassis location. See Pics 14 and 15.
STEP 6: I found that the exhaust circuit board fit snug along the right side of the holder box, so after I soldered the circuit connections to the main circuit board, following the kit instructions, I attached the exhaust circuit board to the holder box with superglue. See Pic 16.
STEP 7: I moved on to more of the modifications to the car's fixtures by drilling out the Porsche's exhaust pipes. See Pics 17 and 18.
I then test fitted the exhaust LEDs in the drilled holes. At first I thought I would use a couple of Molex 2 circuit P.C. board connectors to hold the LEDs, but as shown later they would not be needed. See Pics 19; 20; and 21.
STEP 8: I went on to remove the headlight housings, see Pic 22, and the taillight lenses, see Pic 23.
STEP 9: I began to attach the headlight LEDs to the main circuit board wires, see Pic 24, in accordance with kit instructions, but deviated by using a four-pin P.C. connector jack and pin plug as a better connection than the black wire jumper called for in the instructions. The plug jack also allows for easier disassembly for the headlights as they would be permanently mounted in the body. See Pic 25.
I drilled out the headlight housings, light reflectors, and the headlight lens to fit the headlight LEDs and secured the LEDs with Microscale Industries Inc.'s Micro Kristal Kleer modeling adhesive filler. See Pic 26.
STEP 10: Once the headlight wiring was complete, I moved on to modifying the taillight area. Fly made the taillight housings as a solid block, so extensive drilling was needed to accommodate the taillight/brake light LEDs. See Pics 27 and 28.
STEP 11: As I was drilling out the taillight housings, it occurred to me that if I installed the taillights as is, that I wouldn't be able to remove the body as I had planned. After several fruitless considerations, I settled for gluing the rear black blanking panel and exhaust pipe molding to the taillight housings and carefully cutting the housings from the body. I then glued the removed assembly to the chassis. See Pic 29.
STEP 12: After remounting the taillight housings, I began installing the exhaust LEDs, see Pic 30. I deviated again from the kit instructions by soldering the positive leads on the LEDs directly to each other, see Pic 31. This also created some structural strength and support for the LEDs. For insulation purposes I wrapped the leads with electrical tape. See Pics 32 and 33. I finished the exhaust circuit by connecting the circuit board wiring to the LEDs in accordance with the kit instructions.
STEP 13: With the exhaust circuitry completed, I installed the brake light LEDs next. See Pics 34 and 35. Again I used the Micro Kristal Kleer to secure the brake LEDs into place. When the Kristal Kleer had set, I began to solder the circuit wiring to the brake LEDs. I also installed the taillight LEDs and secured them with the Kristal Kleer. See Pic 36. I finished connecting the brake circuitry and moved on to connecting the taillight LEDs. See Pic 37.
STEP 14: TESTING - I tested each circuit as I completed them, by using a 9 volt battery. First was the exhaust LEDs circuitry, see Pic 38. Then the headlight LEDs, see Pic 39. I tested the brake LEDs next and lastly the taillight LEDs, see Pic 40.
STEP 15: FINAL ASSEMBLY - See Pic 42. Final assembly consisted of gluing the circuit board holder to the chassis, gluing the wiring down in the chassis, connecting the headlight jack/plug together, trimming the circuit board power-in wires to match the pick-up lead wires and inserting them into the pick-up lead eyelets. I then reinserted the eyelets back into the pick-up shoe and braids. I used the 9 volt battery to test for correct polarity and proper circuit operation. I then reinstalled the axles and wheels. I very carefully closed the body down onto the chassis ensuring that no wires were pinched and no components were crushed.
STEP 16: FINAL TEST & RACING - After ensuring there were no pinched wires, wheels and axles spun freely, I ran the newly lighted Porsche on a temporary test track, see Pics 43 and 44.
SUMMARY: In summary I can say that all my hard work paid off. The car still looks great and even more so now with the lights. The final report to Phil was favorable in that the results look great, but these kits are very labor intensive, what with individual component soldering and wire trimming to do. Installation ease will vary with different cars, so a very well thought out plan of action is needed for good results and to keep one's sanity in check. In retrospect there were some areas I could have proceeded differently, like soldering the power-in leads to the motor, but the end result would still be the same. Currently, the Porsche is on display, along side my Fly Jagermeister BMW M3 with the Slot-It light kit installed, see Pic 45, in Phil's slot car display shelf at SLOT CAR MAGIC & HOBBIES. I'll be writing up the BMW's light kit installation after my pictures are developed. So in conclusion, installing lights in a slot car is feasible and looks great, but have a plan in mind first. Happy Slots!
Posted by
Keith Matsumoto at
August 15, 2005
in Tech Tips
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