Lowering the Carrera 66 Custom GTO

12/08/02

by Gene Molzon

Let me start by saying that I think carrera did a great job on the 66 Custom GTO . As a matter of preference I would like it lower and to have the tires sit under the car. The first thing you will have to do to lower it is take off the body . This is done by taking out the four screws that hold the body to the chassis. After that take out the two screws that hold the rear axle in place and remove the hold down, then remove the rear axle from the chassis. Now on to

the hard part. Take the wheels off the axle ( You might have to hold the axle with a pair of needle nose pliers as the ends of the axle are knurled.) Once this is done it is time to cut down the length of the axle. I took off between 1/8 and 3/16th of an inch. This is almost the amount of the knurl. When you put the wheels back on the axle put some super glue to hold them steady as they will be a little loose. You will not need the two shims on each side anymore but be sure to put the axle bushings back on before you glue the wheels. The exhaust pipes on the side will also need to be removed .

As for the body mounting post. I chose to lower both the front and the back of the car in an effort to get a little better handling. The back is lowered more so than the front. The rear posts are cut about 3/16 - 1/4. This is according to how low you want the car. It is best to cut off a small amount and fit the car , check for clearance and then cut off more if you want.

When it came to lowering the front, the best way I found was to remove the front

axle hold down (2 screws) then lift the axle up and reverse the bushings then place the chassis on the track. Push the car down until the guide is down to the rails. Make sure the wheels are just touching the track and glue the bushings to the chassis (making sure not to glue the axle). This will lower the front quite a bit. If you do not want it down that much, just shim the chassis off the track a little and then glue the bushings. I found that the stock form left the guide off the track. Some might think I lowered the front too much. But I found that the braids made much better contact with the rails after I lowered the guide.

Upon putting the car back together I found that the inner rear fender wells needed to be sanded with the dremel just to get a little extra clearance . This did not take long as it did not need a lot and the carrera body is thick. Put it all back together and you have a looow rider.

If you have any questions or comments please email me at gene@slotcarplace.com

Have fun