Possible easier tab lowering

ZipRC · #1 07-09-2003, 09:50 PM

Well, this is just me, but i alwas find it a hassle to cut out my tabs for tab lowering, so what i did....i took my dremel, sawed off my zz tab as one clean piece, and just glued it back on in a lower spot. that way u have 1 good firm tab thats guaranteed not to fold/break/blow up

Bad Company · #2 07-09-2003, 10:53 PM

That would work for the front tab, but how do you cut the rear tab with the heat sink screw in it? Also, I would think you would have to use a thin hobby knife so you don't lose any of your tab length from plastic being removed when using something like a dremel bit.

ZipRC · #3 07-09-2003, 11:25 PM

yeahz0rz. i havent figured out a way to do the rear yet. and i think i did take a lil off the plastic, but not enough to make a significant difference. it's still hard pressed against teh bodee. it's had it's advantages. right now im workign it to fit my targa top rx-7. ive been having problems tho, cuz way back when i was trying to change the slit for the tab, and the hole piece of plastic under the slit broke off, so there was no slit. i made an artificial piece of plastic out of a credit card, but am having a bit of trouble keeping it in place. used super glue and after that dried used some multipurpose super duper glue. should work.

Bad Company · #4 07-09-2003, 11:41 PM

Yeah, that RX7 can be a pain to lower. Not much room uner the hood.

cowfish_29 · #5 07-10-2003, 12:21 AM

hmm, awhile back I tried to lower it that way, just cutting off the tab and glueing it back down. It was a disaster. kept snapping off. just a few weeks ago I did it the way with the folded credit card folded to it and it worked great.

Bad Company · #6 07-10-2003, 12:29 AM

Yeah, I tried moving the existing front tab my very first time with no success. That's when I started doing the tab lowering with the credit card and I have had nothing but success with that route. I may have to try this method again now that I have much more experience just for kicks.

SupraFreak00 · #7 07-10-2003, 04:21 PM

i find that cutting the credit card the exact lenth and sixe it a pain in the ass tho... also the credit car bends alot more and are hard to bend to the right place. but when done right it comes out good.

bdebde · #8 07-11-2003, 01:10 AM

I leave the stock tabs, and just cut the little nubs (part that goes through the body) off. I use plastic (old chassis) the width of the slot in the body and glue it right on the bottom of the existing tab, and to chassis, so it protrudes as much as the old nubs (through body) did. Alot of chassis' are thicker than the tabs, you can adjust your lowness by trimming the top or the bottom of the body slot as required. Sometimes it helps to cut the nubs off, then test fit into your body, and trim till it fits in body as far as you want it to go (how low). The old tabs act as the stops so your body fits snug. I like to contour the old tabs to fit the shape of the front end (rounded, or v shaped). It helps to prevent broken bodies from front end collisions. The rear one will need a half circle cut in it to go around the motor screw area. It is sometime easier to make the new tab the right width, but longer to have something to hold onto. Then cut to right length after glue dries. I use black abs plastic cement (plumbing section of hardware stores) to glue the tabs on. These tabs never come off, abs cement is like a weld! This glue sets up pretty fast (not quite as fast as superglue) so you need to get it in the right spot pretty quick. Here again, you can go a little wider with you new tab, so if you don't get it quite centered you can trim it after glue dries. If you are sloppy, you may have to trim the glue off the top of your new tab, in front of the old tab after the glue sets a bit. If you want to go super low (usually requires extensive chassis/body mods) you can put a spacer in there between original tabs and your new tabs. Some bodies have suspension interference problems just going the single tab (no spacer). I gain a little here by using the red suspension bars for microsizers. Alot of bodies will require minor fenderwell trim, sometimes just front, somtimes front and back. I usually get by with leaving the factory edge on fenderwell, and just beveling the inside of the fenderwell to get tire clearance. I will see if I can through a few pics up later if you guys need some.

faulkbeets · #9 07-11-2003, 01:12 AM

wow