Originally Posted by andrewdoherty

Guys I am not sure what do do at this point with my stock motor. I bought it new and "pro-tuned" from a reliable tuner nearby (Go Lightspeed!!) and have been running it in my TC4 for about 20-30 runs. Some 5 min racing, some 5 min practice runs, but all in the tc4. I have pulled it apart after every four runs, cleaned the com using q-tips and motor cleaner and then polished/cleaned it with the green comm stick. I have never gotten motor spray on the brushes, and they're not burnt. I have been gearing on the conservative side and my motor can temps around 170 after a five min run. I have the dual fan set-up that blows on the end bell so the endbell comes off the track around 135. I also run a motor spray saturated q-tip through the brush hoods after every four runs and lube the bushings (royal oil) after those four runs, sometimes two. I figured the comm was badly due for a cut, so I took some pre and post diameters from the comm. I was getting a very consistant .294" and .293" all the way around, and top to bottom. So I cut it, just shaving as little as I could to get it all the same color. I checked again and got .293" everywhere. OK, enought nerd data. I have the EXACT same set of brushes in this motor it came with. The serrations are gone, but they're not short by any means. What do I do now?

A. Run the motor at low volts for 300 secs to seat the old brushes to the new comm surface

B. Suck it up and spend money on new brushes and seat them at low volts for 300 sec.

C. Something else

Consider that the race immediately preceding teh comm cut I ran my best and fastest racve ever and won the rookie stock a-main in my club race. I mention this to highlight that I am looking for an economical way to keep it in at least as good condition as it was right before I cut teh comm. I mean, c'mon; I race rookie. I dont need a screamer, just a reliable motor. I'd rather spend the $$ on practice fees to get better

WHew!! What a book!!

Thanks for any and all comments


Andrew Doherty