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Measured a bunch of my 540 class “silvercan” motors to see which one performs best in case of efficiency, wattage, revolutions under load... not all of them are brandnew, but the data helps me to select for some vintage-projekts so I just want to share this, perhaps somebody is interested..

Similar to Tamiya also the Kyosho Le Mans Stock 05 ones have severaI designs. Don´t remember exactly which one came with what kit, the “6hole” ones seem to be the strongest. Perhaps someone got a timeline (or a further version)?

For comparison tested two motors before, a Tamiya Technigold and (Mabuchi) Torque Tuned.

Conclusion (for me): No load speed is irrelevant for comparism.
Johnson´s have a bit more output than the Mabuchi´s, the 6 hole LeMans are in-between.

Thanks for the comparison it's always interesting to see if the kit motors are all equal or not .
Can I look dumb for a minute and ask "what's a Johnson motor?" I don't think I've ever seen one , I've always guessed it was an American built stock motor but I'd like to know for sure .

The Johnson (Tamiya) motors are the both w/o sticker. They came in different versions, 4 (cooling)slots, 2 slots and different can finishes (dull, shiny..).

I've only ever seen Mabuchi motors in Tamiya kits.

Here in America at least, every toy grade R/C that was equipped with a 540 motor back in the day seemingly had either a Mabuchi or a Johnson. Power tools and other items all used them as well. I don't know the full backstory but they're basically the same motor with the Johnson supposedly being marginally faster. Due to things like changing production methods and manufacturing tolerances over the years, the performance aspects of each have fluctuated considerably so it's irrelevant really. The companies have also been in contention with each other over who stole what from whom.

There's a lot of good info if you Google Mabuchi vs Johnson.

Dadio wrote: ↑Fri Jan 05, 2024 10:09 am I've only ever seen Mabuchi motors in Tamiya kits.

From memory the first Tamiya kits to come with Johnson motors were the Monster Beetle and Blackfoot. The reason was that the Johnsons produced more torque apparently.

They are all nearby.. excelled the data, max. Torque in yellow: