Trackmaster Equalizer SS

[Basher67]

Picked up this pair yesterday. I have a very limited knowledge of old circle track cars and even though I am pretty familiar with Trackmaster belt drive and direct drive transmissions, I have never even heard of these, let alone seen one of these cars. Info on these seems to be very limited, even on this forum. It looks like I have enough good parts to restore one complete car from the 2. While the cars are basically the same, there are some slight differences. The first one (we'll call it car #1) has what appears to be a black graphite chassis. It looks to be the most correct from what info I have been able to gather. It has the correct Delta style shocks, CSC driveshafts, and a brass plaque on top "Equalizer SS Signature Series Serial #066". Arms on car #1 look like they might have been white and dyed black which is now fading. Car #2 has a carbon fiber chassis and looks to have been assembled using a variety of associated parts. Car #2 has what appears to be a black graphite front shock tower as opposed to the carbon fiber one found on car #1. My goal here is to correctly restore car #1 using some parts from car #2. Does anyone have a more in-depth knowledge of these? Was there different model versions? Whats the deal with car #1's brass plaque with the serial #?

[Basher67]

Here's a few more pics

[Basher67]

Here's what I have so far. I went with all carbon fiber instead of the black graphite (I hope this is correct). It all cleaned up pretty good so far. The shocks needed a little more help. I've got them soaking in wd-40 right now. I'll be cleaning and rebuilding those next. I still need to come up with wheels and tires and a body.

[XLR8]

I don't have any experience with Trackmaster cars but yours appears to be a long wheelbase. Is it roughly the same wb as the Dominator?
I do remember running my modified dirt oval RC10 against other direct drive cars and they were always incredibly quick.
Also, do the front and rear roll bars appear to be factory pieces or custom made? Just curious.

[Basher67]

Similar dimensions as the Dominator. I believe the anti roll bar setup is factory.

[Phin]

Nice cars. Equalizers are from c. 1990 and were sold as "Signature" and "Pro" kits with either belt or dd transmissions. Not sure if being Signature or Pro defined the type of chassis material the cars used but the ad car had a numbered signature sticker and was all plain weave carbon fiber. I've also seen a few cars in the wild that were mixed graphite and carbon fiber so that was normal too. Signature series were about $25 more expensive than the Pro kits. Sway bars were standard.

Did you get any foam wheels with the cars? I think they may have been specific to the Equalizers and the fronts had a deep offset for "Zero" scrub radius according to the ad.

[Basher67]

Unfortunately, no wheels were included with the cars. I have been wondering about the offset for the wheels. I bolted up some RC10 wheels on it to get an idea of the width, and they made the rear about 9 1/4" wide. I was thinking the track width on this class of car should be around 9", but not sure.

[LTO_Dave]

Definitely a nice pair of cars you have! I've been searching for a Signature Series kit for years without any luck. Your car even has the same serial number as the #66 Equalizer I built in honor of my Dad's old racing number.

I believe the nylon/Delrin parts were machined from white and dyed black. Both of my cars had parts that were fading and I re-dyed them. You can see the original white wheels that were included with the kits in my thread here: https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=34466 And they do have a flat face like Phin mentioned. I also have the ad scan for the cars posted here: https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=113&t=28582&p=377866&hilit=Equalizer#p377866

My cars also have parts made of both graphite and carbon fiber. I think the chassis is graphite, and the upper deck and shock towers are carbon fiber on one car. I'm not sure, but the Signature cars may have had a carbon fiber chassis.

[jcwrks]

According to Track Master Bob, the SS was only supposed to have a cf weave chassis. However, some could have been kitted with the plain version. I have seen a SS with a plain top and bottom before, so it's hard to say if it was swapped out at one point or if it was kitted that way. He cut every chassis on his Kenard 2-axis cnc.