Now for those collectors who are content to putter them around please
disregard the following.

Mind you I'm no engineer... just a tinkerer. No secret that the reed
geometry is the crux of the biscuit. I've spent a fair amount of time
fiddling with parts lot clunkers and come to a few conclusions.

Before ya even start tweaking ensure that the rear axle holes arent
porked, a very common state for used/old vibes....No amount of
tweakage will correct the "Wanders". Also a good plunger is critical
to reed actuation, discard plungers that dont look right!

In most every instance I've adjusted the reed to provide a longer
stroke across the drive splines. Usually in two ways. First of which
is to raise the reed angle so that it just clicks nearly
imperceptably in both directions. Once I get that adjustment I then
adjust the tang on the reed away from vertical and into a more
rearward angle so it grabs higher up on the drive splines. If it's
still real clicky I again adjust the reed height for the
imperceptable click. Really I find if you can hear it click it's too
much...what I'm really after is just the lightest FEEL when you roll
the wheels on your finger tips.

If you should over do the adjustment and dont have the light
drag/click, you wont have brakes! They freewheel off throttle which
is kinda cool too...slingshotting around the track! LOL. No sweat
though, if ya dont like the freewheel effect just shove a piece of
brass rod stock under the reed towards its mount and push down to
move back the other way.

Ya sorta gotta watch it when raising the reed height or angle with
some of the tighter fitting bodies as the reed can clatter against
the underbody. Ya cant miss it cuz they raise a racket and over time
will tattoo the inside of the body with a reed burn.

Having the reed tang parallel to the drive spline as well as level is
critical. They are not all created equal. A reed that is not
connecting squarley with with the drum is loafing and over time will
scar the splines.

In addition they all seem to benefit from having the contact patch
adjusted into a more open position. Myself I like the curve opened
well up, but just shy of rail snagging. The no-go point is where the
tip of the pick up binds in the shoe clearance notch of the insulator
plate. This adjustment also seems to lengthen the service life of the
notoriously "holed" pick ups. So far I've had pretty good luck with
silver solder patches on the pick ups. The trickey part is re-
profiling the contact patch without mucking up the shoe. I use a
sharp jewellers file to rough it out and then wrap the same file with
600 and then 1200 grit to smooth things out.

Reed tangs can be refurbished using .003 feeler gauge stock. Sharp
scissors to cut, then dress the drive contact with a file. Trickey
part is getting the angle bend with out snapping the stock. It's
best to just open the clamps on the reed body and sneak the new tang
in. Ya only get so many shots at it and the clamps will fatigue and
break should they be completely opened.

I've got a couple vibes that rip pretty good and will run with a
stock t-jet. Granted they are the large tire hotrod version with
silis installed. Admittedly many can be dogs and frustrating to
repair or tune. Still there are a few sleepers out there if you
happen to get lucky and are willing to adjust the stroke.

Naturally none of this is sanctioned in any manual, it's just what
happens around here to get the 'lil bastages to move out of their own
shadow.

Bill Hall

There probably aren't too many of us on this list that had the novel
experience of running Aurora Vibrators back when that's all you could
buy. I remember running them, but not too fondly. In fact, it's my
guess that if HO slotcars had stopped with the development of the
vibrator motor, there would be NO HO slot car forum. It was the DC
motor that made HO slot cars accessible to kids (remember, kids were
the main market for HO racing back in the old days).

I used to race them at my local hobby shop in San Carlos CA where I
grew up in the 50's and 60's. I remember having to fiddle with each
car every time, just to get it to run a few laps, then having to
fiddle with it again every few laps. In fact, back then it seemed the
main satisfaction I got out of HO slotcars was being able to get my
vibrators to RUN a few successive laps. Deslotting or speed were not
the biggest problems; just keeping the cars running was the issue.

This may sound like a rant on vibrator cars, but even I will admit
they got me started in a great hobby. I have a lot of respect for you
guys out there that are trying to revive them, and I even have one of
my own original vibrator chassis and body. But for any of us who
actually made the transition from Aurora vibrators to Aurora T-Jets
will tell you, this development was nothing short of a revolution in
the hobby, and made HO slotcars both accessible to newby's AND FUN.
THEN it became an issue of keeping them in the slot!!

Paul Giganti

I guess there are not to many of us who ran vibrators left.... I started with vibrators in 1962 and had a four lane 38 foot oval out of lock and joiner.... I guess a whopper of a track for its day.... even had a plastered 2" aprons around the turns painted with flat black paint... and I used to use bath tub silicone to coat the tires for better traction.... it actually helped.... I am thinking of building a track like the one used in the Aurora / Ford series and having a vibrator support race starting next year at the Southern 500.... perhaps this year if time allows....

I was one of the fortunate ones to run in that series and actually won my first race at the hobby shop on Long Island (Port Jefferson) but in round 2 the reed plate broke while leading just seconds before the finish... Although I no longer remember the format of these races or the series I had fun...... OH well....

I still have one vibrator left.....

Have a good day...

Ron Sr