Big Blue has inspired some purchases

[TMo]

Decided to go for it - an attempt at a motor and partial gearing swap - KTM to Athearn with an assist from AHM.  Got the Dremel out tonight and cut into the motor mount with a cutting wheel and working a little bit at a time on the front end first trying to make enough room for the two flywheels and the Athearn motor.  The brass isn't hard to cut into, but you do want to be wearing some eye protection as you throw nibbles of brass.

           


...and here's the finished bracket
   
   

If I'm making this DCC, I can't take the chance of having a circuit created between the motor and the chassis, so I ran a piece of electrical tape on the bottom and vertical inside elements of the motor mount.  I then laid the motor in and wrapped a piece of electrical tape around the motor and motor mount to secure it.  Seems nice and tight to me.  I will have to removed the tape when I have to solder on the DCC decoder wires, but that can wait for now.  I also found a little bit of interference between the front flywheel and the motor mount that I'll have to tweak when I take it apart.

   

Next, the power transfer to the gear towers.  Got the old universals off, and in the rear I have about 0.07" gap between the plastic shaft and the metal one for the gear towers.  I think I can slip on the plastic knuckle (once I drill it out for the shaft diameter).  

   

The front?  Another story.  I have about half a ball's worth of shaft protruding too far toward the motor.  Looks like I'll be cutting that off a bit shorter sometime soon.