Converting Spectrum GP30's

[Anonymous]

i have two B&O Spectrum GP30's. they look great, but their drives perform rather poorly. above 3 or 4 volts, their motors start squealing horribly. i read online that someone grinded down an Athearn GP35 frame, and then used that frame with an Athearn drive with the Specrum shell and now it works. has anyone tried this or does anyone have any suggestions?

thanks

[Anonymous]

Have you tried to fit the shell onto a PROTO 2000 GP30 mechanism? I know they are expensive but their performance is really great, I have about nine Proto2000 loco's and they all run extremely well! And some of them are 3yrs old and they still run as good as the day I bought them! For a GP30 I would imagine their would not be to much fuss in putting a Spectrum shell on a Proto 2000 chassis!!

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[BRAKIE]

Yes,I have 2 Spectrum GP30 bodies on Athearn GP35 drives.All it took was a little filing on the Athearn frame to get the body to fit.Terry has a good point on using the P2K GP30 drive.Now,as I have the P2K GP30s and the Athearn/Spectrum 30s,I really can't tell the difference in the drives.But,know and understand I tweak my Athearn drives and get them to run as good as the P2Ks.At no addition cost.After all the P2k drive is a supped up Athearn drive.