Cracking Open The Shell

I noticed something at the end of last race. The Shell Ford #8 had some strange wear on one of the back tires. I wasn't sure what caused it, so I took a deeper look:

This setup with the spur gear against the wheel was needed so that I could float the pod. When it was set the other way, with the spur gear on the inside, it would rub against the chassis with the slightest pod loosening.

There. On the inside of the tire, are noticeable chunks taken out. I think it might have to do with the end pin on the motor rubbing against it when I'm at full acceleration. I've read suggestions to cut it down with a dremel, and I have one of those on my wish list.
I'm going to ask over at SCI to make sure. Maybe there's something I can do in the meantime to help prevent it. I haven't glued my tires yet. I should probably do that.

So then I took out my exacto knife and trimmed back some of the chassis where it was rubbing against the spur gear, and then reset the gear to the original direction:

Grimy work, but looked better after it was cleaned up. This is a shot pre-tightening, when I was checking to make sure I had no wheel lock. There's barely enough room for the spur gear to run without rubbing against the chassis, but that room goes away the second a pod screw is unscrewed.

The spur gear is making much better contact with the crown gear, riding more in the middle and not right on the edge like it was. This should improve the car a lot, and I might even get away with not needing these freaking washers that I've been talking about so much. If the chassis still makes noise, I'll trim it back further. I think there's quite a bit of room there if I need it, and now that I've done some chassis trimming and it has helped, I'm cool with doing more. I'm going to set up a track in the morning and do some tests.

EDIT: I set up a track and ran the Shell Ford, and there was still considerable chatter on right turns. I even made video of it and likely will upload it and link it here. Suffice it to say the spur gear flip was a failure, and will go back to being on the outside next to the tire until I can get the [damn] spacers.
It's totally frustrating to take a car that was running great and make it run like total shit in one move.

I didn't change the spur gear on the Gulf Ford, and it's still up against the wheel. I just took apart that car, it isn't like this one. I really doubt shaving back the chassis will help the Gulf Ford.

All three cars were then cleaned, de-greased and de-fuzzed.