Refreshing a RC10 GP - Will Have Many Questions Along The Way

[morrisey0]

Hello All!

I picked up and refreshed a T4 this week, and while doing so, my gold pan kept eyeing me from across the room wondering why I have never given it any love. It truly got to me, so now it is time to show it some! It has only been sitting around for twenty years. I don't have a good before pic; got too excited and just started taking things apart!

Good news is I actually have 2 90%+ rough condition cars to start with. I will take the best from each and make one decent car. Not looking to show car this thing, but not a basher, more of a driver. I want to be 14 again, and run an RC10 in the dirt as fast and I can and not care too much about breaking it!

Basic plan going into this is clean everything, whiten what can be whitened, lube what needs lube, rebuild shocks, get new tires and body, and follow any tips and tricks anyone wants to hand out. I didn't really want to do a full teardown, but with the whitening, I may have to do that.

First question, tires. Is there a source for new 1.5" (1.6"?) tires? I can find NOS stuff, but figure that rubber is just as old as I have. I like the 3-piece wheels so really don't want to get away from them.

Second, transmission. Have the cleaner transmission apart, and don't see any signs of damage. Clean, lube and reassemble? Or anything I should do while in there?

Would a kit like this include bearings to replace the bushings in the trans? https://www.ebay.com/itm/FastEddy-Team-Associated-RC10-Classic-Bearing-Kit-TFE773/122580398428?epid=1041274226&hash=item1c8a5c715c:g:15cAAOSwY7he~qMv

Thanks

[juicedcoupe]

If one of the transmissions has black idle gears, I'd definitely use them. If not, I'd make an effort to find some,

Read around, there are some threads about upgrading the bearings on the outdrives. The larger bearings stabilize the outdrives and keep them more positively located.

Even after (especially after) whitening the nylon, you will need to rehydrate it in water.




I think Tamiya Hornet tires can be used on the rear.

But I don't know of any commonly available tires that fit the front. That leaves you with vintage and re-re ($$) tires.

JConcepts makes modern style tires and wheels in 1.9/1.7" sizes for the RC10, but you have to catch them in stock. They had just released another batch recently but they have already sold out everywhere.

Your other option is 2.2 stuff. There are a few ways to go about it.

[morrisey0]

Thanks juicedcoupe!

Idler gears 6614 on order, along with a bearing kit. I will research the bearing upgrade.

Parts soaking but not a lot of whitening action is happening in eighteen hours. Hope that changes.

Bumming me out about the tires. I really want to use the originals. I did find a set of 3-piece wheels in my stash that I had for some scale build 100 years ago. I think I may just make these work for the rear. The diameter is actually perfect on the Sand Blaster tires, but the bead is way narrow. Will need to work on the front.

[juicedcoupe]

For the peroxide whitening to work, you need UV light. A UV lamp will work but most use sunlight.

[morrisey0]

For the peroxide whitening to work, you need UV light. A UV lamp will work but most use sunlight.

I don't have enough patience to depend on the sun.

I have this contraption with a UVA / UVB bulb:

[juicedcoupe]

It took them 35 years to get that way. I'm sure they'll turn back in less.

Don't forget to rehydrate the parts after whitening. Its also slow going but is better than the alternative (broken vintage parts!).

[XLR8]

Since you know about using peroxide to whiten the nylon parts, you're probably aware of this tip but I'll go ahead and mention it anyway.
To protect the anodized finish on the aluminum parts from damage from peroxide, it's important to rinse the parts thoroughly and evacuate the screw holes completely of any residual liquids. The blind holes will retain liquids so I use compressed air to blow them out. Also, after peroxide treatment, I will apply a layer of clear packing tape to all surfaces that mate with ano as an added measure to prevent peroxide leaching out and ruining the finish. I use an exacto knife to trim the tape to the shape of the surface so that it's not visible after the parts are assembled. I don't know of any way to repair anodizing so I will take every precaution to protect it.
Good luck with your rebuild.

[morrisey0]

8 shocks in an ultrasonic cleaner with a mild citrus cleaner for 10 minutes apparently equals total disaster!

[juicedcoupe]

Lots of cleaners aren't safe for aluminum. I use Simple Green Pro HD (purple), from Home Depot.

I use it with boat carburetors and all kinds of stuff.

[morrisey0]

Had big plans to get into home anodizing and bla bla bla, but then common sense kicked in. Used set of original gold shocks on the way.

[morrisey0]

Anyone have a rear wing mount that I could get some basic dimensions off of? Between my two cars, I only have a handmade one, and it isn't made well.

Appears to be 1/16 hardened steel rod, about 48mm center to center wide. How deep is the bend portion at the top? From pics, around 1".

[juicedcoupe]

0.062" music wire. Cheap at the hobby store, normally 3 36" pieces for a couple dollars.

I believe that you can use thicker wire with the original tubes if you want.

I use thicker wall K&S tubing for my wing and nose tubes. It won't accept the larger wire.

[morrisey0]

Music wire; I couldn't come up with that to save my life. Thanks

[morrisey0]

Well, USPS has decided to grace me with actually doing their job, so now I can work on things. I have been stuck at this "well, no point until I do this first" kinda phase, and all the early phases have been waiting on parts. Now it is off to the races.

How it is sitting tonight. Hope to get the trans together now that I just got bearings and can wrap up the rear. I put a bunch on hold waiting the get the chassis skin on first, but I don't like it for three reasons; 1) the maker's logo is annoying, 2) it covers everything except all the places that are actually worn on the tub, and 3) it is thick enough to grab screws as they are tightened and it "twists" around the screw. Maybe I will lube up the screw heads a little in the future. I wasn't planning on printing many parts for this build as I wanted to keep it original as possible, but I have ended up printing 1) battery hold down as the stock one was too short for my new batt, and 2) rear wing mount buttons as the only ones I had were trash. I do think I will print a light bar for across the front shock towers for some RC4WD KC hi liters in the near future.

Oh, and this thing is going brushed, NIMH, and Novak!!

[morrisey0]

So if you owned a sail rail in real life, and your neighbor had a mild mud truck on 38" swampers, you know you would have to eventually see if they would fit.