OK, friends, the rebuild is complete. Thing runs awesome and I love it.
For tires I used Duratrax Speedhawk premounts. Really nice tire/wheel combo for the $. I also got a set of NOS HPI Super Radial tires that I mounted to the stock wheels after stripping the chrome and dying them black. I don’t really need them but they’ll be good to keep around for nostalgia’s sake.
During rebuild I replaced the bushings with a set of bearings from Fast Eddie. Perfect fit and complete including bearings for the steering bellcranks.
The factory turnbuckles got replaced with stainless steel ones from Esprit Tech. They are meant for planes but they are really nice and look like titanium. I used 3 pairs of 2.5” that all needed to be shortened about a quarter inch and also got a pair of 1-5/16” for use between the servo and the steering bellcrank. Dremel made quick work of the trimming. Replaced most of the ball cups too with NOS parts.
https://www.espritmodel.com/pushrod-turnbuckle-steel-secraft-440-2.aspx
They have aluminum turnbuckles also which I kinda want to try out. Maybe next build.
The rear belt was worn on the outside so it got replaced with one from Tough Racing. I know they’re quality is so-so but we’ll see. I think the old one got ground up a bit when debris got into the gearbox.
For the electronics I wanted something a tiny bit more modern than the Sanwa stuff that it came with probably originally from the 1990’s. I chose a cheap 25-oz. digital servo from Amazon, Hobbywing 60-amp brushed ESC and the same generic DSM receiver that I use in all my junk that works well with my DX2L.
The Cam Super Stock motor was retained after checking the brushes and oiling the bushings. I was going to give the comm some love but the end-bell wasn’t removable. I may replace it with one of the Trinity Speed Gems machine-wound mod motors in the future.
The front shock bodies and caps got replaced with NOS upgrade versions because the threads weren’t holding anymore, rears are still the stock units after rebuild.
Diffs got opened up and regreased, nothing more. Beyond all that, it was just taken apart, run through the ultrasonic cleaner and put back together.
Removed quite a few decals from the body, cleaned up the sticky smegma and then put a coat of silver paint on the inside to darken up the yellow a bit and make it more opaque.
D-U-N done!