Basket Case RC10 rebuild (Milled the tub)

[Seabass]

Hey guys I have been inspired by many of your builds here on the forum and I have finally picked up a car to work on. I found a really rough RC10 on eBay last week and got it pretty cheap. It is in rough condition looking at the pictures from eBay, but I got exactly what I wanted. You ever stipped the anadizing off the chassis did a terrible job by looking at the pics. No problem though, a little work and the thing can look fantastic again. It looks like there may be a few extra holes as well, nothing major though.

The car should arrive in the next day or two so I only have the eBay pics for now. My plan is to do some milling to chassis and reanaodize the chassis. We will see how bad everything else is when the car arrives. Stay tuned for photos of the build.

Jake

[LowClassCC]

i had my eye on this one. i thought about it but needed other things so i didn't bid on it. keep us updated on the progress.

[Seabass]

It almost went above what I was willing to spend. I am glad you didn't bid on it, LOL. I have some ideas but I need to get the car to see what I have to work with.

Jake

[LowClassCC]

from what i can tell by the pic's i see more than a few extra holes that have been drilled. so i wouldn't spend the amount it costs to have the chassis anodized personally. powder coating is a whole lot cheaper than anodizing is. so since the chassis isn't what i would consider shelf car quality i would opt to have it powder coated. that way you can get it to look good without having to have a mint chassis to start with. also with powder coat you have the option of candy colors. to see an example of a candy blue powder coat job check out the buggy i'm building for my son here http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=12480

[Seabass]

I have seen the powdercoat jobs here on the forum and they look really good. As far as the anodizing process goes, it won't cost me anything but time. I have everything here at the house so there is no expense there. I appreciate the suggestions, and would encourage more.

This will be my first time anodizing a larger peice but the process is still the same. I may need to let the tub sit in the electrolyte a bit longer to make sure I get a good charge in the aluminum.

I anodized some tranny spacers for my 10T a couplde weeks ago and ended up with this.

[LowClassCC]

cool.. i didn't know that you would be doing the anodizing yourself. that is always the way to go when you have the means to do it.

i remember seeing the stealth tranny spacers you made when searching around on here.. too sweet.. have you put any thought into producing some for sale? i would prob get a set just to have them.

anyway.. you said you planned to mill and ano the chassis.. but whats the future hold for the car? will it be a driver, shelfer, or be resold to cover the costs of the next project? any other changes or mods in mind for the car yet? or will it remain mostly stock?

[Seabass]

I have thought about turning some more spacers and putting them up on eBay to see what they will bring.

Right now, my thoughts are to clean the car up and sell it. We will see how it turns out. I have been looking for a decent car to build as a runner but I want one with a stealth. If I found a tranny for a decent price I would buy the tranny and go that route, but I doubt I will find one with a decent price I am willing to pay. I missed a really good deal on a CE RC10 with the stealth the other day which would have been perfect.

Jake

[m_vice]

Hey Jake, I think the car looks good. I believe any car is a good start. After you get it all cleaned up you might be able to find any parts you might need with the people in this forum or you might be surplice and find out the car is in better shape than you thought.

Keep the photos coming.

I think the front bumper looks kind of cool.

[Seabass]

The car made it in and for the most part I think I got what I paid for, LOL. Total cost on this bad boy was $34.

Upon inspection the chassis definately has more holes as I already knew but they are so random it is not funny. The big kicker is the shape of many of the holes. If you have ever been cutting metal with a torch and had slag drop and burn itself through what ever is below, the holes look very similar to that. Additionally who ever stripped the chassis must have used 100 grit sand paper and left some pretty nasty marks in the aluminum. Third, the aluminum is super rough and really doesn't even look like aluminum. I am willing to bet the chassis has some paint on it. It is unfortunate that the holes have been done so poorly because the underside of the tub has very minor scratches and gouges.

The nose plate has a few additional holes up front that I do not understand. They are too small to be considered as a mod to lighten the car.

The rear arms are mounted incorrectly and the right dog bone has a really nasty bend in it. The tranny will turn 3/4 and then lock up in either direction. The shocks are decent and only really need a face lift and some new o-rings.

Overall, the car will provide several usable parts and will make a nice car in the end. Stay tuned, as I tear the car apart and get into the tranny. I bet it is a mess in there. Enjoy the pics.

Jake

[klavy69]

That chassis would look great smoothed out and anodized blue like your spacers. If you want to 'experiment' with the anodizing of a chassis to try to make it look like your blue spacers I'll send you a couple to work with
Todd

[scr8p]

i can't think of the company (right now) that made that bearing adapter in the trans case, but it's a neat little piece.

[Seabass]

The car is disassembled and everything looks good so far.

The tranny has two plastic gears that are completely destroyed. One of the gears that is on the shaft for the spur is mauled up pretty good too. The bearings in the tranny are in really good shape which is a pleasant surprise.

I took the motor plate and used some 600 grit paper on my orbital sander and made very quick work smoothing everything out. I will end up having to start with something a little more coarse to get everything smoothed out completely.

Klavy69, I am going to sand the motor plate, nose plate and, chassis to get evrything smooth again. I am also going to polish everything to a mirror finish and then anodize all the parts green. They should turn out really nice. I also have a special touch I am going to add to the chassis, but I will keep that a secret for now. No need to send your stuff to me, I will use this chassis as my test platform. Maybe if I get good results we can talk,

[Seabass]

Here are the pics of the tranny tore down. As I said earlier, those plastic gears are toast. The unfortunate thing as well is when the plastic gears decided to give out, who ever was driving continued to give it hell and wore a hole into the tranny casing (Must have been an intense race) The idler gear in the second pic has some really bad wear marks on it and will need to be replaced. The other idler gear looks good.

I am basically going to put the tranny parts in a bag for now and work on the rest of the car. When it comes to the tranny rebuild, I will definately need some support because I am clueless about the thing. Also if anyone can explain the bearing scr8p mentioned, it would be appreciated. I didn't know it wasn't stock until he said something about it.

Jake

[Asso_man!]

Bes ure to have a look at this http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3748 when you rebuild the tranny. I had never seen the adapter Scr8p is refering to before, and I must agree it looks really neat. It replaces a plastic bearing holder on the left side of the tranny where the top axle protrudes. I would love to see it alone and clean when you come to it! Good luck for your rebuild, looks like it's gonna sweet when it's done with your ano skills! Keep up the good work.

[m_vice]

Looks good Jake,

You can find some parts on Tower.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LX2759&P=7
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LX2795&P=7

on the chassis I think I would prefer to do something like this
http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=186&hilit=jay&start=75




Instead of having all the random holes.