
not sure what your other gear looks like, but you might be best served by picking up a nice lipo battery and charger and running your current ESC and brushed motor. you can get a battery and charger for less than $150. that way you'd have enough battery (and charger) if you decide to go brushless in the future yet if you decide to bag it for a while, the lipo battery can survive disuse for a while, unlike NiCad's, which get damaged from disuse in a matter of weeks.
if you're short on decent motors, I'd be happy to send you a 27T stock motor free of charge - just PM me with your address. you'll just need to install some leads and capacitors and you're set. for the most part, these stock motors are far hotter than the mod motors from the 80's and 90's.
http://www.cheapbatterypacks.com/?apage=prodpage.asp&invid=TP5400-2SSR&sid=626149&bc_menuid=C55EG1CAF6
http://www.amazon.com/TP610C-1-6Cell-0-25-10A-Charger-Balancer/dp/B0012P0HNM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290800610&sr=8-1