I was looking at getting back into RC and wanted to go short course. I was looking at either the sc10 or the blitz and happened to remember my 20 year old one owner 10T sitting in the closet. Decided that it would be more fun to convert it than just buy one. Im weird like that. Over the years it had received a mid motor conversion(worked out well) and a set of t3 front arms(not so much).
This is what I started with.
The mid motor worked out well and made it feel more stable over the rough sections. I took it to the track once with the t3 front end it worked ok but it just looks heavy and weak so it got scrapped.
Wheels and tires were the easy part. I got a set of new sc10 tires and wheels from ebay along with a body and a set of t4 rear axles and dogbones. The front wheels were a direct fit. No fuss, no headache. The rears were a little more work. The axles came with a set of t4 hub carriers and they kinda fit but not right. they were a 3mm pin instead of 1/8 inch and I could have easily reamed them out but they also pulled the rear axles out just far enough on each side that the bones came out on full extension. Easy enough. Just swap the rear bearings, spacer and axle from the t4 carrier to the original 10t carrier.
The dogbones have plenty of room at full compression and at extension.
The new front end is next. I started with an RPM arm and bulkhead set for the sc10. Reason being they are current and available. and being RPM I dont expect to break them any time soon. The stock 10T caster blocks and knuckles will work with a little work and I can use the original hard coated shocks, after a full rebuild.
The wheelbase was 11.5 to start with. adding 2 1/2 inches was fairly easy with the noseplate being separate from the main chassis. That put it at 12.875". Several friends of mine are in the fab/ welding buisness but all they had was the softer grade aluminum in 1/8 or .080. nobody had any 6061 so I had to go with the multilayer approach. I had a partial sheet of .035 6061 that I had used for my full size stock car. 3 layers of that came in at .105 and should be strong enough for the nose plate without being too overkill.
Heres the new nose plate with the old one for comparison. The tabs on the side were going to be where the top plate tied in to the sides. Havent decided if its needed or not.
The RPM SC10 bulkhead and front arms were designed for 3mm hinge pins. That caused a couple minor issues. First I didnt have any and second the caster blocks used 1/8 inch pins. Found out that stock 10T front inner pins and rear outer 10T pins are the perfect length after a little reaming. The RPM SC10 front bumper and chassis brace were real helpfull in locating the holes for the front bulkhead. I was able to drill two holes for the steering and I had a good solid pattern to transfer to the aluminum.
Little more metal work and I had the new front shock tower. Where the original 10T came up short in adjustability, this one gives me plenty of options for shock height and angle as well as upper link locations. The other nice thing is that with the shocks unhooked from way excessive droop to way to much compression there is almost no bump steer. Pretty darn good for a first try.
Its kinda hard to see in that pic but the steering servo is just about in the middle of the chassis. that combined with the mid motor and a saddle pack lipo should put all the heavy components in one central lump for lack of better terms. It will be interesting to see where it scales out when its finished. Shocks and tranny parts are on their way so they can get freshened up and a little more tin work and it should be pretty close.
Ill try to keep you all updated.
Nick
