RC10 Graphite - Buried in a garage since the mid-90's...

[Nybble]

I recently got back into RC again, after almost 20 years of being away... but all my gear was long gone: liquidated in a garage sale when I went away to school. My first buy was a used Stampede VXL (since used to own a Traxxas Sledgehammer, and it seemed to be the modern equivalent) but I kept my eyes on Kijiji and local forums: seeing what else I could pick up.

A guy was cleaning out his garage, and had posted some pics of old RC cars he owned on Kijiji. There were some odds-and-ends, like old chargers and batteries , the traditional tackle box full of parts, a way-less-then-RTR Hornet , a Bullhead/Clod... and this... a car that he couldn't remember the model of:



Another pic with the cover off...



...plus Google, lead me to this forum, and the fantastic 25-Years thread . A RC10 Graphite! When I used to do RC I could never afford such a car, but I remembered RC10's and JRX-2's used to be the race cars to have. It must be mine!

He was asking for $200 since the RC10 and Clod were RTR (in theory), but I ended up getting everything for $100. Back at home it took a week of evenings after work to get all the gunk off all the cars. The RC10 was the worst: a thin sheen of grease over the gearcase and shocks and 15 years of cement dust and sawdust caked on everything. And the rims, shock towers, and all suspension arms had been painted with silver paint that was now flaking off. I didn't know how to remove it easily... so I scraped away at it gently with a dull hobby knife to get 99% of it off. The results:



The car ran when fed a fresh 6-cell. Futaba radio and JR "NEA-950B" ESC fed a Joel "Magic" Johnson motor that had seen better days. There were 2 extra sets of tires: some road slicks and what appeared to be an unused set of spikes (seen in pic above). I've started to order some parts to replace the worst bits... but this will be a runner, not a shelf queen: new tires + modern electrics then replace whatever else breaks . I cleaned the shocks and filled them with fresh oil, and totally disassembed the rest of the car... except the gearcase. I know I should, but it seems to be spinning freely, and I'm afraid what I may find

New pics coming once I empty the camera...

[Nybble]

The local hobby shop had an Associated Viper body in stock, so with a couple cans of paint I made this:



(the previous body I think came from the Hornet, based on where the mount holes were drilled). I didn't realize the body didn't come with a wing, but it looks like I can buy one from this forum. I wasn't willing to pay for vintage decals, so I bought a set for the TC4 to steal the Associated logos and trim out the "RC10" bits

I don't know what the proper way is to trim out around the rear shocks... but whatever it is... I didn't do it. I had to nibble away at it about a dozen times to get it to fit right

Also... the tacklebox-full-of-parts had a bumper in it.. that only fit the RC10... but the way the mount holes were countersunk it looked like you mounted it upside down? (front end kicks up, bumper kicks down = flat bumper?). Not sure if that's what I'm supposed to do, but it works...

[RC10resto]

Nice clean up
Bumper looks like an Andy's or RPM Oval bumper, check out the body post holes for a "Modified" non open-wheel body.
Your new rear tires are somewhat hard to find vintage Losi X Pattern's.
Have fun.

[Nybble]

Thanks RC10resto: I think you're right about the tires. The rear sidewalls say "Team Losi Made in USA Cushion Carcass 2.00 x 1.60", and the fronts just say: "RP-927". Speaking of tires....

The new radio gear hasn't come in yet, but the old one works... so I stuck in the newer electrics I had and took to the parking lot. I didn't want to burn off the spiked tires since I knew I would stay on pavement, so I stuck on the old worn street tires (Imex <something>(road?) Dawgs). They felt a little bit brittle when I squeezed them but I thought they would be fine.

I was wrong.



Both rears started to crack, the the left side split right along the sidewall, almost all the way around. They were mounted on some beat-up rims that were also painted silver, so I threw all 4 in the trash (the fronts were almost bald anyways). On went the last set of worn tires: they say "Racing Super Gripper" on the side: stockers?

[Nybble]

And for the electrics, I have a new receiver coming for it for a FlySky FS-GT3B (going to use it for the Clod too, so the 3rd channel can handle 4WS). I took out the old ESC and brushed motor, and stuck in the guts from my Stampede VXL: a used Velineon system:



I know that setup maybe isn't ideal for the car, but something strange happened that made me think I may have to look at the gearbox... or maybe it's just the 20 year old tires. I only ran it once with the original ESC and motor, and other than perhaps being a bit slower than I was expecting (and the steering wasn't great) it tracked straight. With the Velineon I could only get up to about 50% throttle before the car would veer quite dramatically to one side: the same side every time.

It looked and sounded like one rear tire was breaking loose: but why would that happen when travelling straight: isn't the diff primarily balancing things out on corners? And if it was the diff... wouldn't I lose traction on alternating sides? When I back the motor away to disengage the pinion the gears and wheels spin freely... maybe it's just the old tires (they feel pretty firm/waxy) and one tire is worse than the other?

[Nybble]

Oh, if it's tires, based on this and this I've ordered a set of Proline Dirt Hawgs from the LHS and JC Racing rims from Ebay. I saw all the posts about how to retrofit modern B2/B3/B4 parts... but just wanted something simple, since I won't be racing.

But... if I break some parts... I may be forced down the B* path, if OEM replacements are too costly. I guess we'll see...

[FasterLouder]

Nice find!
Can't go wrong with the GT3B radio,extra receivers are only $6,too.

I run a 3S LI-PO battery in mine,it stays on 12.5 volts for MONTHS!

[Nybble]

The GT3B actually just came, and I mounted it up. It's so small!



About 1/4 the size of the old Futaba receiver, and there's only about 8" of antenna?!? Seems to work though: range is farther than I can see to drive it. Now I'm just waiting on the new tires and rims, wing, and gear cover, and I should be done. I hope the new tires work much better, because right now these old ones just spin and spin on pavement, even going very easy on the throttle

[Claymore5150]

Nice find and good cleanup!

That Velineon is a monster in that thing. Hahaha.

I picked up one of those Leopard 10t 3930kv ESC/Motor combos for $60 and use the Flysky gt2 in mine.
The power to weight ratio is pretty insane with the 3930, I could only imagine with the torque of that velenion how much spur/pinion you could throw at it before it even gets lukewarm!!!!

I get like 45 mins run time in my 94 goldpan with the Leopard and a 2s 4000mah 30-40c turnigy lipo...it's awesome.

[soniccj5]

Great find! It cleaned up real nice.

[Nybble]

I think it's "done" for now: added Proline Dirt Hawgs for bashing on JC Racing racing rims and an Associated 6187 wing kit. Not sure if I want to add more decals (maybe an Associated logo on the wing) - I like the simple look.



With the new tires the veers-to-one-side-under-hard-acceleration thing is almost entirely gone, though steering is still poor. I think I have the steering linkages set properly... but on pavement the front will push/skip/chatter the outside wheel when turning at moderate speed. From what I've read, I can try some negative camber to see if I can get that wheel to plant as the chassis rolls to the outside of the turn (or move the inside camber pivot lower so it goes "more negative" when compressed?). And perhaps switch from toe-in to toe-out to help with overall steering?

I have no idea how to tune suspension, but I'm willing to fiddle with it

[Qballll]

Looks nice! I also like the simple look on buggies.

Q

[RC104ever]

Looks a lot like mine! I have the same rims and tires, love it. Since you're local we should meet up sometime and race

Edit: you may want to consider upgrading it with a stealth tranny as the 6 gear will eventually fail because the idler gears were never designed to take the power you have in it now. Also, I can highly recommend the Gens Ace lipos from Hobbypartz.com I'm running a 5000 mah 40c in mine and get lots of power and runtime.