So, after deciding on building the gold chassis (its an AB stamp) because it was in great shape, I started hunting for parts. First decision was shocks, I really really wanted to do big bores, I have 2 sv based Schumacher race cars and fell in love with the big bores upon the first of those I built and ran. Now had I found this site before my decision, I may have done associated big bores, but instead decided to go with hardened threaded (worlds era? guessing) shock kits just to avoid troubles mounting true big bore shocks. In the end the small bore shocks still lean toward vintage, but being hardened and threaded still have a bit of modern ring lol and the only mods needed to make them work were building them the correct length and stroke also the front lower ball mounts needed to be cut to fit the rpm arms.
Second decision was which transmission, the original purchase included an empty but new aluminum 6 gear case, but also had a nice stealth tranny too. In the end, I went with the stealth for a few reasons, first being the stealths ability to handle a more modern power system, second the parts for the 6 gear innards would have had to be found piece by piece unless I wanted to buy a re-re take out or oe tranny kit for way too much coin. Thinking on that and the fully assembled stealth staring at me I found a stealth spur and called it done. I also decided on MIP cvd's at this point and ordered the kit for the 1/4" bearing'd rear hubs
Next, I needed bearings, and could have gone new, or high end, in the end I just went with a new vintage full set of NMB bearings. I based that on my skater heritage and using NMB bearings successfully when other guys were using swiss and the german stuff.
Wheels were easy, I wanted jelly beans, and aluminum, and I found a gold set on ebay that I was able to do a best offer deal on for a good bit less than the list. Tire wise I ended up doing a proline re-re set mainly due to lack of other options. These of course were for shelf time and occasional runs will be handled by a set of 3 piece 2" fronts and what look like crp 2" rears with some treaded tires.
Now on to electronics, I had build an rc12 4? a while back and had a castle non sensored esc and an orion 17 turn carbon fiber wrapped BL set up. These were new un-used so it was an easy choice. I picked up a nice Savox metal gear aluminum cased black servo for steering duties, and I use a 3TPK FASST system, so I used one of my recievers.
Lastly was the body. I really wanted to use a Kyosho Tomahawk body, as I have a new build on my sons dressor, but it will remain there so I thought it would look cool to have a runner that looked like that. Sadly those bodies do not fit the gold pan, but would have fit the carbon fiber chassis had I choose that to build...Oh well. Second was an original box art style, but didn't think it'd be correct looking with the non oe style build I had. In the end I decided on a TBG lexan monster beetle simply because I like being different. Now, I am by no means a painter, but just sat on the couch and thought about what I could come up with for a 3 color rattle can job, a few hours later the end result speaks for itself
good or bad! lol Oh and the decal selection is whatever I had laying around that could be linked in some way to the build.I have run it once and am pretty happy with it. I still have to sort out the gearing as I do not own pinions large enough to gear it properly, but with the orion 17 (guessing its similar to a 17.5) a 60c shorty and 82/26 gearing it gets around pretty well, and from what I'm reading on here, will go way faster with more gear!
So without further blabbering here he is...named Doodles Baja bug lol ( I call my 9 month old surprise son Doodles
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I know I've left details out of the build, but feel free to comment or ask questions and thanks for looking!
Trey
Looks like you upgraded all the parts that are prone to breaking 
No means n/a but a boxer engine as well 
