Traxxas Bullet Rebuild

Post by **mtbkym01** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 5:05 pm

Been a few years since I’ve logged onto the forum, but I’ve had a bit of a resto/rebuild bug bite whilst I’ve had a couple weeks leave, have already knocked over a Monster Beetle, and am more than halfway through a Turbo Optima with belt drive. RC10th gave me this old Bullet a few years ago, and I’ve decided I’ll get stuck into it, it’s not gonna be fully restored, just a strip, clean and rebuild with whatever I’ve got laying around to get it sittin on all fours again.

A954B18D-C747-42DD-AB12-D26AEAA75705 by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

72FA4496-7CFD-44BF-98F8-66F16F6D2ECB by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

795BFA23-0767-4D70-A563-A2781E065FD1 by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

Damn, a broken gear case, dunno what to do with this?

7F708357-02DC-4F87-9442-005BF012A835 by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

Now this intrigues me, I also received this body which is “clear” although it’s almost a yellow colour, is this normal, or has this been discoloured, and what will it do when I paint it?

99521E64-3C9B-44B4-8696-08B98FC56410 by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

Post by **jwscab** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:01 pm

The body is old and has aged, that's why it appears yellow. I would say it's probably almost like glass fragile now. Be super careful.

As for the broken case, that's pretty standard for a bullet that gets run moderately. You'll need to find a new case. There are Traxxas equivalent setups you could also retrofit, but also require drilling holes for separate arm mounts eBay is your best bet for a new bullet case.

Post by **mtbkym01** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:24 pm

jwscab wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:01 pm The body is old and has aged, that's why it appears yellow. I would say it's probably almost like glass fragile now. Be super careful.

As for the broken case, that's pretty standard for a bullet that gets run moderately. You'll need to find a new case. There are Traxxas equivalent setups you could also retrofit, but also require drilling holes for separate arm mounts eBay is your best bet for a new bullet case.

Ok thanks for that. Will be interesting what the shell will look like painted, I’m thinking I’ll go a darker colour.

I’ll have a look around for the gear case, but being in Australia, a lot of parts out of the US are ridiculously expensive to post, like between $18-$30 USD

Post by **jwscab** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:31 pm

Yeah, darker color for sure. You are very lucky, you have two body sets. The roll cage is very hard to find so very good score.

If you don't mind drilling the chassis, you could retrofit rad, hawk rad2 or hawk2 gear cases.

Post by **jwscab** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:39 pm

Also, you will want to boil all the parts. Traxxas white nylon gets pretty brittle. Not the gear case though, it's a nylon blend and will distort. Although it's already broken so.

Post by **mtbkym01** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 8:42 pm

jwscab wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:39 pm Also, you will want to boil all the parts. Traxxas white nylon gets pretty brittle. Not the gear case though, it's a nylon blend and will distort. Although it's already broken so.

Great info, thanks

Post by **mtbkym01** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 8:48 pm

jwscab wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:31 pm Yeah, darker color for sure. You are very lucky, you have two body sets. The roll cage is very hard to find so very good score.

If you don't mind drilling the chassis, you could retrofit rad, hawk rad2 or hawk2 gear cases.

Those gearcases are just as invisible it seems, I might just rebuild it as is, as it won’t really get run anyway, will just sit up next to my other early 2wd’s.

Post by **mtbkym01** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 8:59 pm

A “Golden Bullet” perhaps

93DBB3CF-2AFB-4A57-A9E3-8E454B71EC54 by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

Post by **jwscab** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:35 pm

I believe that gold comes out more like the gold anodizing of the chassis. It definitely doesn't match the cap.

Post by **jwscab** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:45 pm

For shelf duty you could glue it back together for sure.

Post by **mtbkym01** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 10:16 pm

jwscab wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:45 pm For shelf duty you could glue it back together for sure.

Unfortunately I don’t even have the missing piece

Post by **mtbkym01** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 5:46 am

Stripped and cleaned everything, and now starting the rebuild, using pics off the net as I can’t find a manual online, and didn’t really pay attention whilst disassembling as I thought I could use a manual

Also got the body painted, metallic blue which has become an aqua colour, looks quite good in sunlight

7B813BB2-1D30-4FA2-A431-7C132B0B7664 by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

C55C8900-893C-4469-B283-674E9FA1BAC1 by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

95B1178A-3205-4D5D-BCB9-24BE4F11ABE3 by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

Post by **jwscab** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 8:01 am

The 'blue' looks great! The bullet is very similar to all of the Traxxas cars /trucks up to the trx1, so you can look for any of the manuals that are around to find similar assembly pictures. I'll check to see if I have the manual electronically.

Post by **jwscab** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:13 am

might be helpful:
https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?t=21378

Post by **mtbkym01** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:13 pm

Actually really enjoyed this rebuild, just waiting on some stampede front steering blocks and axles, and it’ll be complete

991F659E-04BC-4D38-AC54-1E0E96BDE7AE by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

5B1E26A6-C258-44E2-B64B-336FDD27E9B0 by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

Shocks are “3 Racing” for a Kyosho ZX5 that I’ve had here for a long time, think they’ll do the job

6813303B-7388-45C0-935F-49E3B85EB93A by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

F4DD3ED3-1EAD-4D56-A52E-93CD39681A89 by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

C6231535-A43F-46A5-8A76-4DE81391903C by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

E5832B85-0443-4C08-AF33-C83CD9CBF5AB by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

8EC3D368-9390-49B8-BB1A-C5EA8A0C03EF by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

CAD1ADCA-0C0A-4146-9309-FE26F39855AB by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

3941BA1D-93E7-4163-97FE-1207677E0303 by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr

0EF7534F-9DEE-4949-A6CD-93925D8CFC23 by Kym mtbkym01, on Flickr