2013 Vonats Classic class RC10

[Brandon G]

I attended the 2012 Vonats this year and the thing that I enjoyed the most (besides actual racing) was watching the old school RC10's tooling around the track in classic class. I like the RC10's that have had every bit of performance wrung out of them for the 2wd class, don't get me wrong. I have respect for both the full race and old style buggies. I still believe that going with the old style batteries is just taking a step in the unnecessary direction, but that is my opinion, as I am entitled to have.

So with that i have decided to resurrect an old school RC10 with the intent of racing it next year at the Vonats in the classic class. It will be running a brushed Tamiya Sport tuned motor, as the rules allow, an older Orion Lipo battery pack for sheer convenience of it, and old school tires as once again the rules dictate. The only other thing I plan on doing to this car is add some turnbuckles, newer style ball cups, and newer springs to get the spring rate correct. Everything else will be old school. I will use the NIB Protech body and wing that I won at the vonats as a door prize. How convenient!

I received this buggy for a song from Scott (Melvins army). He picked it up at the vonats this year for an even better price with the intent of fixing it up for his wife (or fiance? sorry Scott if I jumped the gun on that one) to run next year, but I think she opted for a different vehicle/class. So I managed to get him to let it go and send it my way.

I saw the buggy for sale at the race and even gave it a good look over. Looked a little of a basket case to bother with, but after watching the old buggies take the track, I rethought it only to have waited too long and it was scooped up by Scott. The price was definetely right.

So here it is in all of its dusty, yellowed glory. Hopefully I will do it justice and bring it back to a proper retro racer. It started out as a bushing car but I will replace all of them with bearings. Overall the car is in pretty good shape. All of the aluminum is straight! It has obvious signs of use, but it's gonna hit the track when I'm done, so no need for a full resto. I hope to keep a tally of overall cost as well. Hopefully give some of you guys motivation to get an oldie up and ready for next year!

[Brandon G]

Upon disassembly, I found the front suspension to be totally bound up. Whoever built the car evidently didn't have any repsect for plastic being softer than metal. The top locknuts on the shock mounts were so tight, I will not even be able to reuse the squashed plastic shock bushings. They also found it cool to sandwich in long springs on the short shocks.

None of the shocks hold oil.

Every bushing on the car is toast. Tranny as well. Luckily the gears didn't take too much abuse from the excessive play. The front axles will need replacement as they were wore down from friction. Rear axles had a lot of wear in the dogbone slots, one was cracked with a 1/4" gap where there is usually 1/16".

The steering draglink and steering links were completely assembled wrong.

The only damaged parts I found (besides wear from bushings) was the rear axles and the front arm mount on one side had a crack in the front mounting screw hole.

On a positive note, the thing doesn't smell like a mouse house or cat pee.

Off to soak in simple green.

[flipwils11]

Sometimes just a simple disassembly project to clean and repair as necessary is a welcome change from a modified, or excessively rare parts buildup. My own A-stamp build is similar to yours, but I haven't posted an update about it in a while. It also came to me as more of a basher but didn't have the issues yours has from mis-assembly (is that a word?) or bushing friction..

[vintage AE]

Sounds like a perfect match for a Vonats runner. Those bushings should have never made it into the box when they first came out. BITD my run time with bushings was so short and slowed things down so much. Then again when I was 13 I wasn't told to lube them Bearings seem to cost so much back then too, but well worth it. Good to see you bring this car back to it's glory.

[RichieRich]

Every time I buy a used vehicle, I am amazed that someone actually got it to run at one point. Over-tightened screws, poor assembly and mismatched parts are common. The greatest one I've ever found was upon disassembling some shocks from one of my purchases, I noticed a flowery fragrance. The previous owner had filled the shocks with lotion.

[askbob]

Bet those shocks were 'silky smooth'.

Looks like a perfect car to start with Brandon. Instead of OIN it can be OIO. Old is old and forever cool.

[vintage AE]

x2 OIO goodness, but for me personally, it would be hard to resist doing some OIN mods

[soniccj5]

Can't wait to see this buggy finished. I gave it a once over at the VONATS, and the price Scott got it for was definatly a song!

[Phin]

Every time I buy a used vehicle, I am amazed that someone actually got it to run at one point. Over-tightened screws, poor assembly and mismatched parts are common. The greatest one I've ever found was upon disassembling some shocks from one of my purchases, I noticed a flowery fragrance. The previous owner had filled the shocks with lotion.

I know your pain.

The last car I picked up was using a set of RPM Worlds bellcranks inside a gold tub. The tops of the cranks were rubbing so much against the nose tubes that they almost wore gouges down to the bearings. This '10 clearly had a lot of runs under it's chassis, and it stymies me how the driver could've missed it that the ball-bearing steering wasn't as smooth as it should've been. I'm guessing he had two steering servos working in tandem since I don't see one having enough torque by itself.

[Brandon G]

OK time for an update....

Got my parts cleaned up, purchased what I needed to get the repairs done, and it sat in a zillion pieces in a large ziplock bag until the end of august.

With the vonats right around the corner I figured I'd better get it together. Everything went together pretty well. Nothing out of the ordinary. Ended up using a new set of #1 AE pistons with 30 wt in the rear, 35 wt in the front. Used AE black springs up front, greens in the rear. Borrowed my shorty pack from my X6, battery cup held down with the gray 3M tape. I tossed the spur gear, it was toast. Had an extra 48 pitch spur, 81 tooth. Pinion was a 21 tooth. Guessed at the gearing, but with the Tamiya sport tuned motor, it worked out pretty well. It was slightly warm after the 6 minute qualifiers, pack only needed about 1000mah to charge back up.

All bushings were replaced with bearings.

No breakage all weekend long. Tranny held up just fine. Ran good with exception of a lack of rear traction. But that was to be expected with the old rear tires. Couldn't do much with the guys running the Tamiyas with new rubber. It didnt take much throttle to get myself in trouble. Qualified 3rd in the A main, finished 4th.

Overall, minus the electronics I already had, it cost me about $100 to purchase this car and buy everything to get it repaired and ready for action. Lots of fun wheelin this old '10 around the track, that's for sure!

This pic is of the car after finishing the build. Amazing what a little simple green and a peroxide bath can do.

I will get some more post race photos up shortly.

[SofaKing]

Awesome work as usual, that turned out to be a great little classic runner

[Brandon G]

More post race pics...

[flipwils11]

Looks great and an excellent update.

[85Edinger]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I was there when Scott bought this car. My pit table was right next to his, I was filling the shocks on my own short arm Rc10. It did look pretty beat, good to see that it's been taken care of.
Any idea what she ended up getting? She said she wanted something for novice class.