Aussie's RC10GT Restoration

[Aussie]

Hi from Australia,

The RC10GT. I first saw one on the shelf of a hobby shop in Houston, Texas at the age of roughly 8. I remember being impressed by the size of the model (having only played with smaller ‘toy’ R/C cars), and the ‘softness’ of the tyres. It was an unrun model, so it was sparkling clean and had that fresh plastic smell about it. I was hooked. I remember asking my mom to buy me a pair of Pro-Line Edge 2.2” tyres, just so I could have a small part of that truck. I got my first ‘real’ R/C a couple years later, a Traxxas Rustler with an MSC and a 1400mah battery. It was awesome, but I always knew I wanted that GT.

Fast forward 15 years to today. I have always been interested in R/C on and off, including cars and aircraft. My world pretty much revolves around motorcycle racing and sports cars now (my two babies are a K1 Suzuki GSX-R750 and a Nissan R33 Skyline), but doing trackdays is expensive, and crashing even more so I guess you could say R/C is what started my full size motorsport passion.

So I bought a Thunder Tiger EB4 S3 to muck around with. It’s relatively fast and pretty durable, and I intend on keeping it for as long as I can get parts for it. But I still wanted that GT.


S3

Cruising eBay last week I came across what I would describe as my ideal resto project:


All there!


That beautiful paint scheme


Needs a bit of love!



In the box, which I like

Intact vehicle, mostly original parts/accessories, and most importantly: that clean original body!

So I haven’t got it in my hands yet, as postage from the States to Melbourne takes a while, but I plan to do a full restoration and then shelve it, so I can relive those memories as an 8 year old boy in that hobby shop. This will be a build thread for the vehicle and I’ll definitely be needing some pointers and help along the way.

Thanks for reading!

[Aussie]

I couldn't wait for the vehicle to arrive, so I got trigger happy on eBay:


O-Rings for the shocks - Also ordered 35w shock fluid for the rear and 30w for the front.


Hinge pins - mainly to keep as spares/just in case.


Again, just a spare.


Finishing touches like these dust donuts are what make a build, to me anyway.


Disc rotor - Guessing the one on the truck is fouled with fuel and debris - we'll see.


Nose struts - in case the ones on the truck are bent.


I wasn't sure on this, but I got it anyway. Did the RTR come with a ball or helical gear differential?


The all important pull starter. The decal is different on this item, but I will attempt to transfer the old pullstart housing across to the new mechanism.


Tank - I believe this is slightly different to the original item, so I will be attempting to whiten the old one, and if that fails, keep this as backup.

There you go, some preliminary parts. I should see them in a week or two, and then I'll be diving right in and tearing the thing apart! The above cost me >$50 - gotta love eBay

First question I have for you guys - The tank on the vehicle is yellowing and quite opaque, was it originally like this? If not, what would be the best method to whiten/clear it up? I've seen peroxide and bleaches being used on molded items like A-arms, but would it work on clear plastic? Cheers!

[klavy69]

the ball dif came with these instead of the helical gear dif so you did good on that one.

The tanks were opaque more than white in most cases but not really sure which you will want to call it. Some might say more white than opaque and some might say a white opaque . I'd take your original tank and soak it in purple power or simple green degreaser and then scrub it up nice. It should come out to be a nice enuf example for your shelfer. Looks like yours will be an easy enuf cleanup. Doesn't look too ratted out. Looks like maybe a novice picked it up and ran it til it needed a little more indepth tune and then got put away. Should look good either way.

This was my first new purchase so they hold kind of a special area in my r/c past too so keep us posted.

Todd

[RC10th]

Just buy a new tank, they are still available new for like $12.

[Aussie]

the ball dif came with these instead of the helical gear dif so you did good on that one.

...

This was my first new purchase so they hold kind of a special area in my r/c past too so keep us posted.

Todd

Cool, good to hear. I reckon that after the pull start stopped recoiling it was abandoned. The bottom of the chassis is pretty unscathed too, hopefully an indication of little use. Just need a new cylinder head and some misc hardware and she should be sweet! I'll give the tank a shot of simple green and failing that ill peroxide it, otherwise i'll just throw on the new one I bought. Thanks!

Just buy a new tank, they are still available new for like $12.

I did - see above

[marlo]

Very nice truck, looks great, and will clean up very nice,( not to much cleaning needed). Body is well cut, and painted, and will complement your GT very nicely, but I'm not sure if that is a #6131 GT body. Proline??, or a T2 shell?, still, it looks good on her.

[klavy69]

Body is well cut, and painted, and will complement your GT very nicely, but I'm not sure if that is a #6131 GT body. Proline??, or a T2 shell?, still, it looks good on her.

should be and look good on her...thats the stock painted rtr body that came on all the original rtr gt trucks

Todd

[Aussie]

Body is well cut, and painted, and will complement your GT very nicely, but I'm not sure if that is a #6131 GT body. Proline??, or a T2 shell?, still, it looks good on her.

should be and look good on her...thats the stock painted rtr body that came on all the original rtr gt trucks

Todd

Yea definitely the stock body! That's the most iconic part of this vehicle imo

[romulus22]

Welcome to the site. Cool to see another fellow RC10GT lover. It wasn't my first real RC but I too lusted over them in magazines. Look forward to seeing it progress.

[justinspeed79]

Nice score. You are very lucky to have that body in that condition, it is the rarest of the gt bodies. I forget the part number, maybe 6135, but it was called the GTII wide body. That is the second gt body made by associated, released in aprox. late 94 when they switched from white parts to black parts, and at the same time they went from the narrow rear shock tower to the wide version. It was then used later in the rtr and came painted like that. By the time the rtr came out the kit trucks were using the proline ford f-150 body.

[Aussie]

Nice score. You are very lucky to have that body in that condition, it is the rarest of the gt bodies. I forget the part number, maybe 6135, but it was called the GTII wide body. That is the second gt body made by associated, released in aprox. late 94 when they switched from white parts to black parts, and at the same time they went from the narrow rear shock tower to the wide version. It was then used later in the rtr and came painted like that. By the time the rtr came out the kit trucks were using the proline ford f-150 body.

Woah, cool to hear! I really love the shape of this body with that muscular hood bulge and paint scheme. I'm not a fan of the later bodies, they're not as tough looking in my eyes.

Truck is halfway here according to eBay's tracking service! Hoping ETA will be late next week

[LoboNYC]

Another RC10GT fan is always good news!!! Congrats on finally scoring a GT, its a great truck. i was fortunate enough to get mine back in 94 and still have it to this day.

you spoke aboue the fuel tank...

I would replace fuel tank he new updated version. they are still available

The original fuel cap opens towards the rear where the update fuel tank's cap opens towards the front.

This made refueling without removing the body possible.

If you keep the original then get fresh gaskets for the cap and make sure there are no leaks.

Will keep watching for updates!!!

[Aussie]

Another RC10GT fan is always good news!!! Congrats on finally scoring a GT, its a great truck. i was fortunate enough to get mine back in 94 and still have it to this day.

you spoke aboue the fuel tank...

Cheers mate, yes I have purchased the updated version of the tank and will most likely install that rather than trying to restore the original (unless I can get it looking really good).

The truck came!


The Fedex Box


It was well packed! Full of high density foam


Sitting pretty the body is in great condition!


Fuel varnish galore

First impression is that it looked to be in better condition in the ad than in real life - but isn't that always the case

There is a bunch of mixed up hardware, especially in the suspension linkages and shock mounts, but this will be easy to rectify with a future order of parts.

The shocks feel surprisingly decent, however I will be rebuilding them and refilling with fresh fluid when my order arrives.
Overall, the truck is covered in a nice combo of fuel varnish, dirt and grass, which to a degree may have protected the finish by forming a nice protective layer. I will of course be performing a full strip down to restore the finish of all components.

My question for you guys: The truck comes with brass bushings in all wheels and also in the diff output cups and input shaft. Obviously this vehicle will be seldom driven, if at all, but would you recommend upgrading to bearings? There is a lot of slop in the wheels, and when fiddling around with it I'd like the wheels not to rock around too much haha... maybe it's just me wanting to waste money

Cheers guys!

[marlo]

I would buy a full bearing, and bushing set. Put the bearings on the truck, and the bushings in the box, when your ready to retire it, then you'll already have the bushings for your resto

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

X2 on the bearings. Otherwise, when you look at it you'll feel kinda dirty. Like when you pay for a whore: Sure... she's hot, but there's Gremlins lurking underneath that pretty exterior.

Love the GT! Welcome to the board.