RC10 Graphite rebuild - the doom buggy rides again
Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2024 4:07 am
Since no thread is any good without pictures I'll start this one off with a picture and a story. Along the way I'll do a little RC archaeology as I dig through old track bags and parts boxes.
These are the doom buggies. Well, one doom buggy and the bodies off the other. My RC10 graphite is already in pieces on the bench but the pictures explain the title.
I have no idea what made me think of hunting for my old RC cars in my mom's garage, maybe something on youtube triggered a memory. Anyhow I found them, The Graphite, a JRX-Pro and an RC10L road car all neatly packed up in a box along with the original factory boxes, a track bag full of parts and tires, dried CA and leaky oil bottles. I had bought the RC10 new in 1989 or early 1990 when the graphite chassis RC10 was the new hotness from Associated. I ran it regularly at the old RCHR track in Costa Mesa CA, and in any dirt lot, park or cul-de-sac I could find.
A friend of mine free hand painted the motorhead themed body (the second by him, the first was damaged from heavy used and eventually tossed out). I painted the ghoul image on the JRX-Pro.
I added a stealth transmission, long front shock towers and some Andy's rear arms. My initially poor driving and constantly treating it as a dirt lot basher eventually caused minor delamination of the leading edge of the carbon fiber chassis. Nothing near the screw holes, just cosmetic damage at the edge, so I bought a little kydex bumper. That worked well, until it didn't:
Eventually I bought a second graphite chassis plate and installed a white Andy's front bumper to protect it. I kept the old plate as a backup but I can't imagine what it would take to do enough damage that I'd need it.
Anyhow, after a bit of fiddling with radio crystals and an old AstroFlight ni-cad charger I got the car running and ran it around in the street on some old slick tires. The car had spent 30+ years in boxes stuffed in hot grages, closets and various torage units. The batteries are probably vintage 1991 or 92 and the tires about the same, but they worked. The car ran. I realize this was not the wisest of moves. The bearings hadn't been serviced in 30 years nor had the shocks, they still had oil in them though.
I packed everything up and took it home and decided to do the right thing and rebuild the shocks and clean and oil the bearings. While I was at it I also dissasembled the Stealth transmission dealt with those bearings then cleaned and greased the diff and both thrust bearings.
Here are a few pics from the initial cleaning:
The buggy itself
The 1st gen stealth transmission
The front links. I have no idea what brand those are. The factory ball cups were getting worn out. Some were really loose and others were binding so I bought these.
If anyone recognizes those please let me know what they are.
The transmission was a bit dirty inside. That's not grit in the photo, just dirty black grease. Maybe from the thrust bearing? I don't know. Anyhow it got cleaned and reassembled.
Here is the slipper clutch assembly:
Anyhow after cleaning bearings, refilling the shocks, which were still pretty full, and reassembling the care I took it out for a few batteries worth of fun in the parking lot. Sadly no pics or video, All I took were bench photos. I will get some in the near future though.
A bit about those tires. I have no idea what brand they are, but they are very soft and sticky. Age and heat have not hurt them at all. I also have a set of extra wide fronts that are made to overhang the fron rim, but the compound is different and very slick. I took them off because I got vastly better from traction with the skinnies.
Anyhow, turns out I likely never glued those tires up or at least didn't do a good job. on my last run after jumping some speed bumps and doing some power on spins the outer bead of one tire jumped off the rim causing the tire to fold over on the inside of the rim. I couldn't see it from where I was driving and hit the throttle. The car moved but the rim spun in the tire chewing up the inner sidewall
Since those were my only pair of street tires I can't drive it around the apartment parking lot. While the car is out of commission I decided to try my hand at peroxide bleahing some of the old spare parts in my box. It turns out Arizona sunshine in June is fantastic for quickly lightening nylon parts. Who knew?
I had great success bleaching some old front arms I'd replaced so I decided to do all the suspension pieces. Then I thought, heck do everything and I pulled the transmission out again. At that point the car was in pieces and I decided it needed a total makeover. Lots more details in my next post.
These are the doom buggies. Well, one doom buggy and the bodies off the other. My RC10 graphite is already in pieces on the bench but the pictures explain the title.
I have no idea what made me think of hunting for my old RC cars in my mom's garage, maybe something on youtube triggered a memory. Anyhow I found them, The Graphite, a JRX-Pro and an RC10L road car all neatly packed up in a box along with the original factory boxes, a track bag full of parts and tires, dried CA and leaky oil bottles. I had bought the RC10 new in 1989 or early 1990 when the graphite chassis RC10 was the new hotness from Associated. I ran it regularly at the old RCHR track in Costa Mesa CA, and in any dirt lot, park or cul-de-sac I could find.
A friend of mine free hand painted the motorhead themed body (the second by him, the first was damaged from heavy used and eventually tossed out). I painted the ghoul image on the JRX-Pro.
I added a stealth transmission, long front shock towers and some Andy's rear arms. My initially poor driving and constantly treating it as a dirt lot basher eventually caused minor delamination of the leading edge of the carbon fiber chassis. Nothing near the screw holes, just cosmetic damage at the edge, so I bought a little kydex bumper. That worked well, until it didn't:
Eventually I bought a second graphite chassis plate and installed a white Andy's front bumper to protect it. I kept the old plate as a backup but I can't imagine what it would take to do enough damage that I'd need it.
Anyhow, after a bit of fiddling with radio crystals and an old AstroFlight ni-cad charger I got the car running and ran it around in the street on some old slick tires. The car had spent 30+ years in boxes stuffed in hot grages, closets and various torage units. The batteries are probably vintage 1991 or 92 and the tires about the same, but they worked. The car ran. I realize this was not the wisest of moves. The bearings hadn't been serviced in 30 years nor had the shocks, they still had oil in them though.
I packed everything up and took it home and decided to do the right thing and rebuild the shocks and clean and oil the bearings. While I was at it I also dissasembled the Stealth transmission dealt with those bearings then cleaned and greased the diff and both thrust bearings.
Here are a few pics from the initial cleaning:
The buggy itself
The 1st gen stealth transmission
The front links. I have no idea what brand those are. The factory ball cups were getting worn out. Some were really loose and others were binding so I bought these.
If anyone recognizes those please let me know what they are.
The transmission was a bit dirty inside. That's not grit in the photo, just dirty black grease. Maybe from the thrust bearing? I don't know. Anyhow it got cleaned and reassembled.
Here is the slipper clutch assembly:
Anyhow after cleaning bearings, refilling the shocks, which were still pretty full, and reassembling the care I took it out for a few batteries worth of fun in the parking lot. Sadly no pics or video, All I took were bench photos. I will get some in the near future though.
A bit about those tires. I have no idea what brand they are, but they are very soft and sticky. Age and heat have not hurt them at all. I also have a set of extra wide fronts that are made to overhang the fron rim, but the compound is different and very slick. I took them off because I got vastly better from traction with the skinnies.
Anyhow, turns out I likely never glued those tires up or at least didn't do a good job. on my last run after jumping some speed bumps and doing some power on spins the outer bead of one tire jumped off the rim causing the tire to fold over on the inside of the rim. I couldn't see it from where I was driving and hit the throttle. The car moved but the rim spun in the tire chewing up the inner sidewall
Since those were my only pair of street tires I can't drive it around the apartment parking lot. While the car is out of commission I decided to try my hand at peroxide bleahing some of the old spare parts in my box. It turns out Arizona sunshine in June is fantastic for quickly lightening nylon parts. Who knew?
I had great success bleaching some old front arms I'd replaced so I decided to do all the suspension pieces. Then I thought, heck do everything and I pulled the transmission out again. At that point the car was in pieces and I decided it needed a total makeover. Lots more details in my next post.