ID Help RC10T Nitro Conversion

[dell]

Hey Dell,
Welcome to the board from another newbie. I'm sure that one of these guys might have what you need or at least be able to send you in the right direction at obtaining one. Lots of useful stuff around here and if history is what you are after your in the right place.
Todd

thank you for the warm welcome. I have been looking for this kit for some time now and have had no lick. I remember when this kit was released. everybody had a nitro hawk one week and the a-main conversion the next. you could buy a nitro hawk for a song and a dance (cheap). At the time i could not afford one. well some 20 years later, i now can. I am hoping that somebody on here will be able to help.

[templeofspeed]

Dell, I got your PM.

[dell]

templeof speed, you have pm

[kdlooneyone]

Hello everyone, I'm new here so please excuse me, my friend Rich (A-Main Racing) sent me this link and WOW, it brings back many fond memories. It's been a long time since I messed with my conversion or any RC at all. This unit in this picture is what I hand built for someone, a prototype if I recall, I know I have sent one like this to Cliff Lett, and I used to get a kick out of Cliff complaining about it looping over backwards down the straights at the "Ranch Pit Stop" when I sent one with a ported OS .12 motor and a 1/8 scale pipe. If you all be patient with me, I'll be glad to answer any questions or help out in any way I can.... Kunio

[templeofspeed]

Welcome Kunio, I still have this prototype and would like to know a little more at your convenience. It lacks motor mounts, I believe this car had an angled motor...

I also have the RCCA with the review of one of your early conversions, that car is very similar to mine, but still different.

[kdlooneyone]

I can look around my garrage for a motormount for ya, if all else fails I can make you another mount or convert it to the newer upright mount. Since it was a prototype, mounting hole location in the chassis could vary, I may have to ask you to give me some numbers or worse case senario send me just the chassis with the tranny (and motor you want to use) and I'll fix you up. I live in Midwest so shipping should be minimal.

[justinspeed79]

Hi Kunio.

Unfortunately I don't have one of your kits, but hope to add on to my collection someday. I don't have any specific questions about the kit, but I would love to hear more about it in general. How closely did you work with Cliff Lett and Team Associated, and how much influence did this kit have in the production of the original RC10GT.

Thanks in advance for sharing the history.

[kdlooneyone]

How it all started was when I got into the RC Racing scene back in the late 80's, Associated introduced their "Stealth Transmission", what a great diff it had, I'm sorry, you guys already knew that. Then they released their 10T Truck and I wanted one. I found out about a race in Champagne Illinois, "Kyosho Gas World Challenge" and it included a 10th scale gas class. At that time 10th scale gas racing was in it's infancy, they were racing a crude toy like gas truck from Kyosho (sorry I can't remember what it was, you guys probably remember) and it crashed almost every time it jumped a 18" mound. I just knew I would have a total unfair advantage showing up with a coolest and newest electric truck with a gas motor, at least it would compensate for my lack of driving skill since I was a newbie at the time. So I turned the tranny around and made a brace, mounted a OS 12 motor with "Angled" motor mount (that's where the angled motor mount was necessary to give enough clearance so that the carb will clear the tranny), and I used Associated spur gear and a clutch bell from their 1/8th scale car, mounted in a stock RC10 tub chassis and waited for my new 10T kit to arrive. The new truck kit arrived just a few days before the race and I had very little time to get the bug sorted out. I met Cliff Lett and Steve Pond after day of qualifying, Steve and Cliff took turns running my truck, having a ball if I recalled, and I was beginning to wonder if these boys were going to wear out my ride. Bottom line, in a 15 minute main, I place second behind Ian Odie, a pro from England, even after being out of the race for about 2 minutes, my steering ball link popped out and my pit guy put me back in the race. Following winter, I designed the gas chassis based on dual deck design (no tub for me please), copper band brake and eventually got molded into the A-Main Conversion. Later I was in Hemmet California for a gas race and I met Gene Husting and he thanked me for doing the R&d for him, I was proving to him that Stealth diff can handle the abuse of the gas racing. I was just glad to be of any help. Like I mentioned before, I did send a prototype truck to Cliff with a ported motor and a 1/8 scale gas pipe and he used to complain about it looping over backwards from all of it's power. I just used my common sense and ported the OS motor like how .21 motors were ported and it's combination with a 1/8 scale pipe that accidentally generated unusual amount of power. When Associated came out with their 10GT, I thought they missed their mark, the disc brake didn't work very well, chassis flexed too much and killed the spur gear after few runs. My design was simple, double decker for strength, tranny brace and 1/8 scale spur gear/clutch bell for durability, and a band brake that worked. My only contribution to the GT I believe is providing a proof, that the Stealth diff could withstand the abuse of gas racing, and when a RC Legend Gene Husting thanked me personnally, it was a honor, and made it all worth while. Kunio

[kdlooneyone]

I would like to add a little more detail if you guys don’t mind, I did send Cliff a prototype as a gift, just a favor I wanted to do for a great guy who just happens to works for Associated (or maybe I just wanted a “pat on the back” from a famous RC racer). My conversion kits may have influenced or accelerated Associated to come up with a gas truck, since they started out making 1/8 scale gas cars anyways. I’m sure they saw a potential to make some money in the growing sport and took necessary steps to mass produce cost effective product for the masses. Before the Hemmet race (long before they released their 10GT), they did buy 8 A-Main conversion from us and I saw Cliff Lett, Curtis Husting, Mark Pavidis, and Brian Kinwald race my conversions and saw several modifications including change to a 32 pitch spur gear/clutch bell. When they snapped their “Spy Photo” for their RC10GT ad, my friend Rich from A-Main Racing noticed it was my conversion they were covering up, I was flattered (photo was backwards, the pipe was on the wrong side). My conversion just bridged the gap between RC10T and gas power, I didn’t alter any geometry in the suspension or wheelbase since they already had a great handling truck, only the tranny had to be turned around to make it a mid-engine design for the conversion to work. Weight distribution was left for the creativity of the builder and having the gas tank in front of the motor with battery pack behind the rear bulkhead became the logical layout.
In 1992 “Kyosho Gas World Challenge” in Flint Michigan, I hand built a Losi Truck conversion for Frank Masi to drive in the race (the senior editor for the RC Car Action after Steve Pond left). Jack Johnson tweaked the truck for Frank (what a lucky guy), the A main was filled with mostly my conversions, maybe a few Duratrax conversion thrown in. Frank pitted too early I think and gave my buddy Rich the lead, then they crossed the checkers together as the buzzer went off but Frank ran out of fuel and handed the win to Rich. So my friend had his 15 minutes of fame, becoming a “World Champion” for a brief moment in time… I did pit for Rich so I had a hand in the closest race I ever seen. I do have a video that Rich’s wife Cheryl took with my video camera, but I had to pull it from Youtube because I used a song from Alan Parsons for the background, you know, darn copyright issue. I had a lot of fond memories of meeting nice people in many races and places, I truly enjoyed gas racing and glad to have been a part of it. Kunio

[kdlooneyone]

BTW templeofspeed, how did you end up with one of my prototype ?

[templeofspeed]

BTW templeofspeed, how did you end up with one of my prototype ?

It came from ebay... it was in California. Complete except for the motor mount. I'm in the process of digging it out of storage to take some detail photos.

Thanks for joining this forum and providing your memories on the early days of gas truck, very cool.

[kdlooneyone]

There is a very good chance that it may have belong to Cliff Lett at one time, my hand built prototype of RC10T gas, I can only recall making about 5~6 units, I sent one to west coast (for Cliff), 3~4 for my buddies in Kansas City area, I gave one to a guy I met in Atlanta Georgia (Kyosho Gas Race), and he lived in New York. I have hand built 3~4 Losi Truck Conversion with the tranny used in the 10T Conversion, it was unique in nature, I even had the "Hydra Drive" spurgear and it drove pretty cool when it was setup properly. Kunio

[justinspeed79]

Thanks for sharing Kunio.

Did these ever go into production? If so, how many were made?

[kdlooneyone]

I thought there were about couple of hundred units made it out before Associated came out with their gas truck (Rich might remember exact numbers, I can call him later). When I approached Associated about designing a gas truck for them, they encouraged me to come up with my own and they can sell me the parts I needed (Spur gear, clutch bell, etc...) at OEM pricing, and told me I would have about 2 year head start selling them. Well they managed to come up with their own 10GT in less than a year. If I had a ton of money, I probably could have had more kits out there, at wholesale level, we were making about $40 per kit profit, which included our time stuffing the box with our conversion parts. Rich actually made more money selling a single part, "A-Main " Top Gear for the stealth tranny that the dirt oval guys swear by them (it had better gear profile than stock resulting in a longer run times, besides it was hard anodized aluminum and he had $1 invested in one, sold directly to hobby shop for about $13). I think if we had Ebay back in 1992, I probably could have sold the conversion directly to racers, eliminating the middle man, it may have given me a chance to have more kits out there. Maybe someday vintage RC racing becomes reality, people with my conversion should have the upper hand, well maybe a unfair advantage… Kunio

[templeofspeed]

Maybe someday vintage RC racing becomes reality, people with my conversion should have the upper hand, well maybe a unfair advantage…

When 1/10th gas truck racing makes a comeback...

It might be fun to do a 1/8th brushless conversion on one of my old KD trucks. Now where is that stash of RC300BD spur gears?

Kunio, I would like to finish restoring the "prototype", please let me know what you need to assist in doing the correct motor mount.

Items of note on this truck as found: front and rear shock towers were doubled, 1st generation RPM arms front and rear, MIP white 10T steering, OS CZ-R with what looks like a Kyosho pipe with a center exit stinger.

The transmission case is maybe 10% larger overall than a "normal production" KD/AMR version, the rear transmission brace is alloy, and the front brace is shaped slightly differently.