My sorry excuse for RC10's.. (w/ rebuild project on page 2)

[logikfive]

I'm going to first complete the rebuild of the incomplete one, the only reason it never got rebuilt was because the LHS closed up and I needed two bearings for the rear bearing carrier but didn't know the size of them. Found a semi-close LHS and have been going there and they hooked me up with some bearings for it.

Anyway, heres a few pics...




Some of the spare parts I have..


The whole fleet...


Anyhoo, is there anything out there that I can use to get the yellow look out of the white plastic?

Oh, and one more thing... is there a fix for these darn kit shocks? In the 17 years I've owned these trucks, rebuild after rebuild I could NEVER get the shocks to not leak all over the place. Easiest fix is to replace with some newer style shocks, I assume?

[MOmo]

AE shocks get lots of complaints.

The biggest thing you can do is make sure the seals are fresh and the internal components are free of burrs. I HIGHLY recommend using the "Green Slime" by AE for building shocks. Also, when threading the shock end, be sure not to have bare metal touching the shockshaft. and scores or damage to the shock surface, no matter how mynute, can cause oil to leak. I use a rubber balloon between the pliers and the shaft.


Best of luck, and welcome to the board.


MOmo

[logikfive]

Cool! I'll give that a shot when I get around to reassembly. Right now I have the incomplete chassis tore down with almost all of the white plastic parts cleaned. Started sandblasting the metal parts, in efforts to polish it all. I might powder coat it, or I might just leave it natural high-shine aluminum.

I figure I'll throw all new arms on it, rear bearing carriers, etc. but I figured I'd clean the stuff I took off anyway.

[Erich Reichert]

Oh, and one more thing... is there a fix for these darn kit shocks? In the 17 years I've owned these trucks, rebuild after rebuild I could NEVER get the shocks to not leak all over the place. Easiest fix is to replace with some newer style shocks, I assume?

IMO AE shocks are very easy if you take your time.

-FIRST make sure you cut all the flashing off of the parts before you even put them on the mounting tool... THIS INCLUDES THE SHOCK PISTON. If anyting still has errant bits of molding on them then you'll never build a decent shock no matter what brand.

-Before you slide all the "seal" parts into the body apply a good amount of AE Green Slime assembly lube. I actually like to goop the rubber gaskets up before i ever put them on the tool.

- Push everything down in and, while holding the tool in place turn it over and using the shock to push down with press the tools end against the table until you hear the snap. If it isn't a SOLID "snap" then you didn't get it in there right. Pull everyting out and try again.

- Now, drip some shock oil on the shock shaft starting at the threads and then spread it with your fingers to cover the whole shaft before sliding it in the shock.

-From here its easy. Fill the shock up with oil, move the piston assembly up and down to get ALL of the air out from underneath it.

- Now put the shocks somewhere standing up for about 5 minutes. Seriously put them somewhere they won't spill over to give the air plenty of time to work its way to the top of the oil and out.

- Finally, put the shock cap on about halfway and work the shaft up and down again being sure not to push the pistion past the top of the shock body, until all the excess oil is bled out. Tighten the cap and make sure there is no preload but pushing the piston in... it should not return out on its on. If it does you still have a little too much oil in there, loosen the cap and bleed it some more and redo.

One other thing make sure you replace the black o ring on the top fo the shock body (under the cap when its on)... that thing really is nessicary to seal things up well.

[logikfive]

I've rebuilt shocks before but never had any luck with the Associated ones. I had some Losi ones awhile back and I absolutely loved them! They would last a long time without needing a rebuild. But like I mentioned, I'll give them one more shot with this project, if it doesn't work out I'll go with a different brand shock.

Anyway, a little more progress so far... I don't plan to go nuts with the polishing, just enough to pop but still look good. I could have went for the ultra-mirror shine, but I didn't feel like spending that much time on it. Pretty respectable, though.

Edit: Better pics..

[g13092]

Thumbs up on the polish job! I figure I'll end up doing that on some thrashed tub at some point...

[logikfive]

Well, I powdercoated the stuff I polished. Shame that went away, as it was quite a bit of work to polish the two little things I did... But I think I'll like the route I went more instead. Not only will it look better with the Factory Team blue screwset I purchased, it will go better with the black. On this truck I'm getting rid of all the white (I know, I know.. reason for castration ) in favor of black. The white stuff is still in decent shape, but I like black way more, so I ordered what I could in black (Cha ching! $200 later...) and I'll dye whatever else is left.

But anyway, the only reason I decided against the polished aluminum is, it will be my runner RC10 (with a Traxxas Velineon Brushless -- what is in the Rustler VXL) so I need it to have a coating that will hold up. I don't want to be polishing the thing every week. I might go the polishing route with one of the other RC10T's.

The powdercoating is Tropic Orange, a candy topcoat.



With the Graphite shock tower I ordered from Towerhobbies for it.


Anyone know if the T2 rear shocktower will fit? I was going to order that as well but I wasn't sure if it was even going to work.

[scr8p]

a t2 rear towers are different.

the powder coating looks nice. do it yourself?

[logikfive]

That's what I thought on the T2, which is why I didn't buy it in the first place. Doh. Guess I'll need to fab a new rear shock tower out of 1/8" aluminum. Or, is it possible to dye the stock tower?

But yes, I did do the powdercoating.

[scr8p]

ya, you can dye the shock towers.

[logikfive]

So I got my Tower order in today! Began assembling it, only to find out the shocks I bought won't work all that well (I had my doubts, but I figured I'd try them anyway...) I need to order some different ones. No big deal. Might as well get the other things I've been wanting, such as blue anodized nose plate to chassis tubes and some CVD's to convert it to the T2 style rear wheels. That way I can ditch the 3-piece wheels on this one to run some sticky tires since it will be brushless powered.

Anyway, some pics!





Anyone know if Losi XXXT shocks fit without issues?

[m_vice]

Love the color. It looks like it will be a very cool looking truck.
Got to love that 10T.

[badhoopty]

i got a whole slew of pretty cool rc10s i would trade for that beat up and crappy ws6 you got in your sig...

[logikfive]

Ha, I probably wouldn't miss one.. I've got 5 other 2nd gen Trans Ams. Only thing is, the one in my signature isn't really a WS6, but it has all the WS6 components (I installed them when I built the car)

Seriously though, that's probably a lie, I like the one in my signature the most out of all the ones I own. Probably because it was my first car, and I drag race/autocross it. It's so much fun to drive.

[badhoopty]

i wish i still had my 2nd gen. imo the best looking of the fbods.

true ws6 or not, its a nice looking car.