From POS to Glamorous !

[RC10th]

Getting this out for POS of the month I forgot just how much fun I had with this truck, it really was no f***s given. I had GT's at the time but I'd never send them to the moon or thrash on them like I did this truck.

The truck is pretty beat and while it has a fair bit of sentimental value it's something that would just live in a box tucked away rarely seeing the light. I thought I'd give it a new lease on life and enjoy it again, just not so balls out.

[RC10th]

The Teardown

Chassis is bent, dented and gouged. The witness marks of everything moving around is pretty interesting. I'm surprised the rear arm mount holes aren't too flogged out as that was common.

Brings back memories of rocks being jammed in between the flywheel and chassis requiring a screwdriver to pry them out.

The engine mount was broken in three pieces..

[RC10th]

My crudely cut out steel rear tower. It's pretty rough but it was as good as I could do at the time, even it's bent

I bent a CVD and ripped the cross pin hole out of the bone. This one is kind of a bummer

The wheels received some serious impacts over the years....

[RC10th]

This is about all I'm saving from the truck plus the engine. I thought about buying and using new parts but I want to retain some of the soul of the original truck.

[RC10th]

Engine Overhaul


I didn't know what to expect when I tore it apart.

All blown apart and cleaned, surprisingly all the internals were in amazing shape and I couldn't believe the bearings were still silky smooth. I had a new head exactly the same which I've never liked much for some reason, but I think it might be fitting for this build. I do have other heads I could use but I'll see how this one goes.

All back together, the engine cleaned up nice and still shows a few battle scars.

Clutch and clutch bell installed. I may end up replacing the clutch bell as it is pretty torn up from eating gravel, it would still function fine though. Remember I said I've had to pry rocks out from the flywheel and chassis, the flywheel and surrounds are pretty beat up and scarred.

[Chewbacca]

Is that a Nitro Sport? Since you are replacing the chassis, you might want to upgrade to a Nitro Rustler? That has the nicer chassis IMHO.

Curious to see how this turns out!

[RC10th]

I always wanted to convert it to a Nitro Rustler, so it will be getting the full length chassis

[romulus22]

I was always so jealous of the abuse my friends Nitro Sport took compared to my GT. That thing always ran and never broke.

[RC10th]

I was always so jealous of the abuse my friends Nitro Sport took compared to my GT. That thing always ran and never broke.

The Nitro Sport was tough as nails!!! I think the plastic chassis added to its durability as the full piece aluminium chassis was more prone to bending.


Parts orders number one and two arrived..... Still waiting on more bits to come in from the USA, so hopefully they'll arrive next week. The gears were fairly worn and one of the diff screws holding it together was completely wrong. I also bought another rear bulkhead as there was a bolt snapped off in the original.

[mtbkym01]

Off to a great start, looking forward to seeing this one completed

[RC10th]

Thanks Kym, I hope it turns out as good as the idea in my head, lol

Another delivery today

[guggles]

Not sure if youve seen mine I built up, but its very much in the same theme as yours!
Although I got my used last year so I had the previous owner bash it for me. I have too much mechanical sympathy now to beat on stuff.

From being salvage:



To this:



And running up at the Drake race!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BwYKBtd-KU[/youtube]

Looking forward to seeing more of your build! I vote you keep the nitro sport chassis. It is a little bit more simple with the direct steering. I think the plastic chassis is actually helpful to generate grip on low bite surfaces. I need to take off the fancy upper deck on mine and test with the plastic one to see if it helps the handling.

[Dangeruss]

Another delivery today

Oh... there's a pair of shock towers in there... the black on black all I saw was the decal and was like, "That's an awfully big bag for a sticker".


Gurggle-mobile has a nice paint job...

[RC10th]

That's a big transformation

I think the Traxxas trucks are better suited to loose conditions. I'm pretty excited to get this one running

[guggles]

@RC10th Hey Thanks! Yeah the traxxas trucks can do well on the rough tracks and seem to handle better on the loose stuff.. The best part about them is they are very forgiving over jumps and usually jump consistently. Still with all that being said, it can get pretty dicey in the corners at times. Im sure with some more tuning I could get it to turn better. I mean people love to rag on the nitro sport and rustler, but with some work they can handle pretty good.