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Hi all, my name is Ron. Recently I bought my son a Traxxas Rustler (he's 6), and I decided that I needed to have some fun as well.

So my cousin has this box of old cars that he gives me. One of them just needs a battery and a cover. So I hook up some Traxxas connectors to it and race it around. My wife says I can't buy a new car, but I can buy parts. Hahahaha, sucker she is.....

I found out the other day it is a Yokomo YZ10. I don't know the year. I haven't been kind to it. Now that I know what it is, I have decided to make it bomb proof. Right now, it is sort of a "Frankenstein" machine.

I smoked the Novac and motor that was in it using a 9.6 8 cell battery. Before that, I cracked the front shock tower and sheared the shocks. I know, from reading this forum the last few hours, I'm really bad.

So this tub has Traxxas shock all the way around now. Traxxas XL-5 ESC, and a Venum 19D mod engine. I had new front and rear towers made from jetted aluminium (I'll post picks this week) and the same place is doing the front and rear arms for me.

I'm not looking to restore this tub to its original splendor, rather, make it an extremely functional 4x4, keeping it as original (in looks) as I can, while making it as bomb proof as I can.

Right now I am hunting axles and king pins. I bent one of the front ones some how, and the wobble knocked out a king pin.

So you see, that is why the name of the thread has blasphemy in it....

Sounds like a neat project, can't wait to see pics!

Thanks.

So I thought I might keep my progress in this thread. So far I have done the following:

1. Replaced front and rear shock tower with jetted aluminum towers. The are a little thicker than the stock towers were, and the shape and hole pattern is the same as the old parts.

2. Replaced all shocks with the Traxxas plastic shocks. I know this is probably not the right thing to do, but they are durable and inexpensive if they break. Also, down the road I will try to get shocks that look more like the original.

3. Venom 19d "Modified Motor" with the Traxxas 28 tooth pinion gear that came as an optional gear for my son's truck. Makes the YZ scoot. Good little motor/gear combination.

4. Traxxas XL-5 ESC. I know I say Traxxas a lot here, but it makes the car more interchangeable with my son's truck.

This week it is getting new control arms made from aluminum. Dropping the old ones off at the shop around the corner from my house. These guys to awesome custom work, are friendly and have been very patient with me so far. However, I am sure every time that I walk in there store or call, they hear money...

So you all know, the place I am using is http://www.neweramodels.com/ . They also go by BD Speed & Hobby Shop. They do fantastic custom work.

^^^ whoa, make sure you show the NewEra bill to the wife... then she'll quickly realise its waaay cheaper for you to buy a fleet of new kits than to keep fixing the old

Right? Actually, the place is right across the highway from me. They have been very "kind" to me with their pricing. And when I'm done, I don't plan on having to fix it up anymore......

Chris & Frank are great guys-- and their work is very nice.
Glad to hear there's another NH/MA runner on here!

civilguy wrote:Chris & Frank are great guys-- and their work is very nice.
Glad to hear there's another NH/MA runner on here!

They have both been VERY patient with me. Frank is going to do the control arms for me this week. The shock towers came out awesome. I'll post picks tonight....

Toasted Coastie wrote:

civilguy wrote:Chris & Frank are great guys-- and their work is very nice.
Glad to hear there's another NH/MA runner on here!

They have both been VERY patient with me. Frank is going to do the control arms for me this week. The shock towers came out awesome. I'll post picks tonight....

So um, I'm not doing the control arms. It was going to be $30 a piece. All set with spending THAT much.

I found a new set of axles, king pins and an unpainted cover, as well as 1 battery tie down. Anyone know where I can find another? I think I'm going to TRY to get it to at least LOOK the way it should, even if the parts are frankensteined....

By the way, Team Associated 1.65 turnbuckles (part ASC6262) are perfect for this car. I picked some of those up, as well as Traxxas O fittings and Team Associated cap fittings for the steering. Going to try to get all the parts to be black.

Also started pricing lipo saddle pack batteries to put in there....

I know you don't want to spend it on this project, but $30 for a one-off machined part is a good deal imho. It takes a lot of arms (even at $25-30 a pair) to start making back your drafting, programming and machining costs. I'm not knocking your decision-- there's no hop-ups on my runners-- just sayin'.
Post up some pictures!!

back tower


front


from the top


They are crappy pics. As I get it cleaned up, I'll put up more. I have stuff coming in this week, and will try and get some done this weekend. The post on the front is from a truck cap that was put on it.

I'm not exactly sure what shocks those are, but they look a little long. If possible, you may want to put spacers inside to limit the travel...or have some longer shock towers made. With those angles, you may wind up bending your universals....which are getting very hard to find.

You did a great job on those shock towers.

Regards,
highwayracer

highwayracer wrote:I'm not exactly sure what shocks those are, but they look a little long. If possible, you may want to put spacers inside to limit the travel...or have some longer shock towers made. With those angles, you may wind up bending your universals....which are getting very hard to find.

You did a great job on those shock towers.

Regards,
highwayracer

Good call. I have the springs set pretty tense, I'll reset them. A bit down the road I'll probably try to find the proper shocks. And yes, one of the differentials bent, I just thought it was because my son hit the buggy with his truck. I do have diffs on the way though...

it's not so much of how tense you set your springs but more of the actual length of the shock shaft. if you put some spacers inside the shock on the shaft, you can limit how far the shaft could slide out.

Differentials, king pins and cover comes in today. Can't wait to get out of work....

stripping down the chasse and trying to do this all the right way. Ordered new radio/rx/servo from tower (the 2.4 kit) so I can control it a bit better. I noticed the old Futaba in it was giving out after about 75 feet. Have other goodies coming in as well.

I have 3 "old" drift car rollers as well, going to play with those, or sell them to defer costs....