Gold Pan RC10 Restoration Project

[smahoney1]

New forum member. I was hoping to get some advice on restoring an old gold pan RC10 back to running condition. The car is in good condition with Novak electronics and looks to be a pole position brushed motor. Tires are dry rotted from sitting over the years and I do not have a radio. Should I restore and run the old electronics or upgrade to a brushless system? The car is stamped with a letter A on the bottom. Can anyone recommend a budget build path including radio? Thanks in advance for the help. I'm a novice learning as I go.

Below is a dropbox link to pictures of the car
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l9e26gvro6ts0h3/AABPr8r9VbszKwglz6NqbBxya?dl=0

[RC10th]

Cool looking buggy, I like it a lot.

If it were mine I'd clean it all up, replace the dyed parts with good used white parts and put it on the shelf.

[jwscab]

yep, they are definitely worth getting up and running, even if to drive around in your driveway.

you can get re-release tires and wheels all over ebay, known as 'jelly bean'. also available from many online hobby shops.

do yourself a favor and just cruise around this forum, there was just recently a thread about radios, and lots of guys recommend the latest 3 channel futaba that is not that expensive. Or you could find the very inexpensive overseas radios from hobbyking or flysky or similar that usually work well enough and are very cheap.

overall your best bet is to get everything cleaned up, checked out, and give it a go. repair or replace from there.

your best bang for the buck will be to get a radio, use all your working electronics, and invest in a lipo battery and charger. The lipo technology is way way better than nimh, just be sure to read up on the cautions. lipo safe bag and safe charging area and lipo alarm. the existing brushed setup will run great on it, just be sure to use the lipo alarm or keep track of your running time to avoid overheating the speed control, motor, and avoid discharging the lipo too far.

[jwscab]

looked at the pictures and you have a very nice CE model there.

the tires will be 2.0" and will be not so easy to find as almost no-one produces that size anymore. As said above, it's a really nice example, so I still recommend the re-release wheels and tires to cruise around (not racing) and find some nice NOS 2.0 tires to put on the original wheels that you can put on when you want to put it on the shelf.

the nicd battery pack you have is very cool vintage, so its likely no good to use, but very cool as a display piece as long as the cells aren't leaking.

[smahoney1]

Thanks for the replies. Can you recommend a lipo battery and charger that will work with the existing electronics? I was previously looking at this one from hobbyking https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-nano-tech-2200mah-3s-45-90c-lipo-pack.html
I'll search around for the re-release wheels and tires.

[jwscab]

this battery should be more than enough to give you good performance. the dimensions look like they should fit into the battery cups.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-4000mah-2s-30c-hardcase-pack-roar-approved-de-warehouse.html?___store=en_us

[smahoney1]

Thanks again. Can you recommend a charger to go along with the Lipo battery?

[lmw94002]

You can do a very conservative, fun, "modernized" upgraded buggy quite easily...

Parts can be easily sourced via the forum here, FB groups dedicated to the RC10, only stores, ebay, and even AE's website.

Sounds like you'll be needing...
- Budget friendly radio
- Budget friendly brushless combo ... keep it really easy here... even a 21.5 motor. the brushless motors can put additional strain on a drivetrain.
- Basic LiPo battery and charger
- Tire conversion ... AE made a conversion for front/rear to fit newer wheels/tires to the older buggies. Might be worth checking that out.

I recently just got back into RC... I have a simple FlySky GT3C radio that I use in my Worlds ReRe, my SC10 and my new B6D when I race. Venom has a great selection of LiPos (different capacities and sizes) and I believe they do sell a LiPo & Charger combo. They're a pretty decent brand and you can find deals. As for motor/esc... Mabye the Hobbywing Xerun series. I use the 17.5 combo in my RC10 Worlds ReRe and B6D for racing... but I think they make a 21.5 combo too.

You could also still use the radio with a brushed ESC/motor and NiMH combo. NiMH capacties are much better than NiCds were and you can get those batteries pretty cheap. And you can run any variety of brushed motor. I still run my older gear (FM radio, Novak ESC, w/ Trinity brushed motors) in my original Worlds and older cars for fun around the yard.

[jwscab]

I have an older version of this guy:
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-accucel-6-80w-10a-balancer-charger-lihv-capable.html?___store=en_us

it uses a DC input of 12-13V. There are others out there that have an AC input or a AC brick to adapt to the 12Vdc out.

you will have to do some digging to find what will suit you.

[clm]

another thumbs up on the Turnigy, been using mine for a couple of years so far with no real issues.. for the 12 volt I hacked up a free 12 volt atx psu. No issues with the Turnigy, the PSU on the other hand the fan is dying

[smahoney1]

Thanks again for the replies. I've decided that I am going to upgrade to a brushless system in lieu of sticking with the existing electronics. Any recommendations on a brushless motor/esc combo for around $100. I assume the car would run better and faster if I go brushless.
I've also been looking at the Futaba 3PKRA radio system or Team Associated XP2G.

[lmw94002]

The Hobbywing Xerun combos are right around $100(online) - 130(LHS) and you can get a few different motors. The 17.5 is probably a good combo. With a decent LiPo, I'm amazed at the run times I can get in my cars compared to the old NiCD/Brushed days. Nice and quick without being uncontrollably fast.

[smahoney1]

What's the difference between the Xerun 17.5T and 21.5T options? I am looking for something reliable and fast.

[lmw94002]

the # is the number of turns... just like in brushed motors, the lower the number typically means the faster the motor (given the same gearing).

17.5 is the typical stock racing motor. I believe they also make a 13.5 combo as well.

[smahoney1]

Ok makes sense. I spoke to Team Associated prior to posting here and they recommended a Reedy 550-SL 3500kv motor and Reedy SC600 BL ESC combo.