RC10 NEO Stealth Car

[JohnE]

Starting a new build of one of the cars I always wanted, the Stealth Car of the early 90's. This one is a bit different from the NX91 car or other reproductions I have seen on this site, it is based on the 6 gear version of the RC10 that won the 1985 worlds.

Michael Vollmer www.neovintage-rc.com who does some amazing work with vintage buggies is selling this as a kit which includes a chassis, suspension arms, front bulkhead and bumpers and it requires a donor car for the rest of the parts. I am going to build this car a bit different from what Michael planned, I am going to put in a stealth transmission and more modern wheels and probably put in a brushless motor. I guess that makes it more of a resto mod?

The picture above is of the contents of the kit along with the other parts I started to gather.

[JohnE]

The plastic parts in the kit are all 3D printed from Shapeways but are very high quality, like most 3D printed parts they are a very bright white which I don't really like. Michael had a really good suggestion of soaking the parts in hot coffee for 10 minutes which give them a nice darker shade of white which is pretty close to the orginal color of the production parts.

Below is a picture of some treated parts next to parts which came in the kit and an original rear hub for comparison.

[JohnE]

Started putting the front end together, the chassis is flat so the front bulkhead has the front kickup and also is used to mount the front shock tower. I put in some Lunsford titanium turnbuckles to give it some bling.

The front hub carriers, are pretty interesting. There is no turnbuckle holding in the steering arm in the hub carrier, it uses some Kyosho bushings which have threaded screws.

[JohnE]

Picture of the front shock tower, it's a really nice piece with no cuts or sharp edges. Like the stealth cars of the time the shocks mount behind the tower instead of in front of it.

[matt1ptkn]

This is a very cool project, indeed! I just read through the project on the site you shared and am very impressed. I look forward to your progress!

[JohnE]

This is a very cool project, indeed! I just read through the project on the site you shared and am very impressed. I look forward to your progress!

Thanks Matt, I am looking froward to building this one

[JohnE]

Quick plug for Michael who designed this kit, he is current taking orders for a second batch of these. If you are interested his contact info and the details of the car he built are on his website .
https://www.neovintage-rc.com/post/project-team-associated-rc10-stealth-car-1985

I would recommend this highly, I am very impressed wit the quality of the parts and how well everything fits together. Also you do need a donor car for this project.

[JohnE]

Drilled new holes in the chassis for the Stealth transmission, the kit was designed to work with the 6 gear transmission so if you want to do what I did you need to do some drilling. I used an old chassis as a template to where the holes need to go, I was still a bit nervous but am pleased with how everything came it.

You have to cut the crap out of the stock rear bulkhead for use in this kit and it's similar to what was done on the factory AE cars back then, the instructions show what cuts to make so it isn't too bad. I had an original one from the car I am using as a donor but I am pretty sure you can get one premade like this on Shapeways.

[JohnE]

The transmission I am using came from an Championship Edition car I bought as a donor, it was in pretty good shape so I just took it all apart, oiled the bearings and rebuilt the diff. The motor plate was gold which isn't the look I am going for so I sanded it down to bear metal with 220 paper, primed and painted it Semi gloss black

It came with a nice RPM modeled gear cover which was a pretty good score, I put on an old school Robinson Racing spur gear and an aftermarket foam gasket I found on ebay for some bling

[JohnE]

Moment of truth here, I mounted up the transmission and rear bulkhead. Lucky my holes were in the right place and everything lined up fine so I put on the rear bumper too. I had to bend that tab on the motor plate the bumper attaches to out a bit since the holes didn't line up but I am pretty sure it is the plates fault, my donor car had a chassis that was pretty warped so I think this was bent a bit when I started. I bent it out and now everything lines up perfect.

The kit comes with a really nice carbon transmission brace but it is made only to work with the 6 gear transmission so I bought a cool looking J Concept one. I looks good to me.

[JohnE]

Few things came in the mail today, I set of Lunsford old school turnbuckles and a 3D printed set of steering arms.

The kit comes with a fancy carbon brace that is use in place of the outer holes in the steering arms, you have to trim them buy cutting off the outer mounting holes and the raised portion of the left arm where the ball stud sits since this car has the steering arms raised up a bit. I had to order some special metric bearings for the steering plate so I can't go much further on the front end.

[JohnE]

I ended up mounting the front end assembly to the chassis and put on the front turnbuckles, in the rear I put the rear arms on. There are some cutouts in the chassis so the inside of the arms can clear when they are in full droop, the clearance is super close but they don't rub.

[JohnE]

I'm at a bit of standstill waiting form some bearings and a servo so I put on the rear shock tower and the batter holders. It's staring to look like something now.

The kit calls for using the stock wing tubes but I think I am going to go with a setup that mounts to the outside holes of the rear shock tower, I always thought that wing tube mounting setup was a bit wonky.

[JohnE]

The bearings I had been waiting for finally got here so I could finish the steering rack and the rear end.

The steering rack has a little carbon plate that connects the two arms and uses 2 metric bearings and hardware to mount it, I put new ball studs on and an HiTech Servo with a medium sized servo saver. I had to cut the edges of the servo saver a bit since it hit the top plate of the chassis. I used some 'vintage' lunsford turnbuckles and the stock rod ends since they look the part

[JohnE]

Finished the rear end, the hub carriers are stock and the driveshafts are the standard universal joints. I painted the driveshafts semi-gloss black since they had some rust on them. I put on a set of Lunsford turnbuckels and used a longer RPM ball cup on the inside.

That pretty much finishes the chassis work so I put on the battery trays and the top deck of the chassis, I used stainless steel button head screws to make it more flush looking.