Resurrecting a 25 year old RC10 GT

[high plains drifter]

I'm not yet ready to start on the two bodies that I have for this project but figured why not post up some from +/- 25 yrs ago. I was fortunate enough to find these old photographs in an old box of memorabilia and although I wish I still had some of these bodies, at least I've got some pics. Pretty poor quality but regardless, this thread needs more pics.

Very first RC body I ever did. I wasn't ready to do any graphics but figured a color transition was worth a shot. Black to metallic purple to metallic magenta...



Black to blue with white to flo yellow to green for the flames. Pretty simple but it came out well. I think this was my second body/ first attempt at graphics...



Maybe my forth or fifth body here. I was starting to dig doing graphics...



Kept trying new color combinations/ transitions/ graphics. I liked that there were really no limitations. White with metallic purple to metallic blue for the flames...



White to teal to black and magenta to black with some yellow to give it a little more 'pop'. The 90's really were a lawless time lol...



One of my all time favorites. White to silver and then added red/ blue stripes and white stars. I loved this one...



T-Maxx body...



And another T-Maxx body. Metallic blue to black and then flames were white to silver outlined in royal blue...



Group shot ( although with at least a half dozen missing)...

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Nice work on these bodies! I so wish I had the patience and skill for nice paint.

 

[JimrC]

Awesome paint jobs there hpd

 

[high plains drifter]

Been having a hell of a time lately, now that I've gotten into fitting all of the electronics. But on the positive side, I'm making changes that although challenging, are really improving overall aesthetics and performance... no shortcuts. I'm very pleased... just wasn't expecting so many little obstacles... and so time-consuming to resolve.

So when I was mocking up the MIP exhaust stinger, I found that it interfered with the rear bumper battery holder. Obvious solution would be to go with the original side exhaust but performance wise I prefer the stinger much more. It has more consistent back-pressure, sounds better, keeps the chassis/ components cleaner since it exits out the back, and just looks more slick. Repositioning the battery wasn't a viable solution either. In order to keep the battery secure, it needed to sit where I initially planned for it to be unless I was going to completely make a new bumper which I wasn't fond of doing for a variety of reasons.

But in order to keep the stinger exhaust, I had to ditch the first version of the cover-plate for the battery holder and fabricate something thinner. You can understand better from pics below. Another issue with the stinger location is not simply that it contacted the thicker cover but also that it hindered access to one of the screw locations for removing the cover and subsequently removing the battery. As you can see, there are four posts that keep the battery in place ( two long/ two short). All four posts also had to be shortened which as simple as it sounds, also presented it's own challenges.

But after a lot of detailed work, the V2 cover is the answer. It's much thinner and utilizes a "slot" on one end and a hole on the other end. It still utilizes two screws but the inaccessible screw now remains stationary ( permanent), utilizing the slot to lock in place and the other screw is the "release" screw that when removed allows the cover to simply slide out and off. Much easier to understand in pics. Version I was 4.23mm plastic. Version II is 2.13mm aluminum. Additionally, all posts were reduced in height by approx 4.5mm. FWIW I was forced to reduce the post heights for battery removal since the location of the stinger doesn't allow the battery to simply be lifted up and out. So the posts had to be shortened in order for the battery to be slightly lifted and then slid out the side.

You can see the difference between the old cover and the new cover here...

 

[high plains drifter]

Continuing on with the electronics...

Sometimes with a project, you have very little direction initially but then as you progress, you begin to develop and zero in on specifics that are meaningful. At least that's me. All I knew when I started this project was that I wanted to rebuild an old classic.. That was about it. But I soon realized that my goals were to not half-ass any of it, to make things look aesthetically streamlined, and to improve performance anywhere that I could. And also to try to balance the more modern touches with some old-school vibes.

When it came to servos I had a LOT of choices and that became a bit overwhelming until I took a step back. That was when I decided that instead of going with brand new servos, that I would instead take a look at some of my old ones. And what I found was that out of all the servos that I already have on hand, that there was not a damn thing wrong with the two servos that I last used in this rig... a Futaba S9405 and an Airtronics 94737. These aren't great servos compared to what's out there now but, well... they still work and they performed well back in the day.

And at least for now, those are what I'm putting in this one. The S9405 will be for throttle/ brake duties and the 94737 will be in charge of the steering. I may at some point change these out ( or be forced to change them out if one or both happen to fail). But with all the modern touches I've made to this rig, this is one place that I decided to preserve the appearance of the old days.

Along with these old servos I also decided to try to salvage two other old components that again accentuate the retro aesthetic but that are also useful. One is an old MIP temperature gauge and a battery level gauge... no clue as to the brand. The temp gauge was in bad shape so I pulled it all apart and thoroughly cleaned all the contact points, replaced the battery and re-soldered the probe that had somehow gotten sliced in half. It's now working again and seems to be reading accurately. The probe portion wraps around the bottom fins of the engine head and is powered independently via a 357/ 303 button cell. The battery gauge plugs into whatever receiver channel and utilizes a green/ yellow/ red illumination to display the battery life.

Along with the temp and batt gauges, I also had to fabricate a couple of brackets that would look nice and get them situated in plain view. Pics below show what I came up with in terms of the best mounting solution. So we now have the electronics cluster taking shape... throttle/ brake servo ( incl updated linkage), new and modified receiver box/ antenna mount, old temp gauge/ newly fabricated bracket, and old battery gauge/ newly fabricated bracket. Everything is a snug fit but I'm really happy with how it's all coming together.

 

[durok]

This is a really cool rebuild!

It made me remember some of what I had in my old RC10GT - a Paris ringed (ribbed for HER pleasure) exhaust and a clear-case Cirrus-branded servo.

Ah, the good ol' days!

 

[high plains drifter]

Thanks, durok! Ron Paris for sure... I remember! By today's "the internet has ruined me" standards... they sure do look, um... multi-purposed lmao.

I've actually got two of the old Cirrus CS-60 clear-case servos. Sadly the mounting tabs are broken on both of em but I thought they were just TOO cool back in the day lol.

 

[svt923]

I just saw that Associated is doing a re-release on the GT.

RC10GT Classic

A new stream of long discontinued GT parts should make things much easier.

I'm tempted to pick one up and join in on the nostalgic fun but it seems side exhaust engines with rotary carbs are quite rare these days.

 

[high plains drifter]

I just saw that Associated is doing a re-release on the GT.

RC10GT Classic

A new stream of long discontinued GT parts should make things much easier.

I'm tempted to pick one up and join in on the nostalgic fun but it seems side exhaust engines with rotary carbs are quite rare these days.

Thanks for posting this! I had just heard about this re-release from looking at amain... its on pre-order status. Not sure if I'll try to get one or not. Would be mainly for the nostalgia more than anything. I don't care for the original tub chassis as I've probably already said... difficult tool access and they're prone to bending around the servo-saver assembly. Factory Team plate chassis is also prone to this ( although less-so) which is why the RTR plate chassis is my favorite... a tad shorter and wider so it's a little more robust. Would be nice to see MIP step into this again. They made some great parts for the RC10 GT back in the day.

I'll update this thread soon but man... one step forward/ two steps back. The electronics have been rather frustrating since I've been constantly changing my mind on servos and trying to get everything as streamlined as humanly possible. And I'm to the stage of having to iron out a lot of fitment details so... ugh. I still refuse to cut corners but that mindset has resulted in a ton of head-scratching and re-working of details that keep changing for one reason or another. Lot's of tight spaces and not much real-estate to work with.

 

[diezel666]

Thanks for posting this! I had just heard about this re-release from looking at amain... its on pre-order status. Not sure if I'll try to get one or not. Would be mainly for the nostalgia more than anything. I don't care for the original tub chassis as I've probably already said... difficult tool access and they're prone to bending around the servo-saver assembly. Factory Team plate chassis is also prone to this ( although less-so) which is why the RTR plate chassis is my favorite... a tad shorter and wider so it's a little more robust. Would be nice to see MIP step into this again. They made some great parts for the RC10 GT back in the day.

Back in the day, we used to fix this by drilling/tapping a second hole about 3/8" behind the factory one in the side of the pan and tube.

 

[high plains drifter]

Back in the day, we used to fix this by drilling/tapping a second hole about 3/8" behind the factory one in the side of the pan and tube.

I've drilled access holes for hex-drivers on other rigs but I doubt I did much modifications on my original GT since it was my first go with a true RC vehicle and I didn't want to mess up anything lol. Years and years of toy-grade RC's made the jump into a full-fledged nitro stadium truck a very exciting experience!

 

[diezel666]

Yeah the RC1-GT Nitro was a game changer. I loved watching them. I just never had the cash to buy and build one!

This guy looks to have done what I was talking about - Drilling a second hole in the pan, and a hole in the suport rod and tapping it (why the front screws are missing I don't know, and the angle looks weird too):

 

[high plains drifter]

Yeah the RC1-GT Nitro was a game changer. I loved watching them. I just never had the cash to buy and build one!

This guy looks to have done what I was talking about - Drilling a second hole in the pan, and a hole in the suport rod and tapping it (why the front screws are missing I don't know, and the angle looks weird too):

The holes in the tub alongside the brace tubes? Yeah looks like an attempt was made to stiffen that front end resulting in more holes in the tubes which really just weakens them more. Yeah the angle of the tubes means that nose-plate and maybe a bit of the tub is tweaked. EDIT- Guy might've had to extract at least that pass side screw if it got bent in a hard impact. If it was an aluminum screw it might've completely sheared it in two.

EDIT2- @diezel666 Looks like the holes in the tub alongside the nose brace-tube are from the factory. I thought the guy had drilled them himself and that that's what you were referencing so not sure if I misunderstood what you were referring to.

IMO.. The main design flaw on all versions of this chassis lies with the nose brace-tubes. Associated should've designed a pair of one piece braces that extended to the chassis ( same mounting point or even further down the chassis by an 1/8" or so... designed to still clear a standard size steering servo)... and that passed through the front shock tower and tied into the bulkhead similarly. One piece chassis would have benefited from this as well. Bulkhead and tower would have to have been redesigned too so was probably never cost effective but still.

Every used nose tube that I've seen has been bent. I bent several myself as well as nose plates but I'm lucky to still have a couple NIP tubes and a pair of used straight ones. But those tubes just don't do enough between the nose and the chassis. I've got four RC10GT chassis' atm... two straight and two with a very slight tweak... probably not enough to effect steering or handling too noticeably but kind of a shame that I'll have to consider how hard these chassis' are to replace and subsequently try to baby this thing... hard to do when you hear that carb wanting to be opened up lol.

 

[hnoroian]

Drooling over the process you have made. Keep the stinger, we used a longer tubing from the manifold to bend the pipe just a bit more. Also helped the batteries on the longer runs from the melting.

 

[high plains drifter]

Drooling over the process you have made. Keep the stinger, we used a longer tubing from the manifold to bend the pipe just a bit more. Also helped the batteries on the longer runs from the melting.

Thank you. I love the stinger and I like your idea although hopefully I've got this one fitted satisfactorily. You bring up a good point on the battery. It's so close to the stinger as you can see in a couple pics. I hope it'll be okay. I've used hump packs before but they didn't sit as close because I had em mounted differently. I hope I don't wind up having to design a different kind of mount/ bumper for this rx pack lol.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

The re-re kit is cool except that, once again, AE completely missed the mark. The shocks and chassis are wrong. Their re-releases are half-assed at best. That isn't even mentioning the low quality.

 

[Shinook]

The re-re kit is cool except that, once again, AE completely missed the mark. The shocks and chassis are wrong. Their re-releases are half-assed at best. That isn't even mentioning the low quality.

It's a hard sell when you can buy one of the better old models for half the cost or less w/ engine and do some refurb work.

The bigger issue for me is the engine. AFAIK no one but Traxxas makes an engine that fits without modification. Rumor is AE is going to release one, but it seems like it was a silly decision to release this kit without much in terms of engine options. The website says it fits "modern engines" but fails to specify what that is and the instruction manual has no info on it either.

I emailed them to ask, as did a friend of mine, but neither of us got a reply. I'd hope they didn't want them to just be a shelf queen, esp with all that talk of reviving 1/10 nitro truck classes (which IMO is optimistic), but their actions seem to speak otherwise.

 

[high plains drifter]

At least in my experience the Thunder Tiger/ AE .15 was just about the best bang for the buck engine available for the RC10GT. Send in $79 plus your old one if you didn't want to rebuild it and AE would send you a brand new one. Was a good deal and a great engine... took loads of abuse... a little rich/ a little lean and it would still rip. The reason that I went with the Traxxas Pro .15 this time was ( as noted above) because it was the only engine I could find these days that was a direct drop-in. And as much as it is a direct fit, the crankshaft is about 1- 1.5 mm too short for the RC10GT. In the Traxxas manual it states to use two 5x8mm teflon washers. But by the time you have everything installed... spacer, collet, flywheel, clutch assembly/ bearings... there's no room for the e-clip. So I had to scrap using them... never used teflon-washers on a crank before so no idea why Traxxas thought it was even necessary.