Vintage...brushless?

[J3110]

A friend of mine hooked me up with a couple of vintage RC cars the other day for free.
One is an original RC10 and the other appears to be a Kyosho Salute(Javelin/Optima successor), I believe, with the belt drive option.









Both are in working order aside from needing a full tear-down and rebuild to clean things up and smooth things out a bit. Shocks, of course, need rebuilding, but work fine.
The RC10 chassis is a little tweaked, but it shouldn't been too hard to straighten it out again. I seem to remember this being a common problem with them even though this is the first one I've had.

Just wondering where you guys think I should take it from here.
The guy at my LHS said I should keep em stock.
I'm sure they could benefit from a more modern speed controller and possibly a switch to FM or 2.4G radios, but then I would be more likely to break stuff(and?).

Still need to find a new shell for the Kyosho at some point(if I can).

One thing that comes to mind is just how far we have come in 20 short years.

Anyways, when I get the MMM's tested and verify they are good to go, I'll have a couple MM's just chillin, so I was thinking about making these guys brushless. Kinda like a couple of "sleeper" RC cars.

Good idea?
Bad idea?
Thanks,
Angelo

[BL_RV0]

I'm pretty sure you'll want some fairly "mild" BL setups in there, why not sell the MM's and get a pair of sidewinders? I saw a pair of them go NIB for $110 on ebay.

[J3110]

I may not even go BL with the kyosho since I'm having a hard time finding parts for it, but it could benefit from the better motor control of the MM.
The RC10, though, could have something mild in it, brushlessly speaking, of course. :)

[Mike_D]

Wow! Seeing that gold pan RC10 brings back some good memories. Makes me wish i still had mine.

[supralover72]

Just don't break the rc-10, it's so precious! A relic! Great finds dude! Enjoy! I say stay brushed for both, but that's just me.

[DRIFT_BUGGY]

That RC10 looks in good nic, don't wreak it!

[J3110]

Both appear to be very tricky to find parts for(the kyosho mainly), so I don't think either will actually go BL, but deffinitely getting MMs in em since I won't have to buy any new speed controllers that way. Figure I can use my stock traxxas radios(better than the AM radios they came with) and my stripped(soon to be repaired) traxxas steering servos. Should be able to use the MM internal BEC even. Wow, is that gonna be an RC-Monster first? LOL

[crazyjr]

I believe a early stealth tranny will fit, so you have a true slipper and better, more durable tranny. This is for the associated, I agree for the salute, leave it on the shelf

[J3110]

Originally Posted by crazyjr

I believe a early stealth tranny will fit, so you have a true slipper and better, more durable tranny. This is for the associated, I agree for the salute, leave it on the shelf

Sounds good to me.
The RC10 is by far, easier to find replacements for, but I'm going to see if my reedy 9-turn does the trick before I consider buying anything new for it and judging by the way it pushes my TC3 around, I believe it will be more than sufficient.

I'm planning on a full rebuild of the salute. Just printed out the manual and looking at getting some new bearings and screws.
Ordered a repro shell for an optima turbo(I don't really like the salute shell anyways).
Hopefully I can find a bumper somewhere as well.
Everything else seems to be in fine condition, but we'll see when I start taking it apart.

It's funny how something old like this can become valuable to some people. Like I'd have no problem launching a $700 brushless E-Maxx off a jump and do a backflip, but an older RC that cost $300 in the 80's, I wouldn't dream of it.

I guess if you figure for inflation, the guy asking $1,500 for a NIB Optima Turbo is being reasonable.

[kulangflow]

Originally Posted by Mike_D

Wow! Seeing that gold pan RC10 brings back some good memories. Makes me wish i still had mine.

It's too bad you didn't see the one I gave away in the Pay It Forward thread.

Man, that thing was gone instantly!

I sold off my gold pan RC10 a couple of months ago wich was in great condition and was a runner . It is being raced in vintage races now by the new owner.
Running brushless in it will not be a problem , just make sure you run a stealth tranny in it from an earlier edition which you can still get parts for .

Parts are also not hard to come by for the RC10 on ebay and believe it or not Tower still stocks a limited supply , or did the last time i checked when i had the car .

The Optima / Javelin keep stock , tidy it up and keep it on the shelf You can buy replica Optima bodies if you need to paint up a new one .

[J3110]

Yeah, I just need a couple parts for the optima to finish it off...well, a bumper anyways.
Bearings, repro shell, O rings and Lazer ZX king pins are on the way(hoping these king pins will fit as they were the closest looking thing I could find). That just leaves the bumper, but I can start rebuilding and cleaning it up in about a week. Thought about springing for a screw set, but decided to just go easy on the stockers and only get the kit if I end up stripping something.
I'd also need to fix the lame server saver spring as it's rather weak after being compressed for 20 years or glue it and put a servo saver in place of the servo horn.
I also thought about putting a chain back in it for the classic look and sound.
Only real issue is the stock speed controller won't go into reverse, so I think the ole spot welder's at the end of it's days.
The plan is still to put the MMs in these cars.
For the RC10, it will be necessary and for the optima, I don't have any choice.
Once I restore the optima, it'll prolly go on the shelf for a bit and then ebay, so I don't plan on painting the shell.
Kinda like this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Kyosho-O...d=p3286.c0.m14

I have owned both of those I bought the original rc10 in 1985 then the javalen on the same day it hit store shelves in 86. The roll cage was just to much to resist so I begged my mom so hard that at one point I was dragging her back into the hobby shop by her coat!! Anyway sorry about that...what was your question? O yea brushlees system...keep it mellow dude mm 4600 on 2s.