A little rant, if you will.

[biggman100]

Love the g body. My buddy used to have an 87 ss. 427, turbo 400, grand national rear with the 4.11, and acura interior. I always wanted one.

That car is actually a combination of several cars, well, at least the body panels are. It started as a 1983 Monte Carlo LS, but, my brother has a knack for sourcing complete G-body cars for body panels, so, it has Monte Carlo doors and quarters, Buick fenders, and, dont ask me why, but a cut down 84 Caprice hood. The nose is a race spec fiberglass reproduction, which is what most of the guys we run with that use G-body cars do. Noone likes to run a stock, original SS nose. We typically buy 2 or 3 G-body cars every spring (most of them are junk, thanks to N.Y. winters, so they arent worth putting on the road), strip them, and use the body panels for our car, and sell the rest. The G-body is actually very popular around here, so, during the summer it isnt uncommon to see an impromptu car show that has 30 or more of them in attendance.

I personally have probably $1000 or more worth of cheap Chinese RC's. From WLToys, Feiyue, WPL, HG, and even some name brands I can't ever remember how to spell. Every one of them work, and have for years, except the WPL stuff that is only down because I mod them to the point they aren't any brand name anymore

I just realized what you said about the Chinese brands after going back through this. I was looking at a 1/10TH buggy from WLToys, but could never seem to find parts for it, so i picked up a DHK Hobby Wolf 2 instead. One of my neighbors had a couple WLToys smaller scale stuff, and they kept breaking on him. As for total cost for my fleet of HSP cars, i would be afraid to total up what i have spent on them. I currently have 4 road cars, 3 rally cars, and am building a 4TH, and two rarely used drift cars. I like to build one a certain way, and, instead of tearing it apart and building it another way, i just buy a new chassis kit, typically from eBay or Aliexpress. I also use that same basic chassis to build MT's and buggies for my nephews and nieces, since I'm never sure how long they will stick with it. Most of them always seem to gravitate to electronics at some point, and the car then either gets sold, or i end up back with it.

 

[WickedFog]

The first time i saw him race live was at Terre Haute, years ago. When they would come to Canandaigua N.Y. (Land Of Legends speedway), i got to talk to him a few times. He was a trip at times. You said, when they came through there. They dont run there anymore?

I imagine they still do. I am not in touch with things outside my little realm here. I don't venture more than about 50 yards from my home anymore. Car rides are only taken at utmost necessity. And I haven't watched regular TV in about 6 years. The last time I went to the Action Track was about 12 years ago I think to watch a demolition derby.

They actually built a wicked RC race park down that way about 3-1/2 years ago, and I can't even make it that far to see it. I always thought God was punishing me. Here, have a couple cool RC tracks 5 miles from you... finally! Oh, and here are some slowly crippling conditions to go along with it. He's a funny guy

 

[Chubaka]

That car is actually a combination of several cars, well, at least the body panels are. It started as a 1983 Monte Carlo LS, but, my brother has a knack for sourcing complete G-body cars for body panels, so, it has Monte Carlo doors and quarters, Buick fenders, and, dont ask me why, but a cut down 84 Caprice hood. The nose is a race spec fiberglass reproduction, which is what most of the guys we run with that use G-body cars do. Noone likes to run a stock, original SS nose. We typically buy 2 or 3 G-body cars every spring (most of them are junk, thanks to N.Y. winters, so they arent worth putting on the road), strip them, and use the body panels for our car, and sell the rest. The G-body is actually very popular around here, so, during the summer it isnt uncommon to see an impromptu car show that has 30 or more of them in attendance.

I noticed the nose, and that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling knowing some people dont destroy hard to get poop.

The same buddy with the 87, also had an 85 from NJ. It wasn't worth it due to rust. Ended up with a 71 burlinetta v6 camaro. Swapped in a 454, and used parts to a hood to fix the rusted passenger floor pan.

 

[Greywolf74]

Now i see where the issue lies with this. Aftermarket means buying something from someone other than the manufacturer. If you get it from the company that made the vehicle, it is just a stock replacement part, not aftermarket.

Aftermarket generally refers to any non stock part regardless of manufacturer, or at least thats the way I've always used that term. For example Traxxas HD arms. They dont come stock on the kit, theyre still made by Traxxas, I call this an aftermarket part. Some people just call em hop ups. same difference.

As for the Traxxas comments, find me one person who doesn't feel it is necessary to buy RPM (or other non Traxxas) parts, because the stock Traxxas parts arent adequate for the job. For my vehicles, when i do break something, i simply buy stock replacement parts. I'm not saying i have never broke anything, but, typically my breakages come from doing something with a vehicle it wasn't designed for, like head on into a pile of snow trying to jump said pile (thats how i blew the front bulkhead on both my Losi 22S and my Arrma Fury).

95% of all breakages are cuz were doing something with our kits they werent designed to do. Thats why most of us replace the weak parts that wont hold up to our own levels of abuse with aftermarket parts that will hold up. This is why I dont like buying kits without a lot of aftermarket hop ups available for it because I abuse the hell outta my kits. Most people do.

Show me one person that doesn't think every kit from every manufacturer doesn't need RPM or some other non stock parts and Ill show you a person who doesn't bash their kits. If all you're doing is driving them around on the ground then yeah stock parts will probably hold up fine for awhile, even on the Traxxas kits. Most of us like to put our kits 10+ feet in the air.

 

[biggman100]

Show me one person that doesn't think every kit from every manufacturer doesn't need RPM or some other non stock parts and Ill show you a person who doesn't bash their kits. If all you're doing is driving them around on the ground then yeah stock parts will probably hold up fine for awhile, even on the Traxxas kits. Most of us like to put our kits 10+ feet in the air.

Well, I'm that one person then. I run my cars at a concrete skate park (my videos are on youtube), and i have never once bought a part from anyone but the manufacturer. I have vehicles from Arrma, Losi, Tamiya, DHK Hobby, ECX, IMEX, and Redcat, among others, and not once have i bought a part from RPM or any other aftermarket company, and not only do i run my stuff at skate parks, i run them in parking lots (or anywhere else) that snow has been plowed into piles, and 10 feet in the air is mild for me. Last winter i broke the front bulkhead on both my Losi 22S and my Arrma Fury trying to jump piles of snow and ice, and i just replaced them with stock parts.

 

[Greywolf74]

Well, I'm that one person then. I run my cars at a concrete skate park (my videos are on youtube), and i have never once bought a part from anyone but the manufacturer. I have vehicles from Arrma, Losi, Tamiya, DHK Hobby, ECX, IMEX, and Redcat, among others, and not once have i bought a part from RPM or any other aftermarket company, and not only do i run my stuff at skate parks, i run them in parking lots (or anywhere else) that snow has been plowed into piles, and 10 feet in the air is mild for me. Last winter i broke the front bulkhead on both my Losi 22S and my Arrma Fury trying to jump piles of snow and ice, and i just replaced them with stock parts.

Ok, so you're the exception to the rule. You apparently bash your kits and break them just like everyone else. Just because you chose to replace your broken parts with stock parts instead of trying to make your kit stronger by replacing broken parts with hop ups doesn't mean that it isnt a good idea to replace weak points with after market. My point is the vast majority of the people in the hobby see the benefit is replacing weak parts with stronger ones.

 

[biggman100]

Ok, so you're the exception to the rule. You apparently bash your kits and break them just like everyone else. Just because you chose to replace your broken parts with stock parts instead of trying to make your kit stronger by replacing broken parts with hop ups doesn't mean that it isnt a good idea to replace weak points with after market. My point is the vast majority of the people in the hobby see the benefit is replacing weak parts with stronger ones.

I dont see the need to spend extra on aftermarket stuff simply because i dont break my stuff that often. In the last 6 months, i have broken the bulkhead on the Fury and the 22S once, blew a front bearing in a DHK hunter, the diff in my RE Pro2, the rear diff in the Granite (i still think that is more from a design flaw in the V1 than anything else, since I'm not the only one who had issues with that), and destroyed the chassis on a Redcat Blackout (one of the few vehicles of theirs that i think is a stupid design), and lost the front dogbones from one of my drift cars twice, so i ended up putting HSP CVD's in it.

EDIT: Of all the vehicles i have or have had in the last 2 years, i think my DHK Hunter is nearly indestructible. I run it on 3S, in water, snow, ice, on concrete and gravel, launch it like its a rocket, and havent broken a single part yet. The only issue i have had with it was a front inner hub bearing that blew apart. On the flip side though, my DHK Raz-r more than made up for it. In 6 runs, i broke the chassis, twice, blew a front diff twice, broke the center diff housing 4 times (ok, so i didnt know at the time the chassis was cracked, and causing it to flex, and the way the Raz-R is built, the center diff doesn't have much bracing on it), blew both front lower control arms, and utterly destroyed the body. In hindsight, maybe i shouldnt have ran it so hard at the skate park lol.

 

[Greywolf74]

I dont see the need to spend extra on aftermarket stuff simply because i dont break my stuff that often. In the last 6 months, i have broken the bulkhead on the Fury and the 22S once, blew a front bearing in a DHK hunter, the diff in my RE Pro2, the rear diff in the Granite (i still think that is more from a design flaw in the V1 than anything else, since I'm not the only one who had issues with that), and destroyed the chassis on a Redcat Blackout (one of the few vehicles of theirs that i think is a stupid design), and lost the front dogbones from one of my drift cars twice, so i ended up putting HSP CVD's in it.

EDIT: Of all the vehicles i have or have had in the last 2 years, i think my DHK Hunter is nearly indestructible. I run it on 3S, in water, snow, ice, on concrete and gravel, launch it like its a rocket, and havent broken a single part yet. The only issue i have had with it was a front inner hub bearing that blew apart. On the flip side though, my DHK Raz-r more than made up for it. In 6 runs, i broke the chassis, twice, blew a front diff twice, broke the center diff housing 4 times (ok, so i didnt know at the time the chassis was cracked, and causing it to flex, and the way the Raz-R is built, the center diff doesn't have much bracing on it), blew both front lower control arms, and utterly destroyed the body. In hindsight, maybe i shouldnt have ran it so hard at the skate park lol.

Bro, you're contradicting yourself. You say that you hardly ever break parts and then you say "In 6 runs, i broke the chassis, twice, blew a front diff twice, broke the center diff housing 4 times (ok, so i didnt know at the time the chassis was cracked, and causing it to flex, and the way the Raz-R is built, the center diff doesn't have much bracing on it), blew both front lower control arms, and utterly destroyed the body."

You dont see a need to make that kit stronger with after market parts?

Have you bashed the Hunter at the same skate park?

 

[biggman100]

Bro, you're contradicting yourself. You say that you hardly ever break parts and then you say "In 6 runs, i broke the chassis, twice, blew a front diff twice, broke the center diff housing 4 times (ok, so i didnt know at the time the chassis was cracked, and causing it to flex, and the way the Raz-R is built, the center diff doesn't have much bracing on it), blew both front lower control arms, and utterly destroyed the body."

You dont see a need to make that kit stronger with after market parts?

Have you bashed the Hunter at the same skate park?

I run all my vehicles at that skate park at least once, but, no, I still don't see the need for aftermarket stuff, because, if it can't handle the skate park, I part it out and get something else. There should be video of the Hunter at the skate park on my YouTube.

 

[WickedFog]

Aftermarket generally refers to any non stock part regardless of manufacturer, or at least thats the way I've always used that term. For example Traxxas HD arms. They dont come stock on the kit, theyre still made by Traxxas, I call this an aftermarket part. Some people just call em hop ups. same difference.

Aftermarket has always meant non-manufacturer made parts. Always. That goes for RC, Automotive, Machinery upgrades, etc. Option parts has always been manufacturer made non-standard parts. I don't know why you youngsters always gotta change things

 

[biggman100]

You dont see a need to make that kit stronger with after market parts?

Something i didnt even think about though. I'm not sure anyone even makes aftermarket parts for the DHK stuff, at least, not that i have ever found. This is the DHK Raz-R:

If you look at the center diff, the two metal braces are attached to it by these brackets that screw onto the diff housing:

Those brackets tend to snap anytime the chassis flexes hard enough, and, if the chassis is already cracked, they will snap even easier, and, as far as i know, noone makes anything more durable for it, so, the only option is to replace them when they break, make a brace that will stiffen it up that goes over the center diff and connects to the two metal pieces, or, just do what i did, which was to keep any parts i could use on my Hunter, and toss the broken parts, and sell the rest on eBay. I even got on an Australian forum, since that is where DHK originated, to see if i could find any better ideas there, and got nowhere with it.

 

[WickedFog]

Something i didnt even think about though. I'm not sure anyone even makes aftermarket parts for the DHK stuff, at least, not that i have ever found. This is the DHK Raz-R:

View attachment 135505
If you look at the center diff, the two metal braces are attached to it by these brackets that screw onto the diff housing:

View attachment 135506
Those brackets tend to snap anytime the chassis flexes hard enough, and, if the chassis is already cracked, they will snap even easier, and, as far as i know, noone makes anything more durable for it, so, the only option is to replace them when they break, make a brace that will stiffen it up that goes over the center diff and connects to the two metal pieces, or, just do what i did, which was to keep any parts i could use on my Hunter, and toss the broken parts, and sell the rest on eBay. I even got on an Australian forum, since that is where DHK originated, to see if i could find any better ideas there, and got nowhere with it.

Man, I would be fabricating a brace to span this gap, and the farther from center you stretch extra mounting points for it the better.

 

[biggman100]

Man, I would be fabricating a brace to span this gap, and the farther from center you stretch extra mounting points for it the better.

A couple guys i talked to did that, but, I'm actually not one to do much of that for RC stuff. I do it enough for the race cars, and our project cars. My RC cars are more of a, just put a battery in it and go type thing. I will do regular maintenance when i can, but thats about all i do.

 

[WickedFog]

A couple guys i talked to did that, but, I'm actually not one to do much of that for RC stuff. I do it enough for the race cars, and our project cars. My RC cars are more of a, just put a battery in it and go type thing. I will do regular maintenance when i can, but thats about all i do.

I kinda envy you that you can flip that switch and keep the mod bug restricted to one hobby. I have a hard time not tearing anything apart and making it my own. This used to be a WPL C14. Now it has a 3d printed chassis, roll cage, spare tire mount, electronics tray, wheels, and rear servo mount in case I wanna do 4-wheel steering later on. It has been about a 2 year long project and is currently back in the storage box waiting on custom parts from China.

 

[biggman100]

I kinda envy you that you can flip that switch and keep the mod bug restricted to one hobby. I have a hard time not tearing anything apart and making it my own. This used to be a WPL C14. Now it has a 3d printed chassis, roll cage, spare tire mount, electronics tray, wheels, and rear servo mount in case I wanna do 4-wheel steering later on. It has been about a 2 year long project and is currently back in the storage box waiting on custom parts from China.
View attachment 135509
View attachment 135508

My gf said nice truck (I'm not into rock crawlers but she is). As for not wanting to do that kind of stuff to my RC's, its more because of how much time the real cars take. During race season, we spend two days a week getting the cars ready for the weekend, and, even in the off season, we completely tear the cars down and go through them, and, since i am beyond meticulous about it, can take quite awhile. The mod tends to take the most amount of time, but that is because i clean the entire fuel and oil systems thoroughly, and double and triple check every inch of the chassis for bends or breaks. By December, both cars will look like what my nephew calls a lego explosion. The only part i dont tear apart is the transmission. Thats all my brothers job, and he can keep it.

 

[STONER RC]

Actually, not all RC's will do this, as most have a delay between forward and reverse, and, on a lot of them, you actually have to slide the throttle towards reverse twice before it will go into reverse, since, typically, if you are going forward and then try to go into reverse, the first time you go towards reverse on the radio, it just applies the brakes.

Yes there is a delay between foward and reverse.. but you can remove that delay with the programming orlf the electronics.. people due buy RPM parts for all models. Not just traxxas. They make parts for alot of RCs.. I buy them simply because I like the color blue. And they make blue A arms for the Tmaxx...has nothing to do with buying better plastics. I still run stock arms on my Tmaxx 2.5.. I also have stock bulkheads on both my Tmaxx. it all comes down to what your doing with the RC and your driving.. RPM parts break all the time.. There no plastic out that is bulletproof in the hobby. And I actually went with the traxxas A arms for my X because they finally made different colored parts. About time they did..everyone has their own thoughts about every RC out there made... the only problem I have with Traxxas is their electronics SUCK... they need to spend more time developing better electronics...wish we could get together and bash some time so you could see that traxxas isn't as bad as you seem to think bud.. would be a good time... I love driven in snow.. its a fun time for sure... here's a pic of the 2.5 still with stock arms..which I'm doing a breakdown and cleaning on it...but if you didn't believe me...and still run the 2.5 with no problems..I also don't run that vrap top fuel that traxxas puts out.. way to much oil content.. its over 14%oil no good need to be running 9% - 12%. I run 30% with 10% oil. Got more power and way easier to tune the engine also.... happy bashing bud.

 

[Greywolf74]

I run all my vehicles at that skate park at least once, but, no, I still don't see the need for aftermarket stuff, because, if it can't handle the skate park, I part it out and get something else. There should be video of the Hunter at the skate park on my YouTube.

There is not a single stock kit on this planet that you can bash at a skate park that isnt going to break something at least every second or third trip. I get that youd rather keep replacing broken parts with stock one but you're in the minority here. Most people prefer to rebuild their rigs stronger when they break so they dont break as often.

Aftermarket has always meant non-manufacturer made parts. Always. That goes for RC, Automotive, Machinery upgrades, etc. Option parts has always been manufacturer made non-standard parts. I don't know why you youngsters always gotta change things

View attachment 135503

I mean I know thats technically true which is why I said "or at least thats the way I've always used that term. For example Traxxas HD arms. They dont come stock on the kit, theyre still made by Traxxas, I call this an aftermarket part. Some people just call em hop ups. same difference." To me a hop up is a hop. Does it really matter what manufacturer makes it?

 

[WickedFog]

There is not a single stock kit on this planet that you can bash at a skate park that isnt going to break something at least every second or third trip. I get that youd rather keep replacing broken parts with stock one but you're in the minority here. Most people prefer to rebuild their rigs stronger when they break so they dont break as often.


I mean I know thats technically true which is why I said "or at least thats the way I've always used that term. For example Traxxas HD arms. They dont come stock on the kit, theyre still made by Traxxas, I call this an aftermarket part. Some people just call em hop ups. same difference." To me a hop up is a hop. Does it really matter what manufacturer makes it?

No, it doesn't matter what you call it. But in the case of this discussion using the wrong terminology seems to have confused a couple people? I guess it is a gearhead thing. But best not to confuse people.

Aftermarket means "not made by OEM" more than it does a hop up part. Going to the parts store and buying an alternator made by AC Delco for your car that puts out less amperage than OEM is still an aftermarket part. In all the years I have been working on my own cars, and in the circles I ran in, that is what aftermarket meant, whether it was an upgrade or just a replacement.

Option parts has been the name for OEM hop-ups ever since RC began back in the 80's. Kyosho's own line of hopups was called Option House. Tamiya has option parts, and always has. And even in the automotive industry, option is used for OEM parts that are variations of the standard installed parts.

 

[Greywolf74]

I know man...again, thats why I followed up with the explanation of why I call them that so people would know thats just something I do cuz to me theres only stock parts and hop ups. Who makes the hop ups doesn't matter unless you start talking about the quality of the hop ups. Plus when you're trying to tell someone the importance of a rig having good aftermarket support are you really only talking about parts made by other manufacturers or are you also including optional parts made by the manufacturer? IDK about you but when I say it I'm referring to anything thats better than stock cuz who wants to take the time to say "Better check and see if that kit has good aftermarket support and/or option parts." Thats what I mean but I just shorten it to "Better check and see if that kit has good aftermarket support."

 

[WickedFog]

I know man...again, thats why I followed up with the explanation of why I call them that so people would know thats just something I do cuz to me theres only stock parts and hop ups. Who makes the hop ups doesn't matter unless you start talking about the quality of the hop ups. Plus when you're trying to tell someone the importance of a rig having good aftermarket support are you really only talking about parts made by other manufacturers or are you also including optional parts made by the manufacturer? IDK about you but when I say it I'm referring to anything thats better than stock cuz who wants to take the time to say "Better check and see if that kit has good aftermarket support and/or option parts." Thats what I mean but I just shorten it to "Better check and see if that kit has good aftermarket support."

That makes sense, but I generally am referring to actual aftermarket support when I make that statement. An RC may have a hundred available option parts, simply because the engineers were bored, and the RC can still be a pile of crap. But if there is a ton of aftermarket stuff for it, it shows a lot of people like it, and it's probably worth a go. That's just how I look at it all.