Attempting to restore damaged buggy

[neilly]

Back in 2013, when I was 14, I bought myself an Acme Condor Pro nitro buggy to play with. I got a lot of fun out of it before taking it to a beach in Norfolk, losing control of it due to dead batteries in the remote, and driving it straight into the sea . This caused it to completely break, and it stopped starting altogether. Stupidly (I blame my age lol), I never attempted to fix it at the time, so ever since then it has been sitting in the shed, I got it out once to attempt a fix and promptly put it back due to a lack of knowledge.
Now I'd like to give restoring it a go, to see if I can breathe new life into it, but unfortunately while I am studying electronic engineering at university, my knowledge of cars, rc, engines etc is basically non-existent. My plan at the moment is to dismantle the car bit by bit, clean and de-rust it all and try to identify and fix the problem(s) to see if I can get her running.
If anybody has any advice, or references to things that may be helpful to a novice such as beginners guides, I would love to hear! I've attached a few photos of the damage. Most of the car seems to be in an OK condition, but the battery compartment is pretty f***ed as the batteries have leaked at some point, and there's a lot of sand and rust, particularly around the engine.
Thanks in advance

Edit: After doing a bit more inspecting, I've noticed that the car seems to be rusted into one position. What I mean by this is that I seem to remember that the chassis would spring up and down when pushed down, but now it just stays in one position close to the ground. The cogs you can see in the photo with the air filter are also completely locked in place, and after watching a video it seems these should move freely? The pull cord is also completely stuck.

 

[olds97_lss]

Odds are the engine is beyond salvageable as well as the electronics. Considering the brand, you may find it impossible to find parts for it. So fixing it may be pointless.

But you will likely be able to find bearings that will fit at sites like fasteddybearings.com or avidrc.com. It looks like it's 1/10th scale, so almost any .12-.18ci rotary carb/side exhaust small block will fit it. Servos are relatively generic and these days, you can get decent ones pretty cheap, check out rcjuice.com for JX servos. I use one of these in my revo for steering and it's pretty good for $20, JX 5821lv. You can get a flysky radio/receiver pretty cheap. You should also replace the switch as it's likely garbage now.

 

[cbaker65]

Back in 2013, when I was 14, I bought myself an Acme Condor Pro nitro buggy to play with. I got a lot of fun out of it before taking it to a beach in Norfolk, losing control of it due to dead batteries in the remote, and driving it straight into the sea . This caused it to completely break, and it stopped starting altogether. Stupidly (I blame my age lol), I never attempted to fix it at the time, so ever since then it has been sitting in the shed, I got it out once to attempt a fix and promptly put it back due to a lack of knowledge.
Now I'd like to give restoring it a go, to see if I can breathe new life into it, but unfortunately while I am studying electronic engineering at university, my knowledge of cars, rc, engines etc is basically non-existent. My plan at the moment is to dismantle the car bit by bit, clean and de-rust it all and try to identify and fix the problem(s) to see if I can get her running.
If anybody has any advice, or references to things that may be helpful to a novice such as beginners guides, I would love to hear! I've attached a few photos of the damage. Most of the car seems to be in an OK condition, but the battery compartment is pretty f***ed as the batteries have leaked at some point, and there's a lot of sand and rust, particularly around the engine.
Thanks in advance

Edit: After doing a bit more inspecting, I've noticed that the car seems to be rusted into one position. What I mean by this is that I seem to remember that the chassis would spring up and down when pushed down, but now it just stays in one position close to the ground. The cogs you can see in the photo with the air filter are also completely locked in place, and after watching a video it seems these should move freely? The pull cord is also completely stuck.

It really doesn't matter how the car got that way ,because these RC's are like real cars ,eventually in time ,you wont even
find a part for this car rendering it useless!

Basicly ,on something like that ,I pull the servo's & electrics ,take it out back ,soap it down with Dawn or Joy ,an
give it a good power washing ,then I bring on a bench an break it down ,clean & lube each part!

 

[neilly]

Odds are the engine is beyond salvageable as well as the electronics. Considering the brand, you may find it impossible to find parts for it. So fixing it may be pointless.

I had anticipated this might be the case, so it may be pointless as you say, but at the moment I'm going to try and clean everything and then see where I can go from there. I realise the electronics will definitely be ruined but those are easily replaceable, its the engine that I'm concerned about as I probably won't be splashing out on a new one.

Basicly ,on something like that ,I pull the servo's & electrics ,take it out back ,soap it down with Dawn or Joy ,an
give it a good power washing ,then I bring on a bench an break it down ,clean & lube each part!

My plan was to dismantle it first, then service and clean each part and reassemble it to figure out where the problems are. Would you recommend cleaning the whole thing minus electronics instead of breaking it down first? There's a lot of sand and rust as you can see in the photos which is why I thought cleaning the individual parts would be best

 

[neilly]

Odds are the engine is beyond salvageable as well as the electronics. Considering the brand, you may find it impossible to find parts for it. So fixing it may be pointless.

But you will likely be able to find bearings that will fit at sites like fasteddybearings.com or avidrc.com. It looks like it's 1/10th scale, so almost any .12-.18ci rotary carb/side exhaust small block will fit it. Servos are relatively generic and these days, you can get decent ones pretty cheap, check out rcjuice.com for JX servos. I use one of these in my revo for steering and it's pretty good for $20, JX 5821lv. You can get a flysky radio/receiver pretty cheap. You should also replace the switch as it's likely garbage now.

As a side note, there are surprisingly lots of spare parts available on several different websites. Including nitrotek, where I bought it, which is strangely still selling the exact same model I bought at the exact same price I paid in 2013. Very weird

 

[cbaker65]

I had anticipated this might be the case, so it may be pointless as you say, but at the moment I'm going to try and clean everything and then see where I can go from there. I realise the electronics will definitely be ruined but those are easily replaceable, its the engine that I'm concerned about as I probably won't be splashing out on a new one.



My plan was to dismantle it first, then service and clean each part and reassemble it to figure out where the problems are. Would you recommend cleaning the whole thing minus electronics instead of breaking it down first? There's a lot of sand and rust as you can see in the photos which is why I thought cleaning the individual parts would be best

Well ,you can do it either way you want to ,your not going to damage anything any more than what it is ,in theory ,these
buggy's see when folks run them!

It is good to have an air compressor too ,as you can blow the debris an air dry the componets off!

The rusty screws ,I use a wire wheel on a bench grinder to clean them ,sometimes I will paint ,but I coat the screws with
a WD-40!

You will be ok ,as long as you clean ,make sure your running gear is clean ,lubed ,an gaped right ,at this point ,the
running gear is important to baby ,you can always replace the engine & electrics as that stuff is pretty versatile ,the
running gear an a-arms isnt ,once those wear out or break with an old car ,it is done!

 

[neilly]

Well ,you can do it either way you want to ,your not going to damage anything any more than what it is ,in theory ,these
buggy's see when folks run them!

It is good to have an air compressor too ,as you can blow the debris an air dry the componets off!

The rusty screws ,I use a wire wheel on a bench grinder to clean them ,sometimes I will paint ,but I coat the screws with
a WD-40!

You will be ok ,as long as you clean ,make sure your running gear is clean ,lubed ,an gaped right ,at this point ,the
running gear is important to baby ,you can always replace the engine & electrics as that stuff is pretty versatile ,the
running gear an a-arms isnt ,once those wear out or break with an old car ,it is done!

Ok mate thanks a lot, I may be back on the forum soon we shall see