Considering my question has been unanswered for several days in the RC18B2/T2 forum, I thought I would just start a new thread. My little boy loves Cars and Lighting McQueen, so I decided that I would get an RC18B2 for him. Before I even bought it, I decided a truck would be easier to do the custom paint job on, but all I could find on ebay at a good price was a Ready to Run RC18B2. I really should have known better and just bought the kit, because I am already finding problems and spending money to fix them. I guess this platform is kind of old and it appears the mini platform is not as popular as it used to be, so hopefully this new thread can capture some interest and get me some help.

Here is buggy as bought:

The first thing I notice is the crappy full plastic turnbuckles:



So I bought the steel turnbuckles and bullcups off tower...$

The next thing I notice is 3 screws are missing on the plate that covers the center drive belt and the spur cover is missing. Considering the seller said the belt caused the motor to burn up and he "fixed" it, I figure this must be his attempt at fixing it.

This looks bad...it looks like the belt is right where this pinion should be? Am I missing something?

Unfortunately this platform as been known to have some issues. I was once in the same situation, purchased one of these for my son a few years back. I bought it used, its also had issues. Wish I would have done some research before i spent the money! I've read some posts from others being very happy with the T2 after the bugs are worked out. Ours just seemed to have one issues after another so I gave up on it and decided to sell.

Theres alot of good info in the RC18T2 thread. Start with the first few pages, others have shared what they have done to correct some of the issues.

I have read through quite a bit of the "official thread", but it is hard to find what you need though thousands of posts. Besides, this is really about my build.

One of first purchases was some Pro-Pulse street tires off of eBay.

I hate the phillips head screws. The seem likely to strip out. This is the screw that is missing:

http://www.amain.com/team-associated...rews-20/p26244

It is 2.5X9MM...which seems to be unique to Team Associated.

I think I am going to try and replace them with these:

http://www.amain.com/protek-r-c-2.5x...ews-10/p141763

There doesn't seem to be any clearance issues so I may try some 2.5x10mm socket head Traxxas screws...although I hate to buy anything Traxxas...since they are responsible for the plague of rookie slash drivers at the local track. Now I hear they got this boombox version...so great...next time I take my 1/10th scale buggy to track for practice not only to get to I get to T-Boned by an indestructible tank, but I probably have to listen to hip-hop while being t-boned!

Here is my ready-to-run....lol. The bearings were full of sand.

The decals looked great with the white paper behind them...but once I or LD them off they lost their color...

Bummer!
That's a great idea otherwise.

Sure. Your printer can't print white. And the colors you printed are a result of color on white background (like on normal paper).
You could try it with white decal paper instead of transparent, but then the problems would be the drop shadows around the logos.

Staples has printers that can print white.

The plastic turnbuckles are great. No need to adjust on these cars. The plastic isn't going to bend, plus $3 gets you a whole new set. the belt on mine is right in the middle just like yours. No issue. With the 11T pinion and a lipo mine was running pretty sweet. I put the losi street meats on it. Hooked up great on clay the other day indoors.

Oh I forgot, the threaded shock bodies and different springs with 35wt up front and 30wt in the rear worked great for the indoor carpet track I was running last.