If you do plan on going BL, then you might want to consider a Lipo battery. I'm currently running a Lipo battery and BL setup in my Midnight Pumpkin, and it's a BLAST!!! Just make sure that the battery is NOT rectangular! It needs to have the rounded edges like a NiCad/NiMh battery would. I'm running a 4000mah Lipo, and it fits pretty snug.

Oil shocks make a huge difference in this rig. It's never going to handle great, but oil shocks do make it stick to the ground much better than the stockers do. I used traxxas shocks from ebay... Cheap, and they did the trick. Just make sure they're the right length. Since the front is an a-arm suspension system, if the shocks are too long, it will mess up the camber.