Ok that lipo should give between 15-30 mins runtime depending on your driving. Google rc shaft vs belt drive. You will find a lot of forums. Yes there are aluminum upgrades. Stay away from intent upgrades they suck at everything but looks. Its hard to have a drift car multi purpose as a drag car but i wont get into that right now. Kits are easy i've heard never actually done a kit but i've torn my two monster trucks completely apart before.