Man i just HATE seeing folks spend their hard erned on the I stuff. Its just a shame. But you gotta do what you gotta do.
personally i run stock shock towers. it allows some flex when im rolling my 28 lb beast around. but good choices overall.
watch the stock clutch bell and carrier. the cbs can be out of true and the weld at the stem can break free. the carreir may get warm and allow some flex, if your toasting spur gears quick, and not landing the rear on power, it may be your stock plastic carrier and or bell causing the problem.
check your diff right out of the box. they should be 1/2 full (to the cross pins) but most of them only have a slathering of fluid.
if you want the best for steering servo, i say the Mulitplex Rhino and buy the aluminum arm for it also. you ll need the HPI (included in kit) Servo adapter plate to get the Rhino to mount into the radio box. but its the best servo imho.
for radio the Futaba 3PM is a great one, but get a digi t/b servo so you can run it in HRS mode (requires only digi servos be used).