Its been awhile since I posted here, but I just want to make a statement to everybody that has a v1 car and complains about the durability.
I bought my NTC3 in October of 2001. So it's pretty much one of the original cars out there. I ran a 2 hour endurance race a couple weeks ago. Posted 477 laps. I tore the car down since and the only thing I could find worn out was the rear shock tower. The screws loosened up to the point of where the shock tower was wobbling around. Stupid me didn't put any loctite on the screw threads. I didn't even use any of the shock tower braces that have been floating around from the different companies, like the ones from ebay and the ones I keep hearing about from BMI. The rest of the car was fine.
Now I can hear some of the people out there saying that this isn't possible. And I'll be the first person to say that I wasn't driving my hardest and crashed quite a few times. But the thing that kept that car together was my taking the time beforehand and making sure every nut and bolt was sealed up tight. And making sure that the setup was right on.
I have got to give props to everybody that has posted in this thread that has given many tips and tricks to keep their cars together. And one last thing, about getting the delrin diff gears. I still have the original diff gears and they have held up great. Don't spend your hard earned green on stuff that you don't need. Run it till it's broken and then maybe upgrade. That goes for everything that's on the car.