Freezetron

Allright, im very excited to inform you that am now working on a new project for my Baja 5T and showing you how the phase 1 transformation of my baja 5T into "Blizzard" has turned out over the holiday weekend! After seeing lots of other peeps getting rid of their ugly stock anodizing on stock Baja aluminum parts with DIY elbow grease and some chemicals. Not to mention I simply just couldn't justify spending all the money for new parts just to change the color scheme. That being said, I felt it was time for me to buck down and begin a new personalization project for my 5T as I did with my Savage Flux. Feeling nostalgic, I wanted to do the same color scheme that my Flux "Frostbyte" had but go even farther with it. Mainly consisting of my favorite color scheme, blue, silver and white. I decided to split project "Blizzard" into 3 phases over the course of the summer to help distribute the work load as well as when funds allow. Phase's 2 and 3 will follow up with further personalization of the baja, equipment upgrades and body replacement with custom paint job. My ultimate goal is to do even better then I did with my Savage Flux "Frostbyte" which made the reader projects pages of RC Car Action, RC Car and RC Driver mags!!! I was very proud of my brushless baby's accomplishment and I do miss her at times. But now, I want to create a new and even better transformation with my Baja 5T and thus, the "Blizzard" transformation project was born!





After spending way to much time on the forums collecting information on how to deanodize my own parts, I set out this memorial weekend to complete phase 1 of my Baja 5T project "Blizzard" transformation. Here's how it went!


Here is the ugly and just plain boring stock coloring job from HPI that's on everyone's Baja, including grandma's. It's just gotta go....











Ok, its time for teardown, the easiest part!




Hmm, not much to look at when its in pieces...




Prepare to meet your maker ugly orange anodizing!




And its as simple as dipping it into a liquid. Isn't chemistry fun? The chassis proved to be a real PITA with all its angles. After two bottles of Greased Lighting, I gave it a soak in Drano crystals to remove the last of the black anodizing.




Ahhhh, now thats more my taste!




Every single scrap of orange anodizing was to be exterminated, even the gunmetal colored aluminum plate on the roll cage wasn't my taste




Shaaazam!




Oh boy, now the longest and hardest part....re-assembly. Who needs to purchase kits when you do stuff like this anyway?





And after 3 days of reassembly, cleaning, re-greasing, rebuilding, more cleaning, new boot guards and even a trip to the laundromat..... here's stage 1 transformation completed! *cue Pimp My Ride sound effects!*











I'm very pleased how this first part of the project turned out for only around $25 in materials and fair amount of elbow grease! It's a proud feeling knowing I did this all myself thanks to some great info and ingenuity from other Baja' owners! In the end, I had a strong desire to transform my Baja into how I wanted it to look and perform. To be different from anyone else's Baja and especially for it to please "ME" and no one else. "Frostbyte" was fun in of itself, but this Baja ownership takes it to a whole new level of customization and addiction and I dunno if I can ever stop! Stay tuned, the "Blizzard" is coming!

DarkFire989

Nice job. My baja has a all black theme Im going for, I need to get rid of more purple parts.

Mudgy

Isn't anodizing a hard surface/oxidation barrier?
Have you just softened all surface areas, and allowed oxidation to begin now?

FS*MT*4WD

nice, i just saw that flux of yours in a reader rides section of a nitro mag, nice one

AlpineRoad

if true, oops lol

Dirty_Vinylpusher

Yeah I was thinking the same thing.....
Now the alloy will be porous and, I might be wrong, but won't it start looking pretty dull and dirty once it's been out in the weather a couple of times?

Still - for now it looks better than the orange.
Maybe look in to getting some sort of clear laquer to protect it.

Freezetron

Well for one I don't drive it when its wet out at all. Other peeps have done the same with no issues and if it becomes one, i'll just start replacing the parts with TR products. At least the orange is gone, that's all I care about.

On2_n_On4

that looks very nice.

I don't blame you, I'm also getting tired of all that orange.

by the way, I did that to my GT2 over a year ago.
is not an off-road car but I do drive it off-road once in a while.

......after a year
dirt, sand, water, wet grass, rocks, nitro fuel, oil, grease., there is no oxidation.
Use WD40 for cleaning and you will be ok.

Mudgy

No probs...sorry if I came across as saying "you've done something wrong". That's not what I meant mate. All I meant was maybe oxidation might be something to look out for, now that the hard surface is gone. Looks good, BTW.

Some of my alloy parts I polished up, and seem to stay good when there's the polish/wax left behind. Again, mine won't go in the rain either

Freezetron

No prob

Dirty_Vinylpusher

Yup same here.


And I agree.
Looks 100% better than the orange.