Actually, an auto gear IS nescesary with electric, especially if you're using brushless motors. Not using one is a great way to chew out spur gear teeth.. .

As for the rather rare electric to glow conversions (Who'da thought we'd see the day, eh?) there was one fellow a while back I remember seeing who did a glow conversion of a t-rex. To be honest, while i'm sure it's doable, it would not only require alot of modification, but in the end, the performance may only be medicore at best. The power to weight ratio of a brushless motor (especially if it's an outrunner) compared to a nitro engine is enourmous. In short, you may get only ho-hum performance because of the weight of the motor and fuel (and) receiver battery pack, as opposed to using a light weight lipo, bec board and brushless motor.

Of course, it would be an interesting build to see. If you do go with it, a mod/build thread would be nice . I believe the shogun comes with an auto gear by default so you have no worries there.

Good luck with your project, should prove interesting. [8D]