RE: Official Dark Impact Thread
Possibly more fragile, but it's a tamiya...have you owned one? You can bash and jump for months without breaking a part, so i don't think 2" off the chassis should make that significant of a difference.
The storm's tranny is alot different then your average 2wd buggy/truck. The spur gear is located in the rear of the chassis, paralell to the shock tower and the motor placed perpendidcular to the shock tower. It uses a shaft to connect the front and rear main gears(smaller metal gears) which then rotate the disk-like gear on the differential cases. If you really wanna see, i can get a pick. I wouldn't doubt that it would handle the 5.5. The only bad thing about the storm is it's limited gearing possibilities. All you have is a 18, 19t pinion with stock spur, and 21-22 with the 67t spur.
Tamiya has this type of quality in most of their cars. They may not be the prettiest or best performing, but you rarely hear someone complaining abut a tamiya. I have owned 4 and never have regretted it.