Wow. I would've been devastated. It seems that you have a lot of experience with this hobby or that you are mechanically inclined. I, on the other hand, have only had my car for about 1 month and I I'm still learning as I go. I only had one problem dealing directly with wear and tear and that was a piece of sand/rock being stuck in the tooth of my gear (pinion?). Not sure exactly what it's called. Anyhow, after I heard it making noise I stopped use of the vehicle. I was able to pinpoint the source of the problem and fix it myself. The HobbyTown clerk was able to educate me a lot more about it after that. According to him, most people would rather have someone work on their toys than rather work on it themselves and understand and appreciate the hobby itself. I feel that if I'm already spending this amount of money, I need to learn it. It has become my focus other than drifting.

As for drifting, I really haven't spun out much. More of the spin outs have been on purpose. Question for you: While I can make a lot of the turn around drifts, I am struggling on drifting in tight areas. For instance, I took a bucket and drifted around it, my car tends to stay far from it instead of being tight and close. Any suggestions?

Lastly, did you happen to document your rebuild with your camera? If so, I would like to see it.