Are lipos and FETs worth it? Answer here

All righty, i'm going to share info about my blue civic and where i got parts.

I bought 10 AA lipos from www.all-battery.com for $3.30 per. Don't spend $10 for two on ebay.

I got an apache 2030 charger for nicad, nimh, and lipo from dreamhobbies on sale for $28. This is a genuine battery charger, not wires coming out of some cheap converted crap. **Update, I've been talking to the guy from dream hobbies and he is no longer going to carry this model

FETs, I got them from precision_components on ebay for $0.92 per on ebay. He also sells evo FETs for $1.10 per. Shipping is pretty cheap. His gen1 FET's aren't as good as the 4562's, but they're close and way cheaper. Why spend $10 on two when you can get 10. **update, the guy over at precision is kind of hit and miss with his responses to customers. If you order multiple types of FETs and have trouble with it wanting to add up $2.50 for each item, I just deducted from my total paypal what it should be.

Bearings, I got from overstockproduct on ebay. You can get 10 sets for $60 or get them around $9 per individually. They are good quality ABEC-5. If you're buying multiple sets, email him and he'll give you a deal.

He has no evo bearings though Also, try irvineman for bearings. He has EVO and wide track available. This guy has a good reputation from lots of xmods people. Definitely check him out as well, especially if purchasing evo bearings or both evo and gen1 at once. His cost is comparable to overstock in lower quantities, I haven't contacted him about larger ones.

I took my civic today, formerly 6 cell, bearings, awd, a 180 motor from an RC plane, and blue gearing. Today I double stacked the new FETs and put in 2 Lipos.

The difference? The car on the low setting is as fast as it was in the high setting prior. It's lighter so it accelerates faster. The center of gravity is lower and I have not rolled the car once. The FET's stay cool, as do the batteries. The motor gets a little warm but not bad.

Also, don't forget about the spinbrush with the 180 motor. I actually just installed one I had and it's faster than the RC plane motor. I still haven't switched the endbell to get better brushes on there. That's a cheap motor for the gen 1.

Civic: $10 (friend at RS sells me returns for $10 each)
Bearings: $6.50
Motor: Free from roomate
Lipos: $6.60
AA battery holders: $1.50
AWD: $8 (A guy at RS used his discount to get me 4)
FETs: $4
Body Kit: $3

Total: $39.50

Patience pays off. Even without the motor, a stage two wound down to 65T or so would still give you plenty, and you can get 4 motors for $10. All in all, they're definitely worth the price I paid for them. There is no way though that I would spend $12+ for 4 4562 FETs or $20 for a lipo set.