1. if i go brushless and lipo how much more run time will i get?

2. what parts are involved in going brushless.. Is there a upgrade list?

3. I will need batteries and a charger of course but i dont know what else, specifically what on the truck needs to be changed to support the speed difference and possible handling differences?

1. if i go brushless and lipo how much more run time will i get?
Depends on motor, battery and gearing, with the optimal setup you can expect up to 1 hour of run time with a 2000kV motor and 6A pack.

2. what parts are involved in going brushless.. Is there a upgrade list?
Here you go: http://www.ultimaterc.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=121843

3. I will need batteries and a charger of course but i dont know what else, specifically what on the truck needs to be changed to support the speed difference and possible handling differences?

depends on how powerful of a motor you get, most 1/8 motors come with 5mm shafts which may require you to get a new pinion. Read the link in Q2 to figure out what kind of performance you're looking for using the speed calculator.

I would start your shopping with parts from ValueHobby (IL) as a benchmark. If you're not in a hurry, you can get good deals from HobbyKing (China)... HobbyPartz used to have great deals, but they've recently become a bit overpriced so you you really need to shop around before buying the first thing you see.

bill pretty much has it covered.

1) varies. i get maybe 10 mins on a track from a 5000mAh pack and i can bash for a little over an hour on the same pack.

2) IMHO, upgrade what breaks. rpm is nice for things like arms. alum for caster block. mips or tekno for cvds.

3) nothing really. maybe change of gearing and change of how you drive it. LCG chassis is always nice but not needed.

bills link should be good help!

bill and his bloody links :P but he is right

What motor and speed control is best or most popular? Will brushless run well on nimh batteries?

What motor and speed control is best or most popular?
Completely subjective, almost all are great except for Bullistorm.

Castle Creations ESC's are known to have problems with their BEC's, I would stay away from them too.

If money is no object, go with Tekin. If you want a high quality budget system, then go with HobbyWing. Turnigy has some really good rebrands that are the same as HobbyWing and several other manufacturers such as Aeolian etc.

Will brushless run well on nimh batteries?

Yes, I have had success explained further here:
http://www.ultimaterc.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=159617

If you get the 3650-2165kV motor here, you can expect the same level of performance as your stock 15T brushed motor with run times about double with your current NiMh pack:
http://www.valuehobby.com/power-syst...ner-motor.html

many like the VXL. other like castle while others go with the brushless hobbies or hobby wing stuff. castle just came out with waterproof escs, the vxl is waterproof as are some of the china escs. some like castle and the BH escs are computer programable.

it depends on your pricepoint and what features you want.

brushless will run fine on nimh but the batteries will get hot. brushless really shines on lipo.

here is a demo of the performance you might expect out of a 2165kV motor + 35A ESC + 2S-60C-5A LiPo in a 2WD car which pulls roughly 100mAh per min of run time in my FGX:

(watch this on YouTube for more options)

*** The 2165kV motor would be perfect to transition with down the road, so when you do upgrade to LiPo, you can go straight to 3S and get speeds around 45mph.