Non powered to powered

I don't have a GP40 to compare.  But I have a GP38-2 and a GP7.  They are different lengths.  If you're lucky, one of them might be the same as the GP40 but both aren't.

I wouldn't worry about the truck color.  Painting those is a breeze.

The non-powered unit won't have motors either (not just electronics).  If I were in your shoes, I'd find any old GP40, paint the trucks (or swap out the trucks you have), and swap the shells.

The electronics swap is very possible, I've done it before between diesels to make non-powered units powered. You might run into a few complications with the mounting of the board and the speaker in the fuel tank but nothing too serious. Your non powered unit most likely already has all of the mounting holes ready to go for all of the electronics, & volume pots. You might be surprised but in many cases the truck will direct swap but your non-powered unit won't have the drive gears so it definitely will not be able to be reused.

What is the part number of your non-powered unit?

As far as size of components. Wouldn’t pretty much all boards be the same size? And the motors too?  I can’t see Mth making custom boards for each model. I would imagine pretty much all locos use the exact same components?  

are the painted truck sides easily removable?  

Boards are all the same size in the ps2 realm.  Generally, the motors for diesels are also the same (especially in railking), but there are some exceptions. I'd check parts diagrams to make sure things are the same between the powered version and any donor unit before buying anything.

@Pugsly14 posted:

As far as size of components. Wouldn’t pretty much all boards be the same size? And the motors too?  I can’t see Mth making custom boards for each model. I would imagine pretty much all locos use the exact same components?  

I don't know for sure but I suspect the answer is yes.  Small engines like RailKing switchers will definitely have smaller components.

@Pugsly14 posted:

are the painted truck sides easily removable?  

Yes.  In most cases, if you flip the engine over, and look directly down inside the trucks, you'll see two screws holding on the side frame.  Remove those screws and the side frame should come right off.

What is the MTH item # for your engine?

Thanks guys

@H1000 posted:

Boards are all the same size in the ps2 realm.  Generally, the motors for diesels are also the same (especially in railking), but there are some exceptions. I'd check parts diagrams to make sure things are the same between the powered version and any donor unit before buying anything.

Motors are usually all Mubachi 3xx size. but the worms are different at times.

I think you could take everything from a gp38 or gp9 and move the stuff to your gp40 chassis just take the pilots and truck side frames from your gp40 and put on the powered trucks. I did manage to get a gp40 body on a gp38 chassis once. The rear body mounts did not line up but I made a little plate out of brass to make the rear holes line up.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Motors are usually all Mubachi 3xx size. but the worms are different at times.

Good ‘ol mubachi 380 motors.  Reminds me of my youth with cheap Sears r/c cars!!!!  You wanted a Kyosho or Tamiya r/c car with the “big” mabachi 540 motor but your gramm bought one she saw in the Sears catalog😂