Well we got ours running last night. The red-sponge issue my buddy was having was fixed by moving the thrust bearing to it's proper side...
This car is amazingly smooth. It also likes to swap ends so much quicker than almost any other 2-diff locked-center 4WD car I've driven. Kinda reminds me of how my old Tamiya Vanquish (plastic Avante) drives with it's center ball-diff & front/rear planetary diffs. Thus far I've only driven the car on tarmac and managed some decorative rock (ballast) for about 3 seconds, but it seems far more capable than any sub $300 4WD off-roader on the market.
PS: I thought the body looked really odd at first, but once you get it to sit all the way down on the posts, it looks very mean...