Team Associated RC8 Buggy Question

[JVT73]

Its pretty quiet over here in the buggy thread but, I have a question regarding the Team Associated RC8 buggy. I've been wanting to get something cheap/used to race at the local track during the winter months. They only race & practice with electric's in the winter here in NW PA, go figure! Anyway I found a used AE RC8 buggy at a LHS that needs some attention. The meat & potatos are mostly their but, it does need some TLC. It's set up for electric and has a castle motor in it, no ESC. In checking it out, I noticed that the battery tray is a insert and comes out to reveal mounting locations for nitro. Is this a dual version, meaning easily converted back and forth between nitro & electric? I'm a nitro guy now but, used to run electric back in the late 80's mostly RACE PREP motors(love those motors). Also, sense this appears to be a older version of the RC8 are the parts common/interchangeable with the newer models?

Thanks in advance for any help.