re designing old mechiniism

[Jeff Waegelin]

Let me point your attention to Rule R09 from section 5, The Robot, of the FIRST Rulebook:

<R09> Teams must fabricate and/or assemble all custom parts and assembled mechanisms on the robot by the
2004 team after the start of the Kick-off. Mechanisms from previous year’s robots may not be used,
however, individual off-the-shelf components from previous year’s robots may be re-used to save the cost
of re-purchase of these parts IF they meet ALL of the 2004 Additional Parts and Materials Rules.
• If you do use previous years’ components, their costs must be included in the 2004 cost accounting,
and applied to the overall cost limit.
• You may not use previous years’ motors in addition to those provided in the 2004 Kit. You may
use previous years’ motors as direct replacements for those provided, however they must be the
same identical motor as in the 2004 Kit.
• You may not use previous years Robot Controllers or Victor 883 Speed Controllers.

So, you can reuse any off-the-shelf parts that were in that mechanism. However, you may NOT use that mechanism as a whole again, even if it is modified. If you'd read this section of the manual more carefully, you would have seen this very clear distinction.