I would advise against the Corona conversion kit. The module that you put in the transmitter is fine, but I've had two receivers crap out on me, one randomly on the morning of a UK champs, and one during a battle in last year's champs. They were also a bit temperamental with regards to powering up.

Since then, I've switched to FrSky and haven't had any problems. Got modules in both my Skysport 6 and Field Force 6 using an 8ch and 4ch receiver, can't speak highly enough of them. The only downside in recommending them is that they're currently out of stock on Giant Cod, but here are the links anyway:

http://www.giantcod.co.uk/frsky-24ghz-c ... 05206.html (Conversion module)
http://www.giantcod.co.uk/24ghz-frsky-r ... 05319.html (8ch receiver)
http://www.giantcod.co.uk/24ghz-frsky-r ... 04806.html (4ch receiver)

There also used to be a 7ch receiver with a hard case (I think) but the only one I can find now is in a soft plastic case similar to the 4ch one: http://www.giantcod.co.uk/frsky-receive ... 05458.html

(I'm assuming these can be used with the conversion kit, but I'm not familiar with the 'SP' on the model name so not 100% sure)

Another great thing about them is that you can set failsafes in the receiver. Once everything's powered up, make sure all your transmitter sticks, trims and switches are in the position you want them to be in when your robot failsafes, press a button on the receiver, and done.

With regards to the link/dump access, can you not attach the panel with just one bolt at the top and let it rotate around that bolt? Saves having to undo/redo any wing nuts etc and allows quick access in case of emergency.