Building a rally car. Opinions wanted.

[crazypj]

For right now the box is going to stay very much empty and just be there for future use and outward appearance at the moment.

Mot rally races up here are either sanctioned by local overseeing bodies or nationwide through CARS (Canadian Association of RallySport). I'm looking into ways to acquire a Canadian Rally license up here but it's not looking very simple. For the time being the car is being built to race in more grassroots circles.

I guess I wasn't using the right wording anyways, I'm thinking the placard box I suppose.

CARS does have a contingency program in effect but it's only for Subarus.

There was a really good article in I believe Maclean's magazine about grassroots rally racing, I'll see if I can find it.

*edit* Found it, popular mechanics! http://www.popularmechanics.com/car...rs-snowy-gritty-grueling-rally-racing#slide-1

Pretty much all the information is available for building a MKII Escort but you'll have to search British/European sites
I think there are also a few books on them but you may have to trawl through eBay/Amazon
I'll e-mail a friend in Britain, he'll probably know who to ask as he's always been fan of the Escort
I fitted Escort front air dam to rear of my Chevette, didn't need much work and kept people guessing

 

[MountainMike]

What kind of parts go in to cars like this? I know safety stuff like cages and rally computers. But what else? Any suspension upgrades? Do you have to run at night at all and have extra lights?

I'm definitely going to work in some suspension upgraded. something to improve the damping while maybe offering a touch more ground clearance.

There's some pretty interesting stuff in regards to lighting in terms of position and number. I had only ever seen cars with an even number of lights but it's actually a requirement as well.

 

[MountainMike]

More inspiration I found, I'm using this thread as a bit of a "mood room" to keep inspired and figure a design in my head.

 

[crazypj]

Buddy called from Britain
Vintage rally cars are real big there, MK I and MK II Escorts go for big bucks (20,000 ~45,000 pounds, $30~$67,000)
He found a Metro 6R4 listed, 95,000 pounds (about 144,00 US dollars )
He's going to dig out some build books he's got and send names/publishers, etc
Some may have been out of print since 1970's though
Even though rule specifics may vary it's likely that WRC rules will apply
The 'Race and Rally Car source Book' has a section on various cars, I have a copy somewhere, will check to see if Chevette is in there (I know Escort is)
The lights on the Lancia are quick detach, you don't run the extra's in daytime
I'm actually quite happy to find something I know a little about

 

[Jim Oaks]

I think we should move this to the Non-RBV Build Thread section.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I would think (4) lights would suffice. On the top of my Ranger, the middle to light up the road ahead - one slightly off right - one slightly off left, and then the outer (2) light upo the outer areas. Anything more than that and you'll be eating up a lot of juice.

 

[MountainMike]

I have 2 spare lightforces kicking around I'm going to use for now.

Here's the car kicking around in its current state. Needless to say it may not get cracked open for a little bit.

 

[thatbluecar]

We could probably dig it out in something like 10-15 minutes, but the shop still needs some more cleaning first, so yeah it`ll probably be a bit

 

[EERNGER]

Im not sure what class you would be starting off in, but sure you dont want to try and shoehorn in a 5.0? lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWm2Rtwl7tA

I know its a fox body, and that its got alot more going on then a stocker 5.0, but this guy ripped and was extremely fun to watch amongst all the subaru's running at LSPR. If nothing else more rally spirit.

 

[MountainMike]

This project is gong to be a good test of my welding skills. Looking at building subframe connectors (with possible skid plate attachment points), a front 3-point strut brace and a rear tower brace. Should be interesting.

The actual build may sit for a bit while we get the tow rig rebuilt. But I'll still have updates and ideas to toss around.

 

[MountainMike]

Some good reading here, they built a Chevette track toy http://www.missedshift.com/tag/chevette/

Looks like a good place to go for brake upgrades is Fiero parts, interesting stuff. Once I get this thing going I'll have to put lots of effort into getting it stopping

 

[MountainMike]

More shop cleaning going on tonight. Getting the tow pig prepped and the rally car will be dug out soon enough.

 

[MountainMike]

Found these cleaning up the shop, way too convenient

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Those books are a cool find.

Richard

 

[MountainMike]

I got a couple more photos for you guys to keep the thread rolling. As you can see I need a shift tower for the Muncie.

You can even notice compared to the previous pictures there's some actual floor space. It's been a struggle!