Best option for a starter car

EDITED:
Jesus, I am a wordy sonnuvabish.

I am fortunate that I live close to a GVR4 owner with more parts than common sense. I only hope that, when/if he sells his Galant, he gives me first dibs on some spares. LOL.

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Brian Driggs | KG7KCA | PHX, AZ | 89 Pajero
alterius non sit qui suus esse potest



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2006 02:01PM by DR1665.

When I sell the Galant everything goes as a package. Brian go play PowerBall and buy the whole lot already dammit.

---

Cheers
M.Samli
Phoenix AZ
Gaylant VR4
EVO III GSR (Stolen)


Rallies are no place for traitors

DR1665 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> EDITED:
> Jesus, I am a wordy sonnuvabish.
>
> I am fortunate that I live close to a GVR4 owner
> with more parts than common sense. I only hope
> that, when/if he sells his Galant, he gives me
> first dibs on some spares. LOL.
>
> Brian DR1665 | Phoenix, AZ
> 91 GVR4
>
>
>
> Edited 1 times. Last edit at Dec 12, 2006 by
> DR1665.


You're fortunate that I yelled at Mustafa long enough and loud enough that he kept the Gaylant.


Hey Garrett, go ahead and write what YOU think of the cars, and WHY

Remmemer who? what? where? when? how? and WHY?

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

john vanlandingham Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey Garrett, go ahead and write what YOU think of
> the cars, and WHY

PLEASE, GARRETT! TALK TO US! WE ARE ALL BETWEEN RALLY EVENTS AND BORED AT OUR DAY JOBS!

---

Brian Driggs | KG7KCA | PHX, AZ | 89 Pajero
alterius non sit qui suus esse potest

> TALK TO US! WE ARE ALL BETWEEN
> RALLY EVENTS AND BORED AT OUR DAY JOBS!

Dayjob?!? Dude I'm so jealous, how'd you get one of those?

Nudge nudge, the bosses daughter? say no more...

---

Pure mathematics is the enemy of every truly creative man -- Sir Alec

Haha, thanks for the help so far. I really didnt have much bias or reasoning specifically towards the cars that I originially listed. They were just what I've seen some rally cars be before and what I vaguely thought would fit the bill. I live in northern VA and want to go see some events but it doesnt seem that 2007 events have been listed anywhere, unless im just slow. I was also concerned with what limitations I would be subjected to as a novice driver for the first few events. Ill definetly look into all of the sites and information that has been provided so far; it looks to be worthwhile.

BTW, towing and transportation will not be an issue at all so Im not really concerned with it. I guess I have plenty of other financial hurdles to overcome though. Guess I should start working a second job I suppose to get some mad funding. Has anyone had any luck at sponsorships in any shape or form?



- Garrett

Garrett,
I'm in NoVa. Work in McLean/Tysons (HBL). Have Open class Audi Quattro turbo you're welcome to come kick tires. And a couple customer's rally cars I can show you. Ralliers here occasional gather Friday nights in Alexandria for happy hour. PM me your email address if interested.

CommanderSalamander Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Some stuff.

I'm sorry, but are you Commander Salamander as in the Single Hander Belly Lander? OMG. Wow. This thread rules.

As for the day job, Ted? Meh. Necessary evil. I hate it. I hate doing something I hate for forty hours a week. I hate spending fiteen hours a week driving to do something I hate for forty hours a week. And I hate being broke as hell afterwards.



Here's to the application I filled out tonight getting me some mo money fo the rally program next month! (I'm still trying my web design stuff, but these Realtors are so effin' flakey! Gah! Make up your mind and decide on a design, already!)

Glad to have you aboard, Garrett. This place is teh win.

EDIT:
My bad. It's Commander Coriander Salamander an 'er Single Hander Belly Lander.

---

Brian Driggs | KG7KCA | PHX, AZ | 89 Pajero
alterius non sit qui suus esse potest



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2006 11:25PM by DR1665.

as people are mentioning GVR4's....

i'm not sure why 90-94 Legacy Turbos have been over looked.

They are cheap....around here they go for 2500-3000 (CDN Bucks) for a good running and looking example. Fixer uppers can be had even cheaper...1000ish.

My biggest thing...is parts, as a starter car, you are going to prang suspension, and or body panels. Go to the wreckers and look how many Legacies there are in there....think Fenders, doors, glass... Then look how many of just about ANY subaru tehre is in the wreckers from 1990-2001. All suspension pieces are interchangeable...this includes driveshafts, diffs, control arms, crossmembers, blah blah blah!

Let alone, how many people are rallying Subarus...you break something at a rally, you have a dam good chance that somewhere there is going to have the replacement part for you.

Motors in the things are reliable as shit...i personally ice raced on a 600,000 KM motor.

I just got done building a 92 Legacy Turbo for a friend of mines Kids. For around $10,000 CDN we had a complete car which we haven't had to put much into except gas. And for that 10K we had the motor completely refreshed, got the John's Suspenders, New front end suspension components (all OEM), NEW gravel tires, lots of new OEM parts, and lots of other bits which you don't have to do.

This car ran 3 Regional Rallies this year, and competed in Targa Newfoundland (1,200 km of competitive stage). Only problems we've had were a bent control arm, munched oil pan (car still finished the event with no ill effects). Also ran a full season of Ice Racing before getting prepped for rallying as a "tune-up"

In prep for next year we might change the oil, and bleed the brakes.

Car is actually driven to work/school by the owners when the weather is nice outside!

---

Chris

We're caging a Legacy Turbo in our garage. The owner bought it for $750 and had to replace a few panels and a door.

Not all parts are interchangeable. But most are.

Like a 2.5RS rear diff and tranny into an Impreza requires different halfshaft. Luckily you get the ones from Outback Impreza or 2.5RS and set. Rear disc upgrade from Legacy turbo requires Legacy turbo hubs too. But that's for upgrading an Impreza. The LT already had vented rear discs.

But anyhow, a Legacy or Impreza are both good.

---

Grant Hughes

howdy,
my car is the blue 80's toyota that you see in the top left corner every so often.
sometimes on the road, sometimes off. and do you want to know where i went off?

right on the corner where in years past (3-4?) my friends would come to drink beer yell and take pictures of screaming rally cars.

this in reality is actually for the money, more fun than running a rally, especially when john lane is standing naked on top of a FUCKING RAVAGED, SMOKING VOLVO that was earlier traveling close to 80mph on a road just wider than his mirrors.

have you considered taking up rally as a side-liner?
you want to rally a 6000 dollar car. did you know that one EVENT will cost you at least a tenth of your CAR budget?

i'm very very very happy and pleased with the way i built my rally car.
it took 2.5-3 years,
$over 3200. not much. it can be done, have faith.

good ideas.
know your car inside and out. buy an extra as a street car, drive it till it breaks.
use not broken parts on the rally car.

auto cross and 12pm monday night middle of no where rallys with friends (smart knowledgeable got your back(block the road/their driveway) friends) are where you learn to drive.

rear wheel drive= a blast
though i wouldn't know about dirt in a fwd.
quattros in snow is a hell of a dance. excelent torque and sound.

cars with support are good, but if your committed, and know the right people (give them money) anything can work.

dont be afraid to start with nothing, there is alot less shit to throw away.
every one has a project that they hate (drifters), buy it. details like wiring kind of go away with carbs. an empty shell is easier to cage, junkyards have the rest, you'll usually end up with a mish mash of random bits anyway.

my "street car" is now almost worthless in relation to the rally car.

bad ideas.
expecting rally to fill your "go fast" need.
if you poor all your shit into your pride and joy, there is that bit of the car that is not attached to your testicles in the correct way.
you can now quote me
"you should be able to drive your car balls out, not like someone is about to kick your down-there if you wrinkle it a little"
no one likes getting there nuts creamed . . . hmmm

upgrades are nice, finishing an event is nicer.

dont rally an MR-2

do figure out how to tell john that youve heard that one.

wow, enjoy
the simplicity of a well built fast 2wd car WILL ASTOUND YOU
http://picasaweb.google.com/acrane

AND REMEMBER
I PUT THE HURT ON DIRT

---

"I put the hurt on dirt" - adam crane
http://CraneRallyCrew.com
corolla gt-s "Patches"
Op: S.S.

Well put Adam !!!

Your posts reflects heart felt experience and you know what you're talking about !

The bottom line is to realize your financial capabilities in prepping a car. And at the same time coming to terms with how many events that you want to do annually, and set realistic budgets.

Rallying and bodybuilding are not indifferent in terms of the amount of people who want to put their hands on your wallet. Whether it's supplements or rally bits, or entrance fees.

Don't trust any one person or any one site. Look around the net, contact as many people as possible and make your decision based on multiple peoples feed back.

I stand by my earlier comment, that RWD is the funnest !

Well said, Adam.

And I still wanna know how you missed that bridge.

I confess I'm in the build-it-don't-buy-it camp, because you'll end up with a car you know inside and out. BUT, 1) find a mentor with lots of rally experience who can show you what to do and what not to do, and 2) BUDGET. Budget both your money and your time. If you don't feel you have the wherewithal to do that, buy a prepped car, but again, find a mentor to look over it and help you decide what you need to do to get it to your liking.

As for carbs...well, I like fuel injection. On some of the more modern cars, fuel injection is a nightmare, but my car's got dumb ol' CIS-E (or KE-Jetronic, as Bosch calls it) and it's simple and reliable, and there's no retuning for altitude.

---

Self-righteous douche canoe

Nemesis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rallying and bodybuilding are not indifferent in
> terms of the amount of people who want to put
> their hands on your wallet. Whether it's
> supplements or rally bits, or entrance fees.

I have to say that that is the worst analogy I have ever read. Really. Ever.

Just fucking buy Rem's car for $6500. Or build a Merkur over the next 3 years. Either way you'll be happy 5 years from now.

---

Grant Hughes

I do not understand why people think 2wd cars are cheaper to run then 4wd cars. It was much cheaper to run my turbo AWD car than my Gp2 Golf... The turbo car made OK power on street gas and used one set of tires an event. My Gp2 car took GT104+ gas at 6.50 a gal and used 10 to 12 tires and event... It is cheap to run slow cars slowly fast cars cost money.

That said the Golf was a lot more fun than the Mazdog and I was faster in the Golf too. (note that my old golf was up to about $25,000 when I rolled it up so not exactly a starter car) The Cluch took for ever in the GTX and 40 min in the Golf. The electrics in the Golf - 5 wires - carbs rock, the GTX well shit it had little black boxes all over the place.

It took me 17 years to crash the rally car real good but when I did I was glad I did not have a expensive shell.

I have run the cost to fun numbers many times - Gp5 is the class to be in for best fun for money, turbo Volvo's make good power cheap, same for RX7, Xratty and some others.

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In the long run reality always wins.