trucks

Has anyone ever rallied a 4x4 truck? like a stock height ranger or tacoma or s10? I know they don't have the low center of gravity like a car but with the stronger transmissions, transfer cases and front/rear ends wouldnt these make for decent rally vehicles? If not, how come?

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www.themud.com

I was thinking of this the last couple days, myself. There's a guy in Phoenix with a Mitsubishi Mighty Max (Dodge D50) with a 4G63T swapped into it. A little turbocharged, RWD pick up action could be fun and not just in a rally.

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

I crewed for a jeep commanche at a few events a few years ago. From what I've gathered rally trucks are good cheap fun. They're robust, not really fast, and attract a lot of attention. My friend that drove the commanche said he liked it, especially at sno drift, because of the ground clearance. He could see over the snow drifts and would never get high centered. The straight 6, 4 liter, 4wd commanche had good results too. It was built to the rallytruck specifications, so it ran in Production class. I believe he won P at sno drift, must have been 2001. But that truck ended when he rolled it at STPR, that trip sucked.

Everyone that I've talked to that has rallied a truck ha loved it. Just dont expect to be trading times with travis.

Yeah I would'nt figure them to be fast, especially in corners but I've rodded on my 97 tacoma pretty hard, Mud, Snow, Sand, Gravel, and have never had a engine or drivetrain problem. Just was thinking it be a cheap realiable way to get your foot in the door to do some rally...

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www.themud.com

Bob Pendergrass runs an old 4x4 Chevy Blazer occasionally in CRS events. It's been lifted and has some huge engine in it and runs in Open.

Clive Skilton runs a 4x4 Jeep Cherokee occasionally as well. It's pretty stock if I recall correctly. He runs in PGT.

There're at least two trucks that run in Production in the CRS - a Ford Ranger and a Toyota. Both are 2WD, run at stock ride height and are nearly indestructable.

Josh Milos runs a GMC Sonoma in G5, and it's been lowered 3 inches to improve the handling.

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Self-righteous douche canoe

There is bulletproof Mighty Max run on the East coast as well. At one point of time Anders even ran that thing. Not the fastest thing but one that gets most of the cheering...

Oscar

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rally gods would turn in their graves if they ever knew Lada's were now part of EU rallying!!!

Back in the 80s there was a somwhat well know Baja guy Holmes or something who did a number of events in a fullsized Ford. He always entered the "National" part since he had a big budget.
Everybody raved at how fast it was with the big 350 whatever V8.
I was rooming in next room in 87 for a week for Olypus.
We hung out at brekky and in the parking lot a bit.

he said he broke lots of stuff constantly.
For Olympus 87 his prize money (we used to have some prize money paid out a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago, at least here in the NW)
just about covered his bill "just for power steering hoses blown"

And if one did as we used to with the National and Divisional stage results and plugged in the stage results for each stage from top to bottom for all the cars divisional and "National", you'd see that his well financed and flashy truck, while spas-tac-ular, was being beat routinely by 6-7 local guys in ordinarry cars:
Mazda RX3's, RX7s, Toyotas, Datsun 510s, and he was less than 1 second per mile faster than the most low budget car out there, my own Saab 96.



Look choose a car cause its PROVEN TO BE GOOD AT AS HIGH A LEVEL AS YOU CAN FIND, not some reports of "some guy" in some poorly attended event with nearly no entries "doing good".
Choose a car that has tons of "room for improvement" in the basic car, so once you've spent your money onm the car and the cage, you can keep upgrading stuff as you yourself get better and can afford it.

So choose something that proved itself at WRC or some of the harder National Championships in the world: British, Swedish, Finnish (those are thew big gravel countries and we do gravel.)

Nobody even half serious uses pick-ups, and there's no real compelling reason to when there's all sorts of cars laying around.

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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.

Hey UFO,

Are those Oregon plates on your truck?? Looks like somewhere not too far from home in your pic..Snowing like hell at the moment.

We are based in Bend, and would be glad to help you out on your project..

If you're planning on a truck, you're better off 2wd. You can run in P (with pretty open regs), G2 or G5 depensing on your powerplant. You don't need the travel of a trophy truck, so 4wd isn't really necessary (and heavier), also that puts you in Open. A Toyota, Ranger, or Nissan would all be good platforms..

We appreciate the merits of trucks on stage and in the desert, and could build you something that could do both if you wanted. Suspension bits are ENDLESS for trucks..Lots of good stuff out there already. Very tough and cost effective.

There are 2 Toyotas in our stable that we are planning on building at some point in Spring or Summer. An '80 2wd 20r, and an '84 4wd (crawler). We are planning on doing more "truck Stuff" this year, as we are all very into Offroad, Prerunners, CORE, Buggies, etc. We all also have at least one Toyota each to test on.

Need to be able to build some crazy trucks/buggies to be able to build the ideal Dakar vehicle some day..

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Build the car, race the car, crash the car, fix the car..Repeat

Also,

Welcome to the board, and you better get that "required" info filled out before the real hazing begins.

Rally on!
B-

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Build the car, race the car, crash the car, fix the car..Repeat

john vanlandingham Wrote:

>
> Look choose a car cause its PROVEN TO BE GOOD AT
> AS HIGH A LEVEL AS YOU CAN FIND, not some reports
> of "some guy" in some poorly attended event with
> nearly no entries "doing good".
> Choose a car that has tons of "room for
> improvement" in the basic car, so once you've
> spent your money onm the car and the cage, you can
> keep upgrading stuff as you yourself get better
> and can afford it.

Like a Subaru?

*ducks*

B- Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There are 2 Toyotas in our stable that we are
> planning on building at some point in Spring or
> Summer. An '80 2wd 20r, and an '84 4wd (crawler).

Tasty. I've heard the 20R head flows better than it's 22R cousin. Next to the Mitsu 4G63, the Toyota 22R is next on my list of damn near indestructible engines. Toyota used them in everything for a couple decades. Cheap, tough, and easy to come by.

My dad has a 1980 Toyota Corona. Very rare car as far as I can see. It's got a carb'd 22R, 5-speed, and RWD. Very cushy ride, but I'm sure LC Engineering might be able to help. Toyotas are tough.


B- Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Welcome to the board, and you better get that
> "required" info filled out before the real hazing
> begins.

Wo0t! You've been promoted to B+. Congratulations. LOL

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

gilbrock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> john vanlandingham Wrote:
>
>
> Like a Subaru?
>
> *ducks*
>
>
>
>
> L2 Over Your Mom
Yeah, exactly.
Once you get tired of fooling yourself the standard trans can be trusted for more than 150 miles, you can start upgrading in progessive steps up to $4500 gearsets and 2000 buck diffs to $11,000 gearsets and then after a few of those you can get 15,000 dolar gearsets that work great.
Except when they break.

No problemem for the corporate chiefs playing rally driver or the Trustafarians playing "privateer".

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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.

DR1665 Wrote:
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> Next to the Mitsu 4G63, the
> Toyota 22R is next on my list of damn near
> indestructible engines.

You almost made me laugh out loud. I wouldn't say the 4G63 is indestructible. But it is cheap so if you destroy your engine, it's not a big deal. They also are easy to remove and replace and cheap to buy used blocks.

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Grant Hughes

NoCoast Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> DR1665 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Next to the Mitsu 4G63, the
> > Toyota 22R is next on my list of damn near
> > indestructible engines.
>
> You almost made me laugh out loud. I wouldn't say
> the 4G63 is indestructible. But it is cheap so if
> you destroy your engine, it's not a big deal.
> They also are easy to remove and replace and cheap
> to buy used blocks.

Then I shall have to try again, cur!

4G63
The engine in this picture has 200,200 miles on it. Original head gasket. Original everything else, internally. Previous owner beats his cars, and he beats them badly. If he's not flat on the gas, he's flat on the brakes. There is a hole in the side of the valve cover where the fitting for the breather is supposed to be, but is not. Base timing is not set yet. Cam Angle Sensor (CAS) is only finger tight so I can play with it if I am bored. Air conditioning condensor is sitting on the K-member since I left the cradle for it off the block during install (like a retard). Oh yeah, and the O2 sensor that is stuck in the housing and will not come out has no connector on the end of it, so the wires are just tucked in front of the radiator as a reminder that something needs done.

Engine idles rock solid at 800rpm once warmed up. Runs like a top too. Smooth and silky throughout the powerband. All this came out of a fire.

Indestructible.

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

DR1665 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NoCoast Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > DR1665 Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Next to the Mitsu 4G63, the
> > > Toyota 22R is next on my list of damn
> near
> > > indestructible engines.
> >
I shouldn't have to point out that plenty of people have blown rods right thru the side of the blocks follower by complete engine failure in the Evos, I can think of 4-5 myself jsut in the last few years and I don't follow things that much.

And 20R and 22R are impressively stout old school motors but they don't make much power so of course they're reliable.

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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.