Oldie but a goodie... the Open Class WRX

While I sit here 2 hours north of Fort McMurray in camp, my mind is elsewhere... I spy with my little eye something that has changed around the "car corral" (as it has been dubbed by Jeff's wife):



It's insanely loud. A friend of ours stood on the driveway while Jeff and I went for it's first spin to shake it down/check it out. He said he heard us the whole time (3.0kms away).

First thing was first, and that was to replace the dead (frozen over the winter) Deka itty-bitty battery in it. Canadian Tire is a block away. A OEM style battery (2 year free replacement no questions asked warranty!) was $79.99 with 550cca. Like I had to think twice about that!

Sidenote, why in gods name would you run a rinky-dink battery in rally? The 30 pounds you save (especially with the new open class weight minimum of 2900 pounds) is WAY offset by halving the RCM. Yes, the deka could output some crazy CCA, but why I'd need it to turn over a small stock compression motor is confusing to my teenie brain. Now, the possibility of the alternator dieing or a belt being tossed? Much higher. I remember Sylvain Erickson in 2008(?) and his battery dieing due to electrical issues IIRC and costing him a good placing at Baie.

Oh, and I am sure this will please some people on the board; I will be running pump gas in 2013. It will save me $300+ per event in doing so, even with the inexpensive fuel south of the border. However, just to know what I'll be missing out on, I'm going to run race fuel the rest of the year

The car didn't come with light pods (it is wired for them) and Paul Eklund @ Primitive has a killer deal on right now ($299.99 for BOTH dual light pods, half as much as the next cheapest pair I could find)! For now, I am going to run the 8" Bosch rallye lights that I still have from the Talon. They have a ridiculous bulb in them (ridiculous in not a good way, the H2 design, which is obsolete and difficult to change, so there is no ebay HID upgrade available). So I'll run 100W hella bulbs in all 4, plus HID's in the OEM headlights ($50/pair on NASIOC) and HID's in the stock fog location. Should be enough light for now and hopefully not too taxing on the electrical system. Expect HID's all around for 2013.



The free GMC 1500 towed the trailer in an awesome manner. 15L/100kms (15USMPG) cruising at a sedate 65mph. Rarely unlocked the torque converter in 4th. Rides like a dream. Now if I just wasn't an idiot and would properly load a trailer didn't help I figured I needed a 2" drop hitch, but the truck actually isn't that high. Proper loading on my new trailer should make a huge difference.



I've done up a spreadsheet for the 2013 CRC national season. 32,500kms of towing (65 tanks of gas at 85L each at an average of $1.15/L = $6300ish in fuel ). This has prompted me to buy a new 18' open deck trailer, as used ones are too expensive for the risks you take (namely, bent axles). $3k for a new trailer won't be so bad, in the past 5 years I bet I've spent $1k on trailers.

Now why is the car an oldie but a goodie? Well, let me explain! First, Keith owned this car since I met him when I was 16. In fact, I did two roadtrips down to the US with him in 2007 for Oregon (where I crewed for him and Norm) and Olympus, my first ever event where I co-drove. I've saw the car rack up the miles, blow up/been ran out of oil at least once, and in general been pounded away at. Keith then sold the car (I think? Or traded it with Azam? Who knows how it all went down) to Hardy, who had Swapshop out in Quebec build it up. V8/9 JDM STi Spec C drivetrain (2.0L, not the 2.5L like North America, s00per retarded close ratio 6 speed box which is hilarious to drive in downtown Edmonton). All of the goodies you'd expect, neetronics diff controller, ALS, launch control, the works. Retarded amounts of tq, very little top end. Dunno if it has a diff in the front or not, doesn't really feel like it, I asked but I forget atm...

So yea. Car weighs 3200 pounds ready to rally without driver/co-driver. Standard DMS 50mms. I believe the car still runs 5x100 (aka weaker) hubs on it because of the crapton of parts Hardy accumulated for that, including around 50 billion rally rims. Overall, the car only has 5 rallies on it as Hardy had a pretty rough 2011. He did Rocky, PFR, (Olympus?), Kananaskis and Big White. So the car is practically brand new!

Tires for PFR will be whatever Pirelli's [redacted] gave me off of [redacted's] car... they are "used" (not really, look practically new to me, thanks [redacted]!) and the DMacks off the Tal[hoon]. The DMack's will be on the chopping block for massive grooving at the slightest sign of rain, as they are only 195 and soft compound. I still need 4 more rims, I wasn't prepared to buy another 12 off of Hardy as I really dislike the old-skool OZ rally rim style on anything besides Celicas (and he pawned 6 of them off on me already on the rally car as it is lol). Probably do another 4 Evo Corse rims as a local rallyist (Tibor Kertes) can get them in for $180/rim in any color you want... the bastard told me he refused to bring in pink even though he can get it. So lime green will be the accenting color. Have a different logo for the hood of the car for PFR, I liked the death proof one, but this will be more hilarious and current.



Beyond that, I still have to go through the car itself and make sure everything is bolted down tightly/not falling off. Going to need belts by the end of the year, probably purchase them down in the US while around Olympus. The car also has some slightly irritating tuning issues... it is done such that you must either be accelerating aggressively in the car or coasting. I think this is done due to anti-lag and the drivebycable setup. With a new throttle body gasket (don't ask, SwapShop said so) and an update from VIPEC for the standalone, I should be able to get rid of the around town roughness of the car.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/2012 11:08PM by HiTempguy.

Nice wheels.
School Bus Yellow for wheels a black car.
As the resident ex-spurt on Kawakaki Green, its too dark on a dark car unless you're always in very bright sunlight.

If you don't like school bus yellow, there's some Honda or Corvette yellow that's sharp. Has a slinght hint of red in it for a full rich yellow... not some lame pale yellow, rich and full.

And get that thing to run nicely.. No reason it can be as nice as a road car when just takin it easy---and still rip when you romp on it..

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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.

do you have anymore of those 5x100 oz's?

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Sean Edwards
do you have anymore of those 5x100 oz's?

Hardy wants to sell 12 of them for $125/each. Gotta buy all 12 though. I could bring 'em down for you.

Or

You might be able to convince me to sell my 6 (I could bring them down for Olympus), but I need rims for PFR and would have none... Tibor's are 5-6 weeks out.

Hey check out PepBoys autoparts or Pilot lights.com. They are selling a 8in HID driving light for $129 each. Was looking for a set of Hella's other day for the Talon project and saw the HID's.
Finaly got the wiring fixed and raditor back into the car. Went ot drain the fuel tank/find leak..Punched a hole into the bottom of the tank where it had rusted from the inside out...Good thing I have a spare tank. Gonna split the old one for a tank shield. New welder showed up now to get a gas bottle and update the cage.

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Brent Dacres
Cincinnati,Oh

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Bdacres
Gonna split the old one for a tank shield. New welder showed up now to get a gas bottle and update the cage.

Not a bad idea. Gonna put some old truck mud flaps in between?
(nudge nudge...)

And my sister's son name is Brent. Once he was about 10, my Mom began calling me Brent every time I would call..

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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.

Quote
Bdacres
They are selling a 8in HID driving light for $129 each.

Got me all excited! And then I realized that they are meant to be mounted by the bottom lug, it doesn't look like there is anyway I could get them to fit in a dual lightpod setup for bugeye WRX's.

Well, well, what have we got here?

After stressing over getting a trailer (in Alberta, 16' and 18' flat deck trailers are perpetually out of stock because the oilpatch buys ALL THE TRAILERS), I was running out of time for the trip down to Olympus. My original, inexpensive trailer deal had fallen through ($2200 for a 16' rainbow trailer) and the 18' new trailer @ $3050 ALSO fell through. It was also hard to find a light(er) trailer, as again, lots of the trailers are built in Alberta for the oilpatch. I was being told 2800 pounds trailer weight that was only rated for 7k pounds The truck is only rated to tow 7000 pounds, and the lighter everything is, the better. It handled the uhaul and wrx swimmingly which would have been about 5500 pounds, but still...

Perusing Kijiji this morning, I decided to take a peek in British Columbia randomly (as I had initially written the province off as being too expensive). Lo and behold, an add pops up saying a 20' (yes, 20') for $2550. Call them up, see what the deal is. No hidden "doc fees" or anything, just that is the price with ramps, have to pay HST initially, and then I'll be refunded the 7% over our GST by the gov when I submit. I can get a spare trailer tire from them for $125, which is $50 cheaper than at Princess Auto. Score! Paid over the phone via VISA.

Another great thing is that in Alberta, to register a new trailer (from anywhere in Canada), all that is needed is a PHOTOCOPY of the certificate of origin title and a bill of sale (the invoice signed by the company you bought the trailer off of with your name on it). How cool is that?



I spy with my little eye... a blurry photo of my winter truck tires. General Altimax Arctic LT's (load range E). Should help getting me to Big White, Perce, and Tall Pines

I might actually get some pictures of the car tomorrow, we'll see... I don't believe the car has it's log book with it either It certainly won't have the driveability issues fixed by PFR, and supposedly there is a test day on the 30th...

Edit-
One thing that truly sucks is that I don't know if I will be at Kananaskis. I am keeping fairly decent track of my expenses... it's a lot of cash to startup from having NOTHING as of one year ago. Plus we were operating with a free tow truck, free tow fuel, and free tow trailer. I figure Big White is an excellent test for Perce, while PFR (while also a national which is a bonus) is a good test for Rocky. The only way doing Baie and Defi back to back is going to work is to probably leave the car/trailer and (possibly) truck in Quebec and hopefully catch a ride back with someone... or else I will have to sell the daily drive WRX I picked up a couple weeks back in order to fund Baie. I was hoping I'd finally be able to hold onto a "grown ups car" for longer than 6 months lol!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2012 08:09PM by HiTempguy.

Yes John I am planning on padding in between the tank and shield. I already have several old mudflaps laying in the garage just for that reason. Sorry the HID's won't work for the pods. Can you take the len's out of the housing maybe?

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Brent Dacres
Cincinnati,Oh

Some more pictures as she sits right now. Was busy selling the Volvo today, also did some work on a buddies Jeep, so that took up some time. Got a game plan together for moving 8 205L barrels in a somewhat-safe manner on a trailer ($150 in ratchet straps later)...

I dig the doorbar setup. Mind snapping some pics of that from the inside?

Dunno if I'd keep that air cleaner. If its still running a MAF tune those things are just damn picky.

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This isn't floor mat anarchy

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alosix
I dig the doorbar setup. Mind snapping some pics of that from the inside?

Dunno if I'd keep that air cleaner. If its still running a MAF tune those things are just damn picky.

Definitely can snap some pictures, but probably not until next week.

Yes, that air cleaner is going, I actually edited the original post (but it didn't work?) about how that thing has got to go, cause I mean, there is no way that could suck up water... right?

Quote
alosix
I dig the doorbar setup. Mind snapping some pics of that from the inside?

Dunno if I'd keep that air cleaner. If its still running a MAF tune those things are just damn picky.

There's another really nice car owned by Ugo or whatever that Canadian's name is that took 3rd in Maine that has a similar door bar setup and tons of pics on his facebook page and they are viewable by anyone. Whew. That was a long sentence.

Kananaskis or Big White? There was a TON of Big White talk at the shop last night. Though I think Dave is leaning more towards LSPR I really want to go to Big White in some context, even if it's crewing and boarding.

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Grant Hughes

Quote
NoCoast

There's another really nice car owned by Ugo or whatever that Canadian's name is that took 3rd in Maine that has a similar door bar setup and tons of pics on his facebook page and they are viewable by anyone. Whew. That was a long sentence.

Kananaskis or Big White? There was a TON of Big White talk at the shop last night. Though I think Dave is leaning more towards LSPR I really want to go to Big White in some context, even if it's crewing and boarding.

It's a pretty standard cage setup that SwapShop uses in all of their cars, it's a well thought out cage though. Not the lightest, but looks like it should take a beating.

As for Kananaskis vs BigWhite, 150% BigWhite. I might not even be at Kananaskis depending on how the budget is looking like for next year... but Big White has to be done it is THAT good. You'll never race anywhere else that gets THAT much snow



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2012 01:00PM by HiTempguy.

How much light? Douchebag levels of light...



I am in the process of ordering $700 worth of lights from Primitive... which is an insanely good deal compared to what it would cost to buy from anyone else, plus he has pencils/fogs that you can't get in north america in the PIAA 80 racing series/size.

But damn, $1500 for a full light setup That's a lot of cash either way you slice it. I am still planning on running ebay HID's in the driving/pencils on the hood and halogen 135watts in the bumper pods. We'll see how this pans out.

After having co-driven for years with shitty, ill aimed, improperly powered lights, I am a stickler for them. You don't realize how much they matter until 11pm at night with dust all over!