rally future

Pardon me for prying, but are you Frankthewelder who zapped all those frames together for Yeti?

-Al



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2009 12:35PM by alkun.

yup, that would be me. I still make bikes.

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www.frankthewelder.com
www.sinisterbikes.com
learning the ropes by wrapping them around my neck

doing linkages and brackets are some of my favorite tasks. I just love hardware.

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www.frankthewelder.com
www.sinisterbikes.com
learning the ropes by wrapping them around my neck

ftwelder Wrote:
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> yup, that would be me. I still make bikes.
>
> www.frankthewelder.com
> www.sinisterbikes.com
> learning the ropes by wrapping them around my
> neck


That's cool. You probably welded my first real race bike...Yeti Ultimate frame #265. I still dust off the cobwebs and ride it on occasion I'm a Cook Bros. Racing alumni/escapee and Al from a few posts up is from the Marin/WTB scene.

-Tim

wow, CBR.. thats old school.. I saw Jack just a couple of years ago.. wearing a hawaiian print shirt.. go figure..

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www.frankthewelder.com
www.sinisterbikes.com
learning the ropes by wrapping them around my neck

If you saw him at Interbike hawking those retro cruisers I was there too along with Jim Kish. He has since taken to heart something Jeff Ringle said. To quote poorly, "The farther I get away from bicycles the more money I make"

You should really give John V. a call when you get a chance to talk rally cars. It's kinda like talking to Jack but you get to substitute European motorcycle racing stories for Laguna Beach RADS stories.

Wow, thats sweet. I didnt know there were so many mountain bikers here. I like that WTF. Its too bad I'm no good at trials....

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

Oh man, I like old dirt bikes. I am the guy who rebuilt the frame on Jim Pomeroy's GP winning 121 bultaco found in a basement in Spain. I also built a Metrella frame. I started on a replica of the F11 Kawasaki prototype that Steg Peterson built for Ole prior to the introduction of the KX. sorry about the thread jack..

I have the rally thing narrowed down a bit (if I start my own program) , a VW or something that goes really SIDEWAYS. those finnish videos had me jumping up and down shaking the whole building. (it's an old building)

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www.frankthewelder.com
www.sinisterbikes.com
learning the ropes by wrapping them around my neck

Keep in touch man... we're working on getting a few FIA spec vw mk3 cages bent up or imported from the UK and manufacturing a few other parts to make making a mk3 into a rally car a bit cheaper (we have 1 finished rally mk3 and 3 more in the works)

I pay about $9.00 per foot for 4130 cage tube (landed) . I couldn't imagine the cost of shipping a B pillar arch from UK.. it runs hundreds just to ship a bicycle frame.

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www.frankthewelder.com
www.sinisterbikes.com
learning the ropes by wrapping them around my neck

DexterVW Wrote:
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a few other parts to make
> making a mk3 into a rally car a bit cheaper (we
> have 1 finished rally mk3 and 3 more in the works)


Details - he's not the only one working on a VW or a MKIII for that matter

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-Jason

ftwelder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh man, I like old dirt bikes. I am the guy who
> rebuilt the frame on Jim Pomeroy's GP winning 121
> bultaco found in a basement in Spain. I also built
> a Metrella frame. I started on a replica of the
> F11 Kawasaki prototype that Steg Peterson built
> for Ole prior to the introduction of the KX. sorry
> about the thread jack..
>
> I have the rally thing narrowed down a bit (if I
> start my own program) , a VW or something that
> goes really SIDEWAYS. those finnish videos had me
> jumping up and down shaking the whole building.
> (it's an old building)
>

Holy batshit!
One post and you mention 2 guys I know (been to their home club Strängnäs as my first ever moto-cross when I immigrated to Sweden the second time in 1972, met Stig (not Stig) at a rainy cold event at Strängnäs in July 74) and one who was an ex-housemate (RIP Jim, I finally have the back and neck shit going on you had when you had retired---just had a MRI of neck C5 and C6----they're FUCKED UP!!) and the last time I talked with Stig was when Pomeroy and I were housemates and working together in 1984)

Frank, the reason I, a long term Saab 96 guy with a really with a light strong, fast car push people to look at the Finnish and Swedish stuff is because whatever they're doing, they're sustaining many many multiples more cars running than we have in all of North America total.
Part of sustaining the numbers is the fact they choose cars that are EASY to make into WAY FUN CARS, not slightly warmed over shit, but REAL FUN and that means strong motors, good gearboxes and short final drives with decent LSDs.
They do a lot of mix-n-match of parts and they can do that, PART by PART because they drive REAR WHEEL DRIVE cars.
Engine bits cost the same for rods or pistons, but gearboxes or gearsets cost easily 3 times as much for any FWD gearset than the industry standard 5 speed Type 9 Ford box which many many guys use--it is the commonest box worldwide in rally--hence at least 3-4 different manufacturers making gearkits, hence lower cost.
VW your choice of gearsets---presuming you can find them-=--is limited in the EXTREME, choice of Final drives limited. At least there are good clutch plate type LSD for VW.

Since you have choice, choose right, choose RWD.

Hell go buy Grant "like Namasté, doood" Hughes car in Colorado so he can return to the ashram in Kerala and learn from his saddu.

Seriously the ability to progressively upgrade individual major parts is a BLESSING!

With any FWD car its's 20X the work searching for alternate stronger parts like halfshafts, axles, diffs, hubs

All that is EASY, just welding brackets on a rwd car.

Call sometimes.




> www.frankthewelder.com
> www.sinisterbikes.com
> learning the ropes by wrapping them around my
> neck

---

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 Frank

If you want to do a 4wd VW it's pretty much a bolt-in for MK II and MK III cars using Golf Rallye bits which are apparently reliable and somewhat available.

Peter Reilly (the HotBits guy) near Toronto is running a MK III in Canadian events and I believe Tim O-Neil has used this setup in the past as well.

Cheers, Ted

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

John, which not stig? Not Stig the rally driver, or not stig THE stig?

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2009 02:38PM by Dazed_Driver.

small world huh? I am sure you know Jon Liland. I didn't go nuts in the rule book yet so I am just going to throw this out there. Am I limited to vehicles used in their stock configurations? for group 2? Can you mix and match motors, build your own car? My daily driver is FWD and frankly, I can't figure it out. My love for VW's is from my buggy days and naturally, when I started messing with cars again, I would start with VW. I like german thinking, construction and parts. How about making my own RWD rabbit? Use the 1.8 16V motor, that ford tranny you mentioned and some 9" locker in a home made punkin'. It's been snowing like crazy here and my driver (85 cabby) has no e-brake, I feel like a dork trying to get it sideways. it works sometimes but I use 92 chevy van to go drift.

The stuff on youtube is all euro stuff. Is anyone running RWD here? It looks like a blast but is there a class? Will I get smoked by a guy in a camero? why not a camero for gp 5?

I only saw Jim Pomeroy (RIP) once, he held court till the wee hours and proceeded to lap the field the next day. I never met him. he was always surrounded with people at the vintage races.

It's good to meet you guys.

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www.frankthewelder.com
www.sinisterbikes.com
learning the ropes by wrapping them around my neck