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greenmachine
andrew, nothing is wrong with volvos. i was just asking...remember...i'm a newb like the subject line says.

and sean, the cressida weighs 150 lbs more than the 240, so yes a bit heavier (but w/a larger engine), and its the same wheelbase, that's why i asked.

Toyota had good sucess with their 4 cylinder GpB Celicas

They were seriously---I mean it, the drivers and mechanics were openly , and admittedly---I spoke with them -----embarrassed at the unbalanced, slow pigs their MkIII Supra GpA cars with that loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong inline 6..

Weight isn't everything, distribution it is makes a difference between a dog and va-va-va-voom kinda like some wimminz can be a little chunkier and still be hotinas.

Inline 6s are almost never worth the bother, and rarely work or return power enough to compensate for their fawking up the front /rear balance...

And if a person ever does decide to rebuild one or hot it up, miraculously there's 50% more cost basically for nothing advantageous.

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greenmachine
andrew, nothing is wrong with volvos. i was just asking...remember...i'm a newb like the subject line says.

and sean, the cressida weighs 150 lbs more than the 240, so yes a bit heavier (but w/a larger engine), and its the same wheelbase, that's why i asked.

Cressidas are pretty rare, not very quick at all. Never sold well to start with. Tghe last gen sold 50,000 units or so in the US. With the popularity being that low wrecking yards tend to scrap cars as they never sell the parts. A broken tail light will pretty much total one insurance wise. I've worked on 2 of them in the last 10 years, and I'm not in a high rent area...

Since JVL and I started rallying in the early 80s we've seen everything from old Cadillacs, Camaros, Mustangs, Fuegos, Blazers, Eagles and so on. Lots of wierd cars for whatever reason. Nobody had a wierder first car than my 1970 Datsun 1600 Roadster. I didn't have a neato internet forum to guide me nor had I ever been to a rally in daylight. So I plead ignorance....

Bottom line is you can use the II or a Cressida or a Cimaron and wear rainbow suspenders if you like, but if you want to primarily rally and enjoy the experience as such then you really should stay with the herd. The less money a person has the more they need to stay with traditional trends. By now we've really figured out there are no great undiscovered rally car candidates.

RWD I'd look to Volvo (Chevy powered), S13/14 Nissan and spend a bunch on suspension, BMW or Fox body Mustang. FWD maybe Honda or just stay home as I don't like FWD on gravel. AWD... Impreza, nothing else makes sense in that class (to me).

Of course there are a slew of little pickups that will likely work better than either of your initial candidates. As this is America and everyone loves trucks, your chances of backing may go up a bit also.

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heymagic

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greenmachine
andrew, nothing is wrong with volvos. i was just asking...remember...i'm a newb like the subject line says.

and sean, the cressida weighs 150 lbs more than the 240, so yes a bit heavier (but w/a larger engine), and its the same wheelbase, that's why i asked.

Cressidas are pretty rare, not very quick at all. Never sold well to start with. Tghe last gen sold 50,000 units or so in the US. With the popularity being that low wrecking yards tend to scrap cars as they never sell the parts. A broken tail light will pretty much total one insurance wise. I've worked on 2 of them in the last 10 years, and I'm not in a high rent area...

Since JVL and I started rallying in the early 80s we've seen everything from old Cadillacs, Camaros, Mustangs, Fuegos, Blazers, Eagles and so on. Lots of wierd cars for whatever reason. Nobody had a wierder first car than my 1970 Datsun 1600 Roadster. I didn't have a neato internet forum to guide me nor had I ever been to a rally in daylight. So I plead ignorance....

Bottom line is you can use the II or a Cressida or a Cimaron and wear rainbow suspenders if you like, but if you want to primarily rally and enjoy the experience as such then you really should stay with the herd. The less money a person has the more they need to stay with traditional trends. By now we've really figured out there are no great undiscovered rally car candidates.

RWD I'd look to Volvo (Chevy powered), S13/14 Nissan and spend a bunch on suspension, BMW or Fox body Mustang. FWD maybe Honda or just stay home as I don't like FWD on gravel. AWD... Impreza, nothing else makes sense in that class (to me).

Of course there are a slew of little pickups that will likely work better than either of your initial candidates. As this is America and everyone loves trucks, your chances of backing may go up a bit also.

Dammit Gene, the gawddam Le-gassy is a fine car and really if a guy wants to go FAST on like a lotta these modern stages, Le-gassy is a better shell from the 102" wheelbase, and if like say Chris Caylor over in Cow-fawk Town, Pullman, you can score one for 300-400 bucks, it it almost rates a "Soooper bitchin".
Those late 80s/early 90s original GpA base models: Sierra/Xratty, Gaylant, Le-gassy worked fine then on the loose, it was on absurdly narrow tarmac like Monte, Corsica, San Remo with slicks, and 3 stiff diffs that made the switchbacks and V junctions a bitch which led to the shorter--and shorter overhang---Escort Cos, Lancer and Impretzeled , and so IF you can stuble acoss them, they actually better for us peee-ons.

Or Legacys....Imps are better because they are also dirt cheap and about a bazillion of them at every rally. Leggys are better because they have a smidge more interior room and an inch more wheelbase or so. Either way the dreaded Sube is the best logical choice for AWD, followed by Mistu/DSM and maybe Owies or GTX last.

"owie" - that is an appropriate name if I've ever heard one.

This would be easy and relatively cheap option, does run really good as stock, we drove few years with group N 190 which just had finaldrive changed for shorter one, it had W124 300 Diesel frontsprings and Sachs sporting shocks, that´s about it. Really easy and fun car to drive, almost impossible to break, and parts are cheap, all suspension arms etc goes fine as they are, brakes are good enough, pads from "taxi" line are as good as any racing pads... And, lots of potential to make it even better when it starts to feel too slow.....
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mercedes-190e-2-3-16V-Cosworth-/120692207138?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item1c19d0ee22

Truck, Did somebody say, truck? Check out this ad: $3000 Don't know any more about it than what the ad says, though.
http://www.specialstage.com/classifieds/showproduct.php/product/2023/cat/13







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2011 08:35PM by Gravelgeezer.

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bttmotorsport
This would be easy and relatively cheap option./quote]

Sweet Cosworth . . .

I Have a 190 2.3, love it. In the US, I have seen 1 manual trans car, and that was a 16v cosworth. If we could get an easy maul trans conversion, I would consider one for rally.

The BMW is just a much better prospect due to the number of manual equipped cars.

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phlat65
I Have a 190 2.3, love it. In the US, I have seen 1 manual trans car, and that was a 16v cosworth. If we could get an easy maul trans conversion, I would consider one for rally.

The BMW is just a much better prospect due to the number of manual equipped cars.

Check the ebay link in my post, ends in 30 minutes....

Sean, the car Jari linked IS a 5-speed! $2100 right now!

Sean, I wonder if we could stuff a T5 into that Benz.

---

Robert.

"You are way too normal to be on Rally Anarchy." Eddie Fiorelli.

Robert! That might be the most sacriligious thought ever expressed here.

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Rallymech
Sean, I wonder if we could stuff a T5 into that Benz.

Or a tractive

What a bargain!!

And yes, I would build a 2.3 16v cosworth.....