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heymagic
Inline 6's have won a lot of rallies.. http://www.datsunhistory.com/rallyhistory1.html in between all the devastating head-on crashes while in ParcFerme...

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"In May 1971 a 240z driven by Tony Fall took first place in the Welsh Rally, came in 5th and tenth in the Monte Carlo rally and 19th in the RAC Rally.

The 240z, with Herrmann and Schuller, won the 1971 East African Safari Rally; Shenkhar Mehta brought his Z in second.

The Z managed to place 3 rd overall at the Monte Carlo rally in 1972, with Rauno Aaltonen at the wheel, but had little success elsewhere, finishing 5 th , 6th and tenth at the Safari rally. Aaltonen did finish second at the Southern Cross rally in Australia. "

A few. mainly in Africa or America---not often against real competition..that is to say anywhere where power and handling counted. Even 911s were generally beaten by simple ford Escorts even on asphalt.

Africa was special...Gene 404 Peugeot won Safari....they were not fast...

I spent a nice afternoon with Tony Fall drinking lots of tea and talking Opels---he made faces and grimaced when I pointed to the photos on the wall of the Zs, LOTS of faces and groans....but Opels...he went from Nissan to head first UK GM team then European HQ for Opel...very nice guy (rest in peace Tony), huge humor and very friendly---and somewhat surprised that an American knew anything in detail about Opels...

---

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.

Looks to me like in all the Group F videos the guys are at least having fun...and *gasp* hanging the rear end out! I'm too lazy to look up results and see how they actually finish, but since nobody running Group 2 in the states is making a living driving a rally car...isn't the car being fun enough?

Agree that there are a few places to beef up on an E36 chassis, but if you can get a roll cage put in one, the readily available chassis stiffening products (water jetted steel plate kits that run from $10-50) should be cake to install.

Dave

Ya missed the part about Z's winning the SCCA championship in '75,76,77 I think. Pretty sure there were Volvos back then...

YOU have a choice as a businessman here..recognize that people aren't flocking to your drumbeat or not. Good business sense would dictate you bend with the trends. Otherwise you'll be sitting there 20 years from now starting to work on BMW stuff as everyone is moving onto a more current platform. The BMW cars aren't terrible, horrid, expensive, unreliable, ill-handling POSs. They don't need more power, a turbo, race gas, axle trusses or any number of mods done to them. They can be brought on stage with a basic cage and safety equipment and be faster than 85% of the field can drive them.

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heymagic
Ya missed the part about Z's winning the SCCA championship in '75,76,77 I think. Pretty sure there were Volvos back then...

YOU have a choice as a businessman here..recognize that people aren't flocking to your drumbeat or not. Good business sense would dictate you bend with the trends. Otherwise you'll be sitting there 20 years from now starting to work on BMW stuff as everyone is moving onto a more current platform. The BMW cars aren't terrible, horrid, expensive, unreliable, ill-handling POSs. They don't need more power, a turbo, race gas, axle trusses or any number of mods done to them. They can be brought on stage with a basic cage and safety equipment and be faster than 85% of the field can drive them.

Gene I AM making parts for them--
I am mostly poking at Grant who is all afire for BEEE EM Dubya when he has a fine car laying around in pieces STILL and poking at all the lame excuses why the car is STILL sitting in pieces.

Notice I only gently poke Dave K? Or my man up in Quebec? (Who is planning on building the DOHC 4--smart boy!)

I think you being around cars a little you might agree that there are certain brands where the fan=bois are both rabid and really full of shit. Beeeeeemers and Afla spring to mind.. Hell any car where the word "mystique' is used.. Hell the "arch-typical" forum Xrattistas are delusional

Everything is expensive--its 2013---and most things are junk. there just some junk that is a bit easier to live with. (The HUGE variety of parts and models of Bowel Movement Wonders is sometimes a good thing--Dave K is sharp boy and has used that to advantage...)

---

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.

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john vanlandingham
I think you being around cars a little you might agree that there are certain brands where the fan=bois are both rabid and really full of shit. TURBOBRICKS spring to mind.. Hell any car where the word "mystique' is used.. Hell the "arch-typical" forum Xrattistas are delusional

Fixed that for ya!

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john vanlandingham
Who is planning on building the DOHC 4--smart boy!

The HUGE variety of parts and models of Bowel Movement Wonders is sometimes a good thing--Dave K is sharp boy and has used that to advantage...

Not sure these two comments make sense in the same post?

Buying a 6 cyl motor that makes ~200hp right out of the box instead of dithering with a 130hp 4 cyl in my eyes is a smart move, with the only downside being the extra weight...40mm or 50mm suspenders, problem solved!

Only 4-cyl that makes sense to use in the BMW is the S14 screamer from the E30 M3 days which can make really good power...but it doesn't make dollars and cents with used ones selling for over $5k in need of a complete overhaul. If you want to make good power on the M42, the best bet is to find a used Downing Atlanta supercharger - bolt it on and enjoy ~200hp right out of the box.

Of course if your guy does that and beats me, I can always do the same on a 3.0L engine, and as they say, no replacement for displacement...though that much power on dirt is probably worthless...but for a tarmac rally on a compact with a widebody kit...hmmm.

Dave

Just build the damn parts and sell them.

Let's see, for our Chumpcar BMW car we're building...
Tie rod inner and outer just arrived. $40 per side.
Control arm - $90 per side.
Diffs. I've got five now sitting around. Three taken apart to build into one good four clutch pack LSD with a 4.10 final drive, I am replacing all bearings, seals and crush washer. That will add $150. Two open ones for the Chumpcar, a 3.91 and 2.93 so we have a little option for the track. I have ~$200 into the five diffs as of today.
Brembo stock like replacement rotors? $50 front, $40 rear.

RE: The Merkur. I had one package arrive yesterday with the fittings for the inlet and outlets for the Bosch 044 pumps. The GM fuel filter with AN-6 adapters shipped on Monday. The final few fittings should be here anyday. Jeff is bringing me a pair of doors from Chicago this weekend also so I can make some lightweight hill climb doors. I bent up the fuel cell brackets last week. It may be sitting right now, but it isn't totally idle.





Wait, wait, cue the tell me how much I wasted on all those fittings and shit.

---

Grant Hughes

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NoCoast
Wait, wait, cue the tell me how much I wasted on all those fittings and shit.

You do know you can buy line to go between the fittings, right?

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john vanlandingham

Gene I AM making parts for them--
(The HUGE variety of parts and models of Bowel Movement Wonders is sometimes a good thing--Dave K is sharp boy and has used that to advantage...)

Well quit arguing with everyone then..ya old phart!

Ya know, I've been talking about the E36 being the next decent rally car for like seven years. So I guess John is right, I am a hipster using the definition of a person that is on the cutting edge and leading the way with trends and the current fashions.

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Grant Hughes

The E36 is a no-brainer.

The cheap way to good horsepower is what Jari did - 2.8 with M cams, S50 intake and headers. 220 hp conservatively.

If you really want power, go find an LS and T56 and drop it in. NASA LEGAL. Same weight as the stock driveline- 3?? hp right out of the box. Factory reliability.

Or, S42B20 or clone for 4 cylinder power, but you will pay for that.

---

"Talk about drugs. Driving a car like that, going that fast, it’s like all the drugs at once." - Tommy Byrne

"Now, Pinky, if by any chance you are captured during this mission, remember you are Gunther Heindriksen from Appenzell. You moved to Grindelwald to drive the cog train to Murren. Can you repeat that?" - The Brain

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DaveK

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NoCoast
Wait, wait, cue the tell me how much I wasted on all those fittings and shit.

You do know you can buy line to go between the fittings, right?

What? Damn it. I spent so much timing lining up my fittings, perfecting the pressures and angle's to get all the little fuel cannons to land in the (2 -sizes larger) fuel catch fittings. fuuuuuuuck

---

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

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john vanlandingham


OK, but even a crusty and argumentative guy like you...

Huh? John, seriously, you need to invest in one of these:

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john vanlandingham
I believe you may be able to recall what a disgusting pig handling POS the Group A Supras at Olympus '87 were, what gross pig handling shit the Supra of Kosmides was especially at anything slower, tighter..or not executed well.

Kosmides Supra actually handled pretty well, amazingly. But you wouldn't really know since you never actually drove it.

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john vanlandingham
But you built Dave's, your knowledge fu will make it never push...Too bad about the cast iron shearing off...must have slipped past somehow...

Actually, the reason the shock mount broke was because the spring coil bound. Infinite spring rate tends to break things. New springs on the way to solve that problem. Still not a fan of the single shear mounting bolt, though. Having some mounting studs made to hopefully improve the situation.

Also, apparently Volvos never push, huh? I know that's not true...

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john vanlandingham
EDIT: maybe I have really misunderstood something in a real basic and fundamental way. I still suffer from the idea that one can learn by others experience, that one can learn by critical reading, and by critical observation, especially as one has gathered experience over 20 or 30 years and seen trends and cause/effect..
I apologize for allowing this folly to affect how I look at things.

Apology accepted.