frumby Jason Hynd Junior Moderator Location: Oak Harbor, WA Join Date: 03/16/2007 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 333 Rally Car: XR4TI a slow build! |
Yea...it's crazy. I had 2 motor DNF's (and one dumbass hood smash windsheild dnf) in a row with that DSM and finally I build a motor that runs strong and I'm having trouble putting the car in the classifieds!
I started Sandblast really conservatively esp on the first stage...not sure if the motor would hold, but it held great. A really rusty driver, and a co-driver that had only finished 4 stages prior, along with a belt that flew off on the last stage (12 minutes on stage to fix) held us back a bit more than I would have liked, but damn that was fun! I'm thinking I love the talon! Probably because I've never driven any other rally car. So I should sell the DSM that runs well, with a strong 'close' ratio tranny, great cage and is log booked and that I've bled on so many times to build well...the xratty that will take at least the next year due to finances. Hmmm...tough call. I am sick of my head bouncing off the cage on stage or any time my helmet is on, the terrible visibility, the weight, the restrictor, the suspension travel etc. JVL, Grant, Matt Smith...anyone...I need a pep talk here! |
mothra Matt Smith Infallible Moderator Location: Wilmington NC Join Date: 03/31/2006 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 546 Rally Car: xr4ti |
The xratty has lot's of head room, lighter than a DSM, and great suspension available. They even look nice.
I tried really hard at sandblast to destroy the xratty and it just took the abuse and kept going. The biggest problem I had asside from poor driving was trying to find consistent grip without an lsd. Build the xratty and enjoy! Matt Smith Racing in glorious black and red My daily life is a Saab story (sold!) |
fiasco Andrew Steere Professional Moderator Location: South Central Nude Hamster Join Date: 12/29/2005 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 2,008 Rally Car: too rich for my blood, share a LeMons car |
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NoCoast Grant Hughes Godlike Moderator Location: Whitefish, MT Join Date: 01/11/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 6,818 Rally Car: BMW |
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wvonkessler Wilson von Kessler Ultra Moderator Location: Lookout Mountain, GA Join Date: 02/28/2006 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 1,127 Rally Car: Colts are in Finland; now '87 325i, '89 325i |
Get a 325i. You can pick one up for $500. It is roomy. It has 172 horses out of the box. A rally legal weld-in cage kit is about $750 from Kirk Racing Products, or build it yourself. It is torquey. It does not weigh a whole lot for its generation of cars (it can go down around 2400 lbs without lexan or fiberglass). There are oodles of them in the boneyards. Its parts support in the United States is the same as the Volvo 240 from a OEM standpoint, and there is significantly more go fast stuff for it than the 240. It is raced on tracks throughout the US.
It is RWD. A quick ratio rack is readily available from the boneyard. An LSD is readily available from the boneyard. A 4.44 or 4.1 final drive is readily available from the boneyard (and there is actually a 5.1 out there somewhere, which was used in the Prodrive M3s if you can find one). It is the last cheap RWD car left worth rallying other than the 240, since Xrattis were scarce to begin with, and the Corolla fetches the drift tax. Look for us to be running them sometime within the next year. Do a Google and you will find that they are being prepared more and more internationally. There are actually one-make series in the Netherlands and the UK for them. We'll sell you a whole Dodge Colt rally team if you are interested. You saw the cars at SB. Wilson "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 |
NoCoast Grant Hughes Godlike Moderator Location: Whitefish, MT Join Date: 01/11/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 6,818 Rally Car: BMW |
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Pete Pete Remner Godlike Moderator Location: Cleveland, Ohio Join Date: 01/11/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 2,022 |
He's talking E30. I want to know where to get one for $500. They have one very nice feature (shared with the 240...) that so many modern cars don't have: Minimal tumblehome. That means, the roof isn't half the width of the car because the pillars taper to the middle. More room for cage and stuff. No headbanging unless you put an MP3 player in it.
Pete Remner Cleveland, Ohio 1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing) 1978 Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver. |
frumby Jason Hynd Junior Moderator Location: Oak Harbor, WA Join Date: 03/16/2007 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 333 Rally Car: XR4TI a slow build! |
Yea, that's some motivation alright! Def where I think we should all want to be.
Grant...you're the devil 2 rally cars to maintain and keep up to date? No, it's the xratty for me. I own it already. They are rare, but I should be able to find a few cheap shells for a couple of years yet. The motor is no problem, a t5 tranny will have parts available forever. It's just a daunting task when I already own a rally car. I really need to step away for a year while I change jobs and get settled down somewhere else. |
randyzimmer randy zimmer Mod Moderator Location: Buffalo, NY Join Date: 03/12/2006 Age: Fossilized Posts: 196 Rally Car: rallycross 13B Miata |
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frumby Jason Hynd Junior Moderator Location: Oak Harbor, WA Join Date: 03/16/2007 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 333 Rally Car: XR4TI a slow build! |
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Richard Miller Richard Miller Senior Moderator Location: Sachse Texas Join Date: 01/25/2006 Age: Ancient Posts: 187 Rally Car: Saab 900T, Mustang now running |
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NoCoast Grant Hughes Godlike Moderator Location: Whitefish, MT Join Date: 01/11/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 6,818 Rally Car: BMW |
Just think of how much it sucks putting on the pulleys on a DSM after you put the engine in the car. Or how much it sucks to swap a tranny in the car. Speaking of trannies, how about the lack of real trannies for the car. Diffs? What diffs. There's three of them. Are there even any non-viscous options for any of the three. Don't even get me started on final drive ratios. Though I must say, in my old rally car as I was cruising along I25 in top gear, about 500 rpm from red line at around 110 MPH, I was slightly jealous of my friend in his DSM rally car passing me at 140-150 MPH in 4th gear. Of course, the same stupidly wide low gearing made the car pretty boring at rallies. And god damn if my neck didn't hurt after codriving in that car, where my head was crooked the whole time. Oh, and let us not forget about the awesome weak transfer cases and superb weight balance, and excellent suspension travel, or lack there of anyhow. Oh yeah, and let's not forget the neverending intercooler plumbing that's always in the way of whatever your working on, their poor aerodynamics that results in them liking to run hot, then stuff the turbo right next to your radiator so it can melt the fans and really cause some fun overheating problems.
XR4ti, one diff, tough, close ratio gearboxes, no restrictor, light weight, strong components, rally specific upgrades available for almost every single important part in the car. Speaking of which, I was looking at Evo brakes today. The front Group N setup costs more than my entire Group A replica brakes and pedal box. Grant Hughes |
frumby Jason Hynd Junior Moderator Location: Oak Harbor, WA Join Date: 03/16/2007 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 333 Rally Car: XR4TI a slow build! |
Exactly Grant. Those are the things I need to remember. God changing pullys/belts SUCKS esp when the motor is blazing hot...why did I lose 12 minutes on stage to change a belt last Saturday?
There are diffs out there. Kaaz front (mine's open), some stock models had a clutch type rear (mine's viscous and I don't think it works much). My center is welded. TRE did the tranny for $2000+ with double synchros and closed the ratios a bit. It's just ok and it's a nightmare to remove that thing without pulling the entire motor. Worse than the suspension travel is the fact that to see over the hood you have to sit so high that my head is almost on the roof, and my helmet is bouncing off the cage, even though that is super tight to the B-pillar. Time to work on the xratty I think, but it'll be a far cry from the monster you're building...at least for a while it looks like a Lincoln Locker and the stock T9 tranny. Shouldn't be too bad with some suspenders and brakes though. |
NoCoast Grant Hughes Godlike Moderator Location: Whitefish, MT Join Date: 01/11/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 6,818 Rally Car: BMW |
I have small hands so always got nominated to do the four M8 bolts that hold the water pump pulley. Or is that PS. Anyhow, it sucked, and even with my girly hands I usually had trouble.
Suspension and brakes are #1 on the list for an XR in my opinion. Leave everything else stock, weld the rear diff, and go. Then upgrade over time. I made the mistake of buying alot of stuff up front while I was waiting to get the cage done and for brakes, but now I'm close. Just was out there getting ready for the super cool power steering cooler and oil cooler setup. Was planning on working on it alot this weekend, but of course, 6-7" of snow in the forecast. Grant Hughes |
wvonkessler Wilson von Kessler Ultra Moderator Location: Lookout Mountain, GA Join Date: 02/28/2006 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 1,127 Rally Car: Colts are in Finland; now '87 325i, '89 325i |
E30. I guess it is all in what you want. I want it cheap, and decent, and a car can be put together pretty cheap and decent, with the only alleged thing lacking being suspension travel.
To quote my good friend Geo. Beckerman:
I'm not worried about the suspension on the superhighways that make up the stages east of the Mississippi. And giggles per dollar are pretty damn good. And parts are way easier to find on a car of which there were 2.5 million produced, and which are still raced all over the place. Keep building your Xratty. Or build an E30 in 1/4 of the time. You aren't going to win in the Xratty anyhow (or in the E30 for that matter) but you will have a ball in RWD, just sooner. Regards, Wilson, who is actively rallying an old RWD Colt, and just wants to move from 1977 to 1987. "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 Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2008 08:12PM by wvonkessler. |