golf/civic

golf VS civic

golf: 1984, gti (or so the dude says), rust free, engine needs work to run because it hasnt run in a year and a half, would probably need brake work, price:FREE!

civic: mid 90s, dented everywhere (good for rallying), strong running 1.5l engine, brakes work fine, no power steering nor power anything, price:undertermined as of yet and car will not be available till after the holidays.

my plan is to run it in rally cross events in the SCCA DC area thing while i gather parts. once i have everything that i would need to build a basic gr2 that is when i would do it all at once.

which one would you pick?





p.s. i hate having so many projects: 74beetle, 82honda ascot motorcycle, 1945 jeep, dune buggy, 1964 kustom schwinn..... and soon a rally car!

JB,
even tho I just put togerther a good B16Vtec motor that is really impressive, the wacky , weak, cramped double a arm stuff locks you into a narrow choice of what fits in the Hondas.

84 Vw in Norte America is still a MkI or Rabbit. Or as i call them cause there's so few left, a Rare-bit.

If its a Rare-bit, it'll be fun to play with (and I have some nice inserts for the struts!!! Brand new) but I wouldn't think of doing US stages with the MkI.

If its a Golf II, grab it.
And keep your eyes open for a old diesel box, or get someone from back home to strip down a box ands send just the crownwheel and pinion.

---

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.

yep, i'm pretty sure he said it was an Mk1. there are a few things that i was looking at as well with this "decision". in the mags i get from the old continent they often mention the great HP in hondas but the dificulties to get some good torque out of them. because they mostly rally sealed surfaces it's not as disadventaging as on the durtay rican stages. also, the honda aint mine for a while and it's not free but it does work and works well.

on the other hand the Mk1 IS free and it's free NOW. but i fear that this thing could be a money pit because there is so much more i could do to these engines. there are 2 competing companies in MD that prep VWs (EIP and NGP). ok, they are mostly "tuning" people but they got perf parts right there on the shelves. shit i bet i could snatch some deals from them at some point as well. and to tell you the truth, NGP do have some real race cars and there's a dude there that used to rally in FL.

as far as not putting a MK1 on a US stage, well, i figure it cannot be worse than doing rallies in finland with a scarlet. but dont get me wrong i understand what you are saying john, and i could trade that Mk1 for a golf2 at some point before i go bouncing off trees.

and about the "back home" comment, well, i do have a good friend who has a garage in geneva that could get me some parts. he and i were talking about mating a renault5 5sp (from a GTturbo) to a beetle engine or maybe this spare corvaire engine i have. that'd be tits! yeah, anyway, he could get me some parts for dirt cheap and i do have connections in the trans atlantic travel department.....

things do point to the golf.

Right now, in 2006, there is a LOT more you can do with the Honda engine than the VW. The Honda D-series (and B-series) have an enormous aftermarket following.

---

Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

pete, not in Maryland!

http://www.ngpracing.com/home.html

http://www.eiptuning.com/eip/index.html

there is more a honda crowd in the dc area though.

I, who have rallyed many golfs, would do the civic between those two.

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In the long run reality always wins.

I, who have rallyed as many golfs as Derek, don't think much of either car.

I dunno too much about Hondas - I understand you can build torquey engines for them, but I'd be worried about the suspension. Everyone I know who runs them seems to break suspensions right and left.

As for the Rabbit, I think it'd make a great rallycross car, but the amount of work you'd have to put into to make it a rally car would be extensive. Stitch welding the whole thing, fabbing up some sort of front crossmember, widening the track, redoing the motormounts, finding a non-noodly rear beam solution, etc, etc. And personally, I hate the Mk1 shifters, so I'd probably want to put in a later-model gearbox and make it cable shift or something.

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Self-righteous douche canoe

From what I remember from looking at entry lists from the "holy land" is that there are always many more hondas than vw's entered, usually very few vw's at all. I only noticed this because, aside from the volvos, the hondas are the only other cars that we get in the US on those entry lists.

The 2000 - 2005 Honda Civic Si Type R was the GpN car for Finish kids. They would typically take 6 of the top 10 spots in 2wd N for 2L cars. The older ones do have suspinsion issues as pointed out above. The 2000- Si used McPherson Struts like every one else in the world...

I personally own a 2005 Civic Si and it is not a bad car to drive about on the street it is everything the Golf should have become before VW lost their way and gave us the Mk4 Golf... a car I truly dislike driving.

I know little about the 90's Hondas but I do know the Mk1 Rabbit takes a lot of work to make strong, my dad was a co-driver in one of the factory supported Mk1's and they finsihed no rallys with the car... that is a car built by pro's with all the help from Germany they could ask for... they always broke something even after getting crates of stuff from Germany to make is stronger. Now cage design has come a long ways since then to help a lot in making the front of the car stay with the back but still...

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In the long run reality always wins.

yeah, i was thinking about making the Mk1 in a rallycross car and get rid of it to get something else once i'm bored. when trying to figure out how i would do this rally thing i realized i can do a day long rally cross but i would have a really tough time to fit an actual rally where you have to be there a few days in advance into my schedule and budgets.

well, i'm off calling the VW guy to see if i can go check out the car tomorrow. i'll take pictures if y'all care.