Gravity Fed Wrote:
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> just so i know, im i calling you or someone else?

Me. So we can talk like "Well dude you want to call my bud?"
I hate typing anything that can be spoken.
>
> -------------
> "The beatings will continue until moral improves"

---

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.

HONDA ! for front wheel hands down if it was near me id mod the suspension for free
rear wheel xr or id really like to see a 240 sx parts are rampant and cheap my ideas

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TSSFAB.US No HYPE just parts!!!! And check us out on Facebook!!!

Depending on who and how much your cage is, not bad.
I bought my XR running and driving for $300. Freshened up the motor with rings, bearings, ported head and exhaust, ported the lower intake, custom upper, that was about $500.

Volvo IC and new Volco radiator, bracket material and new hoses, $180

misc steel and stuff for interior FAB $100

Paint material inside and out $250

The cage was done by a local guy Derik Nelson, we did some trading, I would guess the final bill around $3,000

The car runs and drives, and I beat on it at a drift day yesterday. It needs:
Suspension- $2200 or so from JVL
My brakes installed (Mustang PBR fronts, and Taurus rears, 10.5" Vented F&R) with a hydraulic hand brake and proportioning valve, $600 in parts.

Seats and Belts, Helmets, radio, suit ect..cost dependent on choices, $1000-2000.

Skid plates and under body protection $1200 I figure to do it right

Mud flaps ?cost

misc stuff, Fire extinguishers, spill kit, ect $2-300

Spare used wheels, and stuff $2-300


So I figure, I should be able to build a fun, reliable, relatively quick, and safe car for less that $10,000
It would be easier to buy a done car, but what fun is that...

we will have to see how it all goes. i would love to sit in a prepped 1st gen Rx7 to get a feel for the space. But the Xr4ti is just soo tempting if a deal works out.

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First Rally: 2010 First RallyX: 2004 (a bunch)
Driver (0), Co-Driver (7)
Organizer (3), Volunteer (3)
Cars Built (2.5), Engines Blown (2) Cages Built (0) # of rotations (3.5)
Last Updated, Apr 9, 2023

phlat65 Wrote:
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>
> Skid plates and under body protection $1200 I
> figure to do it right

Damn. What kinda shit you planning on using under there?
I priced out a piece of 1/4" 5052 aluminum 3 feet by 4 feet for $135. Use whatever you trim off of it to make a rear diff skid plate. Then ~$75 for a 4x8 sheet of 3/16" hdpe. Add another $100 for hardware, consumables, misc and you're at $310. This assumes of course that you're clever enough to figure out a way to bend it yourself, and have connections that you can use a plasma cutter (or sawzall if you're in to that kind of self-induced pain) and maybe an aluminum weldinator.

I could be wrong, but the chunk of Alloy Derek just bought for his civic was $500. The skid plate support/crossmember from JVL is $250. Misc material for mounts and stuff probably $100, plus HDPE... it adds up quick

I am 6'0", and with a seat on top of a stock base, i have at least 4" between the cage and the top of my Helmet. I could not imagine an RX7 would be roomy with out lowering the floor and stuff

phlat65 Wrote:
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> I could be wrong, but the chunk of Alloy Derek
> just bought for his civic was $500.

Eeek! Shop around.
This is the place I found: http://www.discountsteel.com/index.cfm/go/main.itemDisplay/itemID/73.htm
$135.21. I have relatives in minneapolis so I can get it without shipping costs. But they quote $60 to ship to 98020. So for less than $200 you could have a 3' x 4' sheet of 1/4" 5052.
The $75 for a 4x8 of 3/16 hdpe was from mcmaster, and I'm sure there are cheaper places than that. I got about 10 sheets of 1/4" hdpe from the local hockey rink when they were reskinning the boards. Its a little kicked up from skates and pucks, but big deal, I paid $40 or something for them.

Don't use 5052, use 6061-T6. I usually use 1/4". If I need a bend in it I have the metal supply shop I get it from do it with their humongous brake after I've supplied them with a piece of welding rod I have bent to the angle I need. Contrary to popular belief (of even the people at the metal supplier that's doing the bending sometimes) you CAN bend 6061-T6 without cracking it if you take a few smaller bites to make a larger radius bend. You should'nt need much of a bend for a skidplate anyway. It's usually in the neighborhood of $200 for the size of a piece of aluminum for a skidplate with the bend. Maybe a bit more now, I think the price of aluminum has gone up since last time I made one.

That pretty much matches my experience. 6061, had a slight bend put in it by place, cost right around $200-250.

---

Grant Hughes

so are people using HDPE as the primary skid plate? Or aluminum and HDPE in combination? The idea of using polyethylene plastics didnt cross my mind.

---

First Rally: 2010 First RallyX: 2004 (a bunch)
Driver (0), Co-Driver (7)
Organizer (3), Volunteer (3)
Cars Built (2.5), Engines Blown (2) Cages Built (0) # of rotations (3.5)
Last Updated, Apr 9, 2023

Aluminum under the engine/trans/rear diff. Thats for protecting the vitals when you straddle a huge rock or land on the nose off a jump.

HDPE sheets under the floor for rock spray protection. Otherwise the gravel spray eat through your floor. There is probably more gravel spray hitting the floor in fwd and awd, but it cant hurt for rwd too.

Gravity Fed Wrote:
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> so are people using HDPE as the primary skid
> plate? Or aluminum and HDPE in combination? The
> idea of using polyethylene plastics didnt cross my
> mind.

There was a fad for a while using for skid plates.
Now people use acres all over the place under the cars supposedly to protect against rock spray but I believe it is like most other ideas "If a little bit is good then way too much in the way of servicing critical things and flapping all around, it has to be way better"
So its become an idea in excess.

Some thoughtful placing of it in select areas can protect things, but some thought what specifically you're trying to protect is worthwhile.


>
> -------------
> "The beatings will continue until moral improves"

---

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.

john vanlandingham Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gravity Fed Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > so are people using HDPE as the primary skid
> > plate? Or aluminum and HDPE in combination?
> The
> > idea of using polyethylene plastics didnt
> cross my
> > mind.
>
> There was a fad for a while using for skid
> plates.
> Now people use acres all over the place under the
> cars supposedly to protect against rock spray but
> I believe it is like most other ideas "If a little
> bit is good then way too much in the way of
> servicing critical things and flapping all around,
> it has to be way better"
> So its become an idea in excess.
>
> Some thoughtful placing of it in select areas can
> protect things, but some thought what specifically
> you're trying to protect is worthwhile.


Pretty much everything under the car needs protecting if you rally here in the NW. The rocks will destroy everything under there. Suspension arms and bushings will get worn down and bent. Floors will get smashed and punctured. My Opel never had any floor protection and I was constantly welding up cracks and holes. All the structural box section "rails" under there got smashed flat and have to be cut out and replaced. After the restoration it will be getting a couple of UHMW sheets under there to protect it. But yeah, you should give some thought to attatching it in a way you can access anything you need to get to.

It doesn't take long for gravel to wear right thru an unprotected floor. Rear control arms, shock mounts, ebrake cable, fuel fill tubes and brake lines can be destroyed in one event. I've seen a couple cars actually wear the floor out from under the cage mounts.

Another benefit of "plastic" floor protection is it greatly reduces the noise in the car.