My first project! I need help!!

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heymagic
Since you are here in Washington all the local events are Rally America. Idaho Rally being the exception. So to answer most of your questions...no!

Car basically must be powered by an engine produced by the manufacturer . No way to tie Mitsu to Ford in this case.

Well really only if you care about points in the national. Pfft, can't afford that even if I did have a great job, nor would I want to.

But in the real world that I don't live in Gene is right.

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"Rally racing makes a heroin addiction look like a vague craving for something salty"

Thank you!!
See this guy gets it. If i may ask, can you be so kind to help me with giving me some advice?

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The Rookie with the "BIIIIIIGGGGGGGG"!!!!!!! plan

Why not make it AWD? its better to make something happen now than wait your whole life time to make it happen. And besides that, this isn't a racing car. This is a car that is a project that i can look back on and show that I've accomplished something amazing in life

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The Rookie with the "BIIIIIIGGGGGGGG"!!!!!!! plan

Buy don't build,
Learn to go fast in a slow car.
Listen to the oldies, because they still have good ideas.
But never be afraid to think out of the box.
Keep the BS as low as possible
Realize you wont probably ever win a rally
Keep your goals reachable.
Your first rally car won't be your last
You either have rolled or you will roll


Or what kind of advice are you looking for.

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"Rally racing makes a heroin addiction look like a vague craving for something salty"

see, the thing is, most people build rally cars so that they can race them. Even most of the "average joe"s here.

while i'd guess 99% of the builds that are discussed here are built specifically for racing, there's a handful that aren't - so it's not as though discussion of non-racing cars is verboten here.

but your introduction here being "I'd like to be spoon-fed how to do a very complex project, pls halp!", isn't going to win you any friends.

Are you looking to do this yourself? Are you looking to spend $$$$$$ to have someone else build it for you?

What's your experience with welding and other fabrication?

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KF7RWG
http://www.utahrallygroup.com

My .02... if you are going to put a cage in it, you may as well make it legal for something. Otherwise its just something to bounce your head off in a wreck.

Also, I don't think Juan was negative. He asked some valid questions

Budget?
Goals? - Looks like you answered car shows. and a trail every now and then. Have you attended a Rally Cross event? I suggest you do
Your capabilities?
Tools at your disposal?
When do you plan on being finished with it?

If your goal is to build something you think is cool, well then press on. Swap a mistu drivetrain if you want, just know that you aren't going to be able to ask anyone any real questions about it, because you would be treading new ground with it.

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"Rally racing makes a heroin addiction look like a vague craving for something salty"

I actually have some advice that will probably make people here potentially angry.

This is a rally forum. The purpose of the cars here, with VERY small exception, is to rally. IE, to race.

If you want info on making an AWD focus car show play toy thing, have you tried fabrication forums or focus forums? Why did you settle on rally anarchy?

I'm not trying to turn you away or kick you out, lol, I just find it interesting that you chose THIS forum, over all the others.

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

This seems like:

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Andrew Steere
Lyndeborough, NH
KB1PJY

Almost everyone here is here to race so we think in terms of the rules and in terms of real performance.

You do not appear to have these limits, you might as well go nuts and really build something special. Getting a parts car that has most of the bits you will want is a nice place to start, something that has brakes, sub frames, gearboxes etc.

If I was going to do something radical I would make it mid engine, a lot like a GpB car from Peugeot or Lancia, problem is, there are not many AWD mid engine cars around to steal parts off...

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In the long run reality always wins.

Good luck.

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Robert.

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

Okay, showcar done for shits and grins is different... as has been stated, that's not what any of us were really assuming.

Speaking in terms of something that would fit into a Focus, the only real affordable performance oriented options for driveline are from DSMs or Evos. Fundamentally, in the front you should be able to get stuff to work with just something like enine mounts welded up and custom axles. The rear's more tricky; the Focus doesn't have rear hubs that accept driveshafts. Easiest basic options there are to wait for Mr. Timmins's RWD conversion setup or pick his brains on how to make the hubs work... then figure out how to mount the Mitsu differential back there, with custom axles to work with the, IIRC, Explorer axles he's using. Other option is to completely convert over to the Mitsu donor rear subframe, hubs, shock mounts etc. It's not going to bolt up, but with some thought a custom tubuluar subframe could make the Mitsu components bolt up to the Focus without too much unibody hacking maybe.

Get good and comfortable at doing good structural welds. If you're doing it yourself, you're not going to get it to work without a pretty decent amount of cutting and welding.

Also, speaking as someone who has a couple unfinished project cars I started in my 20s... even if you're doing a lot of DIY stuff, it's still going to be expensive in money, and DIY makes it far far more expensive in terms of time. So really, seriously, consider and make sure that you're going to want to do this a few years down the line. If you absolutely want to do a good job of this, maybe consider some smaller projects first to gain some of the skills you'll be using; one thing that kills projects is starting as you're learning, then as your skills improve, looking back on what you did before and realizing how badly your early steps compromise the whole thing.

Food for thought.

Focaljet or something like that is a Focus forum that you would fit in better at.

I call fake person/troll based on lack of existence on facebook and referring to this site as RA on your first post.

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Grant Hughes

I need on advice on what to use to accomplish my build. everyone thinks just because I'm building a street legal rally car, they think I'm going to race. I'm building because i want to gain experience.

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The Rookie with the "BIIIIIIGGGGGGGG"!!!!!!! plan