i need some motivation

i have this 95 impreza sedan in my garage. it is a mostly gutted shell on jack stands. i am working on this car with a teammate. neither of us have a lot of time or money right now.

we have a nice ej25 to put in it. it also has a jdm wrx gearbox in it with a 4.11 final.

short term goal is scca rallycross, autocross and track days. in other words as much seat time as possible. we live reasonable close to Brainerd International Raceway and their nice road course.

long term is a cage and stage rally as a open light car running in the 3-4 rally weekends here in MN and maybe LSPR.

aside from selling it and getting a volvo where should i start? (something i am seriously thinking about)

we need to source a pedal set from a 91-94 legacy turbo or 02-07 wrx as the gear box is a hydro pull style clutch and the car is currently set up with the stock cable clutch pedals.

we also want to ditch the drum brakes in exchange for rear discs.

it has some minor body damage on the left rear 1/4 panel, we have oem panels to use for repair.

it has a fair amount of surface rust on the rear crossmember, control arms and links. i am sure all the captive nuts in the unibody will break off as soon as i try to pull off the rear crossmember.

how hard is it to weld in the bobbins for that stuff?

what can i do that is low dollar cost to get the thing ready while it sits waiting for more funding?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2011 11:58PM by Greg Donovan.

having a beer now.

Greg, take this with a grain of salt as I've never driven an Open Lite car....Why?

It is overweight, under powered and a bit ill-handling. If you're going for the multi-tasking race beast most any 2wd might be better. AWDs purpose is to put the power down , with a NA Sube you don't have enough power to need the AWD (and not many torks either). As a platform to allow new drivers into rally with a path to go Open in the future they may have some purpose. For track days, autoX and whatnot I don't think it'd be all that hotness, except for snow rallies.

Still better to build 2WD for rally anyway.

Sell the Sube build something fun, nimble, quick and exciting.

Have another beer too....

I'm a similar position to you. Not much insight on a lot of the specifics, but I'll share my plan and mentality:

The key to making a 'long-term-build' work is to not have the car sit. If working on the car (or waiting for the $$$ or time to work on it) is preventing you from racing it (in any form, rallyx, solo, etc.), then you're going to run out of steam.

So, my approach is to work on upgrades that will show some improvement for what I'm doing right now with the car. AND upgrades that won't sideline the car for too long.

So, my starting point: '88 Civic, minor brake upgrades, decent powerplant & trans, KAAZ lsd.

The plan:
1. race the car
2. suspension improvements - new bushings, OTS Bilstein HDs + stock springs for rallyx, Koni Yellows + GC coils for tarmac.
3. race the car
4. do some mock-ups and testing to see what needs to be done to get the suspension travel I want out of the car.
5. race the car
6. brakes - dual masters w/ balance bar, try and find a setup where I can swap front calipers and rotors for tarmac & gravel, and not have to change anything else. add rear discs.
7. race the car
8. get stage suspension put together
9. race the car
10. cage
11. stage rally!

(I'm on #3 right now...) Obviously, there's some other things (seam welding, skidplate) that will be sprinkled in there where I can fit them. But, in my mind, it's the most feasible way for me to get a well-prepped car on stage. Yes, this is pretty long term - 5+ years. But, by planning on never having the car 'sit' for more than a month or so, I'm still actively enjoying the car, and staying motivated.


In your case, I'm not sure how/where to get started. Starting with a running, driving car makes things a lot easier. Are Impreza shells really that rare/expensive that it's worth dealing with a rusty one, bobbins, etc? Trying to put myself in your shoes, and the volvo looks like a damn good option (and it already looks good from my own shoes...)

What's the minimum list of things you'd have to do to be able to run at a rallyx or solo event? Can you pick up a cheap runner of an engine to throw in while you're building the WRX engine for OL?

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heymagic
Greg, take this with a grain of salt as I've never driven an Open Lite car....Why?

It is overweight, under powered and a bit ill-handling.

The Open Light Impreza we ran at 100 Acre Wood weighs 2600 lbs with the A/C still in the car and no drastic weight reductions.
They are an absolute race and park until it's time to race again. Great for people who don't have the time or motivation to work on their cars endlessly. They are not a VW.
They handle awesome.
Don't worry so much about the brakes. We won the regional of rally Colorado one year in an Impreza with a EJ22T swap, open diffs, stock brakes including drums in the rear with Porterfield pads. If you come upon a cheap or j/y rear disc swap then go for it, otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Definitely wouldn't bother with Bobbins.
We will have two and four door cage kits available later this year. Might even be able to bring one with us out to Ojibwe for you if they are done by then.

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NoCoast

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heymagic
Greg, take this with a grain of salt as I've never driven an Open Lite car....Why?

It is overweight, under powered and a bit ill-handling.

The Open Light Impreza we ran at 100 Acre Wood weighs 2600 lbs with the A/C still in the car and no drastic weight reductions.
They are an absolute race and park until it's time to race again. Great for people who don't have the time or motivation to work on their cars endlessly. They are not a VW.
They handle awesome.
Don't worry so much about the brakes. We won the regional of rally Colorado one year in an Impreza with a EJ22T swap, open diffs, stock brakes including drums in the rear with Porterfield pads. If you come upon a cheap or j/y rear disc swap then go for it, otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Definitely wouldn't bother with Bobbins.
We will have two and four door cage kits available later this year. Might even be able to bring one with us out to Ojibwe for you if they are done by then.

Don't quote out of context....IF the car is to be used for other motorsport disciplines it may be at a disadvantage. May not. I rememeber watching one here at a RallyX plow pretty horribly on a tight course.

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heymagic

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NoCoast

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heymagic
Greg, take this with a grain of salt as I've never driven an Open Lite car....Why?

It is overweight, under powered and a bit ill-handling.

The Open Light Impreza we ran at 100 Acre Wood weighs 2600 lbs with the A/C still in the car and no drastic weight reductions.
They are an absolute race and park until it's time to race again. Great for people who don't have the time or motivation to work on their cars endlessly. They are not a VW.
They handle awesome.
Don't worry so much about the brakes. We won the regional of rally Colorado one year in an Impreza with a EJ22T swap, open diffs, stock brakes including drums in the rear with Porterfield pads. If you come upon a cheap or j/y rear disc swap then go for it, otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Definitely wouldn't bother with Bobbins.
We will have two and four door cage kits available later this year. Might even be able to bring one with us out to Ojibwe for you if they are done by then.

Don't quote out of context....IF the car is to be used for other motorsport disciplines it may be at a disadvantage. May not. I rememeber watching one here at a RallyX plow pretty horribly on a tight course.

I've seen a very fast open-class car plow pretty horribly at a RallyX. I think most folks building multi-purpose cars aren't looking to win national championships for their "off" purposes. (Although with the current state of SCCA RallyX nats, the right driver definitely could in M2 or M4...)

Open light is good. Keep it simple and don't get distracted by fancy go fast bits. Use what you have and upgrade as needed / money / time allows.

The 2.5 is great for rallyX. If the bushings on the rear subframe aren't completely shot just get some locker bolts and worry about drilling the capture nuts out and putting bobbins in when it breaks in half or tears out.

GR-2's with wrx springs for rallyX... will get a little floaty for track.

Porterfield will make R4 shoes. I actually have a used set I am not going to run anymore. did the disk swap after running drums for 4 rallies. If just using for rallyx, don't worry about the pads unless they are gone.

no use having it sit there, put together what you have, run it and have fun.

Thanks for the heads up on the drums. They aren't sexy but they will get the job done I'm sure. I do have some legacy sport sedan front brakes to use. But the need to be refurbished.

Kevin, if you are interested, how much would you want for the shoes?

I do have some nice lateral links with a full GN set of bushings for the rear that I got from my brother when he sold off his impreza. So we can add the rear sway bar.

We have accumulated a fair amount of subaru crap over the years.

I also have some wrx springs and a full set of forester struts/springs and upper mounts.

The non rally stuff is just something to do with the car while we get the money to cage it and go rallying. Like Kevin said no sense in letting it sit.

My teammate is a Subaru tech that used to crew and road race BMWs years ago. He has built a nice 2.5 that has a slight bump in compression. Add some delta cams and some head work later on and the motor should be plenty fun.

Grant, I am very curious about the cage kits. I don't think we will be they far along by then but I will keep in touch. Have you considered offering a partial kit? Like just the stuff that needs bending.

Thanks guys, I needed that.

Now have another beer.

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Greg Donovan
Grant, I am very curious about the cage kits. I don't think we will be they far along by then but I will keep in touch. Have you considered offering a partial kit? Like just the stuff that needs bending.

That's pretty much exactly the plan.
Is it a 2 or 4 door? We have a 2 door to cage after it's done at SCCA RallyX nationals. Also have a 4 door to cage. Once I'm unemployed in August I'll have plenty of time to work on projects. We'll be driving out to Ojibwe and would happily drop it off to you if it's done by then.

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NoCoast
That's pretty much exactly the plan.
Is it a 2 or 4 door? We have a 2 door to cage after it's done at SCCA RallyX nationals. Also have a 4 door to cage. Once I'm unemployed in August I'll have plenty of time to work on projects. We'll be driving out to Ojibwe and would happily drop it off to you if it's done by then.

.095 or .120?

0.095

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NoCoast
0.095

i was under the impression that an impreza would need .120

i see now that 1.5 needs .120 but 1.75 can be .095 for under 3499 pound car. so i get what you are saying now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2011 03:44PM by Greg Donovan.

You want motivation... Go help tech at a rally, so much motivation I actually skipped the beer last night to make sure the pistons got cleaned.