What did you do on the rally car today?

Well not today but this past weekend.

---

Matt Smith

Racing in glorious black and red

My daily life is a Saab story (sold!)

Well, it's been more than a few days of work, but...I finshed building the new 4G63T(Arias pistons, Eagle rods, brand new crank, oil pump, water pump etc...pray this thing doesn't fly apart in the middle of the first stage!), installed it, hooked up everything and it starts first crank (over a year since that car has moved).
Now I'm putting the rest together...looks like we'll be at Black River Stages!

I actually started pulling more shit off of the parts car. No piccies, just fighting 20 year old rusty crap until it got too dark to see. The (FC) RX-7 is now minus its front suspension, the new plan is to leave it up on jackstands, unbolt the crossmembers, and drag the engine/trans/crossmember out from underneath after using Sawzall to chop the bumper support.

This car has the "good" (as opposed to "less good" and "crap" rack, meaning pre 1989 power rack, the post 89 power racks were quite a bit slower and the manual racks are junk. Eventually it all will find its way into the new shell, for fast steering and struts that can be replaced and wheels that can be found on any Tom, Dick, and Harry (Toyota, Datsun, and Hyundai).

---

Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

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

Maintenance, maintenance....on the Starion, getting ready for Black River Stages. This car never ceases to please me as to how durable it it. Hasn't had anything more than an occasionaal going over for a long while and eveything is tight, even after running car 0 twice at Rally WV. Let's see:
- Some new lights" going to try some 8" KCHilites for a change
- New Michelin ZEx81 rally tires all around today
- New window nets and belts (The "good deal" FIA G-force belts don't seem to be around anywhere so went again for SFI, link & latch.)
- Need to fix one front sway bar mount
- Need to bleed brakes; stil a tiny bit of air in there somehwere
- Needed toe adjustment badly
- Drivetrain tight
- New turbo going on; need to check to see if there is any boost leak anywhere
- New exhaust; will be nice to not have it all crushed and mangled and may we'll have decnet flow for a change! Am putting a stainless steel flex coupler to see if this wil wrok better than the old ball flange just below the turbo
- New rear struts should be here any day now; it will be nice to have rear strut damping somewhere even closely matched to the the spring rate.

If it survives BRS OK, then maybe LSPR for a change of pace!

Regards,
Mark B.

What did I do on Mark Bower's car today?
Finished these including a brilliant move to use stock top mounts:



Got them UPSed and they'll be there Monday.

Also finished Chris Walsh's Frint 50mm front tubes but ran out of wire!!! and I had been fretting running out of gas!

---

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.

Went and bought some hellas, rally computer, a headset and some miscellaneous little things. The last few days have been hectic. As i was bleeding the brakes getting ready for some Motul DOT4 brake fluid one of the hard lines started to mist. As i inspected and started to take the line off another line started leaking. The problem is the fittings are old and some are totally stripped. Its been a pain in the butt, but glad it happened before BRS. So tomorrow morning work begins at 7 am sharp as i will change the lines, finish up the light bar and wire it up, wire the intercom and computer, install the first aid kit and tool box. Also need to put the new rally tires on the rims.

---

rally gods would turn in their graves if they ever knew Lada's were now part of EU rallying!!!

Finally finished installing the new motor and installing the rest of the drivetrain. Bled the brakes, new tires mounted etc. Took it out for a test drive...man that motor feels nice! Dumping oil out the timing cover (oh shit), but found it was the mounting bolt for the now removed balance shaft. Fixed it, more driving, a quick oil change and we're ready to go. Truck gets oil change, tranny oil change, new tires and a spare on the trailer, new hitch since mine was stolen...seems like we're about ready for the 1500 mile haul up to NY for BRS. Didn't get a chance to get the window nets in...oh, well...next time.

frumby Wrote:
.seems
> like we're about ready for the 1500 mile haul up
> to NY for BRS. Didn't get a chance to get the
> window nets in...oh, well...next time.
Good luck. up there!

PUT THE BEEEEEG 'FOR SALE' sign in the window!

I'll be in touch soon about this big pile of parts with your name on them getting ready to ship.

John

---

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.

Yea, life got in the way of the xratty plan for a while. I drive it every couple of days though and can't wait to fight it out in Max Attack some day.

I'm proud of the DSM motor though. First motor I've built and it sure runs and sounds nice

Fished these puppies and sent them off to Chris Walsh in thewonderful wastelands of Western Montana just in time for Wild Waste in Washingtom this weekend


That's the 4 th set of JVAB Sooper Bitchingâ„¢ 50mm Bilsteins
Phil Narini in Ontario,
Chris Martin in Ontario,
Dave Amor in Ontario and now Chis in Montana

Look for Mazdog 40mm for a couple fo boys this week.

---

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.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/2007 10:08PM by john vanlandingham.

Changed rear lats, added extinguishers, triangles, roll cage padding, DSI for Terratrip. Tried to round up the last few bits before WW.


JVL,
It looks like you changed your mounting ear design on Chris's struts. Especially the rears. Seems like a good arrangement.

That's the beauty of the internet, all sorts of cool pics floating around out there..

---

Build the car, race the car, crash the car, fix the car..Repeat

I admitted defeat.

Cut out a path into the woods, smoothed it out with a borrowed tractor, made the shell a roller, bolted the hood and hatch on it, and dragged it down amongst the trees and pricker bushes. Covered it with tarps and a car cover and walked away. Mind you, I've looked across the yard at the shell about 20 times already today and it makes me more than a little sad.

Hopefully I can drag it out in the spring, but the reality is, with a 10 month old baby and my job now being make sure baby gets fed, changed and doesn't stick his fingers in the electrical sockets, I'm not going to come up with the ten grand it would take to build the thing, let alone have any money left over to enter a rally.

Besides, tinworm has taken residence in the floors by the cage tubes, the cage (a product of both a stock car and a drag guy and my ignorance, we'll leave it at that) is garbage anyway and needs redoing, and my other spare shell might actually be better to use at this point (just cut the non sunroof top off the "caged" shell). Of course, my parents still moan about the spare shell I have at their place (it takes up so much of their 11 acres), so I made room for that while I was chainsawing yesterday.

But for now, I'm going to concentrate on getting my black XR4 street car back amongst the living. And with the rally shell not taking up a bay of the garage, I have almost enough room to push it in and work on it. The engine is already swapped, it's mostly just bolting it back together, then fixing a little rust and pulling out some horrendous minor body work from six years ago. Then I can put some boost to it and see how long until I nuke this engine!

---

Andrew Steere
Lyndeborough, NH
KB1PJY

Never admit defeat!

---

Ted Mendham
www.rensport.net

tedm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Never admit defeat!

NEVAR.

I sold the engine out of my daily driven, street car project last weekend in order to fund the resurrection of the Gaylant. Come spring, I've already got a buyer lined up for the Talon (said daily driven, street car project). I'm hoping to get $3000 out of it so I can buy a proper cage for the Galant and a $500 beater to get me to and from work.

Press on.

---

Brian Driggs | KG7KCA | PHX, AZ | 89 Pajero
alterius non sit qui suus esse potest

I thrashed wildly about in the garage and finally got the head off my Gaylant. Holy hell. What a mess. Funds should be here by the end of the week to begin picking up replacement parts.

Last I checked, I had 30psi (cold/dry) in cylinders #1 and #4, but by the time I managed to remove the plug wires on #2 and #3 (they were melted in place), the battery was dead and I couldn't compression test those cylinders. Just as well, initial inspection of the head reveals I must have been using seawater for coolant, as all the valves look like something you'd find on a beach somewhere, and I've got two broken valves.

Should be stripping the head down tomorrow to get it cleaned up and ready to go back on. Then it's hopefully a matter of fresh rings and a hone of the cylinders before I have #195 back on the road for Halloween.



EDIT:
Once funds start rolling in from the sale of the engine in the Talon, I'll be picking up some used rally tires for my other set of wheels, a helmet, and another skid plate for the gas tank. Then I think I'll be looking to find some rallycross action to get some valuable seat time. Come spring, I'll be selling the Talon outright to fund a cage for the Galant.

My keyboard rallyist days have got to be numbered...

---

Brian Driggs | KG7KCA | PHX, AZ | 89 Pajero
alterius non sit qui suus esse potest



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2007 02:53PM by DR1665.