The rally 240SX rebuild.

I figured I may as well create a build thread here as I put my car back together.

Starting with the rear suspension.

Tear down begins.



And humpty dumpty goes back together again.



So, in my professional opinion, this canine is very unlikely to be useful in tracking or capturing.



In other words, That dog ain't gonna hunt.



Bent the shaft and the tube.



Stripped the front end. The core support took almost no damage. Looks like we will just be bolting on new stuff and calling it good. The biggest issue will be building a new light bar. Hopefully round 2 will be even more BA then last time.



And the damaged door removed.



Having a professional come look at the rear quarter next week. He is going to give me some pointers, and maybe help me out a little getting that repaired.

That is a lot of broken.



After some pounding, and a bit of welding the core support was all straightened out. Time to for reassembly.



Bumper supports installed, and new passenger door hung.





Fenders back on, and bumper test fit.



The whole chuki bumper thing still throws me. I miss my pignose......



And finally the new hood. Still need to drill hood pin holes, and put the headlights back in. Then its time to start building a new light bar. Im actually excited for that lol.



Saddly, progress will be slow this week, have some other projects to work on. New damper may show up this week, though it will more then likely be the week after.

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I Seppanen, Car #240

1/4 panel is relatively easy to snip and weld, harder to pull and straighten I'd guess. Great progress on the repair..dang near fixed as fast as you broke it.

Yeah now we gotta beat that thick Finnish skull until he understands why strapping the ends of hings and some selective double shinning is so vital.

I have half a mind to go pick up some 240 Nissan junk and build it up and send it out there.. They have a 90 240 SX at the Northern Pick and Pull, and I want to head out there to grab some core Volvo struts....

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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.

Oh shit, what did you hit?

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

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john vanlandingham
Yeah now we gotta beat that thick Finnish skull until he understands why strapping the ends of hings and some selective double shinning is so vital.

I have half a mind to go pick up some 240 Nissan junk and build it up and send it out there.. They have a 90 240 SX at the Northern Pick and Pull, and I want to head out there to grab some core Volvo struts....

Whoa there big fella. I understand what you are saying. Strapping all the arms is part of the plan. Its something I have been wanting to do since the beginning. It just didn't get done because I still wanted to see what the stock arms could handle. In 3 events I broke 1 rear arm total, and it was on a big ass rock. I popped the end off the thrust arm. Out of the 5 total arms I have now broken, 4 failed in the same fashion. Strapping would have stopped those failures.

I am going to forgo boxing at this time. I have only had a single arm fail in the center, and it could very well have been the last remaining arm after the tree hit.

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Dazed_Driver
Oh shit, what did you hit?

Trees, rocks, and a stump. The real question is what didn't I hit.

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I Seppanen, Car #240

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Ian S

Quote
john vanlandingham
Yeah now we gotta beat that thick Finnish skull until he understands why strapping the ends of hings and some selective double shinning is so vital.

I have half a mind to go pick up some 240 Nissan junk and build it up and send it out there.. They have a 90 240 SX at the Northern Pick and Pull, and I want to head out there to grab some core Volvo struts....

Whoa there big fella. I understand what you are saying. Strapping all the arms is part of the plan. Its something I have been wanting to do since the beginning. It just didn't get done because I still wanted to see what the stock arms could handle. In 3 events I broke 1 rear arm total, and it was on a big ass rock. I popped the end off the thrust arm. Out of the 5 total arms I have now broken, 4 failed in the same fashion. Strapping would have stopped those failures.

I am going to forgo boxing at this time. I have only had a single arm fail in the center, and it could very well have been the last remaining arm after the tree hit.

Half a mind I said. I was mainly thinking about the lack of surface rust where cracks can get started.
I would think one failure in 30-40 events more than enough.

But figuring on realistic "life span" of stressed parts is hard. I will say the "common "wisdom" of having a "fuse' in the links and mountings and attaching points in the car is hoooey.
Strong arms, strong mounts/subframes, strong shell.

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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.

Quote
john vanlandingham

Half a mind I said. I was mainly thinking about the lack of surface rust where cracks can get started.
I would think one failure in 30-40 events more than enough.

But figuring on realistic "life span" of stressed parts is hard. I will say the "common "wisdom" of having a "fuse' in the links and mountings and attaching points in the car is hoooey.
Strong arms, strong mounts/subframes, strong shell.

I will always be worried about the subframe mounts. There are 4 studs that hang down that locate it. I added some plating on the topside, but I am still worried about them. If I were to re do it, I would tie into the cage.

For now though, I am just going to stick with "don't hit shit"

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I Seppanen, Car #240

That "fuse point" idea is bull shit in my opinion. Strong is good.

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Robert.

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

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Rallymech
That "fuse point" idea is bull shit in my opinion. Strong is good.

Except that I like to have the control arm as a "fuse." Why? Because it is way easier to swap in a new control arm than to swap in a new crossmember. I have bent crossmembers because the control arm was overly strengthened. Beef up the control arm enough so that it doesn't fail with normal abuse and hits but on the really big hits let it be the part than bends instead of the crossmember/chassis.

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Doivi Clarkinen

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Rallymech
That "fuse point" idea is bull shit in my opinion. Strong is good.

Except that I like to have the control arm as a "fuse." Why? Because it is way easier to swap in a new control arm than to swap in a new crossmember. I have bent crossmembers because the control arm was overly strengthened. Beef up the control arm enough so that it doesn't fail with normal abuse and hits but on the really big hits let it be the part than bends instead of the crossmember/chassis.

I'm with Dave...you shouldn't have the 'weakest link' be the hardest part to change in service. Strengthen stuff that fails during a normal rough event. You can't nor shouldn't worry about the catastrophic rock in a ditch as far as durability. That is a risk rally imposes that we just have to suffer when it happens.

If I were Ian I would have said JV's shock failed and did all this damage...

Quote
Doivi Clarkinen

Quote
Rallymech
That "fuse point" idea is bull shit in my opinion. Strong is good.

Except that I like to have the control arm as a "fuse." Why? Because it is way easier to swap in a new control arm than to swap in a new crossmember. I have bent crossmembers because the control arm was overly strengthened. Beef up the control arm enough so that it doesn't fail with normal abuse and hits but on the really big hits let it be the part than bends instead of the crossmember/chassis.

You bent a cross member because you hit some nasty shit and you hadn't strengthened it to go along with the strengthened arms you done.

There is no argument here, just semantics.
And fuzzy ways of expressing things
"I have bent crossmembers because the control arm was overly strengthened"

OB-viously the HOPE is that one can miraculously guess exactly the gauge material and the method to weld up those bizarre bell shaped piles of crap so they just tweak a little and never transfer right up the line any stress or shock loads..that's easy. (groan)

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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.

Here is video of the wreck.

Just wish I would have had the camera facing forwards.

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I Seppanen, Car #240

Front end coming together. Headlights re mounted, time for the lip.



Looking good.



Since looking at the body damage was far too depressing, I decided to get to work building the new light bar. I took what I learned from the last setup, and starting putting it to use.

I began by building the lower mount points. I wanted them to be more hidden when the bar was off. I think they turned out nice. I slugged 2 pieces of tubing with nuts, then welded them to the bumper support.



Then I built a frame. Tubing on the bottom, and I reused the old angle iron bar on top.





Then I added some gussets for strength.



Looking good.



I then tabbed backwards to mounts on the core support, and added tabs on the lower portion of the bar for the fog lights.



Lights test mounted. All I need now is lots of finish grinding, and some paint. Everything comes off easy, and in 1 piece.



With my spirits lifted by the sweet lights, Broc and I moved onto the rear quarter. Nurse, 10 blade!



Yep, that is going on the wall.



Took a break from the body damage because this showed up. Lets make her a roller again.



Damper and spring back in. Time to build a new camber arm.



All together now. Lets go for a drive.



Feels good to row through the gears again. Its only been a month, but it feels like longer. Its a bit windy inside though.



Besides the giant hole and funny colors, you almost can't tell it was wrecked.



Time for more cutting. Nurse, 10 blade!!



Hey it kind of fits, sort of.



And switching gears again, can you tell I have ADD? I got some more parts in the mail. Installed a new braided brake hose in the rear. With the system sealed, I busted out my brake line tools and ran new hardlines into the cabin for this little guy.



Willwood adjustable proportioning valve. I have been experiencing a bit of understeer under even light or medium braking and I wanted more rear bias. Hopefully this will help me fine tune the system. This is just a bandaid fix until I can afford a dual master cylinder setup with a balance bar. Until then, hope this makes it better.


Finally time for a roof scoop. Hopefully this should know down the dust in car.

Mocked up for now.



Finally time to fill the hole. Here goes nothing.









With the panel welded on, I took a break and started peeling stickers. I need to pick up some sheet metal to fix the rotted rocker. Looks strange sans all its stickers.



Sawed a few holes in the roof for vents.



Under the scoop.



From the inside.

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I Seppanen, Car #240

Is that "prop valve" on the front circuit? Most of those are a pressure limiter valve, and even on full, they will limit full line pressure. First you need to increase rear brake bias mechanically in order to reduce it hydraulically. Have you tried a better pad compound in the rear yet?