Because....Xratty?

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Houdini91
Alright, so after two years of daydreaming and whining and playing video games, I'm finally about to get myself a rally car....project. I had my cash in hand and was going to throw my money at a little old Hispanic lady that I work with, because she has a running(ish) 5 speed Xratty, in the rally-approved white, as such:




As you can see on the plate, it was registered as recently as Febuary. I offered her $500 for it, and she thought that was great. But her husband said that it was technically his car, and he paid $1,800 for it. I was gonna give him $1,200. Is that a good price? Or should I just walk away and get a Foxbody Mustang or something?

But then I got internal bleeding from an infection and spent a week in a hospital. Then I found out that I have to get part of one of my kidneys cut off (grew an extra part) and I have two cysts on my other one that may or may not have to get cut off as well. So now I have to pay a very reasonable amount of money to cover my deductible for medical bills for my hospital visit, and I'll try to talk them into waiting until January to bill me since I'd just have to pay for one deductible for my upcoming surgery. So that threw a wrench in my plans for now, but it's winter anyway and I wouldn't want to work on it until it gets warmer. But the car isn't going anywhere because her mechanic nephew doesn't know how to work on it and she doesn't seem to care about it much. And also, it's been sitting for at least a year. It'll be mine as soon as I recover from getting cut open.

I talked to her husband, and he said that there's something draining the battery and that's why it's been sitting. I'm gonna need to sort that out, and then I'll get to the fun stuff, which is why I'm posting. Because I'd like advice on what I should do and what I shouldn't bother with. What do I need to do to make it a very very basic rally car? I'm only planning on running in two events sanctioned by Rally America in Missouri a year, so I don't want to sink a crazy amount of money into it. Maybe $6k. The car is a block away from my workplace, so I can get pics of whatever you guys would want to look at and stuff.


What I'm thinking:

*Roll cage. Duh.
I know one of youse guys has a drawing I can give to somebody so they can weld that bitch in there. There aren't any rally specific garages in my time zone that I know of, so I guess I'll just give a welding place my car and my drawing and a printout of the Rally America roll cage section of the rule book and say "Okay, here's my car and a lot of money. FOLLOW THESE TO THE LETTER AND DON'T FUCK UP, PLEASE. Have a pleasant day."

*Seats

*Racing harness: what kind? 6 point? 4 point? 8 point?

*Underbody protection/skidplates. What do you guys make yours out of?

*Remove the jurbo. I'm new. Rally America knows that having a jurbo and being new means that you'll definitely probably get AIDS.

*Engine mods: How do I unturbo? What do I need to do, if anything, to make the engine less blowy-uppy? Rods, pistons, malt liquor?

*Put a fuel cell in the trunk. What size?

*Move fuel and brake lines into the cabin. Good idea?

*Reinforce suspension. I don't think my budget allows for JVAB Sooooper Bitchin' Suspenders. Or even Moderately Bitchin' Boingers. In fact, I'm sure I'm already over budget. But that's okay, because rally car.

*Make the e-brake more race friendly. How do you do that? Is putting in a hydraulic e-brake easy/inexpensive?

*How do I know what gear ratios and what diff it has? Would I want a welded or open diff?

*Racing suit, shoes, gloves, helmet. How do I know what size to order, and does price correspond with quality and safety? I'd rather have a closed face helmet than open face. The open face doesn't look like it would do a whole lot. Is there a legitimate reason why I should go with the Peltor open face? I'm most likely going to go with it, but if I can go closed face for around the same price, then awesome.

*Extra rimpz. It's a Ford, so I'm guessing just any old PNP wheels off a Ford would do? I'll have to find out what lug pattern it is, but I'm sure almost all of you already know.

*Tires. I'll probably just buy some used tires from one of you since I'll have to get them shipped here anyway.

*Extra body panels. I'm sure as hell going to need some. I've already signed up to the Merkur forum. Any Missouri guys know of any Xrattys in a PNP? I think JVL mentioned a Merkur guy in STL....

I'm trying to be as realistic as possible. So....advice? If, for whatever reason, the Xratty magically disappears, I'm going to do the same with a Volvo 242.


As I've said before, I've never held a wrench in my life and I have three functioning brain cells. So any and all advice and physical help is very greatly appreciated. I'm pretty thick, so....I'll have to have somebody hold my hand through the entire build.

But if an already built RWD rally car pops up for sale near me, then I'll go that route. But being life, that'll only happen either after I dumped all my money into something that's going to sit in my yard or after it's done being built.

Quote
Houdini91

Quote
Houdini91
Alright, so after two years of daydreaming and whining and playing video games, I'm finally about to get myself a rally car....project. I had my cash in hand and was going to throw my money at a little old Hispanic lady that I work with, because she has a running(ish) 5 speed Xratty, in the rally-approved white, as such:




As you can see on the plate, it was registered as recently as Febuary. I offered her $500 for it, and she thought that was great. But her husband said that it was technically his car, and he paid $1,800 for it. I was gonna give him $1,200. Is that a good price? Or should I just walk away and get a Foxbody Mustang or something?

But then I got internal bleeding from an infection and spent a week in a hospital. Then I found out that I have to get part of one of my kidneys cut off (grew an extra part) and I have two cysts on my other one that may or may not have to get cut off as well. So now I have to pay a very reasonable amount of money to cover my deductible for medical bills for my hospital visit, and I'll try to talk them into waiting until January to bill me since I'd just have to pay for one deductible for my upcoming surgery. So that threw a wrench in my plans for now, but it's winter anyway and I wouldn't want to work on it until it gets warmer. But the car isn't going anywhere because her mechanic nephew doesn't know how to work on it and she doesn't seem to care about it much. And also, it's been sitting for at least a year. It'll be mine as soon as I recover from getting cut open.

I talked to her husband, and he said that there's something draining the battery and that's why it's been sitting. I'm gonna need to sort that out, and then I'll get to the fun stuff, which is why I'm posting. Because I'd like advice on what I should do and what I shouldn't bother with. What do I need to do to make it a very very basic rally car? I'm only planning on running in two events sanctioned by Rally America in Missouri a year, so I don't want to sink a crazy amount of money into it. Maybe $6k. The car is a block away from my workplace, so I can get pics of whatever you guys would want to look at and stuff.


What I'm thinking:

*Roll cage. Duh.
I know one of youse guys has a drawing I can give to somebody so they can weld that bitch in there. There aren't any rally specific garages in my time zone that I know of, so I guess I'll just give a welding place my car and my drawing and a printout of the Rally America roll cage section of the rule book and say "Okay, here's my car and a lot of money. FOLLOW THESE TO THE LETTER AND DON'T FUCK UP, PLEASE. Have a pleasant day."

*Seats

*Racing harness: what kind? 6 point? 4 point? 8 point?

*Underbody protection/skidplates. What do you guys make yours out of?

*Remove the jurbo. I'm new. Rally America knows that having a jurbo and being new means that you'll definitely probably get AIDS.

*Engine mods: How do I unturbo? What do I need to do, if anything, to make the engine less blowy-uppy? Rods, pistons, malt liquor?

*Put a fuel cell in the trunk. What size?

*Move fuel and brake lines into the cabin. Good idea?

*Reinforce suspension. I don't think my budget allows for JVAB Sooooper Bitchin' Suspenders. Or even Moderately Bitchin' Boingers. In fact, I'm sure I'm already over budget. But that's okay, because rally car.

*Make the e-brake more race friendly. How do you do that? Is putting in a hydraulic e-brake easy/inexpensive?

*How do I know what gear ratios and what diff it has? Would I want a welded or open diff?

*Racing suit, shoes, gloves, helmet. How do I know what size to order, and does price correspond with quality and safety? I'd rather have a closed face helmet than open face. The open face doesn't look like it would do a whole lot. Is there a legitimate reason why I should go with the Peltor open face? I'm most likely going to go with it, but if I can go closed face for around the same price, then awesome.

*Extra rimpz. It's a Ford, so I'm guessing just any old PNP wheels off a Ford would do? I'll have to find out what lug pattern it is, but I'm sure almost all of you already know.

*Tires. I'll probably just buy some used tires from one of you since I'll have to get them shipped here anyway.

*Extra body panels. I'm sure as hell going to need some. I've already signed up to the Merkur forum. Any Missouri guys know of any Xrattys in a PNP? I think JVL mentioned a Merkur guy in STL....

I'm trying to be as realistic as possible. So....advice? If, for whatever reason, the Xratty magically disappears, I'm going to do the same with a Volvo 242.


As I've said before, I've never held a wrench in my life and I have three functioning brain cells. So any and all advice and physical help is very greatly appreciated. I'm pretty thick, so....I'll have to have somebody hold my hand through the entire build.

But if an already built RWD rally car pops up for sale near me, then I'll go that route. But being life, that'll only happen either after I dumped all my money into something that's going to sit in my yard or after it's done being built.

I think it's also worth noting that I'm planning on running Group 2.

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Rallymech
Actually, being "sorta drunk" is quite helpful when calling JVL!

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Houdini91
So last night, I was at my uncle's house (lives a whole 20 feet away) and he wanted to show me what he's been working on. Turns out he's one of those "Hey, let's make a dune buggy from scratch" kind of guys. That requires skill, a welder, and a tube bender. I asked if he'd help out with my Merkur and he was like "Fuck yeah, bruh!" SCORE!

So now I just need to buy the material, get the specs for the cage and ask you guys what material the cage is going to be made out of. What size tubing is it and and should it be made out of?

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john vanlandingham

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Houdini91
So last night, I was at my uncle's house (lives a whole 20 feet away) and he wanted to show me what he's been working on. Turns out he's one of those "Hey, let's make a dune buggy from scratch" kind of guys. That requires skill, a welder, and a tube bender. I asked if he'd help out with my Merkur and he was like "Fuck yeah, bruh!" SCORE!

So now I just need to buy the material, get the specs for the cage and ask you guys what material the cage is going to be made out of. What size tubing is it and and should it be made out of?

Download the rules...read the rules, Print them out, blow them up nail them to the wall and get a bullwhip to keep Unc on a short leash...
1.75 x .095

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fiasco
Copy the standard, do NOT get creative. If your uncle says he'll do it NASCAR or NHRA style because it's better, cease working on car.

Or drive/tow the shell to Grant in Colorado and have him do it.

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alkun
As far as cage design, COPY SEAN MEDCROFT'S !!!!

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alkun
As far as cage design, COPY SEAN MEDCROFT'S !!!!

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alkun
As far as cage design, COPY SEAN MEDCROFT'S !!!!

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Dazed_Driver

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alkun
As far as cage design, COPY SEAN MEDCROFT'S !!!!

This is pretty sound advice.


Also, read the rule book. In my opinion (John, I give no shits what you think of it, lol I'll save you the trouble) having to ask what size tubing and what material is a pretty sure sign you HAVEN'T done homework yet...

It's clearly spelled out.

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Houdini91
*Remove the jurbo. I'm new. Rally America knows that having a jurbo and being new means that you'll definitely probably get AIDS.