Building A Rally Car

[abbott]

hello ladies and gentlemen.

 

me and a mate just picked up a t-18 as a joint project to turn into a little rally car, reason behind this is I've always been into wrc and I love driving on dirt, but most of all it's a good learning curve.

 

anyway back on topic.

now I was wondering where do you start when building a rally car? what kind of suspension mods? where would be the best place to start as I have no knowledge of how rally cars are built and I know there's a lot of people into it on this forum that can swing some info my way.

 

cheers Tom

[altezzaclub]

Join BMSC- Brindebella Motor Sports Club, they are very good online.

 

Start hunting for a limited slip diff right now- best thing you will ever do.

 

Go gas struts rather than non-gas, you can't afford to have the oil inside form a foam. You also need shocks that push the car back up. Racing shocks like Konis tend to pull the car down onto the ground. (their rebound is strong, their bounce is weak) so the valving is important.

 

Spring rates can be softer in the rear but the shocks will have to stop it from bottoming out. You're not going to carry 4adults and their holiday luggage, and you want rear squat to get traction.

 

Negative camber on the front and lots of castor as you want plenty of front end grip. You need the nose to turn in when you want it to, and you steer the tail with the accelerator.

 

The closest ratio gearbox you can find, and then the lowest diff ratio. 4.5 to 5.0 would be best. You want all acceleration and no top speed.

 

..and a cage- If you're into CAMS it will have to be over-built and heavy, but something half the size will help hold the car in shape (we used to have the back window jump out over yumps...) and keep the roof off your head in a roll.

 

Don't modify the engine to race specs! Keep it torquey with lots of mid-range when it comes to cams and carbs. There is nothing worse than falling off the cam as you go into a corner and find there is no power to get grip.

 

Newspaper photo of us from Cape Town-

 

 

 

 

 

[irokin]

Print out the applicable regs:

http://www.camsmanual.com.au/04_rally_road.asp

http://www.camsmanual.com.au/10_gen_req.asp

 

 

Read them, read them again, then decide what you want to build and read them again.

 

When I was trying to keep within the 3J IPRA regs I always kept the latest version near the car and a copy at work so whenever I had a brainwave I could go grab the regs and make sure it was legal.

[snot35]

I have new respect for you altezza, that's an awesome photo.

 

There's a lot to consider if you want to do proper rally. Firstly, consider that building your own car is going to cost you a heap of money and think about whether you want to put that into a T18. Also consider that T18's are a little harder to find, you will bend it, finding new panels and shells might be too hard.

 

At the moment I'm working on a KE70, a car I chose for a number of reasons:

I wanted RWD

Go fast bits like good suspension, brakes, motors etc are shared with the AE86 so they are fairly readily available

There are still a lot of them around so if I roll it into a ball I should be able to find another one

Lots of engine options, 4K, 4AGE (Classic), 2TG (up to 2lt) CAMS

etc.

 

The first thing to do would be join a local rally club, ask a lot of questions and be realistic about how much you can achieve.

 

I use the KE70 in khana's at the moment which I think is a good place to start. You don't need many mods to run, they're cheap and you get your dirt fix.

 

Doing a proper stage rally takes A LOT more effort in prep, money and time. Cars have to be a higher standard and have all the safety requirements covered.

 

I'd recommend club, khanas, learn a lot, work your way to intro rallies, then club, state, national, then international in that order :P :)

[altezzaclub]

Also consider that T18's are a little harder to find, you will bend it, finding new panels and shells might be too hard.

 

That is very true- We used Datsun 1600s before that Corolla because in 1980 the 1600s were at their minimum price and we must have gone through a dozen over the years!

 

Snot's also right about joining a club and someone else's team- do service for someone for a year and you will learn heaps about how it all works. In that year get a KE70 into gymkhanas & hillclimbs and trackdays so you can keep it as a road car and build it up slowly. Rallying takes 5 or 6 people really, so you need a lot of keen mates who can help, a big chequebook and a very friendly panelbeater and engine shop!! :laff:

 

Three nights a week, without fail, we would meet at my mate's place and work on the rallycar, or fix cars for people to pay for the rallying. He had a double garage that became a 5car garage over the years.

 

 

[snot35]

So got any other pictures of your previous cars altezza, and what were the specs roughly? :)

[Redwarf]

. Rallying takes 5 or 6 people really, so you need a lot of keen mates who can help, a big chequebook and a very friendly panelbeater and engine shop!! :laff:

 

 

With the exception of the above sentence, it's all pretty much on the money.

 

I have, and still do (mostly) service myself. If the service car needs to be moved, there's always helpful people on hand. However, in this day and age, central service is generally the go. Service is usually at the start finish, so your service point doesn't need to move. Yes mates are helpful, but not essential.

 

Chequebook: Rallying is as expensive as you want to make it.

 

Alternatively, it's as expensive in preportion to how fast you want to go.

 

My two Corolla's ate 2 tyres in about 120km competitive. Chewed fuel at about 1 litre per 3 kms. Regular box, suspension, diff rebuilds, etc.

 

Conversely, my Excel series car ran for a year on 6 tyres and about $20 in fuel, and you never had to touch it. At all.

 

Panel beater: If you're any good, you wont need one.

 

Engine builder, agree these can be handy, but not essential, particularly if you're running something late model and can just buy import donks.

 

Rallying can easily be done on a budget.

 

Join a club. Buy a car. Have a go. :)

Edited November 7, 2011 by Redwarf

[parrot]

Agreed, join a club and buy something that is already built up and common, i.e. an excel.

 

Doesn't have to be fast, it will feel plenty fast enough!

[altezzaclub]

I'll do a writeup in The Girl's KE70 in a few days, I don't want to hijack abbott's thread too much. I'll have to scan a few 1970s photos first. They tended to be rough and ready P510s that were extremely light and extremely fast, so they didn't last long!

 

I would only build a RWD car, but that's just my style.

 

 

[parrot]

Looks like you just robbed a bank.

[altezzaclub]

Looks like you just robbed a bank.

 

:laff:

 

I fear we always looked like that! The Politzi did nail me once or twice for excessive noise, but I had some good luck in Court... another story another time... :D