How Not To Build A Rally Car

[altezzaclub]

Yep! Turbo'd. Some guys have money AND dedication.. We, on the other hand...

 

There are plans for a better engine than a completely stock 18RG. Its amazing how doing well increases the enthusiasm!

[snot35]

Yeah I wondered about the T on the end. That thing would have been a sight!

 

P.S. BEAMS? :)

Edited April 17, 2013 by snot35

[Jesse]

hmm great work.. guys It looks you are pretty expert in all this stuff. as you are doing this work... Anyhow thanks for sharing these photos. I like this thread....and please keep continue sharing these photos.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Jesse

[altezzaclub]

Well, I hope the young man is installing struts today, although I know the truck is busy doing other things..

 

Friday they should be down here in Otrange, and Saturday we are off to the Jenolan Forest for an afternoon/night rally.

 

If you want to watch, it is just South of Hampton, near Lithgow.

[corollaart]

How did it go down there Keith.??

 

rob

[altezzaclub]

Ah well... Steve ran into a little problem putting a Bilstein back in the strut when the ring-nut didn't engage the outer tube to hold it straight, and when he did it up it crushed the outer tube and stripped the thread. After an hour or two of panicked prying the outer tube straight he assembled it all, only to have the nut pop off when they loaded the truck!

 

That's how it arrived in Orange on Friday afternoon, with plans to screw it back in and tack-weld it in place, Woolshed Style!

 

Anyway, we stripped it out and cleaned it. The Bilstein is upside-down compared to most shocks, a very clever idea as it puts the weak thin piston shaft down inside the strut where it doesn't move, and the large strong outer shock body sticks out inside the coil spring and goes up and down.

 

We cleaned up the end of the tube so it fitted the ring-nut nicely then put it back together, but it stripped as we tightened it. The very fine threads on the ring-nut were worn and the end of the strut expanded a fraction of a mm.

[altezzaclub]

We tapped the outer tube off the bottom end cap, and then it looks like a shock, complete with bump stop.

 

I cleaned the threads up on the strut & the nut, screwed it all the way in and found it went in 3mm more without the tube on before it reached the end of the thread.

 

Obvious solution, I took to the tube with a hacksaw, much to Steve's horror!

[altezzaclub]

I cut 1.6mm off with a hacksaw, checked it & found we still had a bit more to go, and took another slice off.

 

Then he held the strut down on the vice while I hammeed all around the top with a ball-peen hammer!

 

When we put it back together it seated right down and did up tight, the extra clean threads working fine.

 

So we got it all together and headed of. First stage was about 10km, he started car 33 and came off it 25th. I've got a quick, crappy video from the spectator corner, but the comments in the crowd are more fun than the picture.. "Stop stop stop.. Look out! Brakes work good!! etc..."

 

There's a longer better one too, but its 65Meg so I'll have to upload it somewhere.

 

Overall he was hitting 20th-22nd, but did a great 14th place when a slower car wouldn't let him start in front and he was told he wasn't faster anyway. So he took 40seconds out of the guy in the next stage and was allowed past! He was 17th on the penultimate stage but a puncture in the last stage cost 7 places and he ended up 24th of 50-something cars.

 

Another new navigator, the 4th in 4 rallies... he must scare the hell out of them! I hope this one stays, she did everything right & we need some consistancy to do well.

 

So, that strut stayed together, and so did the other one with the worst of the tack-welds holding the spring seat up higher.. he viciously attacked a bank with that one apparently.

 

Only a month to the next one, so much I'd like to do!

 

& a couple photos up tomorrow.

[corollaart]

Buggar about the puncher.

 

So your going to pack up the bottom of the shock with some timber packers??

 

Thanks for the pics of internals ,they look good gear compaired to shit ive got.

 

rob

[altezzaclub]

nah- we don't need to, but we would if it was needed! The ring-nut sits right down snugly in the strut, whereas it was 6mm proud before, and it holds the shock in tight. On the list is "buy new ring-nut" and "prepare new struts as spares" and even "heat-shrink reinforcing collar onto outside of strut top"! but these lists never seem to get finished with a rally car!

 

Here's a bit of the spectator point on stage one. It was the first time I've used the pocket camera on video, so its not very good.

 

and here's stage 4 when I was getting better with the camera.

Edited April 28, 2013 by altezzaclub

[altezzaclub]

Got a publicity photo... with the mucking around learning about videos, I didn't get any action shots.

 

You can see how much extra clearance we've got compared to the first photos in the topic. The nose doesn't hit (if you stay on the road..) and the tail squats for traction. All I want to play with now is even softer rer springs.

[InSaNiTy]

That was a great read Keith, I just read the whole lot from start to finish and learnt that I do not possess the mechanical knowledge, know-how and talent to build a rally car!

Wow - Steve is one lucky man to have you to help him wih his car! All the best for the up coming rally season and if you guys ever come upto to QLD I'll love to come and watch you race.

 

Unbelievably lucky actually, the things that happened because I tow started some old guy's (with a beard) Altezza with my JDM 1975 Corona in between two lectures at uni! :P I'm sure the photo's here in this thread somewhere!

 

But seriously, words can't express how thankful I am, I've learnt more over the last 6 months than... ever? :)

 

Buggar about the puncher.

 

So your going to pack up the bottom of the shock with some timber packers??

 

Thanks for the pics of internals ,they look good gear compaired to shit ive got.

 

rob

 

Yeah we were running 17th I think until the puncher. I almost expected something to go wrong though because nothing went wrong after running up the bank Keith mentioned... It was stupidly lucky- too lucky, something had to go wrong somewhere else to make up for it! :P

 

I cut 1.6mm off with a hacksaw, checked it & found we still had a bit more to go, and took another slice off.

 

Then he held the strut down on the vice while I hammeed all around the top with a ball-peen hammer!

 

When we put it back together it seated right down and did up tight, the extra clean threads working fine.

 

So we got it all together and headed of. First stage was about 10km, he started car 33 and came off it 25th. I've got a quick, crappy video from the spectator corner, but the comments in the crowd are more fun than the picture.. "Stop stop stop.. Look out! Brakes work good!! etc..."

 

There's a longer better one too, but its 65Meg so I'll have to upload it somewhere.

 

Overall he was hitting 20th-22nd, but did a great 14th place when a slower car wouldn't let him start in front and he was told he wasn't faster anyway. So he took 40seconds out of the guy in the next stage and was allowed past! He was 17th on the penultimate stage but a puncture in the last stage cost 7 places and he ended up 24th of 50-something cars.

 

Another new navigator, the 4th in 4 rallies... he must scare the hell out of them! I hope this one stays, she did everything right & we need some consistancy to do well.

 

So, that strut stayed together, and so did the other one with the worst of the tack-welds holding the spring seat up higher.. he viciously attacked a bank with that one apparently.

 

Only a month to the next one, so much I'd like to do!

 

& a couple photos up tomorrow.

 

The Oberon Pacenote rally and Mt George were both amazing rallies.

 

At Mt George- It's the little things like the V8 commodores and EVOs beating me by 30seconds on the uphill and then me cleaning them up by a minute on the same stage downhill! It's all about the downhill people! It's INSANE! Flat out in 4th, in the middle of the night, down some blind road you can only see 300m in front of you, even more exciting when your navigators calls are something 500m late or the roads goes left after they call right!

 

At Jenolan- The highlight of the rally, if not of Woolshed Rallying's entire career, was the look on that old guy's face when he realised that his immaculate Escort complete with it's LED/HID lights, perspex windows, fibreglass panels etc. was beaten by 40 seconds over a short 20km stage by some hot head 20 year old that's only done 7 rallies, in some homebuilt, out of scrap metal, in a Woolshed on a farm, rusty yellow peeling Celica! Complete with duct tape holding the left rear quarter window in (where it decided to fall out 1st stage hahaha).

 

That really was the definition of driving it like i stole it though, as I said to Keith, I don't think I could have been a second faster if you'd paid me. Makes you wonder how driving like that only gets you 14th... with the likes of that RX2 still being 30 seconds faster! Sheesh! Guess we'll find out in a few rallies time!

 

Made my day, nah scrap that, made my WEEK. :) That was definitely the best weekend I've ever had!

 

I'm serious when I say I wouldn't be rallying without you Keith, hardly a point of saying thanks though because I know all you really care about is that list! And I'm on it! :P Already found the cheapest fire extinguishers I can and rang Sydney shocks... All with a 1500 word essay due tomorrow!

 

Also thanks to my dad for giving up his weekends, driving the farm truck for hours at all hours (12am-3am drive home from mount George etc) all around NSW and his wallet for this great cause!

 

This is Woolshed Rallying! XD

[altezzaclub]

...wait 'til you see my plans for a Woolshed Spec dry-sump system!.... :ninja:

[corollaart]

Ha gold i love this thread ,should go for ride with Adam Kennedy or Gary Youmans one day and see how fast them cheater cars really go .....in the right hands there fast ,like squeeze your ass cheeks fast.

.

Then Keith can play with 4 wheels and 2 diffs (Sorry Keith)or add broken gearboxs

 

:thumbsup:.

 

rob

Edited July 21, 2013 by corollaart

[caibs]

have you had any issues with the 350ml surge tank being large enough for the motor mate?

 

i wonder if it would work as well with an electronic pump rather than being gravity fed