Project: Rally Beater

[123abc]

Decided to start a thread on the project I've wanted to do for a little while now. After swapping all the good things off my red 91 Talon to my 91 Galant VR4, the Talon was literally left with nothing. Now that I finally have the car somewhere it can be worked on, I've started stripping it and making it into the cheapest possible rallyx/AutoX/Rally car I can build.

My guidelines are somewhat simple:
-Must be street legal, as I can't afford to trailer it anywhere
-Must be safe
-Must be reliable
-Must be fun
-Must be cheap

Eventually I want to get into staged rally's and if the car is together still, I'd like to utilize it. So with that in mind, I also have to be careful what I do to it as I don't want to make the car illegal for Rally America.

I have a few parts to get me started such as a small-ish fuel cell, some bits of a roll cage, gauges, and a 5 point harness.

Anyways, for now, here are a couple pictures of where it's at. There'll be some rust repair as well.

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/data/627/medium/052812173922.jpg

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/data/627/medium/052812173908.jpg

[Tachyon]

Cool project!

Having built several log-booked cars for Rally-America, I'd advise taking the time to carefully learn the rules governing construction -specifically safety items. Example: You will need a pair of 6-point HANS style FIA approved harness'.

There are also special logistical concerns native to rally such as stage rally has a lot of miles (both transit and stage) between fueling. I'd suggest a 14 gallon minimum cell, but honestly, if you are going for max cost savings, re-use the stock 16 gallon tank.

Anyway, if you're not already there, start a thread in the car construction forum over at specialstage.com (http://www.specialstage.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?13-Car-Construction-and-Equipment) The people there can give you great advice to help you construct a legal RA car.

Good luck!

[123abc]

Cool project!

Having built several log-booked cars for Rally-America, I'd advise taking the time to carefully learn the rules governing construction -specifically safety items. Example: You will need a pair of 6-point HANS style FIA approved harness'.

There are also special logistical concerns native to rally such as stage rally has a lot of miles (both transit and stage) between fueling. I'd suggest a 14 gallon minimum cell, but honestly, if you are going for max cost savings, re-use the stock 16 gallon tank.

Anyway, if you're not already there, start a thread in the car construction forum over at specialstage.com (http://www.specialstage.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?13-Car-Construction-and-Equipment) The people there can give you great advice to help you construct a legal RA car.

Good luck!

Thank you very much for the input. My stage rally plan won't be for a few years yet. I'm no where near where I need to be financially so what my plans right now are mostly RallyX and AutoX. I want to attend a few rally's so I can really see how things are ran.

My main focus right now is to do all the weight loss I can, repair the rust, and generally get together a running car. From there, I can build up.....or at least in my head. lol

As far as the fuel tank goes, I would keep the stock one in place but my current one is junk and has been ever since I bought the car. I also had to steal the filler neck for my Galant so no filler neck. The fuel cell came out of a circle track car my dad and I raced when I was much younger, so that's what I'll be using for now.

Thanks for the specialstage.com link, that'll keep me busy for a while. :)

[123abc]

Small update. More interior stripped out, Twack is going to be helping me strip away a lot of the seam sealer so we can seam weld the big areas of the car. We'll also be doing the rust repair there as well.

I've also started stripping down the body harness of any un-used things. Ounces add to pounds I guess....

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/data/627/medium/060112111010.jpg

Anybody want a rusty 1g gas tank? All the studs are broke.... lol

[123abc]

Well, yesterday I decided to pull the front fenders for the first time on this car and see how much of the rockers will have to be replaced. Not looking good at all, it's making me look at my other options about this. The driver's side isn't as bad as the passenger side, however it still needs pretty much the whole rockers replaced. Anyways, pics:

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/data/627/medium/060412122816.jpg

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/data/627/medium/060412122722.jpg

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/data/627/medium/060412122801.jpg

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/data/627/medium/060412122916.jpg

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/data/627/medium/060412122934.jpg

This is what's left of the driver's side fender where it bolts to the rocker:

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/data/627/medium/060412124626.jpg

I'm going to be keeping my eyes open and see if anyone has a super cheap much more rust free roller. If nothing comes up I'm just going to start cutting out rust and replacing it.

[goodhart]

Ouch. Looks better suited to be a field beater. :(

[123abc]

Ouch. Looks better suited to be a field beater. :(

I would have to agree at this point. lol I don't remember the rust being this bad when I first put the car together....