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Organized Drag Racing and AutocrossDrag racing and autocross discussions and questions. Techniques, tips, suggestions, and "what will I run?" questions.
For the past couple weeks I've been building a car for a rally event. This first rally I'm going to is a little different because it is a closed course track instead of public roads. Not much about it on their site but here it is: http://www.nasarallysport.com/main/2...er_RallySprint
The car is an 87 Iroc that I originally bought as a roller and only for parts. This past summer, I decided to throw in a SBC and T56 I had out of another car that went LS. I was building it to do autox but never completely finished it and never raced. The plan now is to finish the car but make it somewhat universal. I know it won't be great at any one thing when you build it for multiple things but I'm doing it anyway. I'm thinking rally, autox, road course (track days), and I'd really like to run it in chumpcar too.
This is my first , completely from scratch, cage so go easy on me. Also, I still have a ton of things to do but thought I would get some pics up on here as I go.
for now and for dirt, it is mostly stock. Just sub frame connectors and LCAs & panhard with steel rod ends. Brakes are stock with good pads. Future plans are bilstiens or konis with C5 brakes and tubular k-member & a-arms.
Thanks guys. I had hoped to paint the outside of the car before this first race but don't think there is much of a chance I'll have time for that. I intend for it to be similar to a ford mustang grabber blue. Need to fix some rusty quarters first. You can't tell in any of these pics but right now the hood is purple so may just satin black it out for now. It was just a $600 parts car so it has a long way to go.
The car wasn't running as well as it needs to so a buddy of mine rebuilt the carb and I put together a new fuel system for it. Fired it for the first time in a while last night. MUCH better now. Went with a mechanical fuel pump to increase reliability.
One interesting rule for rally is that they get pretty serious about tow hooks. I guess they are expecting you to slide off the road at some point. You are even required to carry your own tow rope with you in the car.
For the rear, I went with a receiver hitch style design. One with a clevis for race mode and pulling out of a ditch and one hitch for using a tow bar to push it up on the trailer have I have destroyed the car.
Decided to use a 9-bolt out of another car. The brakes were shot and no luck finding any parts locally. I ended up buying a set of new front calipers and made them fit the rear. Pretty easy with a little grinding. Only bad part is now I don't have a parking brake. This will probably work out better in the long run. Rally guys use a weird e-brake set up. Big handle that doesn't ratchet because it gets used when going into turns to help load the nose. Having large piston rear calipers will make that e-brake work that much better and I'll have a proportioning valve mounted in front of it to control my bias for normal braking.
My only suggestion would be to tie the seat mount into the cage. I know it is a requirement circle track. Might not be for what you are using, but never a bad idea.
Good point. For our rules, they suggest using factory mounting points when possible for seats and belts. No reason I couldn't tie those in to the cage though.
Something I did one night while waiting on other stuff. Chopped up the dash pad to fit around the cage then did a little body filler work to make it look a little nicer.
This is just temporary. I'm sure it won't last. I plan to rip the dash out and build an aluminum one with all Autometer gauges this summer.
The first race was a success! Me and a buddy double entered the car. He has rally experience but was a first for me. He took third and even had the second best time of the day. That's proof a thirdgen can run with the best of 'em.
The motor has new bearings and rings but as you can tell in the last shot, we've got some work to do. There was a little smoke and blow-by all day. Still tons of power though!!!
AWESOME! you are going to have some mad 91-92 guys with you about that chin spoiler though since they're getting hard to find, lol! this car needs a GFX delete and sportcoupe bumpers
Yeah that chin spoiler was already in bad shape so I wasn't worried about it. I have a perfect condition 85-90 spoiler but there's no way I'm going to put that on this car other than maybe for some road courses. I figured I'd try to keep finding rough ones on clist for now. GFX delete may end up being the best way to go but for sure but I love the fact that it really is an Iroc and want to keep the look.
Need to find a set of iroc tail lights for it too.
Its been a long time since I've posted anything on here. Since the last time, I rebuilt the motor to get ready for a race and had it destroyed again. Didn't make the race and parked it for a while. I finally decided to stick a different motor in it and do a little more work to get ready for this year.
The fire extinguisher has the standard mount for hanging it on the wall but I removed the cheap clamp and added a large "Wrap-it" brand velcro strap. It works surprisingly well.
The steering shaft is all custom fab. Its pretty simple. Just a steel shaft, a bearing at the firewall and a heim joint under the dash. The quick disconnect is a grant but there are several options out there. I had the hex style on my oem column and went to the spline style now. I really like the spline style better. It seems quicker to get on and off and allows more angles to clock the wheel.
What steering shaft is that? What quick disconnect hub are you using with it? Any fab required to put it on?
I'm parting a car with a fabricated steering setup like this. It bolts right in and has a hanging gas and brake pedal. I have some linkages for it too. Shoot me a pm if interested
I think I'm going to put the rally car up for sale. I hate to do it but I spent a lot of time building it and now I can't seem to find the time to go race it. I just have too many projects going on. I think at least someone should enjoy it. I really don't know what it is worth but if anyone is interested, just PM me. Thanks!
(I'd be willing to sell it complete or as a roller)
My experience has always been that building or buying the race car is the cheapest/easiest part. Actually getting out to race it is the tough/expensive part. This is a very cool build and if you't get tot the rally races, I would suggest doing a hill climb or 2 if you can.
02-03-2016, 07:18 AM
