AE85 Notchback rally car

[crispy'86]

After going to Timaru and getting taken for a spin in rally car i've got the racing bug (more like motivation to fix fxgt). Plans i have is to turn my ae85 shell into a rally car with the following package:
4AGE slightly modded: extractors possibly, cams, head work
T50/W55 G/Box
TE71/AE86 Diff with 4.8 ratio
and usual race seat, bels, rollcage
Anyone have any advice what's the best (and not so best) set-up to go for suspension wise?
Would be used mainly for gravel events and possibility of asphalt hillclimbs

[fangsport]

looks like i need to be careful as to who i strap in beside me!!!!

stiff front, soft rear until you get the lie of the land........it's a very forgiving set up!!!

[wde_bdy]

Just my opinion, others may disagree.
If you can find something suitable, buy rather than build especially for a first car. That way you can get straight into driving and just tweak the car, rather than starting totally from scratch. Means less investment up front too hopefully.

Callum

[RS13]

$&#$% yeah, there's some cheap, already well-sorted cars in the SpeedSport magazine, thats where I'd go if I wanted to jump into things.

Don't spend far too much $$ and time sorting your car out, buy something cheap with the money already spent on it. There are a few AE86's in the mags I have, going from $6000 for a standard not-road-legal AE86 with decent suspension, motor, cage etc, to $10,000 for a road-legal version of the same thing. But then, there's RS Legacys and the like for around that price too.. it just comes down to what you want!

[Leon]

definitely buy rather than build.

My club car owes me easily $7-8k, and I would be lucky to get $5k for it if I sold it.

[crispy'86]

Well maybe it could be cheaper to build? Cause i have most of the bits to bolt on to the chassis etc. Buying i wouldn't spend anymore than $5000 at the absolute max. The only reason i will do the '85 is because the shell is already there and not doing alot with it. Got guards etc to go onto it but this will be a slow build up as budget can't go to buying car outright.
I see you r guys point though

[pc]

Here's my guess at building a car on the cheapish

cage $1000
seats $1000
belts $700
wheels & tyres $1000 (if cheap)
engine/exhaust/intake mods $2000 (if cheap)
suspension $1500
other things you don't think of $2000

total $9200 plus cost of car

Buying a ready made one is a bit cheaper

[vvega]

here is my call on it

cage if you do it yourself = 400
race seat(you only need one) 500 bucks
belt 200 (for cheap one)
wheels keep the sock rims and just get good tyres so 800 bucks
supension 5-600 for some seciond hand stuff
good tune up on engine to make it reliable 400 bucks

so thats
400
500
200
800
600
400

so 2900 bucks or about to get you into racing providing you have the car to begin with

or you could just buy a cheap car and do non cage events and just do tyres/ suspenion and seats/ harnesses
and have a go.....

your not gunna be competative straight off
and lots of power wont teach you how to drive

hope that ghelps
v

[pc]

He said RALLY car. That means 2 seats, 2 sets of belts, 2kg fire extinguisher, first aid kit... and probably lots of other stuff I can't remember.
Cages should only be attempted by people who are really good at that sort of thing. I don't know how many DIYs get turned down for homolagation (Leon?) but I wouldn't bother half assing it as the cleanup work would probably be expensive enough.

On the other hand, yes If just looking at doing local clubsport events then the start price is very cheap... warranted car with 1kg extinguisher is all that is required.

[pc]

Hey! whats up with the auto editor in this thing? I said h-o-m-o-l-o-g-a-t-i-o-n sp?

[crispy'86]

Yep, i got race seat lined up one for now anyway. Got a 4age and T50 etc in my stockpile of bits aswell as suspension to go into it so all i realy need to get is rollcage made to suit car.
If u read further up it says i have all bits ready to bolt up as far as running gear and suspension

[crispy'86]

[quote="fangsport"]looks like i need to be careful as to who i strap in beside me!!!!

Yep i did say i was going to get my FX sorted and look into getting a rally car so.............about time i did something with all these cars of mine doing nothing

[solberg Fan]

What about intercom, trip computer, helmet, race suit and boots, athority card, licence, log book, and a LVV plate with the suspension work your going to be doing?
Its not as cheep as it sounds.
But dont let anything put you off like me! Ive had my car for over a year and still havnt done any events in it....
Do a bit of reasurch before you decide to jump into it.

[GT4 20]

Cheap and rallying aren't usually mentioned in the same sentence. My advice is don't skimp on safety equipment. ie - no cheap roll cage, no cheap belts, no cheap seats etc. 2 navigators on the last Targa ended up with broken backs after crashing out. Speculation was that the seats broke. Obviously not good. The only thing between you and serious injury and death if you have a major off is the above. Not worth being tight fisted on these items.
I've lost count of how much $ I've spent on my build so far - and I've only just begun!
http://www.220gti.co.nz/race%20car%20preparation.htm
A lot of this isn't necessary for basic competition use, but the safety aspects are still the same. Get the best cage you can afford. It could be one of the best investments you ever made. And only attempt to make it yourself if you know exactly what you're doing. It's not as simple as welding a few tubes together
Gary

[Leon]

Yes. What he just said about cages.

Only do it yourself if you are a cage builder

You can get good seats and harnesses without spending silly money these days, as the market is so competitive. If you can, get a seat with the FIA8855 safety standard approval. This will tell you that the seat is specifically designed and tested as being a race seat. Otherwise, you might just end up buying a seat that looks like a race seat, and was built cheapo rather than strong.

My build budget was around $5k too ... I missed that amount by quite a lot! Despite theoretically knowing all the related costs. Sigh.

Also add in cage padding, lots of paint, various high tensile bolts, a fire extinguisher etc etc

[crispy'86]

Yep got a few people that can advise me what seats etc to get so no problem there. thanks for your input though. All of it helps

[fangsport]

word of warning. only buy new seats and belts, unless you trust the previous owner VERY well.

there are plenty of them about that have been sold that should have been crushed or cut due to the fact they have been in major crashes.

[crispy'86]

Yep thanks Joe. As i heard in the weekend i'm not cutting costs with belts or seats. I have access to brand new seat still wrapped up not been used yet and i'll get new belts. They are the safety aspect i'm not going to be stingy with, nothing second hand in that department

[vvega]

Yes. What he just said about cages.

Only do it yourself if you are a cage builder

You can get good seats and harnesses without spending silly money these days, as the market is so competitive. If you can, get a seat with the FIA8855 safety standard approval. This will tell you that the seat is specifically designed and tested as being a race seat. Otherwise, you might just end up buying a seat that looks like a race seat, and was built cheapo rather than strong.

My build budget was around $5k too ... I missed that amount by quite a lot! Despite theoretically knowing all the related costs. Sigh.

Also add in cage padding, lots of paint, various high tensile bolts, a fire extinguisher etc etc

i guess at the end of the day the end price will be a result of what your own abilitys are

i think thats a fair comment


v

[passenger pete]

Hey crispy best of luck with doing ya rally car it can be frustrating building up a car but it will be worth the wait.
I just finished my trueno 86 but still need"s belts and some tyres and get a competition licence, feel free to have a look one night if ya want.