The Top DSM Community on the Web

For 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser, and Galant VR-4 Owners. Log in to remove most ads.

Please Support RTM Racing
Please Support STM Tuned

1991 GSX Rally Build (Project Rally Beater, Production GT?)

This site may earn a commission from merchant
affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

rx7ttlm

10+ Year Contributor
342
2
May 20, 2008
Portland, Oregon
My 1991 GSX has been a tale of highs and lows over the last 2 years. (I guess that is the way of the DSM guy) I bought the car from a friend in Norcal. Within the first month I owned it the hood latch failed and smashed the hood into the sunroof at about 45mph showering me in glass and searching for a replacement sunroof before it rained again. I do live in Oregon, so rain is a forgone conclusion. Soon after that I was on a parts run to the local mitz dealer when my alternator crapped out. After getting things slightly sorted. Upgraded to DSM link V3 lite, 16g turbo, and all the goodies. I was having Idle surge and overheating issues. Finally I was caught out after thinking I had repaired the overheating issue with a new radiator and a hose popped off. Before I knew it my engine was losing power and had me parked on the side of the highway waiting for a tow. The head gasket had said good bye. After my Career in Motorsports as a Chief Mechanic on a Grand Am team I am back in school finishing my BS in Mechanical Engineering, so this project could be finished in 5 months or 3 years depending on the interest level of my fellow students and friends.

Lucille after the sun roof incident at the apartments I lived in at the time. Now she is hanging out in the garage waiting more parts / time.
38176_446390989668_2681037_n.jpg


I finally got on the ball and contacted Rally America regarding the status of my racing license and if I would have to start as a Novice or if my previous racing experience would allow me to compete in a reasonable class. Last Friday I got the good news from Mike Hurst of Rally America. I have to submit my racing experience and schools in a package to them. I Went to the Jim Russel racing schools Mechanic's Training Program back in 2005 after I got out of the Marine Corps for something to do. Part of the program is you get half of a race season in formula Mazda. Previously I was concerned about having to run a non turbo fwd eclipse to comply with the Novice rules, because it would be ###.

As of now I have half of the car torn apart and the short block will likely come out this week and get a tear down inspection to see what parts can be used again. I will likely be entering in Production GT in 2014. I know I will not have the fastest car but it should be fun either way without spending a small fortune on an WRX or similar car. IF someone has a set of Hot Bits dual adjustable rally dampers they want to donate that would be great. I still need to read the rule book from front to back. But I think the general idea at the moment is to run E85 (it meets the specific gravity requirements), 1050 fic injectors (on the shopping list), 2.0 liter engine (specs will vary with what I can get away with as far as mods, intake etc), Looking like speed density on link, if not it will be chipped with EPROM since I have the hardware to do so. not sure which turbo I will run since rally turbos are short life items. Example, from what I understand no turbo forced performance makes is suitable for use in a inlet restricted turbo. This will be some what of a dual purpose car, at first it will likely just be a non caged car with all the standard rally mods registered as a street car so I can shake down the car on the highways legally to iron out all the issues. And possibly entering her in a chumpcar or similar even as an NA car for shits and grins before I get to far in the build.

Rewiring for Saturn alternator swap, hint: Make sure you measure the resistance in your wiring or you might have an overcharging issue.
39647_450293524668_6601013_n.jpg


40461_455525799668_1526837_n.jpg


ARGH stock makes me want to barf...

38176_446390984668_4246015_n.jpg


After the Head gasket blew the engine had a butt load of water in it to the point where I figured I put a hole in a cylinder... It sat long enough to corrode the cylinder walls enough to where I wasn't scared of throwing in the towel on this engine. I had been getting intermittent knock while tuning her to 20 lbs on link. When tearing the car down to pull the engine out I found the drivers side front axle carrier had loosened from the axle cup. I haven't finished digging into it but I am confident that could have been the cause of the intermittent pulling of timing under boost. I had bought cv boots to rebuild the axles so it wasn't a big deal to tear them down and replace broken bits. I will try to find the video of me turning the engine over with the water shooting out of the plug holes as the girlfriend video taped it.

After reviewing the rule book for PGT I might be changing the plan to Super Production to allow for more modifications.
 
Last edited:
Safety is the first thing to worry about when building a rally car, everything else comes second.
 
Do you realize how much performance rallies cost? Entry fee is more than your car is worth.

You'll need $6k+ worth of suspension before you can think about power mods.

I have most of the small bits, and yes I know how much it will cost. I built Grand Am race cars for a living till 2008. Hot bits are 3200, Rear subframe bushings are on the bench, control arms are on the bench, 4 bolt diff is in the garage. I am selling one of my precision rifles to pay for the shocks. AND you don't have to have the best shocks to race rallies. One of the fastest kids on the west coast in group 2 was running blown agx's since 2006. Invest in driving schools before you do go fast parts. I have been to Karting schools, road racing schools, beginning and advanced road racing schools. The only thing I need to do before entering a rally is get some time on the dirt (likely dirtfish since I am friends with half of the instructors and the marketing director.)

I have it covered. Entry fee for a national rally is 2k (I will likely only be entering the regional races which cuts entry fee in half). I am not joking or talking shit, but I probably have more money into RC cars than you have in your dsm. This partly came about when I actually added up how much I had spent traveling to regional and national races racing RC in 2011. My girlfriend has pointed out my hobbies go in cycles, I race cars till I spend enough on engines or someone pisses me off, then I shoot three gun/ USPSA pistol/ precision rifle, then race RC 1/8th onroad, and nitro sedan, then it starts all over again. Each year hobby shift I spend enough to build a rally car and then some. Every year before I got sponsored I spent at least 1000/ race to play with toy cars (flight, tires, testing, fuel<they run on methanol and nitro methane at about 30 dollars a gallon>, new chassis, rebuild parts, it adds up fast) So 2k national entry on a rally that is paid partially by my company and co driver?

The up side to rally is that test days are super cheap vs road racing. I don't have to rent a track to get good data out of a test. I live in oregon, there are thousands of old closed BLM logging roads I can get a permit to test on for 1/16th the cost of a track test. The point behind using the 1g is it's also cheap. I don't start out with a $20,000 dollar car. I also have spares for everything since I have been in the dsm game for a while. Once I get my 2g journal pictures repaired you should look at that. I also know what it costs to make 500 hp on a dsm. I am not new to the game.

Just because I don't have 10,000 posts on dsm forums doesn't mean I am some kid roaming around lost. My labor is also free, my cage fabrication is free, and I am a partner in a motorsports consultation company. Right now the biggest expense that I don't have fully covered is the turbo if I run open class. Priced a Garrett GTX 2860R (rally) turbo lately? Hence why I am going to stay in production classes to avoid the cost of NLTS / sequential transmissions, Open turbo costs etc.

Safety is the first thing to worry about when building a rally car, everything else comes second.

You sir obviously didn't read the first paragraph. I have built everything from F/A 18's to formula cars, LMP 2 cars and GT1 cars. I know what priorities come in which order.
 
Check out Rally Anarchy - Don't Panic !

And to add to the conversation, the most expensive part will be the safety items/gear, but you obviously already know that! Good luck with the build.
I would however suggest staying away from the Production classes, unless you just want a trophy... Entries are usually low, and replacement parts will be harder to source as you might be limited by years, and oem items.
 
Check out Rally Anarchy - Don't Panic !

And to add to the conversation, the most expensive part will be the safety items/gear, but you obviously already know that! Good luck with the build.
I would however suggest staying away from the Production classes, unless you just want a trophy... Entries are usually low, and replacement parts will be harder to source as you might be limited by years, and oem items.

I do want trophies, But I also don't want to try to go up against one off racecars in Open. Have you seen some of the open cars? On the surface they look like regular STI's and evo x but they are pretty well developed with a shit load of money into them. I don't really feel like going out and getting my ass kicked. I will probably only do one full season with this car and then move up. Graduation is coming up for me so I hope to have a new full time job in about a year and a half. Benefits of Mechanical Engineering is the pay is pretty damn good.

Then I might look into a Super Production build, and if I stick with rally then move to Open. I am a rally rookie so I am not sure it will work for me. We have conference road racing of plenty, but this is more of a challenge with the varied conditions, surfaces etc. Road racing I tend to spend way more time on simulation and calculations. Then I get to the track and there isn't much work to do since I did all the work on the workstation already LOL.
 
I do want trophies, But I also don't want to try to go up against one off racecars in Open. Have you seen some of the open cars? On the surface they look like regular STI's and evo x but they are pretty well developed with a shit load of money into them. I don't really feel like going out and getting my ass kicked. I will probably only do one full season with this car and then move up. Graduation is coming up for me so I hope to have a new full time job in about a year and a half. Benefits of Mechanical Engineering is the pay is pretty damn good.

Then I might look into a Super Production build, and if I stick with rally then move to Open. I am a rally rookie so I am not sure it will work for me. We have conference road racing of plenty, but this is more of a challenge with the varied conditions, surfaces etc. Road racing I tend to spend way more time on simulation and calculations. Then I get to the track and there isn't much work to do since I did all the work on the workstation already LOL.

By trophies I don't necessarily mean physical things that you can show off, I mean you came in first in class, out of 1... In last place overall if you finish at all ;)

And yeah, Open class cars can be expensive but most rally cars are in the end.

Remember to budget for buying or renting a truck and trailer.
 
By trophies I don't necessarily mean physical things that you can show off, I mean you came in first in class, out of 1... In last place overall if you finish at all ;)

And yeah, Open class cars can be expensive but most rally cars are in the end.

Remember to budget for buying or renting a truck and trailer.

That's like entering LMP 2 with an under developed car and being a lapper. Been there, isn't fun. I can vary my entry a bit without changing prep. A large percentage of the rally drivers don't even go flat in their overdeveloped cars. They get scared and lift on the straightaways. I will stick with production based racing. In my area PGT and SPGT outnumber Open entries in the regional category. Like I said, I don't plan on running this for multiple years. Build it, run it, learn what I can, move up. I have seen way to many guys start a new form of racing only to wad their cars and not have the budget to build another car. I can build a spare car with my budget rather than get an STI and race open and try to be competitive with shoe string in that class. I am a Rally rookie for all intents and purposes so I have a lot to learn about dirt/ gravel and I know from experience I am less willing to flog cars that are expensive. My 2g has probably 30 grand into it and I never drive it. I drove my cheap ass 1g cause if I wadded it I wouldn't care. Oh, and truck and trailer are already covered. I don't plan on running the national series. Just Oregon Trail and Olympus since they are in my back yard, along with some regional events MAYBE in California too. Basically the west coast swing of rally events.
 
Looking forward to following this, I love it when people with money get into DSMs LOL

LOL, it's fun and mostly harmless. The money isn't a big thing, it's mostly being able to do 99% of the work yourself. Most people have to pay for a trans rebuild etc. I just do it in my garage in my free time. But the time is the big problem LOL.
 
Support Vendors who Support the DSM Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Innovation Products Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications MyMitsubishiStore.com RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds

Back
Top