2g Rallyx ?

[endeffect0]

hey all. simple opinion based question.

Should I rally my 2g awd?

I live for the winters up here, I have done autox for the last 7 years in various cars and in various levels of dedication. I have snowxed an awd subie for several years in a past life in maine. got quite good at it.

I am a little worried about rallyx in the dsm for the following reasons
my basic suspension is stiffer springs -1inch on yellows with sway-bars. and my 3inch turbo back goes under the rear.

now I am perfectly willing (pronounced looking for an excuse to) to remove my cat to gain a little bit of ground clearance... But i am really thinking that my DSM is just not going to have the ground clearance to not beat the crap out of my underside and risk my oil pan. even with my high side wall snow tires.


this question is really for those who have been to an SCCA sponsored rallyx and can give me some feed back on track condition.

should i just wait till i finish the Baja bug at the end of the summer?

 

[bluegs03]

Why not buy a trashed up 1g awd with a great engine? They are much more adept at rallyx so ive heard and are pretty cheap! I mean it wont matter if the interior is crap and the exterior is all dinged up and mispainted because its a rally car your gonna crash it, its just a matter of time.

 

[everbruin]

i've rallyx'ed my 2g at various venues in 3 states, broke suspension parts and debeaded a tire but had no probs w/ cat and oil pan. one venue had really bad bumps so i stopped going there. it's doable but a subie or other car w/ long suspension travel is better.

 

[endeffect0]

to clarify a few points, i realize removing the cat will not equal extra clearance.. poor joke on my part.

I dont mind beating on this car. thats my primary reason for owning it .

I am concerned that i could rip my exhaust off or do damage to the underside of my car, and breaking suspension parts is a thing i would like to avoid. glad to hear the oil pan isnt as low as i originally feared.
(and now that think about it.. my down pipe is lower)

as for the 1g note, I would love to... but i have the BBB (Badass Baja Bug) project in the works as my future offroader/ have-too-much-fun-till-you-break-it-machine. so maybe someday, god willing someday... but not right now.

 

[dsmdeliveryboy]

Just run a custom dumped downpipe off the o2 housing for when you rally if your worried about it. Ksport makes rally coilovers, I haven't really looked into them though.

 

[endeffect0]

honestly, and this is the problem with it, If i cant just go out and run my low 2g as is and have me some fun on some snow tires in the dirt then i am going to skip it.

Not that i am never going to try it in a 1g or anything like that. but i dont wanna modify my dsm to meet this challenge right now. if you all think i can head out and have some fun i will, if not i will wait.

its weird for me to say 'i will not modify', but i am sure you gents get the idea.

 

[kainam00]

I don't think anyone here will be able to answer your question properly as it entirely depends on the particular RallyX site and how the region uses it.

Here, in the Detroit region SCCA, we have sites that are horse tracks, which Mini Coopers and Porsches can run with no problems. We also have sites that are fields, which get rutted pretty badly, and people do break things at.

Short of it is, check with your local region. Go to some of the events and see what the sites are like, how rutting is addressed, and so on.

 

[endeffect0]

Excelent point. Ill pose the qestion at the next autox to those who do both. (sadly the next one is this weekend and i will be missing that due to the holiday)

for a more dsm specific question, how likely is dammage to A arms or ball joints on a second gen. its this a rare ocerance in rallyx or is this the sort of failure that you keep spares around for.

thanks guys!

 

[kainam00]

I have been rallycrossing for about 3.5 years now and the only suspension related failures (which there were only a couple of) I recall around here are due more to the age/wear on the parts (cars were old beaters), not physical impact. The speeds are typically relatively low, and you're not hitting huge rocks or anything - or at least you shouldn't be . I'd say the load on the suspension bits is, on average, much less than that at an autoX, due to there being much less traction.

Typical things you see at rallycrosses, in terms of damage, are cracked bumpers, tire debeads, and broken/dented exhausts.

Like I said before, RallyX is VERY site/region dependent, my experience comes from the Detroit and surrounding SCCA regions. I've heard of regions that have rollovers as almost a regular occurrence at their events, so definitely check before committing.

 

[everbruin]

My 2g breakage was shock lower perch once and front shock tab weld 3 times. I think cause was bump impact; stiffer springs should absorb more shock and reduce bottoming out. Stock A arms were fine.

 

[endeffect0]

Inspiring replies. I am certainly going to give the local track a try. if the general opinion is that its no harder (on a car) than autox. albeit a bit different in its dangers...

I have never felt like i have broken a part autox'ing that wast due to be replaced any way. I cant be mad about that, so i will give this a try.

Ill take pics, should be fun

 

[D_Eclipse9916]

I did find out if you throw avenger springs/shocks on you will have plenty of clearance (ask me how I know), I have a set and it gave the car immense ground clerance (along with tons of wheel gap but for rallycross its good)

 

[red1g]

I'm trying to decide which car to use for rally x , my eclipse gst 2g or my Subaru Rs Impreza.It would be an easy choice except the Impreza is an automatic.Does anyone make any rally parts , like skid plates for a 2g?The Subaru has a ton of parts available

 

[everbruin]

for 2g, I doubt it. Take the subie auto.

 

[kainam00]

The 2.5RS is one of the best, if not 'the' best rallyX car out there. It's light, nimble and the powerband is excellent for the relatively slow rallyX speeds.

Nobody makes much rally parts for DSM's in general. You can find a couple somewhat off-the-shelf suspension setups, but no skid plates or anything like that.

If anyone is looking for a skidplate for a 1g DSM, give Ryan @ TRF (Home) a call and tell him to make you a skidplate like mine -- it will put any Subaru skid plate to shame!

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(Skidplate from my 1g rally car on the left, from my old Impreza 2.5RS RallyX 'Spec-RPA' car on the right)

 

[red1g]

Yeah guess I'll go with the Subie.