Building a Budget Rally Car / Daily-Driver

[KadieTSi]

So I know there's threads about starting mods but mines a bit different than most.

I finally bought a daily driver as I don't want to put my 70k mile mint built 1g through a winter since I moved to Michigan.. I've always really wanted to have a DSM to just go out and hit the dirt tracks / auto crossing events with.

When I lived in Nevada I attended one 'rally' event.. Not technically a rally event but was home-made mud track that the owners of the home there hosted a little event a couple times a year. I went there once with my talon and it was tons of fun although kind of stunk with my power level it was way to hard to modulate my power and turbo lag really stunk.

So anyways, for a daily driver I bought a 1994 Eclipse GSX for $800 that needed a headgasket and had transmission that had issues.

Turns out it has a warped head and a cracked block, ugggh go figure.
Also has crappy faded black paint.

So I found a 6bolt block. had the head resurfaced. Had the 6bolt block refreshed. Spent maybe $300 total. Bought new synchros and shift forks and transmission is good now. I bought an ACT2100 clutch to put in while I had the transmission out.

theres a few little things here and there with auto crossing and its crappier weather around here which means more fun changes to hit trails and have fun.

So I'm trying to think of a good setup for enough power to scoot it along, but not so much that I'm overdoing it, I want very minimal turbo lag, good 'rally-like' suspension, not suspension oriented for straight lines.

Here's what I've done so far.
Tons of Maintenance Including:
All new timing stuff, brand new timing cover, new flat black paint job with new junkyard.fenders (were dented and scrunched in)

Splash Guards, Mud flaps.
Crushed my 1g bov
Greddy UICP
Walbro 190lph Fuel pump
Aeromotive FPR
Hallman
FIC 550cc injectors
3" Punishment Racing Downpipe
3" Megan Racing Catback
Innovate Wideband
Autometer Phantom Boost Gauge

It's still on all stock suspension as I'm not sure what would work best for something like this.

In the mean time, what other mods should I look into?
The car is running rich right now with the new injectors as I have no tuning software. I'm not sure that I want to invest money into DSMLink for this car, makes me regret selling my v3 when I swapped to AEM EMS on my talon.
I'd be fine with just a custom chip that has no more tuning to be done.

I dont trust SFC's as I dont wish to lose my tune.


I'm currently in the process of custom making some bottom end covers if you know what I mean, I intend to drive this thing in mud/snow/etc so I've been working on making some plastic covering's that'll block off my engine area so I wont toss mud/slush all up into my engine. I don't want there to be anyway with the plastic covers on, for you for example to be able to get under the car and be able to reach the turbo/transmission/etc. I'm thinking of how to mount them, I know i'll self make a bracket onto my firewall in a few locations in the back, the front I'm thinking of trying to set up a bracket from the subframe. Then mounting more brackets on the splash guards to support the sides. I'm sure they'll all scrape here and there since they'll be lower than the rest of the car. but I dont intend the car to sit that low anyway.

I was also originally going to run a FMIC however decided I don't want to get crap all over the intercooler, and really for my plans the SMIC should be fine.
I'm thinking that it'd be best to stay with the 14b as well. I'm thinking 18-20psi.

Instead I'm utilizing the space in the front bumper where a front mount would be to mount some rally lights.

Also what kind of tires would I want to run? I'm only familiar with typical drag radials and such, not sure what you'd want for 'offroading' in a car like a DSM.

I also am going to invest in a adjustable racing seat, what does anyone have to suggest? I only spent $300 on the ones in my talon, so it'll be weird spending more in my daily driver but I want a fully adjustable tight bucket. I'm pretty small and I don't want to be tossed around in the seat. I've already got an old 5-point harness I had to take out of my talon due to not being approved for 11.5+ so I'll use that.

I also need advice on what other suspension components to run, subframe connectors, swaybars.. I know theres tons of ebay stuff out there but I'm wondering if there's actually a difference with some name brand stuff. I want proven stuff.

While this is a budget build, I'm willing to spend more to do stuff right.

I'm also considering getting a moderate roll cage that has locking/removable bars (i'm not sure how common they are, one of my friends had it in his civic, the bar slides into these little holders and then drops a large bolt through a hole that's a snug fit and locks the bars in place. He bought the shell like that, I'm not sure if they sell those setups as kits. The removable bars are only the ones in front of the doors.

This will be a daily so I don't want it to be obnoxious to get in and out of, so I'd like to be able to remove the bars at my doors whenever i'm driving it to school and stuff.


So thats basically everything I can think of right now.
I know i've written a novel but I'm really excited about this and can't wait to get the project finished. I'd like to start hitting the mud and snowy trailys thsi winter, so I'm aiming to finish this all by late December

Thanks!

 

[knochgoon24]

Are you going to be competing in any sanctioned rally events? You'll need to abide by those rules. That would be the first place to start looking. Some organizations won't let you drive an AWD car for your first few rallies.

 

[BoostedBeater]

I would definitely recommend mounting the "rally lights" up higher than the bumper opening. Hood mounted lights show up on a lot of rally cars for good reason, they get the lights up out of the way of stuff on the course, they will project much further and tend to stay a bit cleaner.

From what it sounds like you're driving would lend more towards a gravel rally tire. Here are a couple sites just to get an idea-

Tires at Sube Sports - The Racing Equipment Source
Rally-Tire.com

As far as seats, a suspension seat will be your best friend if you plan on doing any real rally type racing/driving. You'll want to make sure your harness is still in the date code range it was approved for. If its out of date or does not carry an approval tag, get a new harness.

If you plan on using a cage it would be wise not to use the vehicle for DD duties as a wreck without a helmet could put you at a much greater risk than normal. They do make hinged door bar kits that are approved by many sanctioning bodies.

If a rally car is what you want to build you'll soon find they aren't the best vehicles for DD duties.

 

[KadieTSi]

I'm not sure that I'll actually be in any official sanctioned rallys, but theres a lot of places around here to hit trails and have fun. There's some auto crossing events that happened and stuff but other then that I don't know of any sanctioned/official events.

 

[BoostedBeater]

An autocross car is a totally different animal than a rally car. Your best bet is to figure out what you really want to do.

With a rally car you'll want aggressive tires, a higher stance and a good bit of suspension travel. With an autocross car you'll want something much lower, minimal body roll, widest "grippiest" tires you can fit for your class. Its all about grip and go but with two vastly different approaches.

 

[KadieTSi]

Well I guess I want to base it either way towards offroad action

I got my custom engine bay splash-guards finished and all set up.
I located a 6 point roll cage out of another 1g that the guy is going to cut out and put in my car for me $100. So that'll be taken care of.

Then I ordered a fully adjustable recaro seat with a 5 point harness.

I also have gotten a keydiver stage 3 chip as I think that will be my best bet for what I want to do outside of DSMlink.

I'm now trying to make a custom light-bar that I can take on and off easily whenever I want to for my 'rally' flood lights to go on. I also have 10k HID's in some aftermarket projector housings mounted in the stock foglight location I'll use as well when out at night offroad.

I'm also wondering, would I benefit from getting a 4spider center diff for this?

Any suggestion for tires for rough terrain, ie snow/mud/etc


as of right now I have the car set up at 22psi and it feels great, about the perfect power level I wanted for this setup and spool is awesome, I'm glad I didn't go with a 16g.

 

[KadieTSi]

So I have pretty much everything in now, including my custom engine bay splash guards and what not. I'm just running some Blizzacks right now as I still haven't been able to figure out what tires I really ought to look into.

Anyways the only thing the car doesn't have in it now is the roll cage, however I took it out to play.
All I gotta say is it was a blast.

After the huge snow, I went into some wooded area/field trails and really ripped on it good. Had a few close calls but made it fine and had a blast. After about an hour and a half of fun, I checked everything - nothing broke, not a drop of snow/mud got into my engine bay. Super excited that my custom splash guards worked!

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

I'm jealous! It sounds like your having a lot of fun. I wish I had one to run through the woods too.

 

[KadieTSi]

Just updating this to say the car has been a lot of fun. We got some warmer weather here in Minnesota and it melted most the snow and then rained on top of it causing a lot of mud/muckyness.

The trails / land on farms of my friend's are now all dirty and muddy.... perfect!

I've been out tearing through them.

Still daily driving the car, beating the ever living crap out of it off the road.
I did break one of my custom made splash guard plates, already made a new one. Motor is still clean! Would never guess that I drive the car in what I do.

I did catch a good 2-3 feet of air in the car and coming down I lost my stereo/interior lights. Still trying to track that down.

Other then that I've been having a blast with it

 

[Foz]

Hey, cool to stumble across your thread here.

I've got a 90 Talon that is only used for SCCA RallyCross events. You should look into them, sanctioned organized... and a shit load of fun.

do you have any pics of your splashguards? I'm a little behind you in build progress, I'm just glad to keep it running between events!

Is your stereo factory/aftermarket? could be a loose bad connection behind radio (especially if replaced) Check your fuses, should be able to narrow down pretty easily.

Spent a few years in Stereo shops putting myself through college, so chasing wiring issues don't bother me to much...

 

[AndrewD5418]

If they allow anti-lag look into getting an EVO 3 anti-lag setup. It's not super agressive that it will destroy your turbo as much as the new ones out there, but it'll still help with spool-up. It's basically a solenoid that works with the exhaust telling the car when to retard timing/etc.