Ok the piccys are up. A shot or two of the project rally coupe and the old coupe. I also put up two pics of my Ford ute just for the fun of it.

Now I know what to get from Christmas, a 4t press! Woohoo. Nah but seriously, that brake swap sounds good to me, just need to take the diff somewhere to get it done. No real drama. Oh yeah I have to get a H165 diff first! hehe

Yeah thats what I was hinting at about the cage. I heard that you can get build yourself ones that have all the materials but just need welding. There is a good welding place I could take it to because I am not a qualified welder.

Im not really concerned about having bog on the car as long as it doesnt look dodgy. I have the same feeling about the stacking thing.

Would be nice to find out about that brake combo. I might keep my eyes open for 13" mags to fit but thats not high on my priority list just yet.

P.S. Unfortuantly my g/f has 2 brothers and no sister, dang!

youll want to go 13" cause 12" rally tyres are rare and probably more expensive, plus youll never get secondhandies for em

i want to put 200b discs and calipers on my stanza struts but not 100% sure what has to be done, anyone???
that way i probably wont need performance pads as these brakes and calipers are so much bigger they should be good enough for now
either that or go 240k struts but i think that might need 14" wheels???
vented would be nice but its expensive

my things rough as on the outside but i dont care cause its definately getting bent and the more i work on it the more ill be scared to stack it and pissed when i do, all my rust repairs before are falling off the car, all the bogs coming unstuck so i might have some work to do soon, race tape is just alittle too dodgy for hiding these rust holes much longer

unless rules are much diffrent in tas, which i dont think they are, youll never be allowed a cage you made up yourself for rally, you need a certified welder and it needs to conform to CAMs regulations having CAMs certificate to compete with

also simplest brake conversion to H165 diff is vanette drums, they are heaps bigger and fill up my 13's, they might just fit over 12's though, its just a case of swapping them over all brakes hook up but you need new wheel bearings and a 4 tonne press to swap them on the axles

p.s. does your girlfriend have a sister round 20y.o. also interested in navigating maybe?



p.p.s. get off your arse and get the pictures up!

I am not really going to do much to the engine or gearbox. The GX head, twin su's and a good exhaust might be about all. I might get a cam and a few other bits if the budget allows.

I took some picks of the car a while back with a digi cam but havent put them up yet as I need to get my own member folder to put them in. I also took a pic or two of my old coupe that was crashed but it doesnt look much anymore as the front end is rooted and I have stolen the interior and some exterior bits like the doors.

At the moment I have 12" ROH Wildfires. They suit the car nicely, they are old school mags but can only take 165 tyres. I got them with the car and they look better than the original steelies!

At the moment the plans for the car are a good suspension and brake package. I want to go for the Stanza front with a decent pair of aftermarket springs and shocks to suit the rally conditions.

I would like to replace the diff with a H165 ute diff for extra strength and maybe go the CIG locker! Im still unsure about rear brakes, I want something bigger (disk or drum) to bolt onto the H165.

Up the front I was thinking of maybe just a set of decent race pads on the standard stanza brakes or if $$$ were avaliable I would like a set of vented rotors from DBA or Race Breaks. Something that could fit under 12" or maybe 13" wheels, like you were asking about before.

The car body itself is fine it just needs some tidying up. I want to get new front panels (or good nick ones from the wreckers) incl the front valance just because the old ones need a bit of straightening and I couldnt be bothered with them. The arse end has taken a hit before I got it and someone tryed to fix it up. I have just been straightening/tidying it up with some bog. The shell has no rust and I keep it in the shed permanantly.

A cage is a must but if I cant find a weld up yourself kit then I will have to send the car off to someone to get the cage made and welded. Then ofcourse I need to get the car sprayed inside and out but I cant decide what colour. I wouldnt get a paint job like on my old coupe (shmick metallic paint, show look) because it will be getting sprayed in rocks and I am bound to have an off or two while starting out. :)

So thats where I am up to, just need the $$$!

i keep getting multiple posts coming up on me for some reaon, then i have to think of something else to write in the second or third one to cover my mistake!

so, what wheels do you have on your car at the moment?

youve got a navigator? you lucky barstard, they are hard to find!, i second that slab at a mates place thing, whats planned for the suspension and that and what diff, gearbox? ect.ect.

I know the feeling about not going out with your mates. Its adictive, saving your money for your car. I dont go out every week like some of my mates, I prefer to get a carton of beer and drink that at a mates place cause its so much cheaper, either that or go to the local pub where I dont have to worry about taxi fares home.

My girlfriend is actually keen to help me biuld the car, more on the $$$ side than working the spanners! She is keen to navigate which suits me just fine!

I love meeting other people who are keen about rally and who have ideas and experience. I am yet to join the local rally club down here. I am a memeber of the new founded TAZDAT car club and all we do is talk Datto's which is great.

When my car is going I expect it to have a cage, suspension, diff and minor motor mods. I dont care too much about power more the reliabilty and handling. It needs a spray job but the body is perfectly straight with no rust.

its early days for ben but he looks promising!, maybe in a couple of years youll know

actually geminis seem to have a weird diff, they act like lsd in some circumstances but im not sure how they work, i should pull one apart one day

actually my mechanic who has helped me out a lot lent me a terratrip and nav light for the event, its a spare one hes got which i plan to buy off him but we havent talked price yet cause he knows ive got no money at the moment, he installed the probe and everything for me, hes really good!

im 20 and yeah if theres ever an oppurtunity to have a beer or whatever id love to, its great meeting guys from here (only done it once) and other rally guys cause none of my mates are into cars and they dont know what im talking about and whinge about how i cant come out cause im working on the car or have no money cause i spent it on the car (sounds more ike a girlfriend hey?)

shiet happens, im loving the car and i love driving so they can wait

whens your first rally dude, i reckon youve just gotta set a rally to do and force yourself to have the car ready, signing up to do the rally i just did was the best thing, i spent every dollar and found everything cheap as asking people to help me out (which eveyone was happy to do, and it helped so much) but most of all i was forced to get my car ready in time and the amount of work i did in such a small time was amazing,
now ive done it once its a case of clean it up and fix anything that broke and your ready again, i.e., for the next rally all i gotta do is get those new shocks in and off i go, youve just gotta squezze the budget real hard once and get everything there on the car and youll be right!

im still trying to find cash for insurance for when its on the road and for a cage, and ive gotta pay my mate for his car (that was a real set back), ive also at somestage gotta pay for this terratrip so i guess im a little in debt and needing more gear but at least i can enter as a novice for the moment

Hey 1200rc, yeah I have been here, checking the messages but I dont log in everytime I arrive as my puter crashes almost everytime I log in!

Thats gotta suck crashing your mates car, ahh well Im sure you will sort it out.

Yeah that navigation would take a bit of getting used to especially in the dark! Terra trips are wicked but cost a fair bit, did you get yours second hand or new?

The diff in my Ford Falcon ute acts really strange sometimes. In the dry it will single wheel around corners. Hit the dirt and give it a booot load and both wheels light up. Had a bit of a moment the other week. Had a mate of mine following me on the way back to my place and I clutched it in second gear and gave it heaps. The uterus kicked hell sideways to the left then back to the right, then back to the left (at this point I was working the wheel real hard! small sporty with no power steering trying to turn a huge XB Falc!) then I just let it go all the way around as I ran out of lock. This was on tarmac too, fuk she has some go in her! My mate following me loved it!

I havent heard of Ben, I assume he didnt make it to the rally down here in TAS (ARC) because I would have noticed him. There was actually some hell young bloke like 17/18/19 (Im 19) that was racing an EVO (lucky bastard!) but I dont know what happend to him.

Goood to hear from you mate, if im ever over your way it would be nice to catch up and have a beer and talk Dattos hahaha!

Simon

hey nizmo havent seen you on here for a few weeks!

moneys always good, found some cheap half decent shocks $140, but i still gotta pay my mate $500 from stacking his rally car so it could be a while

i still need to change the chokes it the carbs, actually one part of the stage was a bitch it was pretty steep and i had to either revs it rings off in second or glug, glug, glug in thind, which was really annoying as i wasnt confident yet i didnt want to be that high in the revs for long periods

the car was pretty fast but navigation hamperred efforts a lot, need to practice a bit with terra-trip

diffs good, actually it leaked where i had mounts welded back onto it about 2 weeks ago and i had to get my mechanic to cut one mount off and reweld it all

i put in a post about max revs or something, i was dragging my brother and missed second gear (in the wet) and it reved out i let the clutch out and the arse end started to overtake the front, the front walked across into my brothers lane cutting him off and after she gripped i launched down the road, then speaking to my brother he says, "ive got to get me one of those sprung loads, thats what happens in my starion" which is LSD obviously, actually i found it quite good during the rally too as on the loose stuff you dont just single spin when you try to boot out of a corner, she just bites, twithces and goes

ive got a pair of big lightforce on the front which came in quite handy although i had them both pointing at the same height which meant going over crests or at the bottom of a steep hill i couldnt see the road ahead very far, four lights would be much better just to get that sort of coverage in those situations

my car is road registered so i take her up the dandenongs occasionally for a bit of practice, i could go during the day for some footage but it would be a little dangerous

the next rally which runs novices is on Nov 30th and it has a day time stage throught the local autocross track so that should be good for some footage cause ill be able to get multiple corners from one stand-point with video (ill be doing this rally, i cant wait)

I had this guy come up to me asking about my 1200 at the start of the event and he went off and came back with another guy and that guy helped me adjust my lights and was talking to me about tyre pressure and he said something like "thats what i reckon anyway" and i said something like "well if youve got experience you know a lot more than i do" and he said "oh, by the way my names Ben Tirrant", my jaw dropped, do you know who that is?, if not hes a 18 or 19 year old driving a mitsubishi evo in the ARC with very big chances of making world rally in the next few years, i think hes going to rally in the RAC, which is the english rally season next year or the year after

actually i was dropping my tyre pressure on his advice and stuffed up with the gauge and before i realised had tyre pressure down to 20 psi (Ben said use 30 psi), so on the first transport i had to stop off at the local petrol station and pump it up again