Building a working rally tribute car

[Blagave]

With front condenser mounted, I started the layout of the front skid plate. I am using 0.190 5052 aluminum, which is a little softer for bending. I also have laid out the bends to go with the grain, to reduce stress cracks. I have a band saw, but no one to help me, so I used a jig saw to cut it out. Worked just fine.

[Blagave]

Laid out holes for air to pass though the condenser. Lots of holes to drill.

[Blagave]

Originally Posted by gtc

Are you going to modify or reinforce the front bumper mounting in any way? I'm just wondering what would happen to the bumper shocks if, for instance, the winch cable were putting a vertical load on the guides you have on the front of the bumper.

Yeah, I questioned the strength from side to side on guides. The interior guide is narrower than the guide on the bumper and the inside guide bolts to the billet piece that bolts though the sheet metal. In a perfect world I would have continued the cage all the way down and tied everything together, but I want to use the spare tire and still utilize the frunk. With Everything bolted up, it seems stout, but not sure how it would do in a real world situation. I hope I never find out.

[orange911]

Was this car already equipped with a condenser blower or did you have to cut into the trunk. Great build and the welding as others have said is excellent. Are you using Tig or stick?

[Blagave]

The car already had the front condenser. I am replacing the entire A/C system with upgraded parts from both Rennair and Griffths. I want to be able to drive the car all year round here in Southern CA.

I have both Mig and Tig welders. The cage welds are perfection and not done by me, Steven at SMP made the cage. I am a descent welder, but over the years my eye sight isn't the greatest so it gets harder sometimes welding.

[jadewombat]

Great stuff. I'm a punch and flare freak myself. I cut extra threads off of bolts and replace non-critical hardware with aluminum. Another option for tires, you can run light pickup truck off-road tires. I did pit crew for a Mitsu. Galant VR4 years ago and the owner was running 205?? BF Goodrich tires you might otherwise see on a Ford Ranger, etc. We spent a lot of time in between stages with a flathead screwdriver dislodging gravel that was jammed into the beads.

Not sure if you've seen this, similar tribute to an old rally legend with a RWD air-cooled german car.

Dave's 1971 1302 Not-So-Secret, Secret Project Build - GermanLook Forums

[Tremelune]

Clean work.

[intakexhaust]

sub'd-
beautiful beads on the cage work!

[B61]

WAAAAW
a dream come through !

[rs_t]

Impressive! Love reading this thread.

[Vwovw]

Wow. Very nice work!

[hammer107]

Nice stuff, I have a 1984 Carerra I turned into a rally rig and it's more fun than any of my other race cars. A kick to drive off pavement, great scenery out there and no cops. Oregon has hundreds of miles of logging roads so no issue finding places to open her up. I used DMACK 15" (run flat 8-ply) gravel tires on powder-coated 15"X7" cookie cutter wheels, 2" spacers on the rear, very dialed off road handaling.

[hammer107]

[Blagave]

Originally Posted by hammer107

I like those DMACK tires. What size are you running and do you have any lift in the ride height? Also, how many miles do you think you will get out of a set of tires/

[hammer107]

They are 205/65 R15 and I have about 1K on them with 1/4 of the tread gone. Get the hard compound or you'll burn them up on the pavement. I also have Goodyear Eagle GT high performance all-season tires on 16" fuchs for everyday and I found them to be outstanding all around, even in the loose stuff.

[hammer107]

Here's the under-pan, I used ABS so I could heat mold it around my under-body, very impact resistant, I've jacked the whole car up on the air on a few less informed corners with no damage. I used 3/16" throughout then 1/4" under the fuel tank as that would be a bad thing to puncture where I go. I put 1/4" Amsteel gray on the winch, a lot less weight, stronger and easy to use with a 2:1 or 3:1 pulley system if you get really stuck.

[hammer107]

[hammer107]

.. oh, and yes, a 2" lift in ride hight from US norm.

[santagrant]

subscribed - looking forward to the journey. And yes, the welding is superb!

[hammer107]

Here are the Goodyear GT tires, as you can see very nice open tread and they really grab well on the hard stuff as well.