RALLY!

[Impact-mk]

im thinking of turning my 73 z into a more rally suitable car. nothing extreme, but i drive a lot of dirt back roads, and always wanted to try and rally race, figured i would kill two birds so to speak, but im not really sure what this will look like, does any body have any pictures of something like this?

 

[ol' grouch]

Unless you want to go full blown rally RACING, you just need some suspension and tire modifications. I lost the few photos I had of my Dodge Omni that I rally and autocross raced. You don't need a lot of power so a healthy engine, what ever size you have is good enough. You want;

Grippy tires. A little wider maybe but not much. A wider tire grips pavement but lessens the weight per square inch. You want almost a mild all terrain tire. Something that will dig more than grip as dirt likes to fly.

Suspension. If you don't have front and rear sway bars, add them. Heavy duty shock absorbers. These are actually shock dampers as your tires and springs absorb the road shocks but decades of being called that, you can't buy dampers but shocks. I doubt you would need remote reservoir units. Make sure all the tie rods, bushings and such are in good shape.

Brakes. You want the best you can afford and fit in your wheels. Use later model wheels because in the early 70's, disc brake cars had different wheels to clear the calipers. By the mid 70's, all cars had disc brake wheels. I would recommend open style mag wheels like the Cragar Classic to allow plenty of air flow over the brakes. Definitely flush and put fresh brake fluid in all around. Go with DOT 3-4 rather than DOT 3 as it will handle more heat. Personally, I'd convert to all wheel disc brakes. They are a booger to get set up right with the proportioning but will haul you down on the pavement and be less likely to mud packing.

Electrical. You want a larger alternator output to power the lights you want to add. You want two high powered driving lights, slightly aimed off to the sides to light up curves and such. You also want a pair of actual FOG lights, if you can find any. What Detroit calls fog lamps on new cars aren't any good in fog. You want a yellow lens to show up in white out conditions as well as a fluted lens to cut the top of the beam off to avoid glare. You can mount these on your front bumper, or brackets to mount them over your bumper so you don't drill holes in the bumper. If you have an aftermarket hood, you can mount them there. Maybe an LED light bar on the hood. On fog lights, I like to go European and put two bright red button lights on the back to keep from getting rear ended and wired in with the fog lamps.

Inside the car I'd add a 4 point harness. If you lose it and plow into the trees, you'll appreciate it. If you run in the hills or mountains, a roll cage for the same reason.

Other stuff you probably won't need is a fire extinguisher, a snorkel for the engine air intake to get it above the dust from other cars and a larger air filter. Believe it or not, those high flow air filter like K&N don't do anything. Just a good quality paper will do. Taller if possible to flow more air (and catch more dust).

 

[Impact-mk]

Awesome info!, this is what im planning so far, i do plan on caging it(rigidity). i have the car entirely apart so i figure might as well. i have an 81 ws6 disk rear and all break lines, proportioning valve and master cyl. the car has pretty good looking front disk size, and the rims i plan on using are one of my spare sets from my 79, stock z wheels, or a pair of eagles i have, i found an extra front bumper that i plan or welding a small tubular grill guard to mount some lights in, im thinking 26-30 inch tall all terrains, probably 245 front 265 rear, spare tire mounted on the trunk and fuel tank mounted in the trunk and trunk sealed off for fire safety and a little extra ground clearance, im thinking cutting 79 Z28, or trans am, grill vents to release air in the engine bay, im thinking ankle burner or fender side dump exhaust, also to save clearance, i will put my 79z's modified motor in when i ls swap it this summer, its nothing to special but should be good,

The main thing left is exterior styling and things of the like, examples being flares and air damns, or should i use special bubble fenders, what exterior moldings make other rally cars function?

Can anyone recommend a design or rendering soft where or help me out with a preliminary modeling?

and lastly if anyone has pictures of something close please post.

Thanks for the info so far, and to all coming info!
if people would like i will post a link to the build when i have all the pieces together

 

[ol' grouch]

I didn't realize you were going this far along. With what you're planning, put a large racing fuel cell in it. They are safer than a stock fuel tank and you can pick the size. Youtube has plenty of videos like this one;



Watching the videos I can see a lot of advances in technology that I wish I'd have had when I raced. I've always felt rally racing was the purest form of motorsport. Male or female, it depends mostly on talent rather than brute strength. I've seen many female rally drivers that were good drivers and just a lot easier to watch as they climb out of the car. I still drive in a.......um.......spirited manner but age and health makes racing less attractive.

 

[Impact-mk]

I didn't realize you were going this far along. With what you're planning, put a large racing fuel cell in it. They are safer than a stock fuel tank and you can pick the size. Youtube has plenty of videos like this one;



Watching the videos I can see a lot of advances in technology that I wish I'd have had when I raced. I've always felt rally racing was the purest form of motorsport. Male or female, it depends mostly on talent rather than brute strength. I've seen many female rally drivers that were good drivers and just a lot easier to watch as they climb out of the car. I still drive in a.......um.......spirited manner but age and health makes racing less attractive.

I agree wholeheartedly with what you said,

as a veteran of the field, are there any brands. parts or setups, you recommend or would change from my description?

also at this moment i have a high rise intake on the way, and have the air filter hole cut in my hood, now i know i will need to cover it but any recommendations with what? so far i am thinking of a dirt track car scoop, thoughts?

 

[ol' grouch]

I don't know if I'd use a high rise intake. Too much power to the wheels will break them loose. Remember, you're going to doing a lot of time on dirt. Come summer and dry weather, you'll want plenty of filtration. Look at dirt through a microscope and you'll see lot's of rough edges. Get into volcanic areas and the ash is like little knives that will eat the cylinder walls up. When Mt. St. Helens erupted, a lot of engines with stopped up filters had them removed and were pretty much toast.

It's been years since I raced but we would often stack two filter elements together for roundy round racing on dirt. It looked odd but the engine got plenty of air. As for brands and such, I haven't raced on dirt since the 80's and haven't done any rally cross (mixed dirt and pavement) since the late 90's. My only recent is with some autocross in parking lots but that's not really what you're wanting to do. There are so many systems that need to work together I'd hesitate to mention any brands as I don't have recent experience with any and a lot of the ones I used to use, if they are still around, are owned by someone else.

 

[Impact-mk]

I don't know if I'd use a high rise intake. Too much power to the wheels will break them loose. Remember, you're going to doing a lot of time on dirt. Come summer and dry weather, you'll want plenty of filtration. Look at dirt through a microscope and you'll see lot's of rough edges. Get into volcanic areas and the ash is like little knives that will eat the cylinder walls up. When Mt. St. Helens erupted, a lot of engines with stopped up filters had them removed and were pretty much toast.

It's been years since I raced but we would often stack two filter elements together for roundy round racing on dirt. It looked odd but the engine got plenty of air. As for brands and such, I haven't raced on dirt since the 80's and haven't done any rally cross (mixed dirt and pavement) since the late 90's. My only recent is with some autocross in parking lots but that's not really what you're wanting to do. There are so many systems that need to work together I'd hesitate to mention any brands as I don't have recent experience with any and a lot of the ones I used to use, if they are still around, are owned by someone else.

stacked one inside the other, or one on top of the other? we don't really have volcano's in Canada, at least not active,the most recent eruption was 750 ad haha,

 

[ol' grouch]

stacked one inside the other, or one on top of the other? we don't really have volcano's in Canada, at least not active,the most recent eruption was 750 ad haha,

One on top of the other. You have to modify the rod that holds them down with some all thread rod cut to length. I usually used some liquid gasket material between the elements to prevent dust sneaking by. You may be surprised at how many volcanoes are in Canada. Especially southern Canada. After all, you have the Rocky Mountains.