Club rally/track car build

[buggy man]

I wasnt in the rallysprint, ive now got alloys and rally tyres so thats been rectified and improved upon, lighter rims and more traction from the tyres.

[buggy man]

Also has anyone ever installed a hydraulic handbrake into one of these before? I think im going to in the near future as well as a bias controller, i hink these would really help tune the way the car feels. I will also be replacing most of the suspension bushes, shocks ect. I will probably go with polyurethane bushes with new oem shocks and springs? I cant find any coilovers that arnt lowered.. which i suppose is part of the challenge of competing in a car that doesnt particularly have a big rally history..

[buggy man]

Ran an autocross a fortnight ago, car ran well and was very consistent thrughout the day finishing up 12th out of 55 from memory. I simply couldnt get more out of the car, i was driving well but that is all i could manage on the day. Still a good result overall especially as there were three rally prepped wrxs and several other fast rally cars in front. Oh and i was still on road tyres..

So more upgrades to do now! Currently ive pulled every bit of carpet and matting out, more trim, both airbags and now have the dash out removing the A/C and heater. I will be using an electric 12v heater fan to demist the windscreen that will be plumbed up under the dash, this is way lighter and simplifies the water lines. Will be blocking off the dash vents, re making the switch panel and installing a roof vent (when it shows up).

Other than that im going to do poly strut tops, pull the subframe and do solid bushes/seam weld and strengthen it the same way USRT do.

Still looking for some 15" rims so I can get some decent tyres fitted up, and a cam upgrade soon aswell hopefully.

[buggy man]

So these were taken last week, just fully stripped the interior today to remove more unnecessary items and to change the dash a bit.
Anyway ill post up some more pictures after the changes

[HaydEn]

Awesome stuff!

[buggy man]

Got the dash back in tonight, still have to make up the switch panel and gauge mounts as well as the vent block offs. Stripped a fair bit out!

[buggy man]

Productive night in the shed!
New non aircon engine belt showed up so i installed that, finished up installing the dash and re fit the front bumper. Went to start the car and nope...
Had some imobaliser issues, but disconnected the battery, then re connected and left the ignition on for 15 minutes and then it re set itself and started fine!
I have to go find another water hose as one of the hoses is seeping water, but other then that it seems good!

Still have to put the passenger seat in and finish off the dash switch panel which will hold:
- battery isolator switch
- volt gauge
- oil pressure
- maybe water temp (somthing more accurate then stock could be good)
- fuel cap switch
- hazzard switch
- demister switch
- horn
- spotlights
- interior lights ( will replace standard lights with led )
- windscreen water

Think thats it, anyway will hopefully get it finished enough for a drive tomorrow !

[HaydEn]

Pretty much the extent of your free weight reduction now.

Did you remove front and rear reo's?

If you search on ebay. 280cca battery, you'll see SSB $80 motorbike batteries pop up. These are 3kg. And will start your car.

The spare tire well weighs a bit if you replaced with sheet metal. It's not structural but your strut bar will cover it's absence.

[buggy man]

Did you remove front and rear reo's?

???

Yeah thats pretty much all the free weight i can take out.. the spare tyre well is a good idea however when I run a real rally say 30km stages I will want to carry a spare wheel plus basic tools as often people do change tyres mid stage if needed.

The battery is a good idea! Shame i just brought a new battery a few months back but it is somthing I will look into.
The plan in regards to working on the car now will be mainly replacing and upgrading the suspension and brakes. Alot of basic bushes ect are worn as the car has 250xxx kms.
Brakes may get an upgrade to gti fronts if any come up at the right price and a hydraulic handbrake and bias adjuster added to allow some tuning.

[buggy man]

Car is now up for sale in the classifieds section. Will post some updated photos asap.