Hi,

let me say a great respect from the work you did to build the car

and does i advise you to use a pipe instead the rubber hose from the radiator to the thermostat/water pump, the engine thanks you this especially on a race care
where the rpm's are high a long time

statically there is a pressure over the atmosphere but dynamically when the thermostat is opened you have a lower pressure becouse of the water pump which makes the
rubber hose pull together they higher the rpm's which can affect the water flow in worst case by up to 70%





greetz

This post has been edited by Sunny: Sep 28, 2011 - 12:21 PM

Very late to the game to all of this... fantastic work I have some questions as I am thinking of making the jump from 24 Hours of Lemons / Chump Car to Rally America / NASA....

1) I saw all the stitch welding... Was there a decision to do this over seam welding? Is seam welding not practical / not enough upside / verses the stitch welding?
2) What class do they have you running in? Your engine / drive line combination technically wasn't a factory option, It "sounds" like they didn't dump you into open
3) Does NASA have the same no Noobs allowed to run turbo AWD like RA? From what I hear, the Turbo AWD setup just lets you fly into the trees at a greater speed anyway
4) Whats your take on spare parts during the rally itself? I was going to steer clear of running a ST205 in rally for the lack of spare parts...
5) On that same note... I assume you are not running the super strut up front
6) If you are thinking of running Sno*Drift, you have a guy or two here who would love to crew for you

7) How different is NASA / RA rule book wise?
8) I know there were logistical reasons to go AWD first but did you have rally experience before running this car? "Most" people I've talked to communicated a lot of important lessons were to be learned rallying FF first...

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1. Well they are kinda the same thing just whether its continuous or not. I think stitching is good enough, plus with a continuous bead youll get too much heat buildup and warp the shell more.

2. I'm running in Open Light, basically means any mods I want with AWD as long as its N/A and under 2.65 liters.

3. NASA does not, you can run an open class car without any experience. I personally think its stupid to start in a car where you can only race in half of the sanctioned races though.

4. I only take stuff I have a chance at 'changing'. I take spare axles, fuel pump, stock struts/springs (just incase my coilovers blow up and atleast i'd have something). I have a spare transmission in my garage but dont take it.

5. Nope, Mcphereson type... honestly I dont know why lots of people get all jazzed up on here about superstrut and try to convert. It's a perfect example of trying to over engineer something.

6. I will be at sno*drift unless something really changes with my plans. I'm not sure what my normal crew situation looks like, but you should atleast volunteer, you get to see a lot of action. Probalby work a start/finish control one day then marshall a spectator area another.

7. NASA/RA they are very similar but there are some main differences. RA doesnt require FIA seats, also can't run an open or group 5 car without enough exp. They require a few more items like spill kits and such. Cage design varies slightly, but its easy to make it legal for both.

8. I have no rally exp before this. Lots of people say that and I'm not sure I disagree, but really i think the biggest reason is to 'learn how to drive a slow car fast'. Well i'm still doing that its still slow. I wasn't planning on converting this to AWD atleast yet. However when I was able to get the AWD stuff for about the same price as Clutch/Plate differential (kaaz) i said why not.

UPDATE!!!

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No update. I'm in south korea for a month for work.

I come back the 22nd or something.

Just an FYI, I'll have those rims sent out this upcoming weekend. I've been busy with college work

Back from korea... finally.

light bar?!

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that is a beauty...i would love to have one of those

>

It's probably removed for daytime rallying... would hate to blow up all those lights when your not using them...

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That's exactly it. A new bumper is cheaper than the lights haha.

This post has been edited by czwalga: Oct 24, 2011 - 4:23 PM

epic thread. props to you sir.

Cutting a a big hole in the floor. I need to completely redesign the seat brackets and floor. I'm too tall and do not have enough headroom. Over big bumps my head hits the cage.

The seats already on the floor soo... only way to go is down. I also bought a drill press... cant believe I waited this long, so much easier to drill metal than a hand drill.







Start of the seat brackets...

good geeze, how tall are you dude!

how much are you recessing the floor pan?
I'd be slightly concerned with ground clearances.

This post has been edited by playr158: Nov 9, 2011 - 2:01 PM

I'm 6'2", but you have to figure with a cage and helmet you're talking atleast 3 inches gone just from that if there's no space between the two.

I'm only moving it down about an inch. The front of the seat will still be above the floor pan level, but the seats are fixed back and sit on an angle.

Really most of the problem was on the inside where the tunnel was.

Gotcha,

I think with Helmet i'm only 6'

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Would love to see pics when this all gets done, I'm 6'4" and have a sunroof... so I have no headroom. I have to tilt the seat back and its getting annoying, never mind if I had a helmet on.

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yeah more than 6'2 and ppl dont fit into celica's, im 6,4 and i have problem whit the fitment of my seat, im about to try it whitout the rail, if it doesnt works well, you gave me a great ideas what my next job will look like

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Without a helmet/cage you should be fine; atleast from cutting out the floor. There stock seat is a good amount off the floor, so you probably have an extra 2 inches before you get the to bottom if you're using the stock rails.

Might have to get creative, but I dont think you'll have to cut the floor.

i dont think i will have to cut it too, but at worst, the sunroof give me space for my head lol, at least 2 inch, but my head slyghtly touch the side of the inside border of the sunroof

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The sunroof's actually take away around 4" of headspace. If you could remove the sunroof and just have a normal roof you would gain a lot of head room.

(this coming from a guy thats 6'6" and has been in both types of Celica's... )

Had some time off from work so I made some progress... got the hole patched where I cut in the floor. I need to get it done so I can power wash the underside before it gets below freezing.

Before I left for korea I went to a eurostyle rallyx... was pouring and a mudhole.











Seat with the floor cut out...




Welding looks like rat turds, but I didnt have thin enough wire and didnt feel like buying a spool of smaller stuff. More than fine for what I need.

I also starting building a CNC router to help with a side business i'm trying to start.

X axis is done, Y is about half, and Z still needs to be started. I probably need another 2 days building it, then a few days to do the electronics and tune it.

So that thing is this?

]

looks cool man!

love the muddy pics! have you ever tried running the regular GT-4 hood with the gap? might give better engine bay temps

Yep, itll be one of those. Although that one is probably $6-7k, i'm building one myself to save a lot of money.


As far as the GT4 hood... it would probably be nice, but its' not worth money right now. Maybe in the future. I havent had any temperature problems since the 1st rally when the stock radiator crapped out.

I have an all aluminum godspeed radiator. It's like twice as thick as the stock one, and was pretty cheap. I'd recommend one if you have to replace it.

This post has been edited by czwalga: Nov 25, 2011 - 7:28 PM

I'm running a KOYO myself pretty sweet with the C-ONE panel

I see your mud flaps.... well... they failed miserably - this is in all seriousness my favorite thread on here. When is your next race. I want to come see one.

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Sno*Drift, last weekend in January. Headquarters is atlanta, mi.

Anyone want to buy a 2000 A4 quattro... manual? Just bought a truck, 4 vehicles is at least one too many.