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First Rally Car? Am I buying a decent vehicle?

3K views 19 replies 8 participants last post by  jody-z 
#1 ·
I have recently found a 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer OZ Rally with 90K on it for $5000. After inspecting the engine and what not everything seems to be in excellent condition for the price. What I really need to know is whether or not it's going to be an overly expensive build for my first car? I was thinking of sinking around $10000 into it and will that be enough for most importantly safety equipment, and a decent turbo?
 
#3 ·
Well, don't worry about the turbo. In your area, most rally events are put on by Rally-America, and they don't allow new drivers in turbocharged cars.

Plus, look at the results Jan and Jody Zedril have had in a non-turbo FWD Lancer to get an idea of what the car is capable of without a turbo...

$10k can turn your car into a decent G2 car, but it all depends on how much you're prepared to do yourself. (And that does *not* include the $5k for the car up front).

Many people will tell you to buy your first car rather than build it. The arguments are compelling, but don't generally seem to have any effect on the person being argued at. ;)
 
#4 ·
for $5k + $10k you'll most likely get a stock motor, suspension, LSD, cage and safety bits. Not including wheels/tires.

A "decent" turbo depends what you're looking for. If you do 24 Hours of LeMons style, you can follow Team Eyesore racing and build a kit for $100 or you can go for pre-fab kits for $3k.

But try and ring with the Zedril brothers on there or hopefully they can chime in. They ran that thing as a P class for for a long time and were doing well.
 
#5 ·
Thanks. Most of the work will be done by me and my father in law. Also... I thought Rally-America would allow 1st year drivers turbo as long as the drive train wasn't AWD? I will check out Jan and Jody to see exactly what I am getting into... Thanks again!
 
#6 ·
Have you been to a rally? (not trying to be nasty here)

Again, read the stickies.

Come out and work an event(s) and/or crew for some of us to see how things work and what cars look like (go to tech).

Motor is the last thing you should be worrying about.

Don't start on the cage before reading/asking/consulting a LOT ! ("assuming" you haven't done this before)

Have fun.

ymmv

press on,
 
#9 ·
Have you been to a rally? (not trying to be nasty here)
No worries I am not TOO sensitive. I will read over the stickies and would love to come out and work a crew. As far as safety, I stated it as my first concern. Essentially I am waiting to see if this will be the right car to buy in which once purchased I will bring it up to my first rally and probably bug the crap out of anyone running mitsubishi.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Before i put a roll cage into my car, Guy Light (been doing rally for like 30, or 40 years) told me not to worry about the motor until you i was "flat on the gas the entire stage" and that advice has served me (and my wallet) well. :)

First thing you need to focus on, and the only thing you need to focus on is passing tech/ minimum scrutineer check . probably the best route is to find out who in your area can log book a car, then check in with that person before you drop cash. ie if John Doe is your log book buy you can send him an email , phone call, etc, "hey i found a roll cage on this website, is this okay?" then maybe he says no wrong type of metal, and then you show him the powerdrive cage kit and he says that cage is okay , if installed correctly.

I believe safedrives.com has a "rally car in a box kit" and they can give you a cage for a lancer. :) $2300 ish ,the kit comes with a roll cage, 2 seats, and 5 point harnesses. you can customize the kit for different seats, belts, etc. they also have first aid kits, and triangles (might as well grab those then) and fire extinguishers . http://www.rallylights.com/SMS/default.aspx they have spill kits, first aid, and intercoms

If you can get the welding , cage fitment done for free.. you are looking at 5K car + 2300 + 200 + intercom ($200 ?) $7700

You will need a skid plate , and rally tires. and you should really try to get some rally suspension on your car. rally suspension will reduce damage to your car and keep your upkeep costs down compared to stock suspension. (ask me how i know :p)


and you will need suspension and tires. I would recommend JVAB . he is super knowledgeable and makes an amazing product at a great price (about $2K) . he is a very unique character, opinionated and filled with stories. you could also go with allwheelsdriven.net He makes a very similar product but usually includes top mounts and spring bags. they both use bilstein inserts, and are very very similar construction. I think barret is a bit more "straight down to business" he also really knows his stuff. think his go for about $2500.

there are many solutions above that price point , but that's beyond my budget or experience.

a good LSD helps a bunch. when i was fwd i really wanted a 1-way or a 1.5 way plated/clutch style ... i ended up with a Torsen because for my car, it was $900 cheaper than any other option. its a great fit for me because I drive my car around a lot, but its not ideal out on stage.

I think doing a handful of events with an open diff is actually really good from a learning standpoint. a driver can Drift a FWD, Open diff car through the corners.

On the other hand some people are not worried at all about 'driver development' and just want to create the fastest, most fun car for their buck. the community perception is that people leave our sport very very quickly , so we try to steer people away from that route. its Easier to make a costly mistake going that route (high speed off, or mechanical failures) which often discourages people.

BTW, i think that's a fantastic car to start with. (I've only ever wrenched on an impreza so wtf do i know lol)

so 10K total should be your car, log booked, ready to pass inspection, and with some rally suspension.
$900 ish on rally tires, $1000 for proper rims. I went with steel rims for a long while 5 for $100, and you can pound them back to "round ish" with a hammer. if i had the money to avoid that, i would. :)

so maybe that's 12K of your budget (not paying for labor or an LSD) that should be 3K ... enough to enter 2 rallies if you budget well. :)
 
#20 ·
Before i put a roll cage into my car, Guy Light (been doing rally for like 30, or 40 years) told me not to worry about the motor until you i was "flat on the gas the entire stage" and that advice has served me (and my wallet) well. :)
To add to this most excellent piece of advise...the most fun we've ever had in the car was when it couldn't keep-up to us (with the pedal to the metal the majority of the time) and trying to eek-out every second we could from it. When you get to that point, add a little something, progress some more until you are waiting for the car again, add a little something else, etc. At least that's what we did, but we can tell you from experience that it is more fun this way as opposed to trying to wrangle a bull. Ok, slight exaggeration but you get the gist of it. Alternately, ask yourself which is more fun...a) wailing on a big wheel 80/100 (physical size permitting) or 125, or b) trying to man-handle a 450/500/650 that is essentially riding you :)
 
#11 · (Edited)
I'm a newbie that built over buying... if you have previous car building experience/welding etc. I'd say build it youll know your car inside and out. I spent less than 10k car included, has an engine with 60k, converted it to AWD, and good entry level suspension (hotbits). So if you do all the work yourself you can do it cheaply.

But, if you have doubts and really have never done a car build before, i'd buy for sure. Nothing worse than starting a project getting in over your head then having to pay someone to do it.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Thanks for all of the comments everyone...much appreciated.

And R.J. (Covert), yup, with the amount of information we've sourced worldwide and the experience we've had with our '03 Lancer, we'd be more than happy to share everything we've learned. That said, please feel free to use us as a resource as needed.

In the meantime, one thing we'd like to reinforce is the fact that we ourselves have no intention of installing a turbo ever. Truth be told...until we are 'somewhat' able to hold a candle to Mr. Duplessis, we feel we have no business in installing a turbo. Besides, even if we did, he'd still beat us (ie. we still have a lot to learn with what we have).

Oh, and incidentally, our background revolved around Motocross for a good 15-years as well (both competing and from an executive/organizational level for the latter 5-years), which we were just as passionate about as we are about rally now, but even moreso with rally :)

Jody Zedril
 
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