Thread: B13 Rally Car Build

All that line needs is Horatio Kane looking pulling off his sunglasses and The Who kicking in the background.

The car won't be making Rally Minnesota, sadly.

But I have to get a shot of the rear corner that's together with the custom parallel arms. Sexy.

It is a lot of work. I did the same thing to one of my SE-R's years ago. I got it like this.....


and had to do this.....





But it came out great and I am enjoying the car tremendously.

Wow. Almost exactly the same cut too, except I couldn't keep the top of the radiator core or the top of the driver's side. How did you splice the frame horn? Butt welded or did you make some kind of connecting piece?

It was 10 years ago, but I'm pretty sure I cut out two 3/16ths plates, about 5" long, inserted them half way into the frame rail and plug welded them in. I drilled 1/2" holes for the plug welds. Then I slid the new section on and butt welded it all together. Yes, it's probably stronger than the original section now, and won't have the same crushability as the original frame rail had, but that doesn't bother me.

Mike

Few pics:

Passenger front suspension mostly back together with ARP studs and AD22VF brakes:


Driver rear suspension partly reassembled with custom parallel links:


Engine bay after a bunch of simple green (not done yet):

Argh, finally!



I know it doesn't seem like much but it feels like a huge step forward. This car has never before tonight had a straight front end on it since I, or the guy before me owned it.

Also dropped the gas tank last week. Ugh, should have kept the tank from the rallycross car, which was nice and shiny inside. This one was naaaaasty. Shellac and sludge and rust. I debated sealing it, but even a pint of Por-15 gas tank sealer is $50, plus $20 for a new lock ring seal anyhow, so I just ordered a new tank for ~140 from rockauto, and this way I won't have to worry about it.

Nice work Mark. I know how good it feels to have just welded on a nice straight front end.

Regarding the tank, look carefully at the new one inside. Sometimes aftermarket tanks don't have the same level of baffling around the fuel pump pickup. Some also lack the same vapor tubing and venting paraphanalia on the inside roof of the tank. I have one like this in my rallycross SE-R and had some problems with the vapor canister under the hood dripping raw fuel after filling the new tank all the way.

Mike

Nice job, I'm sure it was a relief to get it out of the way. I bet you are now motivated more than ever to finish the project!

Do you recall the brand you had issues with?

This one is a Spectra, and it has what appears to be identical baffling to stock, so I'm hoping I'm good to go there.

One of the nice parts about buying a new tank as well is that I can weld on some tabs to hold the tank protection (which is required by Rally-America). I don't think I'd be willing to weld on a used tank, so this allows me to make simpler mountings.