Spec me a cheap car that would be good for Rallying.

Zip · 17 Aug 2006 at 12:02

Im after a cheap car so i can go out to rallys.
It needs to be a car that is good pretty reliable and if it happens to hit a tree it wont cost too much to replace or fix

Serj · 17 Aug 2006 at 12:06

It's pretty difficult to know what you have out there and what price it is.

Zip · 17 Aug 2006 at 12:07

Serj said:
It's pretty difficult to know what you have out there and what price it is.

Just trhow some sugestions around and ill go check them out

There might be some cars that i havnt even heard of that are good for it

paradigm · 17 Aug 2006 at 12:08

Just grab yourself a corsa (or whatever holden call it).
Strip it out, cage it, get a nice 1.6 on either twin 40's or some decent TB's and off you go

ci_newman · 17 Aug 2006 at 12:09

Zip said:
Im after a cheap car so i can go out to rallys.
It needs to be a car that is good pretty reliable and if it happens to hit a tree it wont cost too much to replace or fix

What type of rallying are you planning on doing? For simple road rallying the peugeot 205\GTi is the favoured car in the Uk although I'm not too sure how easy parts will be to get in Oz.

Im not too sure on anything bigger than that, mk1 MR2s are a cheap RWD and are fairly sporty!

--G-- · 17 Aug 2006 at 12:15

big car? cheap? R(eal)WD?

i give you......ford Sierra!!! cheap (mine was 300 and I drift the mofo) and plenty tuning abilty.

or if its fast road/rally, 205, swift, corsa (i wouldnt!) or mkII golf.

Zip · 17 Aug 2006 at 12:16

ci_newman said:
What type of rallying are you planning on doing? For simple road rallying the peugeot 205\GTi is the favoured car in the Uk although I'm not too sure how easy parts will be to get in Oz.

Im not too sure on anything bigger than that, mk1 MR2s are a cheap RWD and are fairly sporty!

Im planning to get an MK1 MR2 For a daily driver and most money will go to that and i might enter it in road rallys

It will be more Gravel and Dirt rallying where i need the cheaper car

Burned_Alive · 17 Aug 2006 at 12:18

205 GTI

--G-- · 17 Aug 2006 at 12:20

tis the best one I think 205s are rapid, and i think as long as you have some tool skills, cheap(er) to run

penski · 17 Aug 2006 at 12:23

Holden Arcadian or whatever the hell the Aussie T-Car was.

Light, RWD, fun, cheap, good-handling, easy to modify....

*n

Zip · 17 Aug 2006 at 12:24

penski said:
Holden Arcadian or whatever the hell the Aussie T-Car was.

Light, RWD, fun, cheap, good-handling, easy to modify....

*n

I cant find a picture of one anywhere. Can you please post a picture

paradigm · 17 Aug 2006 at 13:01

penski said:
Holden Arcadian or whatever the hell the Aussie T-Car was.

Light, RWD, fun, cheap, good-handling, easy to modify....

*n

You thinking of the Holden Gemini? (kadett based thing?)

R3DBuLL · 17 Aug 2006 at 13:08

What about a clio valver or willy :cool:

saitrix · 17 Aug 2006 at 13:27

paradigm said:
You thinking of the Holden Gemini? (kadett based thing?)

Yup the Gemini was the one sold in Aussie land.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Gemini

I also recommend this car.

penski · 17 Aug 2006 at 16:04

paradigm said:
You thinking of the Holden Gemini? (kadett based thing?)

I am indeed.

Ponticac Arcadian was the Canadian one.

Too many T-Cars

I want a Daewoo Maepsy-Na for bragging rights.

*n

Mr Nice · 17 Aug 2006 at 16:10

Mk II Escort

Burned_Alive · 17 Aug 2006 at 16:10

Mr Nice said:
Mk II Escort

Cheap?

Scuzi · 17 Aug 2006 at 16:19

R3DBuLL said:
What about a clio valver or willy

I don't think willys are suited to going up dirt tracks...

I don't know what availability is like down your side of the world but a mate of mine used to rally an old Audo 90 quattro which he bought for £400. He seemed to think it was a very capable car after a few mods to make it suitable for rallys. I can't remember what engine it had in it but I think they came with a 2.3 V5 which wasn't a slouch after a few simple mods.

I haven't driven one personally but my mate seems to reckon it was the dogs nuts.

penski · 17 Aug 2006 at 16:22

Burned_Alive said:
Cheap?

You can pick up a rusty 4-door which has been off the road for a decade and will need about two grand spent on it just to get an MOT for about £800-£1500...then it needs another ten grand spent on it to make it any decent to rally...

OR

You can buy a mint Chevette/Kadett/Gemini/whatever with full tax and ticket for £800, spend less than £500 sorting the chassis (top links, nylon bushes, uprated Panhard Rod, quick rack, shocks and springs) and £500-1000 on a 2 litre engine, 5-speed box and a Manta B axle.

Then you just need the 'safety' bits - seats, cage, extinguishers, onboard fuel tank, relocate the batter, cutoffs...If you shop carefully, you'll be looking at £800-1200 to bring it up to 'legal' standard for competition (stage rallying...of course if you're doing twelve cars it'll be even less

).

So...Given the choice between spending £10-15k to build an Escort and £2.5-3.5k to build a Kadette/Chevette/whatever to the same standard/ability/performance, would you follow the trend of the blue oval?

*n

penski · 17 Aug 2006 at 16:31

As an aside, I met up with an old college friend a few weekends ago...he now has an Opel Kadett saloon running a 2.0 8v Cav/Astra engine. Manta Getrag 'box and Manta axle. It has one bleb of rust on the bonnet (only surface rust anyway

) and is otherwise 100% straight and rust-free.

The engine has a lumpy-ish cam, sucks through some meaty webers and uses a single-silencer straight pipe system. He's planning to use bike carbs and an Eaton M45 in his winter rebuild.

At the moment it puts 158bhp through the rear wheels (15x6 Golf G60 Steels all round, shod with sticky yokos) but with monster amounts of torque.

We went for a hoon around his local roads (south-west Northumberland for anybody local

) and played with a Focus RS and a pair of STs for a while (must have been a local meet or something).

Pulled into Tesco at Kingston Park to grab a bite to eat and the Focuses (focii?) followed us in. The owner of the RS looked unhappy that he couldn't shake a car that literally cost less than £500 to build.

Can't wait to see it in the spring...He's aiming for 230-250bhp and a 50-shot of laughing gas.

*n