Time to get down to business

The car finally made it to Dan's house last weekend. We're going to get it sitting on a fresh drivetrain and get all the body work done before returning it to RalliTek for the engine installation and tuning. There's a LONG list of things to do. Here's a subset:

- Install new nuckles, brakes, and brake lines - install new wheels & driveline
- Run brake lines, e-brake, proportioning valve
- Paint rollcage (ie. black in windshield area and repaint white in some areas)
- Install dash & figure out heater ducting (need heater)
- Install windshield
- Remove various metal brackets, etc (weight savings)
- Install lock cores / ignition switch
- Fit seats/possibly install or decide to go with head-restraint seats
- Figure out plan for door cards or replacement & installation of door handles/window switches
- Tow hook plan (might be able to use stock)
- Plan dash/gauges/switches
- Plan battery mounting
- Install card to separate trunk from interior
(Plus about 250 other items)


Once at Dan's, we introduced the new service crew to the car. Liam, Ezra, and Michael thought the car was pretty cool. Michael even helped remove the old wheels- He's getting good with the electric impact wrench! I just hope he doesn't use it on my car when I'm not watching.


This is Hazel. Hazel is new. She's in training to be a rally service dog. The cone thing is to protect some stitches and to keep her ears glued down. It's times like this, I'm glad I'm not a dog.

2002 - 2007

Our new project is a 2002, but we're going to make it look like a 2007 model. The main difference is in the front end.

Here's are a couple of 2002's, also called "bugeye":



And here's what the 2007 looks like:


Now we just need to find a new hood, bumper, and headlights!

Flock it!

The first real work that we did on the car was to flock the dashboard. This is done to reduce glare from the dashboard, and allow the driver to focus on the road. It's easy to do when the dash is out.

We started with a kit from Donjer. It worked awesome. You basically paint on some glue over the entire surface, and then you blow on a very fine "dust" of flocking material. When it dries, it feels like suede. The whole process took less than an hour, plus several days curing time.

Dash before...


Dash after... It feels like a Fuzzy Wuzzy Bear.

Searching for parts

Even though the new project came with a lot of stuff, it still needs a lot to be finished.

Some key things that the car needs:
- Intake/Throttle Body
- Intercooler
- Radiator and fans
- Exhaust
- Nuckles/wheel bearings that aren't shot
- Fenders & front bumper cover
- Matching locks & ignition switch

Since the car already needs some bodywork that we have to buy, we decided to change the bodywork so that car looks like a 2007 model, instead of a 2002. This might make it easier to find sponsors to help pay for everything, and the car will be worth more when we're done.

Finding all of these parts can be difficult and expensive. Luckily, we've found a local salvage yard that specializes in Subarus, and we found almost everything we need there. This place is exactly what you think of when you think of a salvage yard- Cars and parts everywhere, and a cat named Boots living in the cars. The owner, John, is super friendly and offers excellent customer service.

Here's a photo of the yard...



2007 model year fenders...


Every rally car needs a wing (and STI taillights)!

This mass of rubber and trim surrounds the doors and windows of the car to keep dust out- kind of important on a rally car. It took Dan two hours to pull all of this crap.

Brakes... This was a lucky find. John had some 2007 WRX brakes, front and back. We already have a set of fronts, but were happy to buy a full set from John- We'll use the ones we have as spares eventually. At the top is another lucky find- A set of dba two-piece brake rotors. We found these at the RalliTek garage sale and got an awesome deal on them. Hopefully, we'll never need another set of brakes!

Pix of new project

Dan and I started racing the RX-7 in 2003. We've had a ton of fun in that car, it's time to try something new.

We bought a rally car-in-progress from a local racer.

The car is a 2002 Subaru WRX. It has a great cage built by Judd Weld (great name for a guy who welds things!). The car comes with a brand new motor, brand new transmission, new brakes, rally seats, rally computer, rally intercom- pretty much everything. But none of it is assembled. It's going to take a lot of work to finish this car.

The car is at RalliTek in Portland, and luckily the owner of RalliTek is interested in helping us finish the car in exchange for some exposure for his business.

We still have to gather many parts for this car, as the shell is very bare. It had been a theft recovery and was completely stripped.

The hope is to have the car finished by the spring of 2010- for the Doo Wops race, which was also our first race in the RX-7.

Future posts will include parts gathering, fabbing, installation, and dirt slinging.

Mt. Hood Rally is here

The Mt Hood Rally is this Saturday, October 18th. This is the only rally that we do that allows 2 pass recce, which means we get to make our own notes from scratch.

Gabe West will be navigating for me this year- the first time he's co-driven at Mt. Hood.

The only other car registered in Group 5 is Charles Buren in his Impreza. We're looking forward to a good battle with Charles, as well as some of the other 2WD folks like Cody Crane in his CRX.

We want to beat the 2WD stage record for the Gilhouley stage, which stands at 6 minutes, 37 seconds (held by Cody). Last year, we ran 6 minutes, 38 seconds. This year, we're only running the stage "up", so it may be more difficult to get the record.

Check out the Mt. Hood website here.

AND, the event should have live scoring updates here: SCORES.

I'll post an update after the rally.

2008 Wild West Video

Here's some video from the Wild West Rally. This was a really tough hairpin on the Skyhawk Stage. On the first running, Dan was on the wrong page in the routebook, and we were a little frazzled because we were a bit rushed at the start line. On the first pass, there's a car in the ditch on the outside of the hairpin- We nearly join him when I can't find reverse and the car rolls forward.

On the second running, we made the turn a bit better!