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Justjim75
Justjim75 Dork
12/17/19 3:32 p.m.

Volvo for sale, you say?

Carson
Carson SuperDork
12/17/19 3:44 p.m.

I had a 62 Chrysler New Yorker with the 413. It was pretty quick, it would stand up when the secondaries opened. It was quicker to 60 than the other cars I owned at the time, 325is e30, na miata, bg protege rallycross. 
 

The biggest issue rallycrossing would be the slow steering. But there are fixes for that. 
 

Nick_440
Nick_440 New Reader
12/17/19 5:31 p.m.

In reply to Carson :

that is really cool. I love the slanted headlights, not to mention the big block and 727.

Nick_440
Nick_440 New Reader
12/17/19 5:34 p.m.

In reply to Justjim75 :

It's not on the market yet but it might be soon,  my dad is a volvo nut so it might never make it to market.

It is a 1990 740 wagon, non turbo, non lsd, burgundy, a bit of rust, mostly reparied. all new brakes, axle seals, fuel lines, a few drift stitches. 

Edit: it's an automatic too, main reason I'm selling it.

b13990
b13990 Reader
12/17/19 7:17 p.m.

As a courtesy, should OP go last? You know... for the sake of the terrain?

Also, I've seen the videos, but why are steel wheels so awful for rallycross? Is the material really that much easier to bend and break than whatever the !@#$ "alloy" wheels are made of? Are people really bottoming out their rims, bending them, etc. in rallycross?

I guess I thought steelies were ugly and heavy but tough.

Knurled.
Knurled. GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
12/17/19 7:21 p.m.
b13990 said:

As a courtesy, should OP go last? You know... for the sake of the terrain?

Also, I've seen the videos, but why are steel wheels so awful for rallycross? Is the material really that much easier to bend and break than whatever the !@#$ "alloy" wheels are made of? Are people really bottoming out their rims, bending them, etc. in rallycross?

I guess I thought steelies were ugly and heavy but tough.

Steel wheels are flimsy and will easily rip right over the lug nuts.  It's happened enough times that I wish there were a rule that aggressive tires should not be allowed to be mounted on steel wheels.

 

I've seen people rip the centers out of wheels, I have seen people rip hubs out of their centers, I saw someone break a spindle and total his car.  I saw someone almost roll after debeading and the rim dug into the ground.  The wheel (aluminum) was fine, but his control arm was V shaped.  I saw another friend break a control arm without debeading or damaging the wheel, ending his chances to win his class, because for some reason he insisted on steel control arms because "that way the subframe won't get hurt".

 


People in the bike industry say "Steel is real".  That's only 3/4 of the truth.  Steel is real weak.

 

Floating Doc
Floating Doc GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
12/17/19 7:28 p.m.

I've been surprised to learn that steel wheels are that easily damaged, considering that they're the default wheel for police package vehicles.

b13990
b13990 Reader
12/17/19 7:31 p.m.

In reply to Floating Doc :

Exactly!

One of the videos I watched had comments saying, "well, Subaru steelies are known to be crap."

Is there really that much variation, though? Is Subaru really getting on the phone with some factory in China and asking for all the "factory second" steelies they can get?

Knurled.
Knurled. GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
12/17/19 7:32 p.m.
Floating Doc said:

I've been surprised to learn that steel wheels are that easily damaged, considering that they're the default wheel for police package vehicles.

 

They're consumables, steel is cheap.

 

Circle track racers use steel wheels because they will fail first instead of the suspension.  Even so, you see 7/8 hex lug nuts on wheels with reinforced centers, and minimum weight regs in the rulebook.  Rallycross doesn't have anything like that, you're free to run the thin-gauge stamping OE steel wheels, that will happily wallow the coining around the lugnuts out so the lugs bottom out against the hub before tightening down, if they don't break the center out first.

 

None of this has anything to do with this thread though - there is no way you're going to be able to navigate a car this large at anything greater than walking speed through 90% of the rallycross courses out there.

b13990
b13990 Reader
12/17/19 7:36 p.m.
Knurled. said:for some reason he insisted on steel control arms because "that way the subframe won't get hurt".

That logic seems backwards to me. 

Knurled.
Knurled. GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
12/17/19 7:38 p.m.
b13990 said:

In reply to Floating Doc :

Exactly!

One of the videos I watched had comments saying, "well, Subaru steelies are known to be crap."

Is there really that much variation, though? Is Subaru really getting on the phone with some factory in China and asking for all the "factory second" steelies they can get?

No, pretty much all steel wheels are crap.  Subaru maybe get a bad rap because they're the largest target, since it seems like 70% of the people who rallycross run a Subaru, and of all of the people rallycrossing, Subarus are the only ones who have steel wheels generally available.

 

The cross section is very thin compared to aluiminum wheels.  This leads to higher flexibility, with worries the lug holes loose and stress-cracks the centers.  Aluminum wheels are tougher because of their greater cross section, even though the material is technically weaker by weight, it ends up being stiffer and tougher.

Knurled.
Knurled. GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
12/17/19 7:41 p.m.
b13990 said:
Knurled. said:for some reason he insisted on steel control arms because "that way the subframe won't get hurt".

That logic seems backwards to me. 

I'm the guy who finished the event with aluminum control arms, he's the guy who dragged it on the trailer after being in the lead (or close to it) with only a couple runs to go, so... yep

b13990
b13990 Reader
12/17/19 7:44 p.m.

In reply to Knurled. :

That all makes sense.

Knurled.
Knurled. GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
12/17/19 8:27 p.m.

In reply to b13990 :

Okay, I was bored and needed to take my mind off of my hopefully-temporary demi-hearingloss, so I went and dug up the 2014 Nationals thread so I could find this video:

 

 

Around the 37 second mark is when he folds the control arm in.  I remember vividly watching smoke coming from his driver side front as he finished his run, from the tire wedged into the back of the fenderwell, but somehow this didn't come out in the video.  Human eyes are still better than video cameras.

 

EvanB
EvanB GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
12/17/19 8:35 p.m.

In reply to Knurled. :

That was a fun course.

 

I was trying to find the picture of the Subaru forester steelie that turned inside out at the great lakes challenge this year but no luck.

Knurled.
Knurled. GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
12/17/19 8:40 p.m.

In reply to EvanB :

Fun for YOU, mister "I won the championship because my car was fast as hell and didn't break until exactly AFTER the event".  Ed had to buy his brother a car.  Leon had to turn his Championship-winning Golf into a Championship-winning VW Caddy-Miata-skateboard-thing.  And Wil nuked the rear pads on my RX-7, the greatest tragedy of all (frowny face)

 

(Is the sarcasm dripping enough?  Yes the event was fun as all hell, even if the cabin was freakin' cold.  And what was up with that spider???)

 

Crap, that was five years ago already.  That's like three lifetimes.

b13990
b13990 Reader
12/17/19 8:49 p.m.

In reply to Knurled. :

The first 36 seconds are oddly therapeutic. It's like an aquarium, but with Subarus instead of fish.

irish44j
irish44j MegaDork
12/17/19 10:20 p.m.

steel wheels at DC rallycross haven't fared well. Luckily only a few people use them...

DSC01649

Racingsnake
Racingsnake New Reader
12/17/19 11:30 p.m.
A 401 CJ said:

Haven’t read the whole thread but I think some are overestimating the weight.  It’s not light.  Make no mistake.  But it won’t be nearly as heavy as its size suggests.  I doubt it’s nearly as heavy as a modern half-ton 4x4 pickup.  

I hear it all the time “...oh those things are heavy!  That’s when they made them out of steel...”  well, yeah they’re steel but still don’t scale as heavy as many much smaller modern cars.

 

Imperials are heavier than most of their contemporaries - my '62 was 4500lbs after cutting the roof off, removing front and rear a/c systems, heater, all glass except the windshield, window regulators, power lock solenoids, a bunch of wiring and carpets and door panels. Was much more fun to drive after that. 

irish44j
irish44j MegaDork
12/17/19 11:35 p.m.
Racingsnake said:
A 401 CJ said:

Haven’t read the whole thread but I think some are overestimating the weight.  It’s not light.  Make no mistake.  But it won’t be nearly as heavy as its size suggests.  I doubt it’s nearly as heavy as a modern half-ton 4x4 pickup.  

I hear it all the time “...oh those things are heavy!  That’s when they made them out of steel...”  well, yeah they’re steel but still don’t scale as heavy as many much smaller modern cars.

 

Imperials are heavier than most of their contemporaries - my '62 was 4500lbs after cutting the roof off, removing front and rear a/c systems, heater, all glass except the windshield, window regulators, power lock solenoids, a bunch of wiring and carpets and door panels. Was much more fun to drive after that. 

Wow, that's a lot of beef! just for comparison sake, my fully-prepped stage rally e30 sedan, fully caged, with a larger than stock M50 engine, carrying two spare tires, jack, tools, and driver/codriver, full tank of fuel, and wearing heavy gravel tires STILL only weighs in under 3000lbs fully loaded. (or more like 2400 dry). And that's considered fairly heavy for the 2WD open classes....

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