irish44j said:
westsidetalon said:
Sub $1000 running/driving AWD 200hp-ish alternatives? I seached for a Subaru and every cheap one needs a head gasket fix. I did find a $1500 automatic early WRX, but i dont know subies well. Definitely need to talk to Warren.
why do you need 200hp-ish? The dominant car in most local/regional rallycross AWD class is the 2.5RS, which is what....150hp if the engine is actually healthy? 2WD is dominated by 100hp Miatas (and my 130hp e30 has done very well for years). Are you dead-set on AWD class?
Warren's shocks by themselves cost more than $1000.....he is a great driver and car-builder, but I highly doubt that he's going to be much help to you if you're on strict budget. Because he is not. lol
I have done many Challenge builds, so I really just want to do a budget style rallycross build, but Im a little biased. I rallycrossed a 2nd gen rx7 and an Eagle Talon back in the early days of Beaverun(Pittrace). I know I should probably just buy a cheap Subaru or Talon, but I have owned several A4s in the past so I'm familaiar with them. I guess I really just wanna go against the grain and be different and I still like the styling of the B5. While I havent even looked at any of these "cheap" examples this is still a hypothetical game of budget AWD rallycross build. Thanks for all the input guys!
It's gonna be fun no matter what.
westsidetalon said:
irish44j said:
westsidetalon said:
Sub $1000 running/driving AWD 200hp-ish alternatives? I seached for a Subaru and every cheap one needs a head gasket fix. I did find a $1500 automatic early WRX, but i dont know subies well. Definitely need to talk to Warren.
why do you need 200hp-ish? The dominant car in most local/regional rallycross AWD class is the 2.5RS, which is what....150hp if the engine is actually healthy? 2WD is dominated by 100hp Miatas (and my 130hp e30 has done very well for years). Are you dead-set on AWD class?
Warren's shocks by themselves cost more than $1000.....he is a great driver and car-builder, but I highly doubt that he's going to be much help to you if you're on strict budget. Because he is not. lol
I have done many Challenge builds, so I really just want to do a budget style rallycross build, but Im a little biased. I rallycrossed a 2nd gen rx7 and an Eagle Talon back in the early days of Beaverun(Pittrace). I know I should probably just buy a cheap Subaru or Talon, but I have owned several A4s in the past so I'm familaiar with them. I guess I really just wanna go against the grain and be different and I still like the styling of the B5. While I havent even looked at any of these "cheap" examples this is still a hypothetical game of budget AWD rallycross build. Thanks for all the input guys!
ah ok...well I didn't know that you've owned A4s before. IN that case, you probably know what you're getting into. Carry on :)
In reply to irish44j :
yeah all that and i'm a craigslist junkie..that car comes up cheap a lot and seems to check all the boxes for a cool AWD candidate. Ive been doing the same looking for cheap Subies, Talons, etc and I havent found as many.. Now I'm trying to remember all the quirky AWD stuff from the 80s, 90s etc.
In reply to westsidetalon :
We have a pretty large AWD group in DC region, but almost all are Subies. Majority GC 2.5s, but also GC 1.8s/2.2s, a couple of foresters, had an old Legacy wagon running for a while, etc. As for other AWD, I think there's a Suzuki SX4 (or whatever the "tall wagon" is. I've seen a couple of those old Corolla boxy wagon things that were AWD, but it was not fast. Did the Honda Civic wagon have 4WD? Can't recall. We do have an e30 325IX running that does quite well in prepared class, but not sure if you'd find one in your budget. Volkwagen had the Syncro cars (was it the Fox, or something else), but haven't seen one of those in forever.
But I mean, if you're looking for the quirkiest, maybe you can find one of the painfully slow 4WD Ford Tempo :)
And if you must have an Audi to go against the grain, you really should get an A4 avant. Because wagons are awesome.
EvanB said:
https://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/d/1985-toyota-supra-priced-to/6464453652.html
That’s a STEAL! Those are going up in price just like the celica of the same chassis.
Budget rallycross build is get a car in good shape, make sure the A/C works, and get some new snow tires for it.
A/C is the most important thing IMO...
Something a bit on the bigger / heavier side like an A4 is going to run into the issue I have with the Jeep: find a section of course that's reasonably fast (like a big slalom) and it'll be fast. Get into the tight stuff and it gets *slow* due to fighting with understeer and not having as much room to play around between the cones or being able to snap the tail out as quickly / easily around a corner as the shorter wheelbase cars can.
The A4 should be a better balance of that stuff than I get with the Jeep, but as an extreme example, there was a day where I was overall running slower than most of the other 4wd guys and the faster 2wd guys. Heck, I lost to a Prius that day. But despite that, there was a pretty fast slalom on the course where I was seeing pretty much the highest speeds before braking out of anyone. It's weird how you can end up with something that's planted running through a slalom on dirt at 50+ yet is like wrestling with a bear once you get into a tighter, slower, more gravel-y section.
I ran a 97 12v V6 Quattro out of MN back in the early 2000s. You can get pretty good lift under steer to rotate fast in tight stuff (at least first turn). Rotates better than you think on throttle also, understeer was less on dirt than street. I did better on summer tires than winter. Oil pan is aluminum, you can jb weld it easily back together.
