Volvo and RallyCross?

Knurled wrote: If you're in any stock class and want to win, you will need to choose your car wisely. The only way to really get that wisdom, though, is to just jump in.

True. I only mention it because one of our new members (who is an experienced racer and off-roader and a great driver) picked up a 240 and ran it in our first event - and actually did pretty well. But days later he had it up for sale and has already picked up something else (which he hasn't revealed to us yet, lol). He said that he pushed it as hard as he could and it would never be fast enough in stock form.

I love Volvo 240s personally....would love to build one up for MR or for rallysprint/stage someday.

They have nice suspension travel but those overhangs are nasty. It'd be hard to run clean when running on doubletrack that the front/all wheel drive guys have burned in close to the cones.

You know what has long suspension travel and really short front overhang? E36.

Problem is that good 240's seemed to have bottomed out and are heading the other way.

Grandpa Cars on the other hand are still heading down (what the TurboBricks guys call 740's and 940's). As others have pointed out no 940's with a manual.

You say that like it is a bad thing. Automatic means you never miss a shift.

EvanB wrote: Which rallycross region will you be running with?

More than likely the SE region but I live literally in the crossroads on the SE, Great lakes, and Midwest region on the west side of TN and KY.

Knurled wrote: If you're in any stock class and want to win, you will need to choose your car wisely. The only way to really get that wisdom, though, is to just jump in.

Agreed, whether or not I like the car I choose will only happen when I actually buy one and get my feet wet.

NGTD wrote: Problem is that good 240's seemed to have bottomed out and are heading the other way. Grandpa Cars on the other hand are still heading down (what the TurboBricks guys call 740's and 940's). As others have pointed out no 940's with a manual.

Not sure what you mean by bottomed out. Though I do prefer manual over auto any day. Just feels weird not shifting.

940s came with the "best" motor, the strongest automatic, and many of the 940s came with lsd called g80. None if this stuff is actually great for what it is but its not all that bad.

IndifferentJester wrote:

EvanB wrote: Which rallycross region will you be running with?

More than likely the SE region but I live literally in the crossroads on the SE, Great lakes, and Midwest region on the west side of TN and KY.

Knurled wrote: If you're in any stock class and want to win, you will need to choose your car wisely. The only way to really get that wisdom, though, is to just jump in.

Agreed, whether or not I like the car I choose will only happen when I actually buy one and get my feet wet.

NGTD wrote: Problem is that good 240's seemed to have bottomed out and are heading the other way. Grandpa Cars on the other hand are still heading down (what the TurboBricks guys call 740's and 940's). As others have pointed out no 940's with a manual.

Not sure what you mean by bottomed out. Though I do prefer manual over auto any day. Just feels weird not shifting.

240's are starting to increase in price, at least from what I have seen.

It's been a decade but I ran a Volvo 144 rally car in stock class; not only did I win my class by a big margin with it but I was always in the top 5 overall, Rally-X has gotten more competive since then, we also ran on dry lake beds so the course were pretty wide. Now for a glimpse of a modified car find some old video of Bill Malik's 240 rally car.......it was the car that made notice Volvos.

My .02, Tom

I've got a rally-x '90 240...

I'm going to give a little agrument for the NA 230 motor. Buy a used volvo K cam for $50, rent the shim kit from IPD, and suddenly things start to make sense with them.

That stock M cam means that it runs out of steam at the top of 2nd but cant quite pull 3rd in muddy situations or uphill.

In reply to EvanB: And some of you rallycross guys complain that SCCA autocross rules are too cumbersome.

In reply to Knurled: That may be true, but E36s are costly to maintain.

Mr_Clutch42 wrote: In reply to EvanB: And some of you rallycross guys complain that SCCA autocross rules are too cumbersome. In reply to Knurled: That may be true, but E36s are costly to maintain.

Rallycross rules aren't cumbersome at all.

Stock: Your car is stock, as it came from the factory.
Prepared: Minor bolt ons and tuning.
Modified: Go crazy, just make sure the car looks recognizable as what you started with and no full tube frames.

Seems pretty easy.

I question why worrying about keeping it stock?

I'd get a limited slip and 5.38 for the Dana 30, toss in the mild cam, or even go 16v headswap, add in junkyard OEM turbo bits and stir.

It's rallycross, it's about having fun. run a short gear set that keeps you in the power with a smile while left foot braking and don't worry about the seconds lost shifting or about the guy shoehorned into a Miata beating you by 2 seconds a run.

drummerfromdefleopard wrote: I question why worrying about keeping it stock? I'd get a limited slip and 5.38 for the Dana 30, toss in the mild cam, or even go 16v headswap, add in junkyard OEM turbo bits and stir. It's rallycross, it's about having fun. run a short gear set that keeps you in the power with a smile while left foot braking and don't worry about the seconds lost shifting or about the guy shoehorned into a Miata beating you by 2 seconds a run.

Sadly I'm not as knowledgeable as most here so I'm not sure what you mean by limited slip and 5.38 for dana. I was trying to keep it stock to keep the price fown initially till I decide to fully dive in or not.

So I'll be the dissenting voice here; stock volvos are slow as balls, relatively heavy, and cost $$$ in n/a form to make good power and are relatively expensive to find in stock turbo form.

I'd rather 240sx, rx7, porsche 944... Basically, a lot of the stuff that makes a good car a good car are the same on dirt or pavement.

Yes, the volvo does have an advantage when it comes to travel... Whoopee ding imo. I've owned a volvo 240 (the factory 140hp version you yanks didn't get), any stock civic would slay it in rallyx, which means it aint that fast.

I dont exactly call 3000lbs heavy but then its no miata..many many people in Scandinavia have been racing them at grassroots level rally since, well ever. They are dirt cheap and you can junkyard dive for parts (lsd, cams, 16v heads, turbos, the lot)

Yes, but do we live on that side of the planet? Nope!

You race what you know, doubly so for rally. And rallyx isn't rally, what I want on stage is vastly different than what I want in cone-land :p

As for the parts upgrades, again, we are referring to stock class. I can literally build a car from scratch and havr it dominate, then go "everyone should build their car from scratch, it is teh fastest!"

I am sure if you took the other cars I listed, did the same.modifications between all of them, the volvo still loses.

Unless we are talking turbo volvos, but then laggy-as-hell isnt exactly rallyx material.

In reply to EvanB: It's a little cumbersome when you want to put factory performance parts on a chassis and run Stock instead of spending months finding the car with those same parts from the factory.

Mr_Clutch42 wrote: In reply to EvanB: And some of you rallycross guys complain that SCCA autocross rules are too cumbersome.

Even easier in Ontario:

• Class 1 FWD
• Class 2 RWD
• Class 3 AWD N/A
• Class 4 AWD Turbo (or Supercharged)

Otherwise - run what you brung. Want to run rally tires - go ahead.

HiTempguy wrote: I'd rather 240sx, rx7, porsche 944... Basically, a lot of the stuff that makes a good car a good car are the same on dirt or pavement. Yes, the volvo does have an advantage when it comes to travel... Whoopee ding imo. I've owned a volvo 240 (the factory 140hp version you yanks didn't get), any stock civic would slay it in rallyx, which means it aint that fast.

Besides the cars you listed and the miata as well, all seem to be popular. Was going for something that was different and not everyone's go to.

Mr_Clutch42 wrote: In reply to EvanB: It's a little cumbersome when you want to put factory performance parts on a chassis and run Stock instead of spending months finding the car with those same parts from the factory.

Hey now, the Stock rules have been loosened up considerably! It's now legal to change the radio!

Knurled wrote:

Mr_Clutch42 wrote: In reply to EvanB: It's a little cumbersome when you want to put factory performance parts on a chassis and run Stock instead of spending months finding the car with those same parts from the factory.

Hey now, the Stock rules have been loosened up considerably! It's now legal to change the radio!

Hahaha seems very lenient.

IndifferentJester wrote:

HiTempguy wrote: I'd rather 240sx, rx7, porsche 944... Basically, a lot of the stuff that makes a good car a good car are the same on dirt or pavement. Yes, the volvo does have an advantage when it comes to travel... Whoopee ding imo. I've owned a volvo 240 (the factory 140hp version you yanks didn't get), any stock civic would slay it in rallyx, which means it aint that fast.

Besides the cars you listed and the miata as well, all seem to be popular. Was going for something that was different and not everyone's go to.

How about a Chevette? Light, RWD, cheap, what more do you need?

Well surprisingly, even though I had time on my side, a car poped up and I was able to snag it. 1990 Volvo 740 turbo and I think the best part is I got it for $900. Seems to be in good shape minus the clutch slipping. So for about $1100 (including clutch replacement) was able to get a pretty good car. So shall the fun begin.

It smells like build thread in here

In reply to drummerfromdefleopard:

Not enough pictures.