Aug 1st RallyX @ OCS

Michael Czeiszperger · **Joined:** Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:35 am **Posts:** 861

Stephen Westerfield wrote:

It's pretty much stock. KYB GR2's with stock springs. Oil changed once a year. Air filter gets cleaned out every couple events. In the 5+ year it has been running, it has broken once and that was a CV joint that had been clicking for quite some time. Loves to be rode hard and put up wet.

Did you raise the height any? If you didn't, wouldn't the bottom of the car get destroyed over the rough parts of the course, at the very least unsettling the balance?

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Fri Aug 07, 2009 4:58 pm

RichardNuss wrote:

BTW - on a serious note (and we can take it to another thread if we don't need to "hijack" this one) - what are the specs on the General? Like better struts/springs or anything, or all stock? And how often do you guys have to fix stuff on it? For a car that is driven so hard so often, I am always impressed when watching it in action. Is it really as reliable as it seems, or is there more work that goes on "behind the scenes" to keep it going?

What Stephen said. We paid $400 for it about 5 years ago. It now has over 1000 runs on it and we have only replaced the shocks, battery, one CV axle, one wheel bearing, and one ball joint. It is one helluva car.

We weighed it a few years ago at it's a tick under 2,000 lbs. The 71whp number is from an actual dyno run that we did right after we bought it.

People used to laugh at all the smoke, but believe it or not the compression test reveals the power level is a good as new. The oil rings are the likely cause of the smoke, but oil is cheap. We add about 1-quart per event and it runs like a top.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:00 pm

Michael Czeiszperger wrote:

Did you raise the height any? If you didn't, wouldn't the bottom of the car get destroyed over the rough parts of the course, at the very least unsettling the balance?

Nope, the ride height is stock. The under carriage takes a beating, but we don't have to drive it to work the next day or anything.

Still we don't take it easy AT ALL, and the thing just keeps going. It's a damn fine machine I tell ya.

We'd be happy to give you a run in it sometime.

Michael Czeiszperger · **Joined:** Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:35 am **Posts:** 861

Vincent Keene wrote:

Nope, the ride height is stock. The under carriage takes a beating, but we don't have to drive it to work the next day or anything.

If you can successfully race a car with a stock ride height, is there any reason I can't take one of the older new minis and race that in rallycross?

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Fri Aug 07, 2009 11:23 pm

New cars have a lot of fancy shit on them that breaks. And Minis seem to have more than most. And break more than most, even when you're keeping it on the pavement. Your mileage may vary.

Really, unless you just have to have a good looking car, it's hard to argue with an early 90s Sentra. SE-Rs are teh faster.

Michael Czeiszperger · **Joined:** Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:35 am **Posts:** 861

Carl Fisher wrote:

New cars have a lot of fancy shit on them that breaks. And Minis seem to have more than most. And break more than most, even when you're keeping it on the pavement. Your mileage may vary.

Really, unless you just have to have a good looking car, it's hard to argue with an early 90s Sentra. SE-Rs are teh faster.

Consumer reports only looks at the last 10 years in their used car evaluations, but MINIs received a higher overall score 74, as a used car buy, than Sentras, which only rated a 60. Their overall reliability for both cars was mostly in the average category, with certain MINI years dipping into below average. There's no data on the early 90s Sentras so its impossible to compare...

RichardNuss · **Posted:** Sat Aug 08, 2009 6:40 am

Carl Fisher wrote:

New cars have a lot of fancy shit on them that breaks.

Good point - make sure you look underneath the front-end of whatever you're planning to RallyX. We had to build a skid plate for the front of the Audi because of stuff hanging down underneath, like wires and hoses (and cast aluminum oil pan!) that were "protected" by the stock plastic splash shield, until that got ripped off in our first RallyX.

On our 89 Subaru, it had a factory sheetmetal skid for the oil pan, and not a lot else under there to get hit unless you went rock-crawling or something (although we *did* plan to put a skid on it with more coverage).

Carl Fisher wrote:

Really, unless you just have to have a good looking car, it's hard to argue with an early 90s Sentra. SE-Rs are teh faster.

I agree. When we were looking for a RallyX car, SE-R was what we wanted if we went with FWD. Also thought about CRX after seeing one or two at THSCC events.

KouroshNeshat · **Posted:** Mon Aug 10, 2009 11:02 am

nice set of pics chris.

does anyone else have any? how about those 3 kids that were snapping pics, one was in a sling.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon Aug 10, 2009 11:59 am

Michael Czeiszperger wrote:

Consumer reports only looks at the last 10 years in their used car evaluations, but MINIs received a higher overall score 74, as a used car buy, than Sentras, which only rated a 60. Their overall reliability for both cars was mostly in the average category, with certain MINI years dipping into below average. There's no data on the early 90s Sentras so its impossible to compare...