I just happened to search craigslist one day on break at work and happened to find an auto 1994 AWD Impreza for 700 dollars. I asked my friend (Butthau5) if he wanted to build a rally car and he said "I thought you'd never ask". Thus the time and money pit began. The original idea was just to 5 speed swap the car and race the NA 2.2 but due to circumstances butthau5 gained a donor bugeye wrx. The new plan is to GD wrx swap everything but use the ej22 short block. Maybe this car will be ready by next spring, who knows. I'm going to use this forum to document the long journey of hopefully finishing a project rally car. Here is the car as we got it
This is where we are at. We have the ej22 pulled and some other various things. Various new and old parts are scattered around and inside the car. The next task will be pulling the drive train and getting ready for the wrx swap.
Looks like a pretty clean shell! Couple little rust spots, but should be a good start. Building it for Stage Rally competition?
Thats the plan but we will probably do some rallycross as well. The car was taken care of very well and spent most of its life in salt free states. The super minor wheel well rust is about all there is. It could have been a trusty daily driver.
That cage looks like it can withstand anything! We most likely will. We planned on doing it ourselves but i have only just started mig welding. I also have a 5 month old so chances are I will want to sub out the work so i can focus my free time to do the mechanical/body work. Whats a cage like that run for price? You can pm me if youd like.
That one is SCCA/PCA cert spec for roadracing. You will need to let me know the events/class you plan to run so I can get the current rulebook so you pass tech and get the cage certified. Rally cages in general need a more elaborate door bar section that will be specified in the rules. Also beware that the price of steel is crazy right now over $300 for a 20' stick of 1 3/4" .120 wall DOM tube, I used 3 on the porsche....you will need 4 or more for a rally cage. If you are new to welding and have no experience in cage design I suggest you sub that part of the build out for sure, your life literally depends on it. You can PM me with any questions....Cheers!
Yea, that's a pretty barebones cage compared to a decent rally cage. Here's the cage Carl built for Ziptie 171 v2.0. He cut and bent every piece, but only tacked them in and had a certified welder come in and finish it After powdercoat I believe this one was built to FIA spec, not just Rally America. Or maybe that was Izzy's....
