Interesting...

Oooo…now here is a set of parts that may not be easily recognizable…

These are bushings and supports for the vehicle’s drivetrain. A known weakpoint for this vehicle we are upgrading it to start to hopefully eliminate some early teething problems. There will undoubtedly be issues but at least we are trying to get ahead of some of them. In truth I have a feeling I’m going to drive this vehicle pretty gingerly compared to my prior rally truck which was just a point and go setup without care for rocks, dips, ruts or pretty much anything else. This won’t be that…hopefully we can hold it together by upgrading certain key areas…This being one of them.

Interesting...

Here we have a “cool” item I’ve always wanted and didn’t have on my old rally vehicle…a quick disconnect steering wheel attachment! In the old truck it wasn’t really necessary and my steering wheel was hard connected but didn’t interfere with getting in and out of the vehicle given there was so much room in the truck. I always wanted to be one of the cool kids in taking my steering wheel off and placing it on the dash and now I get to do that! Also needed an adapter which is pictured here as well. Can’t remember if there are more items in the mail but we’ll see!

Interesting...

So another part in today…and honestly…there are a ton more that are coming in during the next week but most of them are going direct to the builder’s location so I don’t have to bring them with me when I drop the vehicle off for its cage and build.

This here is just a high flow fuel pump (who would have guessed) that is standard for this build so that we know that there is a brand new one in there since there will be an anti-starvation device going in as well. Might as well make sure its all new on such a key and cheap item…Never had a starvation problem in my prior vehicle whether it was with the stock fuel system or the fuel cell…but if this is what it needs, then this is what it needs…

Interesting...

Since this little project seems to be moving forward I figure I’ll document it here over time. At this point I’m not going to detail what it is, where it is being worked on, or what it will intended to be. Why? Well, when I built my first rally car some 10 years ago and I mentioned what I was doing, all I got was grief from every corner.

“you can’t build a truck for rally, its stupid!” “don’t do it, it will suck and you’ll hate it” “just buy a used one that is already built, you’ll be better off” “you can’t build it to both rally and desert racing specs” “that cage is all wrong, you need to cut the whole thing out and redo it” and on and on and on and on…Turns out though? I saw it through, it came out great, performed fantastic and provided over 10 years of adventure and enjoyment from the tip of Nova Scotia to the end of the road in Baja. Can’t beat that with a stick.

So this time we’ll just keep it fairly quiet and only get to revealing it when done. Along the way though…because I am excited about it, I’ll reveal a bit at a time and let those who actually visit here put it together (should be few enough of those). So for now…I’ll just provide non-specific updates on it from time to time.

For now we are in parts gathering mode for the project. Which is what you see so far below…

NER SCCA Into the Darkness RallySprint 2/19/22

the NER region of the SCCA tends to be the most active true rally region in the country that I am aware of…always pushing for an expansion of true rally events and has constantly been oversubscribed when it comes to its Rallycross program. It also appears to be the most active when it comes to RallySprints as well holding a number of them each year in partnership with the Team O’Neil rally school.

This weekend saw the first nighttime RallySprint stages and also (obviously) were winter/snow/ice stages as well. This could have been a complete cluster but the drivers were smart, generally conservative, and stayed out of any significant disasters…all boding well for the continued support of the program.

The relatively small entry count (15) resulted in a few DNFs with (as far as I know from minimal interactions with competitors) a broken CV on the RAV4 of Matt Stryker and a puking codriver of Anthony Burden among the day’s casualties. TJ Pullen in the #909 Subie Wagon was the winner of the event, some 17 seconds clear of a brilliant 2WD effort of Michael White with the #911 Saab truly putting on a show with no effs given, and then another 26 seconds back of that the #409 Impreza sedan of Dylan Gondyke.

Photo conditions were great…the winter light was plentiful and bright off the snow in the day and even some of the early night shots were good. Cold temps at about 19 degrees didn’t drain my batteries too quick which was a surprise but the depth of the snow off the side of the roads (at least thigh deep) was. All in all a good day. Didn’t hang around for the winner’s circle or late stages as without a remote flash my photo taking time was done around 6 and I had dinner and a beer calling me before heading home. Enjoy.

New Gas Intake for Race Truck...

Well, we’re still working on making improvements. The Texas race revealed a number of areas where the design of the truck could be improved. One of the most grossly obvious was in the fuel intake. Having replaced the stock fuel tank with a fuel cell moved the location of the fuel supply higher in the vehicle but left the intake in the same spot (the stock fuel door). This caused a major leveling out of the line that takes the gas from the fuel door to the new cell location. The change was significant enough that if the truck was on even just slightly unlevel ground (tipping towards the driver’s side) or even level ground, that the fuel would not flow to the cell and would back up towards the filler neck, washing out and making it appear that the cell was full when in reality it might very well be empty…A major issue as it left us with an empty tank yet no way to get fuel into the cell at one point.

Solving this was relatively simple—we have removed the idea of using the stock filler location and moved it up to a secure spot off of the cage itself. This creates a significant angle down to the cell which will eliminate the prior issue. Problem now? Short people. They may need a stepstool to refuel the truck….but as Randy Newman says “Short people ain’t got no reason to live” right? ;)

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