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Originally Posted by A1337STI
Probably a great idea to just buy the cheapest , class eligable car, that doesn't need everything replaced. (loved the idea of driving an impreza but , does not look like it would work out well)
I've got a weilder who is gonna make me a roll cage for material costs [300-400], and my nav man allready agreed to buy his seat and safty harness . although it could still be very hard to have a car ready for less then 2K. i have heard a lot about baja bugs / bug kits/ old bugs being a cheap rebuild / repair . infact i had a buddy who rebuilt 1 bug and 2 karman gias , and i know he kept his costs way down.
My main goal is to have a lot of fun, and hopefully finish a stage  im more concerned abou keeping costs down , then winning 1st.
[and yarr i've decided to keep my STI totally stock , love my warentee and waste money on something else] |
I'd be real careful about letting "a welder" build your cage, because rallying is basically as dangerous as it gets. You *will* crash this car; no doubt. If you're lucky, you can beat on it with a BFH and replace a few parts like struts and control arms and keep going... if your safety equipment is up to par. And like Scott said, there's awhole lot more to safety than a roll cage. You need proper FIA approved seats. Firesuit. Fire system (extinguishers don't count, I believe). Fuel cell. Etc. etc. etc. then you also need a support vehicle to tow the car AND the car's weight practically in wheels, tires, spare parts, tools, and personal gear.
If you really do think you're going to go rally, stop searching for beaters to build. Seriously. You'll drop $4k into the project and maybe a year before you realize you can't get there from here, especially when you (at least fo rnow) can't really do any of the work yourself. I don't know if you remember Project Rally Beater from SCC, but I do. I had a 1984 RWD Toyota Celica that I was going to try to do what you did. I was lucky enough to become friends with someone who actually *has* built rally cars from scratch. His advice? Don't do it. Period. ever.
Back to Project Rally Beater. Their advice? Don't do it. Ever. It was an awesome experience, but it was the hard way, and they wouldn't have been able to pull it off without both a free car sitting in the driveway, and massive amounts of hookups do to being staff at a car magazine, not to mention extensive personal knowledge of building and modifying cars. Then they put their money where their mouth was, by switching to a Nissan Sentra that was professionally prepped after a season and a half in the 510.