6th Gen Celica Rally Car AWD Build, Rebuilding after the roll..... Options

[czwalga]

I just bought a 95 celica GT liftback for the sole purpose of rally racing. I'm building it to meet Rally America and NASA specs.



I'm scrolling through reading as much as I can about the car, but any opinions on weak areas on this car would be appreciated; as in stresses a rally car might really effect. I will be welding as many seems as I can find, at minimum 6 point cage, but i'll probably make it 8 as i plan on going through the firewall to the front strut towers. Basically just reinforcing anything I can. My goal is to compete in blackriver stages next september.

This post has been edited by czwalga: Aug 6, 2012 - 7:31 AM

[windowlicker]

the car has held up really well for the beating i give it and having 210,000 miles. everything i've replaced has been stuff you would normally replace on a 210,000 mile car, so its not like doing rallyx is killing the car. here's what i've replaced so far:
driver side axle
driver side wheel bearings three times (2 of the times they were cheap autozone bearings, now it has new toyota bearings on both sides)
front and rear motor mounts and trans mount
driver side ball joints twice (first was autozone POS ball joint, now has new toyota ball joints on both sides)
exhaust manifold (original 7afe manifolds are prone to crack over time)
windshield (severely cracked when bought from the previous owner)
power steering pump
the three exterior engine belts (power steering, alternator, and a/c belts)
spark plugs and spark plug wires
distributor cap and rotor

other than that, i've just done the routine oil changes and keeping an eye on things. like i said, a lot of the stuff i changed out were parts that originally came on the car back in 1996, so they would have needed to be changed anyways. i'm looking to swap over to a manual trans and i'm debating if i want to do a rebuild on the engine or just do a timing belt and water pump, and a rear main seal when i swap out the trans.

there are some nice things about the car, its really easy to work on by yourself. i love how easy it is to change out the whole steering knuckle assembly and especially that the ball joints are bolt in vs press in. anything that doesn't require a shop press is good in my book.

i would recommend getting a good skid plate custom made, as i sometimes worry about punching a hole in either the engine oil pan or the trans pan. i'm working on getting a better one on my car, but i have a ghetto fabbed skid plate that i made out of a benz clk 63 hood. works, but i need to find some better mounting points since i ripped the plate off in a rallyx.

This post has been edited by windowlicker: Sep 29, 2010 - 1:30 PM