Questions about making a 323 rally car

[mazdaspeedpower]

Yeah, so as the title stats, in the spring, me and a buddy are thinking of putting together a Mazda 323 rally car project. I'm thinking it would be nice if we could find a 323GTx real cheap, but finding the AWD turbo beast may be hard, and we'll prolly end up with the good ol' FWD 323, which will do. We do not want to be the best, we just wanna have some fun in the sportsman group. My questions are, what all needs to be done to make the car rally worthy...any tips, tricks we could use....anyone on here rally race right now?

Some of the things we plan on doing are some obvious things....Roll Cage, Racing Buckets, Racing Harnesses, helmets, Fuel Cell(or some form of safer fuel tank), bigger/better brakes, tires, some lights for night racing, better suspension, and doing some engine work to squeez some more power out of her...like straight pipes, boring things out a bit, opening up the intake, throttle body, ignition, things like this, and also, some tranny work to make her better(Clutch, Flywheel, LSD(prolly have to custom this unless there is something out there)). What am I missing? I know I'm missing something, but what? Also, what should I do to the car to make it better rally worthy? I know all about wieght reductions(meaning everything comes out of the car, cept seats, guages, steering wheel, shifter and pedals)

PLease, can someone help me a bit here, I know there are some rally drivers on here, or atleast people who can direct me towards a good site or something.

[mazdaspeedpower]

bumpity bumpers

[Black Majik MSP]

It might not help, but read the article in SCC about the rally race in Mexico with Dodge Omnis...they are very similar to 323s. If you really want a GTX, my friend might know someone (he has a 323 & is getting the GTR conversion soon).

[Prodigy]

**subscribes**

[Foolish]

You might want to keep an eye out for a 323 GT, too. At least in the US, it was factory turbo'ed, though only FWD, not AWD.

[UnNaturalinc]

I think there was something like 1,500 GTX's here in the states. There is actually quite a few here in the NW.

If you can't find a GTX I'd say get a newer 323 (like 92 body style, basically a Protege hatch back) and put a GTX motor in it.

Or I'd try to find an FE3 motor to put in one.... Not sure how hard those are to come by anymore.

[bpt04w]

try here http://www.323gtx.co.uk/pn/index.php for info , if ya want more i'm willing to help

[Black Majik MSP]

I forgot to link you to this 323 section I found on RRE. It should be VERY helpful. :D

http://roadraceengineering.com/323index.htm

[mazdaspeedpower]

hmmm, corksport seems to offer a nice array of parts....which is good to know. Infact, I think if I do get the car, I'll end up getting the brakes from corksport..maybe more, but brakes for sure

[bpt04w]

yeah but not much in the way of gtr bits (i know i got one) they have bugger all for other 323s as well , i would go for the miata area's for engine bits and clutchs ,flys ect, suspension could be done through any serious race building company with ties to rally and bar work will be done by the company which requires patience and understanding of what a welder will do to a chasis to prep for racing (seam welding , reinforcement ect ) there is a lot more to rally than jumping in a car and going , that is why i stuck to autocross, motorkhana and hillclimbs , with the occasional track race for club championships :) , just remember rally involves tree's and they usually don't have insurance :(.

[UnNaturalinc]

hmmm, corksport seems to offer a nice array of parts....which is good to know. Infact, I think if I do get the car, I'll end up getting the brakes from corksport..maybe more, but brakes for sure

One of the owners there has a GTX that's pretty well built engine wise.

[BFMRGTX]

If you are really serious about starting into rallying, then you might want to visit www.specialstage.com and check out the forums. If it were me, I would buy a fully-prepped rally car first then go sign up for the rally school to learn pace notes and how the rules work.

You can find a fully prepped rally car, like a VW Golf for cheap compared to building one yourself. And chances are that the vehicle will come with tons of spare parts and tires, hell maybe even the trailer.

Here's a good site to use to go shopping for a rally car:

http://www.rallyclassified.com/index.php