vehicle decision...

[nawoj]

so i have a 04 WRX Wagon. i love it. i want to get it all sideways and dirty.

my only problem is i also NEED it to get to work M-F 50 miles round trip.

i ALSO have at my expense a 1991 Honda Civic Hatch w/ spare car minus front crossmember [i hit someone with it.] i also wouldnt mind getting it all sideways and dirty.

now i feel i could probably put some money into the WRX to armor it up for the abuse of rallyX, but i feel i wouldnt be able to drive to my fullest due to the "omg what if i roll it how am i gonna get to work" factor.

the civic i wouldnt really care if i rolled it [assuming i lived :tongue:] because id have my daily. however i saw a 91 civic at a rallyX once, and it got its oil pan bashed off on its 2nd run or something like that. and seeing as how nobody makes skids for a 91 civic i would probly have to make my own, and i dont even know how i would pull that off.

im really leaning toward prepping the civic for dirt duty due to it not being relied upon. but DAMN id love to rock the wagon out in the dirt.

wow that was a long ramble.

CN: buy skidplate and RallyX WRX and be afraid of crashing or fab skidplate and RallyX Civic fearlessly?

[PhyrraM]

Daily drive the Civic?

[KevinWelker]

rallyX the wagon and prep the civic as a backup daily driver for the very small chance you need it.

[me_jimmy]

rallyX the wagon and prep the civic as a backup daily driver for the very small chance you need it.
^^what him said

[Rallycat66]

Skid plate for the Civic is simple. I made one for my 91 Si in a couple of hours.

I used 1/4" T6061 aluminum - 4' X 6' piece if I remember correctly. Bolted to the lower radiator cross member on the front (there are three existing bolt bolt holes), and then thru the frame/floor a foot or so back into the passenger compartment (between your feet if you put them flat on the floor. You need to cut an arc out of the sides of the plate for clearance on the suspension.

With a straight piece of aluminum, I attached it to the front of the car, then used a jack to lift the back up to the floor of the car. This causes the whole plate to have a nice even bend to it which gave me the right clearance all the way under the engine and also added a lot of strength to the plate. Worked very well.

You should come to an NER event and talk to Chang about his Civic and try to mooch my skid plate off him - it's still on my old car sitting behind his shop. ;-)

As for rolling the car, that is unlikely at the local events near you (NER). There is a lot of care taken in designing the courses to minimize that chance (unless you are driving way over your head :unamused:).

[carl]

the majority of rallyx'ers daily drive the car they race. proper maintenance and prep work and you have nothing to worry about

[subydrift]

I daily drive my Impreza which is also my rallyx vehicle. Rallyx isn't as rough as your making it sound. Rarely to drivers roll their vehicles in a rallycross race.

If I were you I would do what was said above and get the civic tuned up and whatnot so it can be used as a DD if the situation ever arose and start prepping your WRX wagon for DD/Rallyx use. Simple mods like a skidplate, diff protector, mudflaps, and keeping up on your routine maintenance will keep it going strong even with rallyx use.

Besides who wants to drive a Civic when you've got a perfectly beastly WRX to use?!:headbang:

[impreza_GC8]

I daily drive my RallyX wagon and my AutoX car is the one that stays in storage. I've got a third option for you. Buy my '97 turbo'ed Outback and have a RallyX car you can beat on that you know will take the abuse.
http://www.dirtyimpreza.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9493

[nawoj]

something about having a dedicated rally vehicle is incredibly appealing to me though...
maybe i should prep and rallyX both.

i love how nimble the ED civics are. i probably wouldnt have given my mint[ish] 91 Si up if i hadn't rear ended someone in it. now i have a DX chassis thats been improved beyond a stock Si [rear discs!] and fully converted to MPFI. as well as my crashed Si for parts.

the only thing wrong with the civic right now is the alternator shat the bed, and while i got it unplugged/unbolted, i can not remove it from the car because honda had to make things difficult. [need to remove axle or brake master cyl.]

its a nice day, i think ill go see if i cant get it out.

[Gravel Crew Rally Team]

I say DD your subaru and rallyx it. It is a good way to learn your car more, cause once you rallyx it you will look at roads a little differently and start driving them accordingly. At least thats what I do. And plus once you start getting your car dirty and pull up to gas stations people will start hitting you up and ask questions. A great way to promote the sport and gain some interest. I know when I go to a gas station it is at least 15 min. of conversation before I leave.

[noisycricket]

the majority of rallyx'ers daily drive the car they race.

This.

I only stopped daily driving my rallycross car because daily driving is too hard on a car I care about.

That's not a facetious statement. Last year I drove my daily driver almost 30k and the rallycross car about 8k. At least 30% of the 30k on the daily driver was on heavily salted roads... and old Japanese steel rusts audibly.

Problem is, when you stop daily driving a car, you start to think of things like removal of interior pieces, sound deadening, etc as practical. (No carpet = no trapped dust = no driving a car that smells like a barn) And then it stops being fun as a daily driver. But, that's how it goes...

edit: To address the OP. It depends on what you will *enjoy*. You may have more fun with the WRX. The Civic can and will make it look stupid with some minor modification, though.

[nawoj]

would it be a bad idea to show up at the rochester fairgrounds with just mudflaps and the stock undertray on the car? i have dunlop SP wintersport 3D's on my factory alloys right now [need to buy summer rubber]

[fattie92]

I used to race my DD WRX Wagon, until that one day at a rallyx race when I spun a rod bearing. I will never again race my DD because of that, and I advise against it. I ended up dumping around 6k into my new motor and have zero intention on racing it as long as it is a DD. If you have another vehicle at your disposal to race, do it! Or like others mentioned, DD the Civic and turn the WRX into the race car.

[noisycricket]

I used to race my DD WRX Wagon, until that one day at a rallyx race when I spun a rod bearing. I will never again race my DD because of that, and I advise against it. I ended up dumping around 6k into my new motor and have zero intention on racing it as long as it is a DD. If you have another vehicle at your disposal to race, do it! Or like others mentioned, DD the Civic and turn the WRX into the race car.

I spun a rod bearing driving in to work. Does that mean it makes sense to quit my job? (Hell no.)

One of my customers spun a rod bearing by adding 3 degrees of timing to his WRX. Does that mean he should quit driving modded WRXs? (Hell no... it meant we should put a EJ257 block in his car... which we did :) It was easy, inexpensive, and I'm told it was crazy stupid fun to drive)

I haven't seen any engine failures that can be attributed to rallycrossing. I know I went through a few, but they weren't strong to begin with, and if it wasn't rallycrossing then it would have been something else.

Like I said before - you put more abuse on your car by driving it on the street than you do rallycrossing. Unless you're like me and when you're in the lead and you're running hot because it's a slow course and it's 105 degrees out and the temp gauge is nearing "OH NO", you figure that engines are temporary, glory is forever, and GO FOR IT.

(Edit: Oh wait - I do that on the street too - like the time I was late for a meeting at work and the GL was overheating and wouldn't hold coolant. Top speed went up by 5mph due to the reduced parasitic drag - water pump had nothing to pump - the car probably never went over 90mph in its life before that :) )

How many rallycrosses did ZB do with his Golf with a blown head gasket?

[nawoj]

yeah, im more worried about busting suspension bits, debeading a tire, blowing a tranny / clutch.

i would be less worried if i still had a nice cozy shop to use with a lift and air tools.... but my shop connection moved :(

[impreza_GC8]

You wont blow a trans RallyX'ing (for the most part) because you do the whole course in second usually. Suspension bits.... the tracks are dirt, avoid ruts and you're fine. Debeading a tire? Run higher pressure or have two sets of tires (one set to race, one set for street). Somebody will have a spare if you do encounter this problem (assuming you drive a common car).

[scrappy doo]

i have your solution...sell the civic and buy a cheap rallyx impreza. done.:guitarist: