build tricks

[pickstock]

Hey guys and gals.
Im fairly new here and am hoping to put together a very budget local car in AUS. Im not really sure what i want, tossing it up between a trophy truck style Mazda possibly (only steel and even better if it was street legal) or an Buggy style using a very light approach as i rare but still works very well.

Anyway i read through a full rebuild of Ivan Stewarts Toyota and saw some of the interesting tricks and bits on that, as well as Mickey Thompson trick rebuild with his motorbike shocks on the seat. Does anyone have any other good ideas they've seen that would go well in a new build.?

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[redmist]

Don't mean to knock your goals. However if you're after budget then it's CONSIDERABLY cheaper to buy a complete car second hand.
Set a goal, winning an event in a specific class, just have fun, etc, and STICK TO IT. Building a fun car then throwing piles of money into it to try and make it a class winner simply doesn't work.

I'm a buggy man so I see a truck as a buggy with added useless weight. The body is also a constraint that has to be worked around in order to present an image.
I suggest you look at as many builds as you can, talk to as many people as you can, join a club, read the regs, then read the regs again, distribute your sketches for comment and read the regs.

[pickstock]

yeah ive gone down that train of thoughts but it means i either have to get a loan and buy it now, or save my money and not do anything other than work etc. Also the cars ive been looking at just dont do it for me, they're being sold due to not being suitable or requiring major repairs, If i go that way i have to follow the whole build style and yeah its a toss up.

If i go down the build it myself way i can do it as ive got the money and to my own specs. Im probably not going to be going for class wins, most of the classes here are very hotly contended are require lots of money as you would know i guess, just building it to enter is more likely a goal.

The plus about the the truck is it can be driven on the road, which is a plus as im trying to downsize the number of cars i have here. You are right about the buggy though and it is something i try and live by as well.

The sketch thing is probably the biggest as well.

[Zambo]

I'll tell you this...if you're gonna build something from scratch, get all the major parts first or else I guarantee you will wind up re-doing a bunch of stuff. If you're on a budget, re-doing stuff is a killer.

[NoThrottle]

<snip>The plus about the the truck is it can be driven on the road, which is a plus as im trying to downsize the number of cars i have here.

Not likely to happen. I've been down that road with a registered extreme 4wd trying to get it legitimately done and 100% legal. In WA the DOT gave me lots of blank looks. There were a number of easily surmountable excuses offered by the DOT technical section which prevented me from going the blue mod plate path but the only real solid showstopper is "the roll cage along the A pillars restricts your vision". In the end the only way to do it was as a production rally car registration.

Now there is a few catches with going down that road:
1: the vehicle can only be driven on the road to or from repairs or organised events.
2: You need to be an active member of a rally car club and it has to be logbooked as a rally car, an off road club doesnt count.
3: all of the costs add up to about as much as a car trailer.
4: all of the street legal stuff adds weight, and quite a lot of it - dual seatbelts "because your race belts arent approved for road use", heaters, lighting and wiring etc.

It really is all too hard to build a dual purpose car in AUS legally.

Now back onto your original topic, build tricks:
Pick a car, pick a reliable strong car.
Make a build plan.
Budget the build plan.
Make a more realistic build plan
Break it down into segments and a logical order of construction.
Stick to the plan or you will never finish.

Unless you own a reasonable portion of your own home and 100% of a reliable road car do not borrow any money to build a car.
I priced up building a gq with a basic v8 3 years ago 100% diy and it came out at about $14000 I ended up buying a car already built, racing it for long enough to start learning some stuff then blew the motor up and started rebuilding it how I wanted it.

There are a few australian offroad racing forums about which will give you a lot of advice on local conditions and base vehicles. I dont know if I'm allowed to plug them on here though.

FYI for the racing we do in AUS a "very budget" performance 2wd class car that will finish about half of the races you enter will cost you about $10000 to build if it's 100% DIY and you have a good selction of base vehicles. That's buying a cage kit, reasonable shocks, a basic engine package and using stock suspension arms
A super 1650 that needs work you can pick up for about half that.

Cut down on the partying, budget and save your money up, crew for someone to start learning and good things will come your way.
15 years ago it cost us $1000 to go racing for the weekend, fuel food the lot, I dont add it up any more because my wife might find out