[blownb310]

I am prepping a cheap high mile '91 SE-R for this year's Poughkeepsie Sports Car Club [PSCC] Rallycross series. This is just for fun and I'm not going to spend a fortune on it. The first order of business of course is to get the car up to speed mechanically first. I paid $200 for it as seen here.

I've been planning this build for some time and have been saving parts for the day I got a cheap SE-R for this.

Clutch
The car needed a clutch so I ordered an Exedy disc for like $40 shipped on ebay. The cover and bearing were fine and I cleaned and reused them.

Transmission
This might start to sound like the Grassroots Motorsport $2010 Challenge event build story, but the car needed a clutch so I pulled the good five speed out and sold it for more than I paid for the car. Why sell the trans? Because this car will be a stripped out rallycross/ice race car and will be trailered to events. So because I'll never need 5th gear again, I installed an otherwise perfectly good $50 4 speed "pop out" trans I've been saving for years. I love it when a plan comes together.

Oil leaks
Next it needed a persistent oil leak fixed. It wasn't the front crank seal as I first thought. Nope, this one had a loose bolt on the timing cover and as a result, the oil pressure passage o-ring failed between the cover and the block. Weird, but I replaced it without issue. Also put a valve cover gasket set on it as well.

Brakes: It needed front brakes and calipers. Most people here go for the ultra heavy AD22VE NX2000 setup. Not me. Those things weigh a ton! I decided to once again do my budget lightweight front brake "downgrade". I've done this before with other B13's in the past with great success. For events like ice racing where you need very little braking, and in rallycross where the duration of the runs are too short to build any heat, I ditch the SE-R setup and go not one step smaller [to standard B13 brakes], but two steps smaller to B12 sedan front brakes! The B12's were much lighter cars and used lighter solid rotors and very small calipers. They are a direct swap onto a B13. Plus you can now run 13" wheels if you so desire.

And yes, I drilled 96 holes in each of those $19 AutoZone B12 solid rotors. Tip: the B12 wagon rotors are vented, so specify the sedan rotors for the lighter, solid discs. Heck by the time I gut the car to racing weight, it will be less than what the B12's weighed anyway. The reman calpiers were also only $19 each [with the torque brackets no less] on a closeout sale through RockAuto.com.

Interior
Currently I am stripping out the interior and scraping out all of the sound deadener. I've got an aluminum Kirky lightweight racing seat from my old B11 race car [that I retired over the summer] that will go in. And that big heavy SE-R steering wheel will go in favor of a smaller lightweight Momo Monte Carlo wheel that my friend Phil gave me. The $67 Momo B13 adapter to mount it, just came in from an ebay auction.

Suspension
Nothing fancy here, just a new pair of front AGX's on stock springs. Front AGX's for a B13 are very reasonably priced at just $79 each from Octaneautosupply on ebay. Get 'em while you can!

Motor Mounts
Naturally, the motor mounts were shot in this car too. What else is new right? Normally I would never put the red urethane Energy mounts in any of my street cars [they vibrate too much], but for this car, they are the perfect "cheap" upgrade for less than $60.

Tires
I bought a set of 185/65R14 Firestone Winterforce tires, a.k.a. the "poor mans rally tires" from the Tire Rack for just $49 each [discounted from $52 through our account at work]. I've also got a used set of Silverstone 505's from the old B11 rallycross car.

I'll update this thread as I go along. A skid plate is mandatory for these cars too. The SR's oil pans are way too vulnerable.

Mike

 

[FLb13hp]

Damn dude thats some heavy duty rust! GOOD LUCK

 

[blownb310]

Damn dude thats some heavy duty rust! GOOD LUCK

We're used to fixing rust here in the northeast. That's the before picture. The race ready pic will be much different.

Mike

 

[pmdgtir]

o0o0o0o0o


i can't wait to see a picture of this car


paint it purple or pink!

 

[blownb310]

C'mon guys, this is a low buck deal for maximum fun with low risk of ruining a "good" car. If something bad happens I'll be out no more than a few hundred bucks and will still have the new parts to reuse on the next one.

Have any of you ever raced wheel to wheel on the ice?

 

[Fade2Black]

awesome build, I'm prepping my b14 for some rally cross action. Good luck, cant wait to see more!

 

[blownb310]

awesome build, I'm prepping my b14 for some rally cross action. Good luck, cant wait to see more!

Cool,

Keep us informed of your progress. Post pics if you can.

Anyone got an [otherwise junk] dented left front fender that can be cut off above the side moulding and used as a patch panel?

Mike

 

[Viperoni]

Cool stuff!

 

[blownb310]

Thanks,

I'm installing an Autopower six point cage that I saved from a parts car last winter. I weighed the thing and it's like 110 lbs. That's hard to swallow after spending so much time removing weight from the car. I can't say it's a bad cage, but it leaves a lot to be desired. For instance, because it is a bolt-in, it attaches to nothing more than the sheet metal floorboards. And if your B13 is a little rusty.... Suffice to say I spent most of yesterday beefing up the rear floor pan.

 

[Benito Malito]

I always enjoy your ice racing threads. Good luck.

If you want relatively quiet cheap engine mounts pouring your own is the route. McMaster car sells cans of urethane for ~$30. My Toyota buddies use old timing belts wrapped up to make diy mounts.

On your brake 'upgrade' do you worry about introducing rear bias?

 

[blownb310]

On your brake 'upgrade' do you worry about introducing rear bias?

Thanks Ben,

I've run that combo before and never noticed any problem with brake bias. But like I said, I hardly use the brakes in ice racing or rallycross. You just throw the car sideways if you want to scrub off speed.

Mike

 

[blownb310]

Update time. I never did make it out to an ice race this winter. I planned to run the last event of the season on Lake George but a snowstorm cancelled that weekend. So I removed the front portion of the cage, [using it as a four point] and will keep the main hoop for now so I have somewhere to mount my harnesses and Kirkey aluminum seat back to.

A bit of history regarding my "new" rallycross car.

It's a '91 that was ice raced in the new unstudded class in 2005. Ben Stratton is seen here wheeling it in this classic photo, that was used in an A.M.E.C. ice racing ad in Grassroots Motorsports back then.

The car had about 160-k miles on it then. I bought the car from Max after the 2005 ice racing season, did a bunch of needed repairs, and then used it as my daily driver for about a year.

I ran it at a Rally New York winter rallycross in Monticello the following winter. The car was then in great shape.

I sold it in the spring of 2006 to a friend and he drove it another three years, adding another 90,000 miles!

Now it was on its last legs and I bought it back. I should have used it as a parts car. But I decided SE-R's don't grow on trees and that I could fix anything, The price was right at $200. So I decided that I would make a new rallycross car out of it.

The car had a list of problems a mile long. I almost didn't know where to start. Mechanically, you name it, it needed attention. I thought I'd be ice racing this car at Lake George this winter so I put in the roll cage from the white '91 Sentra XE I bought last winter.

This was during disassembly to repair the numerous oil leaks. [I hate leaks and will not tolerate them]. The oil pump o-ring between the timing cover and block was the main source of the leak. I looked at the rod bearings and they were fine, so I buttoned it back up.

I made patches and welded in new sheet metal wherever holes were present. I'm not worried about perfect body work for this car. I'm just closing the holes up.

I thought I was about done with metal patching when I looked inside the right rear wheel well and noticed a patch of undercoating peeling. So I grabbed it and pulled it back. I wasn't ready for what I saw next. This is what it looked like after poking and prodding.....

Prepped for repair......

Hand made patches welded in.....

This was not a 10 minute job. I also did similar repairs for the rear floor pan and rocker boxes as well.
Additional repairs/modifications include:

1. Heater core replaced - used from parts car
2. Right rear wheel bearing - ebay
3. Exhaust system - home built
4. Windshield - used
5. AGX adjustable Struts - [fronts] - $79 ea.
6. Eibach lowering springs [rear] - donated
7. Brake lines replaced
8. Momo "Monte Carlo" steering wheel - donated
9. Replaced bent engine crossmember - from parts car
10. Energy urethane engine mounts
11. Kirkey aluminum seat - from old B11 race car
12. Simpson 5-way harness - free from a drag racer - [2007 date]

I still have almost no money in this car, but if you count labor, I have about $10,000 in it.

To be continued......

 

[Benito Malito]

That's some good rescuing. When is the next PSCC rallycross?

 

[blownb310]

That's some good rescuing. When is the next PSCC rallycross?

Thanks Ben.

They seem to have decided to hold off until July or August to start their season. The reason is because of the wet conditions in the spring and all of the mud. I will run a few New England and Central New York region events this spring to fill in the gaps.

Mike

 

[thewizard]

Any updates Mike?

 

[blownb310]

Any updates Mike?

Yes Oscar, I did some more rust repair.

Inside of the trunk on the right rear side, [pictured from underneath earlier].

Now about to start on the left rear strut tower area...

Inside the left rear wheel well, poked and prodded for holes, ground down to bare metal, and prepped for patch.

Patch welded in....

Still chipping away at it. Not going for looks on the body of this car, just functionality. :tongue:

Got some pretty red drop springs for it this week. As I mentioned in another thread, the car sits so high now that it's gutted that I needed drop springs to get the car back down to normal height. We'll see how that experiment works out.

Had to stop working on today though. I needed to remove the Garret GT 17 turbo on my wife's Saab for rebuilding.

 

[Benito Malito]

Turbo rebuild is opportunity for upgrade. Looks like the repairs are coming along. Nice.

 

[thewizard]

Mike, you are one patient man. That's a lot of rust repair!
Looks like we have minor rust at the same spot on the driver side rear wheel well. Lee already welded the foot plates on the rear and we should have the main hoop and front bars leading along the A-pillar in by next weekend. I will post some pics as well.

Are you planning on rear sway bars? We typically do run em in our golfs but the SE-R sway bar seems like it could hook on to rocks etc...

 

[blownb310]

Mike, you are one patient man. That's a lot of rust repair!
Looks like we have minor rust at the same spot on the driver side rear wheel well. Lee already welded the foot plates on the rear and we should have the main hoop and front bars leading along the A-pillar in by next weekend. I will post some pics as well.

Are you planning on rear sway bars? We typically do run em in our golfs but the SE-R sway bar seems like it could hook on to rocks etc...

No, I removed both sway bars. In the past, I have been able to make the car rotate just fine with left foot braking and/or raising the rear tire pressures. I'm tying to make this thing as light as possible. RallyBob told me about a 10 lb. vibration dampener weight that is located behind the steering rack [to reduce N/V/H]. There's no way to get to it unless you have the engine out. I want to remove it, but will have to wait until an engine change is in the works.

Mike

 

[thewizard]

What engine are you planning on upgrading to?
We intend to do a Sr20VE swap before New England Forest Rally.