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    Thread: Off Road Racing

    1. #1
      What's wrong with my car?
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      Off Road Racing

      Just wanna hear what yous guys think about setting up a 2005 Aveo for off road racing. Let me know if you have any suggestions.



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      did you look in the racing section?


    3. #3
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      Just checked out some of the posts in this racing section. Awesome!!! I currently am living in the High Desert in California and with the vast openess of the desert and the attraction to the off road scene around here I would love to turn my car into some sort of street legal off road racer. I'm looking at setting it up in the same fashion that a VW Bug is set up. I think if I can get it right, it would be a total head turner!!!!

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      I'll keep it and add a turbo
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      You're biggest issue will be lack of suspension travel, and stuff getting in the way of suspension travel. There's not much to be done in the rear without replacing the rear beam and creating a custom control arm set up. The front I think should be pretty simple. Cut open the strut towers and extend them. You have enough room for a couple extra inches, and then you can use the subaru top hat setup, which is pretty indestructible.

      Removing the front ant-roll bar endlinks will give you loads more traction through and out of a corner and should definitely be removed. I noticed some rubbing and knocking since I've done mine, but I left the balls connected to the bar, so it could just be those hitting the control arm.

      Out of the box, it's not too bad for gravel road romps. Remove the sway bar and it keeps both front tires planted well, suspension travel isn't terrible. It just makes some funny noises.

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      you could build "lift" plates for the rear? if it will pass the tech in your class..

      travel will still be an issue, but it would get you off the ground some without effecting stock suspension geometry otherwise.


    6. #6
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      Quote Originally Posted by petrified.rabbit View Post
      you could build "lift" plates for the rear? if it will pass the tech in your class..

      travel will still be an issue, but it would get you off the ground some without effecting stock suspension geometry otherwise.
      I haven't had many issues with ground clearance so far, it's really more that you use all of the entire suspension stroke very quickly, increases the possibility of a roll over, and could damage the suspension mount points, or just cause the suspension to fail.

      If you're serious about "off road racing," whether that be stage rally, or Baja type stuff, I would definitely replace the entire suspension.

      Again, the front is pretty simple (in relative terms). Cut open the strut tower, extend it, and rework the top to fit the Subaru top hats.

      The rear is a little dicey. Do you keep the rear beam, and just rework the shock mounting points to accommodate a coil over? or rework the tower, ditch the rear beam, and try to fabricate a control arm setup? Getting the geometry right will be painful in either case.

      There's a guy in Wa state, John Vonlandingham, who can fit up a stage rally suspension to just about whatever car you're running. Just send him some OEM stuff, and a couple measurements, and he'll send you back an inverted coil over setup. 40-50mm, Bilstein shocks tuned to whatever spring rate you select... for around $2-4k, with rebuilds which are just a couple hundred bucks. I've seen a couple of his setups and they look rock solid, the welds on the ears are very good. They're also green and purple .

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      i already have the coilovers fitted on the back of my car. but i wouldnt run them off road or rally without beefing up the 1/4 panel..
      it fine for the street, and for autocross, anything with pavement.

      that said, from what i have done in there. i can say the oem spring mounts are first to "touch" after the shock bottoms out, so if you do coilovers, and then cut the spring mounts out, you would gain 3-4 inches upward travel.. until the tire hits something.. but then moving the tire down, so it hits nothing, and youll get even more travel.


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      you mean shocks? bump stops are mostly a type of rubber.


    9. #9
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      I'm late to the party. For the rear, the entire wheel well and shock tower need to be reworked to accommodate a 50mm tube (generally anything under this, and they'll bend) and coilover.

    10. #10
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      Bilsteins work fine. For road cars, the HDs are a little pricey for the benefit.

      Most of the midrange stage rally stuff (hotbits, RSSP, etc) use bilstein inserts. These are usually 40-50mm, though.

      Shocks really need to match your springs though. They're made to dampen the motion of the springs (this is why europeans call them dampers!), they can help "absorb shock", but that's the spring's primary job.





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