Holiday Adventures

"Eberle-Hills-Cop" (Eberle-Hills-Cop) 01/02/2018 at 10:25 • Filed to: None

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Let me set the stage a bit first. A few months back I took my girlfriend to ride along at a rallycross event (New England region SCCA A-Number 1) at which she very much enjoyed, and fell in love with the VW rabbits and golfs that were running in the FWD classes. On the way home from the event she was already looking in the usual places to find a cheap one for sale she could rallycross herself (and myself being an enabler, helped)

Possible cars came and went with no real winners, until about a month back. This little guy popped up on a rally buy/sell group and she jumped on it.

So that was that. The price was right, and we made plans to rent a trailer and head up to Ontario to buy it and bring back home to southern New Hampshire a couple of days before New Year’s. I’d never towed a trailer before so I was a bit nervous, and had one condition that it not be snowing (idiot, I know.)

Getting there wasn’t too bad, minus a 3 hour delay for u-haul to tell me my wiring harness was bad but naturally it was their trailer. But we did arrive at 3am giving us about 2-3 hours of sleep before getting up to pick up the car. Oh also it started snowing, naturally.

But it was there! And it was perfect (for a super cheap logbooked rally car)

We got it loaded up on the trailer, stuffed both my Xterra and the Golf full of tires wheels and spare parts, then headed back to the border. Crossing was super simple, but it started to snow harder. 2 hours in we were in a full blown lake effect blizzard going about 20mph in darkness/white out conditions. I think I had a panic attack for a solid 2 hours until we called it and got a room in a hotel at the nearest exit.

The remainder of the trip the following day was uneventful and towing wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. Now we just need the subzero temps to go away so the car can properly be washed up and start getting into fixing the little things that it needs, and invest in some new safety equipment so my girlfriend can get to racing it. I guess I need to learn how to co-drive as well!

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Eberle-Hills-Cop 01/02/2018 at 10:47

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Very cool! Looking forward to hearing more about this one! :D

vicali > Eberle-Hills-Cop 01/02/2018 at 11:30

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Nice Rally car.. computer, logbook, safety, and everything? sweet find.

Some Co-driver supplies for you;

Eberle-Hills-Cop > vicali 01/02/2018 at 11:45

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Haha, hopefully I don’t need those. It’s got everything, but the seats and belts are expired so they will need to be replaced for rallysprints & stage events.

Dusty Ventures > Eberle-Hills-Cop 01/02/2018 at 12:03

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Nice score! Just FYI you may need to add a tube or two to the cage. When was the car originally logbooked?

If you have any questions about co-driving or anything else along the way just let me know, I’ll help where I can and try to direct you to someone more knowledgeable when I can’t

Dusty Ventures > Eberle-Hills-Cop 01/02/2018 at 12:04

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Also, rally Golfs rock

Eberle-Hills-Cop > Dusty Ventures 01/02/2018 at 12:36

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I forget when the logbook was issued, i’ll have to check when i get home. I was figuring into everything that the door bars might need to be updated but the rallysprint regs say “In the instance that a vehicle is older, but still log booked, all cages, regardless of log book must have rear diagonal bars and 2 door bars (configurations may vary).” so I think we’re cool there. NEFR / ESPR might be another issue though 

Eberle-Hills-Cop > Dusty Ventures 01/02/2018 at 12:43

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Can’t wait!

Dusty Ventures > Eberle-Hills-Cop 01/02/2018 at 12:52

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Looking at your photos you might get hassled a bit about the location of the rear diagonal bars. The rear diagonals are, of course, the bars that meet in an X behind the seats. Usually they’re coming down almost vertically from the rear main hoop (which is the strongest configuration). It looks like your diagonals are in the angled rear bars that go to the rear strut towers though. Speaking from experience this should pass, but it’s not unusual for the scrutineers to have an internal debate about it first. With the number of times I’ve been held up by it I wouldn’t be surprised if they specify the diagonals being in the rear main in the coming years.

Eberle-Hills-Cop > Dusty Ventures 01/02/2018 at 13:02

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Here’s a clearer photo. So you’re saying the X should be vertical as part of the main hoop?

Dusty Ventures > Eberle-Hills-Cop 01/02/2018 at 14:36

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Yep, just like this, tying into the rear main hoop. Like I said, yours will pass (for now), but it’s not the design they’re hoping to see. The belts going to the bar between the strut towers is also legal-but-not-ideal, a bar right behind the seats is much better. It reduces slack and makes it easier to keep them tighter and more secure. What may not pass is the location of the forward fire extinguisher. It’s supposed to be located so you can use it while belted, and that looks like a challenge. Fortunately that’s an easy fix. How are the welds?

Eberle-Hills-Cop > Dusty Ventures 01/03/2018 at 13:19

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The welds seem good (limited experience) but i plan on having someof the stage rally folks take a look at it all at the next rallycross. Where would you recommend moving the fire extinguisher to?

Dusty Ventures > Eberle-Hills-Cop 01/03/2018 at 15:27

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Passenger floor just in front of the seat. Also the best person to look at the car would be Don Taylor. He’s the chief scrutineer at a lot of the events in the northeast, so he’s the one who would decide if the car is good or not, and as it happens he lives in New Hampshire