Rally XJ - Team Hazard Rally

So, what's next for you guys?

Well I finally got around to putting a new exhaust on the thing this weekend. It's in good enough shape to run another event. There are some things I'd like to change, but it's all about timing.

I'd like to run 100 Acre Wood, STPR, and NEFR next season. We'll see how the finances play out at the beginning of the year.

Well, we may see you at some of those races in 2013. High possibility of us running RA National next year.

That would be really awesome! Running a Jeep?

sureshot007 said:

That would be really awesome! Running a Jeep?

Click to expand...

No, we run super production in an evo 8

Nice, I don't have to worry about you stealing our thunder!

Nope we will thunder elsewhere. Check out www.evorally.com

So I'm trying to get this thing ready for STPR at the end of the month, and I need to lower the front end a little to match the rear. I have stock coils up front. Any ideas on options? I was thinking about cutting down a pair of F150 coils, but not sure how well that will work.

This is how it's sitting now:

cut the stock coils. F150 coils are super stiff as it is. if you like the current spring rate, TJ coils will drop you ~1"

Make sure you get 6 cyl TJ coils though. I put a set of 4 cyl TJ coils in my XJ thinking they were something else and it sank right to the bumpstops.

with the color of the wheels, you should go hellaflush.

I tried that when I put the new axle and leafs in the rear, but I thought an inch of compression travel wouldn't be enough for rally.

sureshot007 said:

So I'm trying to get this thing ready for STPR at the end of the month, and I need to lower the front end a little to match the rear. I have stock coils up front. Any ideas on options? I was thinking about cutting down a pair of F150 coils, but not sure how well that will work.

Click to expand...

V8 ZJ coils are just a little bit firmer, and 1" taller. Once you cut a loop or two off to lower it down, they will be firmer still, but probably within the range that you want. If I were you (and clearly, I'm not) I would start there...

Here's a little recap from STPR

After the practice stage, rods were making some noise, and found this in the oil pan:


A friend that lives down there offered to throw in some "used" bearings that were in better shape than what we had, so that we could at least run the event at 80%.

I got caught in some mud on the first stage and couldn't get out. Had to wait for the tracker car to tug us out. Lost 25+ minutes.

On the third stage, I noticed the rear shocks felt funny. Also, on the fast part of the stage, I lost the brakes completely. I had to coast through it at about 30 to make sure I could slow down for turns. At the end of the stage, I got out to check out what was going on - puncture on a reservoir line on a rear shock, and a loose banjo bolt on a front caliper.

Was late getting to service because of road side repairs, picked up a penalty. This effectively ended any hopes of being competitive for the event. The goal was now to just try and finish. I picked up a pair of Monroe gas-o-matics from Advanced and tossed them on the rear. I knew they wouldn't do much, but it was better than nothing. Bled the brakes, and we were ready for Day 2.

Not revving over 4k, braking early since I had brake problems, and just generally driving like a puss for the first few stages of the day. I started gaining some confidence in the truck, and stopped caring about saving the motor, so I started pushing it more. On stage 9, our time was somewhat competitive, but I kept screwing up the hairpins. The rear was just not cooperating. And then on stage 10, at another hairpin, it over-rotated again. But this time, I kicked up so much dust, I couldn't tell which way I was pointed, and tried to drive in the wrong direction. This was the end result:



It's much worse than it looks - it's not a gentle slope at all. It drops straight down to a stream bed. It took 2 full size pickups tethered together to pull us out. We lost another half hour, as well as our time card. We were officially out of the event.

There were still 3 stages left, and after begging with officials, they allowed us to run them for fun. Another team, in the same boat as us (DNF because stuck, but no damage), were also allowed to run, but we both had to start last on the road. This lead to an interesting series of events, where we both passed about a half dozen cars on the stages before the finish. Here's a clip of us both trying to pass a car (I had to hang back a little because of all of the dust - at the 6:00 mark)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r51zEeoWVa4&feature=player_detailpage#t=362s

I ended up having a great time at the event, but I will never again rally this truck. It was a great learning platform, but I'm ready for something that might actually be competitive. I just wanted to thank everyone here for all of the great help and advice given to me over the past few years.