#GravelMachineGun - BRZ Stage Rally Build

[Jkosmo]

So I figured I would track/share the progress of my build here for those of you that may be interested in prepping a BRZ for stage rally or rally cross. The car is being prepared to run in Rally America group 2, American Rally Association production, and potentially NASA Rally Sport open 2wd.

Check our FB page for more frequent updates.
https://www.facebook.com/OddBirdRacing/

The car is a 2013 that I picked up from Copart Auto Auctions in Oklahoma City. Had some damage to right front control arm and control arm mount.

Here she is on our way back home.


Close up of the damaged side.


Ready to go on the frame machine at my brothers shop.


And after a few hours on the frame machine along with a new control arm she's fixed!


After putting a couple hundred miles on to feel the car out it was time to start stripping her down in preparation for the chassis fab work.






Turned around in the middle of the tear down to see this. Must have been a cozy little spot...


Now that the chassis is stripped down it's been handed off to Ryan @ Thompson Racing Fabrication for him to work his magic. I will try to keep things updated as Ryan gets this thing looking more and more like a rally car.

[Jkosmo]

The guys over at TRF are doing some serious work! Cage is pretty well buttoned up, pin stands receivers and stands are made, next stop: increasing the height of the strut towers.

[Skot]

Subscribed! I've been wishing for DirtFish to do a build post for their BRZs but this is going to be better.

[Jkosmo]

I'd be curious to see what DirtFish does for prep work on their cars. From my understanding the school cars are a pretty basic setup. But I know that one of the guys there prepped a turbo BRZ that they ran at a few Canadian events and it had some pretty extensive chassis work done.

Now for some more updates!

Rear shock towers raised up, these will accommodate close to 8" travel shocks!!




Roll cage turned out awesome.



Front shock towers got a similar treatment as well.


The guys over at TRF are gonna wrap up the last little bit of fab work and then I'll be picking the car up this weekend to get her back home to start on the paint prep work. Should look pretty slick with some fresh paint laid down.

[TimeForLove]

This is wonderful. I Rallycross an Impreza and on occasion use the BRZ. The temptation to Rallycross it full time keeps growing and growing lol

[Jkosmo]

Got busy with life so updates have been slow on this thing. But now its hammer down to get it ready for 100 Acre Wood 2018. Check out the FB page for more frequent updates
https://www.facebook.com/OddBirdRacing/

Got a few final tweaks to the rear shock mounts then shes ready for paint and reassembly!

[DustinS]

Really hope you make it to 100 Acre Wood! I was hoping TRF would make it last year as I had spoke with them over my frs I had there (as a spectator). Excited to see a twin run in something local. Good luck with the rest of the build. I'll be following closely.

[Slammillionaire]

I am having a hard time containing my jealousy

[Jkosmo]

Originally Posted by DustinS

Really hope you make it to 100 Acre Wood! I was hoping TRF would make it last year as I had spoke with them over my frs I had there (as a spectator). Excited to see a twin run in something local. Good luck with the rest of the build. I'll be following closely.

Us too!! Really looking forward to tearing up some Missouri back roads!

Got some goodies in the mail this week, pretty much stockpiling parts while I finish up the rest of the small fab stuff. Rear control arm/trailing arm reinforcement, wheel scrapers, and some final tweaks on the shock towers on the agenda for this weekend.

Spence Weir @ Weir Performance puts together a nice rear diff kit. He set us up with a 5.3 R&P, a Kaaz 2 way, and everything to install. Should provide some nice sideways action.


It also got the blessing from Rally America to be a legitimate rally car this week!

[Jkosmo]

Been a long time since I updated here, but we finally got the car out to an event... And it did exceptionally well on its first outing! Car worked flawlessly with the added suspension travel and rough conditions at LSPR 2018 allowing us to take 21st overall, and 5th in our class. Not bad for the first time off the trailer!




Check out #OddBirdRacing on facebook for more pics from the event and updates on where the car will be headed for the 2019 racing season.

And to anyone thinking about building a gravel spec 86, do it!!!! You wont regret it!

[Viper8]

Nice work!

[BigTuna]

ahem... updates?

[Jkosmo]

Originally Posted by BigTuna

ahem... updates?

Just got back from Ojibwe Forests Rally up in Minnesota. We were running 1st in L2WD and 2nd overall in the regional on Friday, even with extreme power loss after about 5 miles into each stage. Finishing the last stage of Friday took revving the car to the moon and dumping the clutch just to maintain 30-40mph through corners. Friday night we pulled the injectors after we had noticed fuel leaking from cyl#4 direct injector and found a bad oring. Likely due to mis-installation from the previous owner.....

Since we couldn't find any orings/back up rings in the correct size in the area we had to withdraw to avoid any further damage. But we still got some nice pics from friday!!

[Takumi788]

I must purchase a rally BRZ! Awesome build!