2wd minitruck as a multipurpose rallyx/autox vehicle?

So I've got this idea in the back of my head that a hardbody/b2000/S10/Toyota/Isuzu pickup would make a really good cheap autocross/trackday/rallycross rig. Lots of weight reduction, manual transmission, reliable engine or engine swap, and some custom suspension should make for a fun vehicle, right? No, it wouldn't be the fastest thing out there, but it would be cheap and a ton of oversteery fun. I'm also 6'4", so there would actually be some headroom.

What say ye?

Unless you seriously lower it, it will not be legal for SCCA autocross. And of course, serious lowering will compromise its ability to Rallycross.

Also, I don't think I'd ever call manhandling one of those things around an autocross course, only to finish last "fun"

I've had more fun in my 4cyl-5spd stripped Ranger than in any other vehicle I've owned. That thing took everything I could throw at it: redline shifts, jumping, frozen lake "racing", you name it.

I have nothing to add except I had to find out about that pic since it has Idaho plates. Come to find out its from a rallyx by Boise in 2010. The thread is on planetisuzoo. Here is one of the guy's other trucks from the same event:

Hmm, point taken, hah. I would probably use one of these:

They're actually quite low; not much over some cars. I drove a buddy's around on some dirt roads and it was a riot, and wasn't nearly as tippy as expected. Of course, if I built one of these, I would make sure I had some provision for being really low on pavement and raising it for the dirty stuff.

S10 chassis for autox, as it is by far the easiest to make handle well......screw using a truck chassis for rallyx(unless you build one hell of a dedicated prerunner)

you can swap a lot of 240sx parts onto the hardbody's and there are even some irs swaps using 240sx parts.

I have actually been pretty curious as well about this, but more along the lines of an S10 or something. I just wasnt real sure of if it would actually be worth it. Im sure it would be fun (to me at least) but I wouldnt want to just dump a bunch of money into it.

You could actually swap a V8 into an S10 or Ranger and be legal for SCCA CAM class. If I was going to try to autocross a truck, that's probably what I'd do.

Ranger with a TurboCoupe motor. Low weight, silly power, room in the bed to haul slicks to the track.

Back to CL.....

In reply to KyAllroad:

Most rangers will require the i beams to be dealt with....which is why the s chassis is probably better suited for it in a class that can be somewhat competitive.

For mixed autocross & rallycross you want something like a rally car. GC is The Answer.

yamaha wrote: In reply to KyAllroad: Most rangers will require the i beams to be dealt with....which is why the s chassis is probably better suited for it in a class that can be somewhat competitive.

Isn't the 98 and Up Short Long arm?

I answered my own question. Stay away from an Edge and you'll have a coil spring SLA front end. http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/front_suspension.shtml

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine:

You are correct, they did away with the ibeams at some point, its just the s-chassis is closely related to the 70-80s metric chassis(regal, monte, etc IIRC) and thus all its generations can be made to handle well for peanuts unlike the ranger.

Twin I beams will take untold amounts of abuse.

Btdt

In reply to GameboyRMH:

Baja Turbo is the answer

note that Non-Turbo Baja is shown

Or you can do what I am doing and make a Volvo wagon into a pickup.

Although it wouldn't technically be legal for SCCA Rallycross.

yamaha wrote: In reply to Fueled by Caffeine: You are correct, they did away with the ibeams at some point, its just the s-chassis is closely related to the 70-80s metric chassis(regal, monte, etc IIRC) and thus all its generations can be made to handle well for peanuts unlike the ranger.

I don't disagree.. I just have no history with Chevy's and would stick to ford based on past(really good) experience with a 99 Ranger.

See, I have no history with Ford aside from an F150 with I-beams, so I really want nothing to do with that, haha. The main reason for the Toyota was (visually at least) a lower center of gravity. I would have thought that a truck would have more travel than most cars, as well as more ground clearance, but yeah, I'm sure a Subaru would do better. Maybe I should just get a beater E30. Or a 240.

yamaha wrote: S10 chassis for autox, as it is by far the easiest to make handle well......screw using a truck chassis for rallyx(unless you build one hell of a dedicated prerunner)

Isn't there a bunch of G-body and 3rd-gen F-body stuff that interchanges with S10s? If so, that's a lot of aftermarket and cheap junkyard swap possibilities.

At the end of the day, trucks suck for hooning, especially mini-trucks.

If your definition of hooning is whipping E36 M3ties, then I guess its ok. But mini-trucks suck at prolonged tail out action and have horrible transition characteristics.

In short, it would be awful in any way imaginable. I have more fun driving a civic and properly applying weight transfer and lfb skills than any sort of fun in a rwd mini-truck. Unless you consider fun "I stabbed the gas and the rear end moved in a different direction of travel intended, therefore this is super-awesome-amazeballs".

I like control with my awesome, not just random asshattery

B series Mazda, though I'm biased cause I have one. I'm almost 6'4", used to have a hard body and fitted in that fairly well, my b series is better though cause its extra cab, extra cabs have a bit more room for us tall folk cause the seat can go back a bit further.

B series with an f2t or even a modded and turbo g6 would go well.

Hard bodies probably have the better suspension setup in terms of being able to be made to handle, I'm pretty sure they used to have a hard body race series so there should be some good info on setting it up. Also vg30 v6's fit, which could be handy.

Toyota's are good, plenty of parts, and 5 lug hubs make wheel selection infinitely easier than the 6 lug b series and hard body.

In terms of dual use... I'd have 2 different sets of leafs if your staying leaf on the rear end, a set of low ones for auto x and raised ones for rally x. For the front, you can just reindex your torsion bars to get the right height, though you'll probably want upgraded torsion bars. Once you've done it a time or two, swapping both rear leaf packs and re indexing your front torsion bars wouldn't take much more than a couple of hours at worst.

The biggest problem I see with trying to dual purpose a truck like this is that it will be hard to get it to do both well. Anything is possible though.

HiTempguy wrote: At the end of the day, trucks suck for hooning, especially mini-trucks. If your definition of hooning is whipping E36 M3ties, then I guess its ok. But mini-trucks suck at prolonged tail out action and have horrible transition characteristics. In short, it would be awful in any way imaginable. I have more fun driving a civic and properly applying weight transfer and lfb skills than any sort of fun in a rwd mini-truck. Unless you consider fun "I stabbed the gas and the rear end moved in a different direction of travel intended, therefore this is super-awesome-amazeballs". I like control with my awesome, not just random asshattery

Yeah, this concerns me. Just because all the weight is up front, or because wheelbase, or something? I've actually never driven a minitruck before, and the only truck I've ever had was an old V8 5 speed silverado that I bought as the donor for the Caprice's drivetrain swap. Never even tried to hoon that Silverado, but the wagon is excellent and controllable now that it's set up properly, surprisingly. Maybe I should just take that to a rallyx with the snow tires on it. There's an idea....

Buy an e30 and give it the Baja/camino treatment. I like this one a lot..

I modified a Toyota trucklet for handling. Lowered it, koni shocks, Heidwig swaybars, lunchbox locker, oversized wheels and stickyish tires. For a trucklet, it handled superbly. The 22RE engine ensured I was still slow on acceleration. It was a long vehicle, so there was no getting through slaloms like a Miata, but I could solidly beat up Buicks.

Probably the best sort of trucklet for performance would be a Dodge Rampage.