Figured I should make one of these and get the timeline down in one place. ever since Grand turismo came out with rally events I have wanted to rally. But being 9 hindered that. After many years of Dirt games, attending New england forest rally, and tearing it up in my old 2001 impala I graduated college and was actually making money to start with a car and some events.
Enter summer 2013. An exhaustive search finally led me too(had me give up and take a chance on) this!
A neglected vehicle(s) that a man, that could barely use the internet, posted to the CL. Stopping by on the way home from New England Forest rally I decided to take a swing by. Even though He had already mentioned his neglection of the timing belt and subsequent destruction of the valves. But upon inspection I found a 700$ clean as it could be for Northeast shell. So against better judgement that normal people might have it came home the next weekend. ODO said 206k(broken for at least a year so more like a million), originally from Delaware with a department of defense sticker on windshield, and an owner that didn't know that exhaust was not stock or that it had BillyHD's already on it. It had a questional and probably exciting story that I was hoping to continue. (Disclaimer the most I had done working on cars before this was 3 out of six spark plugs, oil changes, and a useless cold air intake. It was pretty exciting taking this up just because)
As we found out when its not raining the paint also is not that great. Cutting compound necessary.
But let us begin:
Arrival
Yep not good start
What I found
Yeah sooo... Anyways what to do having very limited budget for this let me to look for cheapest solution. afraid of compression and junk yard heads and much more CL searching found me boom $200 mystery engine with "150k". but hey 200$ why not.
So out comes old'er
And now to make one engine out of 2. Accessories, Injectors, and other bits you put on an engine taken from car and added to the new'er"?" one.
some new parts while its apart
Ready to go in
Bonus pic of both rides:
But after the engine went in winter happened and the car became a igloo.
The Itch to actually race over came me and I may have taken the Wrx for a few rallyx'es to see how it all works and is before showing up with the dedicated car.
Pics of said hooning:
They where pretty good motivation to get the real car done. So good I started digging.
Had to have a skid plate based on rally and especially due to where e30 oil pans are located. So I got the beefiest one someone sells. Weld a hoop bar to frame with some thick plate that should do it. Pick after a rallyx beating:
Guibo need help:
I sadly have no pictures of the last stages of the finishing up before the first startup and tightening everything back up. But i have a video of the first start up. Car's first start up
This was 1 week before a rallycross event. Early April 2014 I put the rest together the best I could figure out. Got it some plates on Thursday and drove this thing from Southern Mass to mid Vermont on Friday night. I had driven the car a total of probably about 40 miles over 5 days before heading out to Vermont. Untested unproven, with untested and unproven repair skills by me. I left Friday for the race Saturday because if it broke down I wanted a chance to fix it and get it to the race if possible overnight. But you know what nothing went wrong. Nothing complained. It was a easy cruise. I slept in the car(yep I did). And here is how it went on race day.
Tore it up the Entire day including rev-limit hits, ruts, and drifts. But never skipped a beat and drove all the way home again. Even beating out the only other competitor in Stock rear wheel drive for my first class win.
Video:First e30 rallyx
Some Mud flaps because:
top hat bushing/bearing front and rear control arms because they were all original to the car.
After another Rallyx in New York I decided to try some pavement racing first in an autox then a full blown hill climb! The New England Hillclimb association puts on Grassroots hillclimb events at Mountains in central Vermont anything from street legal prius's to troyer modifieds to a tube frame chassis with a Audi RS4 drivetrain known as the Super chicken. Some pictures from the two Hillclimbs Okemo MNT and Ascutney:
Videos: Okemo Hillclimb Ascutney
Some more rallyx happened.
Okemo:
Started figuring out that none of the bushing had been changed since ever so rear beam came out for some subframe bushings, trailing arm bushings, and SS brake lines. Thanks to a friends Garage in winter!
Some Lights for more rally as well as added plating for oil cooler protection:
Moar Bright
Then more rallyx was had:
And thats where we are today. The future for this little car is bright and mods include gravel tires for summer events
, upgrade/rebuild diff because lock might be gone after 230k+ miles, and other random upgrading/maintenance items.
Its been a wild ride meeting people, getting dirty, and generally following a desire I had to race since I was very young. Only regret is that I did not start sooner. Thanks for reading. I'll continue to update with my upgrades and adventures as they come.
Photo credit for most Rallyx pictures go to DaggerSlade media
Finish line(lake):
And Some pic's of me driving over the lake:
Much Better:
Step two rip it apart
MMMM freshie:
Also was good opportunity to change out the last bushing that I had not done yet.
Then throw it back in.
Noticed a clamp missing of one of my CV boots that had started throwing that crap everywhere. Yuck! but at least it was not ripped. 
Got around to removing my sun roof tracks, headliner, and associated hardware for some high up weight savings.
Will be getting the sunroof skin welded in as I have a friend that can help me with that. 
Really excited to try these out. Have never run gravels in any form so will be really fun tomorrow. 
Finally have fully functional gauges for first time. 
More sideways than Me!
Some deep gravel:
Some hardware:
