Magic Smoke Victory!
-The battery was being drained by the (non functional) headlight motors
-The signals and wiper controls were actually a fuse problem... not blown, but corroded enough to cause a voltage drop and prevent consistent relay function
-The blower motor resistor is dead, but bridging a connector with a wire lets me have fan on/off from the HVAC control panel.
non-functional motors will do it every time (ironic, considering my previous post, lol). Nice find.
In reply to irish44j:
That's why I looked there, I appreciate the tip.
btw, I forgot if I asked you but what are you shooting for as your first event with the car? I think there are a couple of us going to try to build in time for WMWR (winter rally) as a good shakedown since its pretty close and only a coefficient-2. Plus all of us RWD guys will have an excuse to be slow in the snow ;)
WMWR is a real possibility if the car is behaving itself, but the real goal is to have it ready by the first local NASA event- ESPR tarmac if they run it at the usual time in the spring.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: WMWR is a real possibility if the car is behaving itself, but the real goal is to have it ready by the first local NASA event- ESPR tarmac if they run it at the usual time in the spring.
Get it behaving so we can have a RWD shootout with 3-4 e30s, a Volvo, a 240z, and you :) aka see who gets stuck the least haha.
In reply to irish44j:
Stuff is finally going back together!
Dash, seat, wheel, and what passes for an interior on this thing:
New tie rods:
Still waiting on DTSS bushings but removed the crusty old ones:
The ancient TerraTrip rally computer beeps but the display isn't working- it may be dead. I also need new belts sooner rather than later, since the ones that came with the car don't reach the harness bar.
Still to do:
-Wire lights
-Wire fans
-Install DTSS bushings
-Put doors, fenders, windshield back on
-Score a passenger seat, harnesses, and roll bar padding (cyber Monday?)
I was under the car taking stock of the skidplate mounts when I heard a crash- I thought the car was falling on me 
Turns out it was a tree across the street attempting to murder my mailbox, no big deal. Now that I'm done chopping/dragging that out of the road I think I'm done for the day.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: In reply to irish44j:
I will have to decide on Winterforces or some 8-year-old Potenza RE39 snow/mud rally tires :) Both will probably be terrible lol.
BTW, I wouldn't bother worrying about the Terra(ble)-Trip. Hardly anyone uses them anymore for stage rally. Pacenotes have made them pretty well useless.
In reply to NGTD:
But it's period correct! 
Really, I just like that it gives outputs similar to what I had on the Rally Bike's TrailTech- but I would guess that a decent GPS could do a better job and be more reliable.
A think a lot of people are actually mounting tablets in their rally cars, so yea, if you are looking for period correct your Terra-Trip will be right on!
In reply to NGTD:
I'm looking for a good basic Rally App now- most of them look overcomplicated, I just want a settable clock w/ seconds and a zeroable odometer.
I noticed most of the cars at ESPR a couple weeks ago had at least one modern device (tablet, phone, GPS) in front of the codriver. One car appeared to have two tablets and a phone all running various rally apps!
Headlights- WWGRMD?
So, the way I see it I have 3 options for my headlights:
-New popup motors, have them function as normal
-Manual "popup" arrangement, get out of car to raise/lower
-Fixed in the "up" position
What would GRM do?
Cheap 12V chinese linear actuators. Find ones with the right travel length. Should be had for under $50.
In reply to McTinkerson:
If I fix the lights, I'll just get known good popup motors from the semi-local rotary scrapper guy.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: Headlights- WWGRMD? So, the way I see it I have 3 options for my headlights: -New popup motors, have them function as normal -Manual "popup" arrangement, get out of car to raise/lower -Fixed in the "up" position What would GRM do?
Option #2.
Less to go wrong. More wiring to remove. On the occasion where you'll be running at night, it's probable you'll be adding 2 or 4 more lights anyway, so setting it up for night running would be an "operation" anyway.
In reply to Ian F:
That's the way I'm leaning- I have 4 bigass lights that mount to the front of the car, and I can make this option with stuff I have laying around. I'm thinking I unbolt the arm from the motor, mount that to the car, and loosen the bolt to move the lights up/down.
EDIT: It is worth mentioning, however, that the rallies I've done on the bike have frequently had delays that cause it to be dark while I still have my "daylight" setup on. Maybe I just need to plan better and put the lights on at like 2pm.
BTW, since you've expressed interest in codriving, I feel I should tell you that my GF bought a nomex suit when Speedway had a big sale a couple of weeks ago. That doesn't mean you're out of the running, but it may mean you're 2nd string
In reply to ¯_(ツ)_/¯:
No worries. I'm still interested in doing something when the time comes.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: In reply to NGTD: I'm looking for a good basic Rally App now- most of them look overcomplicated, I just want a settable clock w/ seconds and a zeroable odometer. I noticed most of the cars at ESPR a couple weeks ago had at least one modern device (tablet, phone, GPS) in front of the codriver. One car appeared to have two tablets and a phone all running various rally apps!
Ditto, let me know what you find as far as apps go. I haven't decided on one yet. Just want basic functionality like a Monit Q20, nothing fancy.
It makes sense to me to let the navigator pick the app. They're theones using it, so they need be comfcomfortable with it.
In reply to irish44j:
Downloaded a few, Rally Tripmeter seems to be the best free one I can find... I'm worried about the accuracy of cell GPS though.
OK, so here's the "so simple it might not actually work" version of Option 2; see here the ball joint where the pushrod used to attach to the headlight bucket:
And see here about 8" of safety wire, threaded through some stuff and twisted:
And there you have it, ultraleggera Rally Spec p(r)opup headlights. I have about 50% confidence that these won't let go, given the way the safety wire is pulling towards the base of the ball, and there's something really satisfying about such a cheap and simple solution.
After that, I of course had to mount up and wire the real rally lights that came with the car:
You can actually feel the heat these things put out when you sit in front of them :
Attention future me: while the relay and fuse I used to wire these lights are fine, the connectors at the light bar aren't waterproof and are for mockup purposes only. You know this, you were there. If you decide to be a dumbberkeley and don't put better connectors on before you rally this thing, you deserve exactly what you get, which in all likelihood will be extremely poorly timed darkness. Also, check the splice to the highbeam wire, since it's a PO splice that you haven't unwrapped yet.
And since the lighting fail will invariably happen when I'm in the passenger seat while your g/f is off doing something else, I'll have to remember to remind you this as well. So... "Future Ian" needs to remember to ask "Future Chris" about the lighting wiring...
Seriously, if we end up on the side of a gravel road in the middle on nowhere blindly twisting wires together just smack me.
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