Potta's hillclimb challenger

[Advancedynamix]

I got hella grip with these 20.5X7 bias ply slicks, but I had too much spring in the car and when I fixed that I lost the engine, so I never did beat my fast lap with the 888s. Still got 2 time attack trophies that weekend though.

[Advancedynamix]

I just noticed this thread.

First of all, you've chosen wisely. This will make a great little street weapon/track toy. Don't be surprised when your running faster times in the 121 than you do in your R8.

Now, a couple things to consider. First is powertrain. BP will allow you more TQ with less stress on the engine, but it will put more strain on the driveline and on the car. For a road race/ tarmac rally car the b6t is your best choice. Generally, the larger your displacement with a 4 cylinder engine, the harder it will be to put the power to the ground due to the increased intensity of the torque pulses during each cylinder fire. More power doesn't mean faster if you can't use it. Since your going to want to get on the gas early in corners, your going to want all the tractability you can get. The b6t will supply very smooth and usable power. You'll be able to put down nearly 200ft.lbs of TQ with an open diff on R-compound rubber. This amount of TQ in a 121 is equivalent to a Porsche twin turbo ,but you can go through the corners about 20mph faster than a twin turbo 997 if your weight is placed correctly on the car.
This brings us to another important detail. Your going to want a G-series transmission. Not sure what they came in in OZ, but the B6t donor car will probably have one. The use of this tranny gives you a larger clutch with more performance options, and a stronger box, but more important than both of those is while your making custom mounts for it, you can move the engine as far forward in the bay as possible (usually between 1 and 2 inches further forward than stock). This puts drastically more weight where you need it, on those driving/turning wheels. It also takes weight from where you don't want it, over those wheels that your just dragging behind you. More weight in the front, will lift weight off the back. This is a win win win because you get more driving traction, quicker and more responsive turn in and a drastic improvement in high speed stability, especially in high speed corners.
While your fitting the engine, take some time to address the weakest point in the chassis, which ironically is also the most important part, the front lower rad support. I cut mine out and made a removable one, I also gusseted the chassis in this area. This will ensure that you have no TQ steer issues and that your chassis will remain crack free no matter how hard you drive the car.
Now for the Achilles heel of the 121. Tires. This car has the ability to destroy everything that fits under it's tiny little wheel wells pretty quickly. The weakest link of the car is you can't fit enough rubber under it. There are some solutions. You may have access to 15" racing tires that are 21" or smaller in diameter, but we don't have that in the states (not commonly available at least). You'r going to have to keep diameter under 21", unless you do some serious fab work. I have toyed with the idea of simply making wide front fenders and running 15" tires up front and my 13's in the back. The rear is difficult because the rear arch seam is structural, and by cutting it you are losing rigidity in the rear of the car. Reinforcing this area with a roll cage or other chassis reinforcements will make the rear of the car heavier, and this will add seconds to your lap times and be harder on your tires. Luckily, the rear tires collect more rubber than they shed, it's the fronts that overheat and wear quickly. Hence my idea of 15" tires in front and 13" in the back. My Fastest lap times to date have been on 185/60-13 Toyo Proxes R888. But these only last about 2000 miles of track time, if your lucky. You will probably have better results than me, since you'll be doing short stages or hill runs, my sessions are around 30 minutes, and when the tires start getting too hot they wear quickly, but I have trouble with slowing down so I just abuse them harder.

Feel free to PM me with any questions. I'm currently working on building a fleet of cars similar to what your building. The first one has been so much fun that I want to build more of them. Lol.

[Potta]

You should do a BP! The b6 makes the car a lot of fun, but I'm already wanting more power. Do the BP, if its not enough, turbo it! B6 is really nice though, running up to 60+in third makes corners really interesting. Usually right in the power range of third for the corners, and it pulls through way better than a 1.3 ever could...I bet a BP would just be ridiculous in a Festy.

I'd love to do a b6t conversion but trying to find one is the hardest part for me. I will be keeping an eye out for one but my chances are somewhat slim at the moment. I'm in no major rush so I'm sure for the meantime the 1.3 should do the trick hahaha.

[Potta]

Will you be needing that long white thing leaning in the corner next to your door?

It's off a vp ss so ah yeah may not be what you need lol.

[bravekozak]

Will you be needing that long white thing leaning in the corner next to your door?

[zoom zoom]

You should do a BP! The b6 makes the car a lot of fun, but I'm already wanting more power. Do the BP, if its not enough, turbo it! B6 is really nice though, running up to 60+in third makes corners really interesting. Usually right in the power range of third for the corners, and it pulls through way better than a 1.3 ever could...I bet a BP would just be ridiculous in a Festy.

[Potta]

Parts have started to arrive. So race seats going in this week , new wheels and short shifter. Gonna be some late nights ahead.

[moz]

NICE.

How late did you guys get carbed cars?

We got carbed 121's til 1991.
the festiva was carbed throughout the wa range until 1994.
Basically, our first efi festiva was your aspire

[rmoltis]

lol thats funny

[Damkid]

I think you should recommend emails instead of international phone calls that can also be brutally expensive

Just saying

[rmoltis]

I didn't say anything about parts or shipping.
I said to give him a call.
Information is a part that is free to send.....
If he already can do the engine build himself
than he could get numbers and info on how far he can go
And what to do....

[Damkid]

^^since he has a 121, I'm assuming Australia, shipping anything to mattdickmeyer would be brutal and most likely not worth it

[rmoltis]

Hey if your gonna build your festy you should give dickmeyer automotive a call.
He can help get your 1.3 into a 135hp+ little beast.

[Damkid]

That's a good enough reason for me lol

[Potta]

If you're looking for a hill climber, wouldn't you want AWD instead?

I already have this as my race car.



So the festiva is purely to keep me building/developing something that's a cheap bit of fun that isn't going to cost me 1.5k every time I take it out. There's a lot of smaller events that I would like to do that aren't in my budget. So for the price of a few sets of tires for the big car I will have something else to play with. Yes I probably could have gotten an awd car but I sadly fell unloved with the 121 so I'm going to do my best to make it happen haha.