Hello! You guys might find this interesting. I'm in process of building a very different chassis for SFWD, or whatever the class will be called this year. It's actually an older Subaru Impreza chassis. Before you jump all over me for doing this apparently backwards, read on. The weight break for a FWD car is part of the reason I'm doing this without AWD. The chassis looks pretty optimum for such a build, too. It's not a tube frame car, but a 10.50 "street car" with slicks. I honestly have no interest in putting plates on it, btw. It's a cheap and simple drag car in an "unconventional" chassis by today's standards.

A FWD Subaru has several advantages as a FWD drag chassis over a Honda. We have a true transaxle and beefy axles. The stock North-South boxer motor is mounted really low and just barely in front of the front tires. The front of the motor will basically be about 3 inches in front of the front slicks. The front suspension is also a pretty basic Macpherson strut.
Weight-wise, it will come in at about 1750lbs with me in it. It already sits at 2000lbs. I believe this chassis makes up for the suspension and transmission shortcomings of a Honda. It shouldn't spin the tires for 1000ft . I'm looking at a traction advantage but not a horsepower advantage.

The disadvantages are aerodynamics and a low, torquey redline. Despite what I think are chassis advantages, not everything is perfect. Where Hondas make little torque, a scooby boxer is practically all torque and a low redline! It's more like tuning a v-twin, but most Subaru fanboi's don't get it. I have 3.7 gears in the factory FWD transmission, but there are no LSDs for this trans.

This is something very different, but not too far away from what you guys do with FWD drag racing. If the car hooks as good as I think it will, I should net good ETs but not the mph that big turbo Hondas have. It's only planned to have 300whp on the first motor with a t3/t04e hybrid on E85 fuel.

A 10.50 car seems to be doable as well as being the financial barrier before having to sink $10,000 more into the chassis. There's plenty of those here in Colorado to be competitive with. The two 10 second AWD Subarus around here keep blowing up LOL. You guys would be more representative of the class I'd be competing in than a RWD/AWD street class. I'll need a 6pt. cage, but I'm not sure how far I can push the weight break. I'm not sure what size tires I'm limited to, either. It's the little stuff that I'm trying to track down but all the different racing classes make finalizing my build plans a little difficult.

Cheers!
CN

 

I have worked on a drag subaru for over 4 years now, and I am hear to say you are in for a rude awakening in working on subarus. If you think a subaru is a superior front drive setup you are sadly diluted. I have worked with these motors and trannys for quite some time now, and what you are saying is just plain wrong.

 

Wow you just crushed his dream. LOL

 

Sometimes the truth is painful.

 

No he didn't. I'm counting on people thinking it won't work . It's basically a FWD VW bug. I have all the parts, and it's just a different build strategy. It uses a Honda bolt pattern on the wheels, for instance. I can also use the same turbo parts as a WRX, including the crossmember. It's very much a blend of Subaru and FWD drag Honda tricks.

I know what I'm doing and wanted to strike up a conversation somewhere different. The chassis will roll, run, and drive. That isn't the problem. No one will know how effective the setup really is until it's done. Until then I'm willing to chat if people are willing to discuss new things. Since the other FWD prototype ran 13.1@110 on DOTs, I think we're on the right track . This isn't a completely blind buildup. That car only had like 240whp on low boost and hated street tires.

I'm wondering more or less what you guys have done as far as safety and chassis. It's getting a 6pt cage but no chute or wheelie bars. I have to keep the dash and most of the interior for street class. So, put on your thinking caps. This is going to be fun .

 

13's and 10.50s = completly differant beast.

and you are fooling yourself by thinking that is an occomplisment. (13's on dot's)

 

I want to know how it weighs 1750 ready to run. That's about 650-700lbs lighter than the rest of the 'street' fwd cars.

 

He may have good intentions with his off the wall build.. Buy he aint running BOTI any time soon weighing 1750.... BOTI rules say you need to weigh 2500lbs minimum son....

 

Build it. Run your times. Then post it. Take lots of pictures. Here's something different I built. Thread jack.

4G63 Je/eagle
F4A33 FWD AT trans
GT4088
100 shot for spool
AEM ems tuned by me

best et 10.77 @ 133 @ in BOTI S/C Trim

 

UM--nice! That's very similar to what I'm looking at building.

A full on P/FWD car is "doable" but it's so damn expensive for all the safety equipment. There's only 5 of those around here, anyway. 10.50 is a much bigger class. This car's light weight only works against it when it comes to class rules LOL. How do CRX's get away with their low weight, anyway?

There's so many different sanctioning bodies that it's hard to know what class I'm prepping the car for. NOPI, IDRC, IDRA, BOTI--****! Can't we all just get along LOL? I was looking at just a race seat, harness, and monkey bars but apparently I need some interior pieces to compete in street FWD. I have no intentions of putting plates on it and calling it a "street car", but that doesn't mean I'm about to pop $100k on it, either. It can have a dash and some interior panels if class rules require it. I don't want to redo the car constantly for different classes if I can get away with it.

 

Thats also pulling 600-700 lbs out of the car....never mind all the turbo related parts, and safety parts you have to put into the car to make it go that fast and meet safety rules. Our car, pretty well stripped was around 2700 lbs. I realize ours is a GD body and a little heavier, but not that much heavier. You would almost have to front half the car to get it that light.

 

RS' were the heavy GC's. 2wd models like mine are a literal bean can. They flex a lot, though. Later model WRXs don't crinkle the crossmembers as easily or pop sunroofs open . You can't really get away from the weight in an AWD car unless you swap one of these older chassis. Even then, the WRX drivetrain and turbo system ADDS 700lbs to a 2wd car. I could make this chassis lighter than an EK pretty easily. It's paper thin, but might crinkle something without a cage.

The car weighs 2000lbs just as it sits. AWD alone adds more than you think. I was looking at stripping out things like the wiper system, airbag, power steering, dash, everything. I need a dash, wipers, and lights for a street trim car, though. Going ALL out would disqualify it from the class and I don't want to overkill it. However, it's already well under the 2400lb street class limit as it sits.

Like I asked, how do CRXs get away with their weight advantage in SFWD?

 

I haven't seen a SFWD CRX in a long time. Most of them are EGs, EKs and Integras. Sometimes there is a reason certain roads aren't traveled. Although I admire you wanting to be different, you will unfortunately end up never finishing this car, and if you were to finish the car you will have no class to put it in, and will be disappointed with your results. There is way more to running good times besides using wheels and tires that hondas use, apparently you didn't take into consideration all the time and effort those people have put into dialing in their chassis and suspension to get their cars to track properly. Best of luck with this thing.

 

You may want to do a little reasearch as NOPI, IDRA, are no longer around and I don't know if IDRC is even running anymore races.

You sound like you really don't have a plan on how you want to build the car.

Also the way CRX get away with their weight in the classes is by adding weight like everyone else. I had to add over 150lbs to my eg to make weight this year.

 

usually they have a fat driver so it evens out

 

Sorry man my research shows those cars were definitely not 2000lbs, more like 2300+. If you are talking about an old L, which I assume you are. http://www.edmunds.com/used/1994/sub...967/specs.html