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Gymkhana's 1978 Subaru Brat with 9,500-RPM Redline, Active Aero

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Re: Gymkhana's 1978 Subaru Brat with 9,500-RPM Redline, Active Aero

#31

Post by VintageRobot »

SilverElfin wrote: post #2

Looks amazing. How does someone with no car tuning / mechanics skills get something like this premade?

You can't, unless you a Saudi billionaire. These things are completely custom, are hugely expensive (why they have sponsors all over them) and often they will have work lined up for literally years.

You also wouldn't want one. They cannot be driven on the road really as they aren't legal. They will also break a lot. Generally the more tuned a car is the more maintenance it needs.

If you are interested in cars, you are better getting an older vehicle and somewhere to work on it e.g. a garage and working on it as a hobby at the weekends. You will learn a lot more and can actually enjoy it.

Re: Gymkhana's 1978 Subaru Brat with 9,500-RPM Redline, Active Aero

#32

Post by sandworm101 »

yabones wrote: post #27

When cost and reliability is no concern, you can do truly crazy things... > 2.0-liter boxer engine ... 670 horsepower and 680 lb-ft of torque Those are V10 numbers coming from something the size you'd find in an econo-box. Obviously unlike your Camry this thing is not going to do 300,000 KMs over its lifetime, and will be rebuilt frequently. This is the extreme end of the engineering tradeoff, and it's interesting to…

2 liters is hardly econobox, even without a turbo. A new honda civic sedan is 1.3 liters (NA). 2.0 is more typical for sedans imho. The 2.0 turbo in this biuld originally turned 250+ hp (wrx) which is well beyond econo anything.

Re: Gymkhana's 1978 Subaru Brat with 9,500-RPM Redline, Active Aero

#33

Post by jcgrillo »

yourusername wrote: post #13
DebtDeflation wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, just learn it like anything else. Understand the basic components of an internal combustion engine (block, crankshaft, rods, pistons, camshafts, cylinder heads, valves, intake and exhaust manifolds), the 4 cycles the engine goes through (intake, compression, power, and exhaust), how fuel delivery and ignition systems work. And then there are tons of resources on tuning and you can get the software for a lap…

>Honestly, just learn it like anything else. If you're starting from 0 that's probably a decade long commitment before you're able to start to execute a project like this. There's a youtube series 'project binky' where a pair of professional car tuners rebuild a mini cooper and stuff a Celica engine in it. They already have all the skills, own a shop and all the tools and it still took them years.

A decade would be very quick. The amount of specialist knowledge that went into every part of this project is crazy.. After a decade's worth of projects I doubt I'd be confident to tackle the steering and suspension design on something like this, let alone all the aero.

I've been working on cars for 20yr, I weld, I have done CAD/CAM/CAE stuff, rebuilt and modified engines, done custom suspension work... there are so many aspects of a project like this that are just completely unknown to me, like I wouldn't even know where to start. Many aspects of this build are not things you can really learn or research on your own.

Re: Gymkhana's 1978 Subaru Brat with 9,500-RPM Redline, Active Aero

#34

Post by everdrive »

danans wrote: post #15
stickfigure wrote: post #11

Can we just bring back the Brat? A compact 4wd pickup truck with a pair of jump seats in the bed. Pickup trucks are great, but they're only available in "behemoth" size in the US.

Something like that: https://www.telotrucks.com/

If they ever build it I might buy one. Heavily depends on if it has an always on mobile connection and the car is full or screens and stupid garbage.

Re: Gymkhana's 1978 Subaru Brat with 9,500-RPM Redline, Active Aero

#35

Post by yabones »

sandworm101 wrote: post #32
yabones wrote: post #27

When cost and reliability is no concern, you can do truly crazy things... > 2.0-liter boxer engine ... 670 horsepower and 680 lb-ft of torque Those are V10 numbers coming from something the size you'd find in an econo-box. Obviously unlike your Camry this thing is not going to do 300,000 KMs over its lifetime, and will be rebuilt frequently. This is the extreme end of the engineering tradeoff, and it's interesting to…

2 liters is hardly econobox, even without a turbo. A new honda civic sedan is 1.3 liters (NA). 2.0 is more typical for sedans imho. The 2.0 turbo in this biuld originally turned 250+ hp (wrx) which is well beyond econo anything.

Heh, very true. These days most new cars have a 1.0-1.5 turbo (or hybrid) rather than a larger 2.0 NA. And even 20 years ago most European cars were around 1.5 or less because of their higher fuel prices and registration taxes.

I'm a bit spoiled with the beefy 2.5 in my Mazda... Though it's still about 480 HP less than this beast ;)

Re: Gymkhana's 1978 Subaru Brat with 9,500-RPM Redline, Active Aero

#36

Post by sandworm101 »

bob1029 wrote: post #12
SilverElfin wrote: post #2

Looks amazing. How does someone with no car tuning / mechanics skills get something like this premade?

Unless you would be planning to keep it at a race track, you would not want to own a car like this. It would almost certainly be miserable to drive at legal speeds. That 2.0L engine isn't going to make any useful power below 5-6k RPM. Keeping a turbo like that spooled for any meaningful duration is guaranteed to get you pulled over by the police.

It is more than the speed potential. This thing is very likely not capable of running pump gas, and has to be running very rich. The cost per mile, just in fuel, would be insane. Also, good luck passing any sort of emissions controls for road use.

Re: Gymkhana's 1978 Subaru Brat with 9,500-RPM Redline, Active Aero

#37

Post by officeplant »

yabones wrote: post #27

When cost and reliability is no concern, you can do truly crazy things... > 2.0-liter boxer engine ... 670 horsepower and 680 lb-ft of torque Those are V10 numbers coming from something the size you'd find in an econo-box. Obviously unlike your Camry this thing is not going to do 300,000 KMs over its lifetime, and will be rebuilt frequently. This is the extreme end of the engineering tradeoff, and it's interesting to…

Crazy thing is those numbers are low enough to actually be more reliable.

We've got locals pushing 1,200+ HP out of K24's in their civics.

Re: Gymkhana's 1978 Subaru Brat with 9,500-RPM Redline, Active Aero

#38

Post by officeplant »

stickfigure wrote: post #11

Can we just bring back the Brat? A compact 4wd pickup truck with a pair of jump seats in the bed. Pickup trucks are great, but they're only available in "behemoth" size in the US.

Blame the chicken tax. Ruining small trucks in America for decades.

Re: Gymkhana's 1978 Subaru Brat with 9,500-RPM Redline, Active Aero

#39

Post by officeplant »

everdrive wrote: post #34
danans wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something like that: https://www.telotrucks.com/

If they ever build it I might buy one. Heavily depends on if it has an always on mobile connection and the car is full or screens and stupid garbage.

I desperately want the Slate[1] truck to success because it completely lacks infotainment. I hate Jeff Bezo's but I hope his funding helps them actually create a product.

[1]https://www.slate.auto/en

Re: Gymkhana's 1978 Subaru Brat with 9,500-RPM Redline, Active Aero

#40

Post by mc32 »

stickfigure wrote: post #11

Can we just bring back the Brat? A compact 4wd pickup truck with a pair of jump seats in the bed. Pickup trucks are great, but they're only available in "behemoth" size in the US.

You can’t have passengers in jump seats like it’s 1970 anymore —unless you’re on your own ranch somewhere.
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