New Here Building a car for the Grassroots Motorsports Challenge

[hrdlydangerous]

Hey all. I got directed here by some friends on the FRRAX forum. Like the title says I'm putting a car together to compete in the Grassroots Motorsports $2010 (or $2011 at the speed I'm working) Challenge. This is a competition held in Gainsville Florida every year that challenges its entrants to compete in autocross, drag race, and concourse in a car that is purchased and modified for no more than $2010. In other words it's like a big scavenger hunt for a cheap car and parts that culminates in a race where you hope said car and parts hold together long enough to make some decent passes down the track. The car I'll be building is a '94 Trans Am that has as many issues as you'd expect a $600 car to have. That's what brought me here. I'll probably be popping up with tech questions or looking for parts and I hope that's cool with everyone. Here's some shots of the car right after I bought it...

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

Since these were taken I've removed the A/C system, bumper support, headlight mechanisms (I made brackets to hold the headlight doors in place) and fog lights. I'll be making my way to the back and gutting everything out of the car that isn't an absolute necessity since adding lightness is free power. I plan on keeping a thread running to keep you all up to date. I've had it out to a few autocrosses so far and am getting used to how big this car is. I'm used to a first gen Rx7 and a Fox Mustang. I've already picked up a few pointers on suspension setup and driving technique. Well, I guess that's all for now. I appreciate the opportunity to be a member of this forum and I look forward to be able to help and get help here.

Matt

[sweetbmxrider]

those rims make you much much slower marachode

get wit it

[hrdlydangerous]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

those rims make you much much slower marachode

get wit it

...Already fixed that problem...

[SteveR]

Welcome! that sounds like a lot of fun!

[FoodStampsz]

that sounds like an awesome competition, good luck with the build!

[T69SS]

Welcome! That sounds like a good time

[sweetbmxrider]

niceeeee get some spray for it

[V]

standard hatch on a TA , interesting

[transmaro93]

Originally Posted by V

standard hatch on a TA , interesting

only t/a's in 94 to have the high rise hatches were the comp t/a's and the collector editions... all the rest had the low rise.... sounds like a cool competition keep us up to date on the build.. and welcome to the club

[Tru2Chevy]

Welcome to the club!

I haven't heard about the Grassroots Motorsports Challenge in many years, didn't know they were still doing it.

- Justin

[hrdlydangerous]

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

This event is a blast. I competed in '05, '06' and '08 in a *cough* 5.0 Fox Mustang *cough* with a highest finishing position of fifth out of about sixty entrants. I really want a podium finish and hopefully this is the car to do it with.

sweetbmxrider, if there's money in the budget you can bet that this car will have plenty of nos. It only has to make one good pass down the drag strip so I can spray it till it pops.

transmaro, I was wondering why this car has a "Firebird" wing on it. I'd actually like to trade someone for a hi rise hatch because I can remove the wing and add lightness.

Matt

[sweetbmxrider]

awesome man sounds like you are pretty talented. i think i might have a couple spare noids and a nozzle or two. if you are interested, i'll see what i can dig up

[hrdlydangerous]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

awesome man sounds like you are pretty talented. i think i might have a couple spare noids and a nozzle or two. if you are interested, i'll see what i can dig up

Thanks. Every little bit helps. BTW what's a marachode? I googled it and this post was at the top of the list.

[sweetbmxrider]

hahaha i was far from sober and i apologize. damn wedding receptions.....

[Frosty]

Sweet, best of luck....sounds like one hell of a challenge with limited funds like that.

[Mike]

when i used to read about the grassroots challenge, you could sell the parts you take off, and spend what you sell without affecting your budget... can you still do that?

[maroman88]

Originally Posted by transmaro93

only t/a's in 94 to have the high rise hatches were the comp t/a's and the collector editions... all the rest had the low rise.... sounds like a cool competition keep us up to date on the build.. and welcome to the club

93-94 TA's had the low rise UNLESS it was a Trans Am GT

welcome! looks like u got a good deal for 600 bucks, i just bought a 95 formula with 177k miles, considering these LT1's served as police car and taxi engines, they can take quite a few miles of abuse

[Tru2Chevy]

Originally Posted by cbrrmike

when i used to read about the grassroots challenge, you could sell the parts you take off, and spend what you sell without affecting your budget... can you still do that?

I think you can only offset the budget up to what you paid for the car, so he could offset another $600 by selling stock parts.

- Justin

[hrdlydangerous]

They tightened up the rules on what you can recoup in the budget. It used to be that you could recoup an unlimited amount of dollars to keep under the cap. Now you can only recoup $1005 and only to the extent of what you paid for the item. In other words, I can recoup $600 from my car by selling off seats, and airbags, etc. but I can't recoup any more than that. If I do sell more than $600 of items from the car that's great for me but I can't start with a negative budget.

On a different note, My dad and I installed a used "Strano" 35mm front bar and 3rd gen WS6 rear bar yesterday that I picked up cheap from a local autocrosser. I get to try it out this weekend. Hopefully those mods will reduce the massive body roll this car exhibits.

Matt

[MaxTheKiing]

sounds sick!