project Rentedmule

I'm just going to start the project thread with the truck as it sits now so here are the stats and current mods:

2003 Sonoma extended cab, 4.3 auto, G80 with 3.42 rear, no power options, stock stereo, originally a non-ZQ8 truck.

Engine
SLP 2.25" Y-pipe, no precat, 2.5" catback with a dynomax ultraflow muffler
Knock-off AEM brute force intake
Descreened MAF, cut off the throttlebody butterfly
Flex-a-lite 210 e-fans
Baja Customs poly motor mounts
ES poly trans mount
Tune with torque management removed, quicker shift times, higher line pressures, speed limiter removed

Suspension
ZQ8 coils front
Z85 leafs + 3" block rear
ZQ8 swaybars with poly bushings on the front
ZQ8 bumpstops
ZQ8 steering box
Bilsteins front, KYB GR2's rear
TA Performance diff girdle

Wheels/tires/brakes
2003 Corvette ZO6 17x9.5 front, 18x10.5 rear
Eagle F1 supercar 265/40 front, 295/35 rear
2.5" spacers all around (66" track width)
Hawk HPS pads
Wilwood high-temp fluid

Random crap
8-way power/heated leather buckets and console from a crew cab sonoma
Envoy bumper cover with tinted foglights
Debadged, tinted tails/3rd brake light

The truck is daily driven year-round but I've started auto-crossing it now so that's what the build will concentrate on.  Next on the list is new front shocks and ditching the rear bumper and class 3 hitch for a rollpan to save weight.











I take out the spare tire and jack and keep it below 1/4 tank of gas when I race it to save as much weight as I can.  I run at about 1 min 45 secs in this vid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxLxZC60V7I

262 on the side glass...haha
Are you going to boost it again?

I always try for 262 but sometimes if you show up late they won't give you an option on your number    510 would also be a good one...

It'll be a while until I have the money to think about serious engine stuff but boost is always an option.  Now that the GF has her own car I've been thinking seriously about nitrous since it's so much cheaper/simpler and potentially more satisfying. 

I haven't heard anything about running it in an auto-X application though - I don't know if the constant on/off throttle increases the risk for the engine???  I'm totally willing to accept the risk of tire damage.

Damaging tires is not a risk it's a goal!

I was tired of borrowing club helmets for auto-Xing so I caved and bought my own.  I had picked up a used one similar to this a while ago but the snell rating was expired (m95) and they wouldn't let me use it 

It's an HJC with an M2005 rating so it should be good for a while.  I talked them down from $225 to $150 after I picked out a cheaper one and they didn't have my size   


The Canadian Syclone/Typhoon Nationals are this weekend and they hooked up with our club so I hope to have lots of truck pics.  So far 2 or 3 typhoons and 1 syclone are registered for auto-X.  Two of the ty's have built engines with 600+ HP, 750 ft/lb  .  I'm not sure if any of them have auto-X'd before but they're all sports car guys so it should be interesting to see how they do! 

You have to get some vids of the sy/ty's running!

I'm going to try but they'll probably be in the same run group as me.  If they run them in 1st gear they'll be in boost the whole time too - I'm betting someone gets it squirrely or breaks something before the day is out!

lol agreed

Just finished auto-X'ing with a few of the Sy/Ty guys  .  Everyone managed to stay in one piece except for a first gen sonoma who was with our group that had tranny problems mid course.

One basically stock Sy ran and finished with ~71 seconds.  Two Ty's ran - one guy wasn't really trying but Cam who organized the Nationals did really well.  He got about 62 seconds but he may have DNF'd and definately hit some cones.  It was obvious that huge HP and AWD helped out of the corners. Once he got the hang of it he was really using the AWD and pulling through the tight corners, I was impressed at how hard he pushed it!  Severe body roll was the name of the game with all of them though - Cam even spun out once which I thought was pretty sketchy in a typhoon with stock suspension!

It was a confusing course and I DNF'd a few times but ended up with a clean 67 second run with a passenger.  A C5 ZO6 ran a 64 so I was happy with it!  I'm uploading some non-truck vids now, I'll post them later.

There was toyota X-runner there that ran pretty well too but I'm not sure on his times - it had Underdog Racing Development stickers on it so it may have been blown (they make mods for the TRD superchargers).  I know someone got truck vids so I'll post them when they do.   

Pos. Car # Driver Car Model Time
2004 Subaru WRX STi 56.858
2007 Porsche 911 Turbo 57.990
1990 Honda Civic 58.678
1900 Mazda RX7 59.933
2008 Mazda Mazdaspeed 3 60.816
1999 BMW M3 60.837
2002 Honda S2000 60.882
1991 Mazda Miata 61.118
2009 Nissan GT-R 61.121
2006 Subaru Impreza WRX 61.553
2005 Subaru STi 61.837
2005 Subaru Rex 61.881
1990 Honda Civic Si 61.945
2007 Subaru WRX wagon 61.971
2006 Subaru Impreza STi 62.036
Subaru WRX 62.494
2006 Subaru WRX wagon 62.588
BMW 2002ti 62.952
2006 Subaru STi 63.393
1991 Honda CRX 63.953
1993 Subaru WRX 64.067
2002 Lexus IS300 64.088
Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8GT 64.145
1972 Chevelle 64.222
1998 Plymouth Neon 64.285
2004 Mazda 3 Sport 64.291
2004 Subaru WRX 64.314
1991 BMW 325i 64.591
2008 Subaru WRX 64.625
1986 Pontiac Fiero 2M4 64.750
Mark's 2004 Chevrolet Corvette 64.920
2002 Nissan Sentra SER Spec-V 65.016
1991 BMW 325i 65.236
2006 Subaru Impreza WRX 65.586
1994 Honda Del Sol 65.607
Mitsubishi lancer evolution MR 65.651
1991 Honda CRX 65.813
2006 Ford Mustang GT 65.857
2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STi 66.935
Tyson's 2003 GMC Sonoma 67.573
1991 Honda Civic 67.982
1988 Toyota Corolla 68.368
2003 Toyota Celica 68.524
1994 Honda Del Sol 68.534
2005 Subaru WRX 68.974
1986 Toyota MR2 69.181
2006 Mazda Mazda3 69.310
1997 Ford Mustang GT 69.570
1997 Neon 70.113
1986 Pontiac Fiero 70.925
1998 Neon 70.994
2003 Subaru WRX 71.628
2004 Toyota Corolla 72.104
2007 Toyota XRunner 72.255
Gord's 1991 GMC Syclone 72.309
2009 Subaru STI 72.358
1991 Toyota MR2 Turbo 76.111
2006 Mazda Mazda3 76.648
[size=10pt]Matt's 1992 GMC Typhoon 95.961
Cam's 1993 GMC Typhoon dnf
Andrew's 1992 GMC Sonoma dnf[/size]
62 xp 73 Jp S 2001 Toyota MRS dnf






in the background...

wish our local autoxs had more trucks. all i see is the same lightning over and over..

Damn Tyson, you were the fastest truck? Good job.
Philly region SCCA is having an auto cross right near my work today but I can't stay up long enough to watch. It is a bunch of miata's and honahs anyway.

It was really fun, as it always is!  I bet I could have cut a second off of my run if I didn't spin the tires so hard out of the gate.  I rarely get the chance to do it though so whatever 

I took a buddy along on that last run and he was pumped at what a relatively stock truck could do.  I really need to work on my throttle control though.  I found I was bumping the gas alot when I was unsure about how fast I should be going.  I also realized I could have taken the last slalom faster than I did - I felt like I was hammering through it but I think there was lots more grip.  I guess there's really no replacement for seat time.

I scored a monster deal on nearly new set of Eagle F1 supercars today so I guess I'll be sticking with OEM ZO6 shoes for a while.  $200 ain't bad! 

NICE!

Double nice.  Those do seem to be really cheap on the aftermarket.  I picked up my front 245/45R17s for $80 installed through a friend at discount tire.

you mean 245/45?

you mean 245/45?

Oops.  Yes.  fixed it.

I'm not sure that they're such a great tire relative to the other choices out there but I can't afford to be picky!  I think there's lots of room for improvements in driver performance before I have to start worrying about whether my tires are up to snuff anyway 

Has anyone got an update from power performance on their tall ball joints?  I'm guessing a set of lowers would help with more even tire wear in addition to the camber curve. 

im still waiting as well. i think its time to call them again.

michael