Building for the road course...again

[gotovato]

It’s the best I’m gonna get I think. They said no when I asked for money back. I’d rather have my money but I was already accepting just getting nothing.

Are the pistons at least as good as or better than the other set

They’ll be the same ones but with better wrist pins I hope…apparently the pistons I had were their best option just had a shitty wrist pin.


They still tried to tell me this was assembly error and blah blah. Assembly error doesn’t last 7 races and like 100 logs

 

[gotovato]

Tow rigs. Anyone have any clue?
I don’t want a truck. Like at all. 0% lol. I do understand it’s probably my best bet though. Like a chev 1500.

budget ain’t much. 12k(8700usd)max. It’s all I can do realistically.

I’ll need to be able to comfortably tow 5000-5500lbs. That includes bringing a set of wheels/tools and whatnot. All the shit.


We have terrible rust here so Chevys and fords in this price range are mostly rotted and poorly fixed.


saw a spray foam repaired 1500 today and it was really rough. Thing was rotted underneath. It was real bad but of course photos looked great cause it was DIY repaired. Pass.

Saw a 2014 jeep grand Cherokee today as well. That thing was amazing lol. Fully fully loaded. Hemi 5.7. 7400lbs tow capacity. Not overly massive. It drove great. I really like that thing. It seems like the best for what I want which is not a truck lol. I know it’s Chrysler. I get it but fuck it was nice. Clean clean clean. Engine sounded great.


Are jeeps REALLY that shitty?

 

[jdab555]

I got a 2012 Lexus GX460. Tows 5500, I put on a trans cooler for ~$100, a brake controller (which they come pre-wired for) and it was ready to rock and roll. Very very comfy, bulletproof and semi-snoozy 4.6L V8.

(Just read your budget - this will be above that, but the 2010 and up are all basically identical if you're fine with higher mileage. A GX470 is older but will fall into your budget with higher miles.)

 

[gotovato]

I’m not overly concerned with mileage. Everything Chevy is higher mileage. The stuff I’m looking at has around 130-140k miles so whatever lol.


Toyota tax is very real though that’s the problem. An 06 gx470 is like 15k with 200k+ miles. That’s the only downside with the Toyota/lexus stuff

 

[Easter Bunny]

Ford explorer
Dodge Durango
Full size van not dodge

Is it pretty flat where you are? If it is flat I would feel comfortable running right at the rated towing capacity if it's hilly or mountainous I would want a bit of cushion

Edit. Full size van would be the best. Gives you some security for shit at the track and home

 

[kgyawa26]

Hopefully you don't mind a little bit of issue-necro here but I just caught up on your thread from around October to now and the rear hub failure issue really caught my attention, because I know that the 8th and 9th gen Civic Si were both popular and successful platforms in pro-level touring car racing when they were in production (Pirelli World Challenge and IMSA Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge to be specific). Surely given the abuse the hubs would see from the gigantic slicks, long races (1.5-4 hr in IMSA, ~45-90 min in PWC), and sometimes dealing with high-G/uneven loading situations such as T1/esses at Watkins Glen, the high banks around Daytona, up and down the hill at Lime Rock, etc. the teams that ran Civics would have had some kind of replacement part from HPD or external fab sources to keep from needing to replace those parts frequently. Based on how frequently you describe street tire time attack guys needing to replace them, it sounds like if they were on the same OEM hubs from Honda as you all have, these race teams would be replacing their rear hubs 1-3 times per weekend depending on lap length, conditions, and race length when considering two hour-long practice sessions, a 30 min qualifying, and a race between 1.5-4 hours at least on the IMSA side. I'd try to get in contact with a team that used to run those cars and see how they managed to remedy the issue. Two teams I know of that ran them are Compass Racing (formerly Compass360 Racing) and HART, both of which are still active.

 

[gotovato]

Hopefully you don't mind a little bit of issue-necro here but I just caught up on your thread from around October to now and the rear hub failure issue really caught my attention, because I know that the 8th and 9th gen Civic Si were both popular and successful platforms in pro-level touring car racing when they were in production (Pirelli World Challenge and IMSA Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge to be specific). Surely given the abuse the hubs would see from the gigantic slicks, long races (1.5-4 hr in IMSA, ~45-90 min in PWC), and sometimes dealing with high-G/uneven loading situations such as T1/esses at Watkins Glen, the high banks around Daytona, up and down the hill at Lime Rock, etc. the teams that ran Civics would have had some kind of replacement part from HPD or external fab sources to keep from needing to replace those parts frequently. Based on how frequently you describe street tire time attack guys needing to replace them, it sounds like if they were on the same OEM hubs from Honda as you all have, these race teams would be replacing their rear hubs 1-3 times per weekend depending on lap length, conditions, and race length when considering two hour-long practice sessions, a 30 min qualifying, and a race between 1.5-4 hours at least on the IMSA side. I'd try to get in contact with a team that used to run those cars and see how they managed to remedy the issue. Two teams I know of that ran them are Compass Racing (formerly Compass360 Racing) and HART, both of which are still active.

I know the compass360 car and the team that ran it. Some of the guys are locals to me.

They just replaced hubs after every single race. Oem replacement. With more or less no budget limit, they were just replacing hubs all the time. Same with synchros and any other wear items. It wasn’t a concern.

If a hub is good for 2 events, that’s maybe 6-7 hours of drive time. I’ve pushed hubs a lot longer than that so I’d have no issue believing they would be fine for 1 race. Then swap out the hubs.

I’m also not sure what they were using for tire but those older slicks are maybe on par with today’s super 200tw tires. Slicks doesn’t automatically equal more grip. More life? More consistency? Being able to maintain the same grip level over a length of time? Yes. Straight up more grip? Not sure about that

 

[gotovato]

Ford explorer
Dodge Durango
Full size van not dodge

Is it pretty flat where you are? If it is flat I would feel comfortable running right at the rated towing capacity if it's hilly or mountainous I would want a bit of cushion

Edit. Full size van would be the best. Gives you some security for shit at the track and home

I’ve considered a full size van. One of those 2500’s cargo vans. They are cheap and they’ll get the job done. Just kinda not the best daily since this will be my new daily as well as tow rig.

dodge Durango would be cool. I believe the jeep grand Cherokee is actually built on the Durango chassis. It’s almost the same shit.


I can find chev 1500’s for Iike 6000-7000cad but they are mostly beat to shit and rotted. The rust is so bad here and specially on those trucks

 

[Easter Bunny]

i feel like a pickup is going to be your worst value unless you get a colorado or ranger. which if you are going to DD then those are probably better choices anyway

 

[kgyawa26]

I know the compass360 car and the team that ran it. Some of the guys are locals to me.

They just replaced hubs after every single race. Oem replacement. With more or less no budget limit, they were just replacing hubs all the time. Same with synchros and any other wear items. It wasn’t a concern.

If a hub is good for 2 events, that’s maybe 6-7 hours of drive time. I’ve pushed hubs a lot longer than that so I’d have no issue believing they would be fine for 1 race. Then swap out the hubs.

I’m also not sure what they were using for tire but those older slicks are maybe on par with today’s super 200tw tires. Slicks doesn’t automatically equal more grip. More life? More consistency? Being able to maintain the same grip level over a length of time? Yes. Straight up more grip? Not sure about that

Ah, gotcha. I figured it was possible that they were just changing hubs each time, just thought I'd throw it out there to see if there may have been an upgraded motorsport part. Reason I assumed the slicks in those series' would be making more outright grip is based on my assumption of what size they would've been running. If modern TC America cars are running 265 width slicks square, I can't imagine the older IMSA ST cars and PWC TC cars were running anything smaller than a 245.

 

[L337TurboZ]

I have a super clean 2011 Suburban 1500 LTZ for sale. You'd have to come to South Carolina though. It only has 130k miles on it but it's fully loaded with heated/vented seats, DVD player/navigation, leather interior. Also has tow package. Id even throw in a free tune for it to disable DoD and to improve the 6 speed transmission characteristics.

 

[gotovato]

i feel like a pickup is going to be your worst value unless you get a colorado or ranger. which if you are going to DD then those are probably better choices anyway

Ranger can’t tow shit is the problem. They’re also mostly rotted.
I considered a Colorado but they seem to pull a premium for some reason.

I definitely don’t want a full size truck but I thought that would be my best bet for price to performance. It’ll get driven the odd time I have to go into my office, which is a 120mile round trip, or whenever I need to tow otherwise most of the time I take the gfs Mazda 3.

It doesn’t look like there are a ton of great options. Bummer

 

[gotovato]

Ah, gotcha. I figured it was possible that they were just changing hubs each time, just thought I'd throw it out there to see if there may have been an upgraded motorsport part. Reason I assumed the slicks in those series' would be making more outright grip is based on my assumption of what size they would've been running. If modern TC America cars are running 265 width slicks square, I can't imagine the older IMSA ST cars and PWC TC cars were running anything smaller than a 245.

I actually don’t know what size slicks they would’ve ran. My guess is 225 or 245 MAX. These were not very torque happy cars so I’m not sure.

I only run a 225 in the rear but that’s clearly enough to cause this issue. That’s also the common track boy setup. 255 front 225 rear

 

[gotovato]

I have a super clean 2011 Suburban 1500 LTZ for sale. You'd have to come to South Carolina though. It only has 130k miles on it but it's fully loaded with heated/vented seats, DVD player/navigation, leather interior. Also has tow package. Id even throw in a free tune for it to disable DoD and to improve the 6 speed transmission characteristics.

That sounds awesome lol. I think with the cost of the trip though it would put it way outside the budget

 

[Easter Bunny]

Which ranger can't tow? Even the old one could tow more than you need

 

[gotovato]

Interesting. A 2011 can tow 5800lbs. That would cover me but just barely?

I do have some elevation to deal with

 

[gotovato]

Looks like the rangers go for the same prices as full sized pick ups lol. Holy shit. What a scam. They seem to have lower mileage for the money but same amount of rust. What a pain

 

[L337TurboZ]

Wouldn't have to deal with rust if you bought my Suburban...lol

 

[gotovato]

Wouldn't have to deal with rust if you bought my Suburban...lol

With everything going on in the world right now I’d love to know what additional bullshit fees I’d get hit with lol

 

[gotovato]

Checked out a 2012 Tahoe LTZ today. That thing is gangster as fuck.

From everything I’ve read reliability is top notch. Very simple suv. I think I might buy it.

163k miles for $8400 certified.
things fully loaded which is cool. Heated and cooled seats. Factory remote start and back up camera. factory power tail gate. This is luxury AF for me.


If I buy it which I think this is the one, ima be hitting up some US tracks for sure in the future