360GLT rally car

jamesinc

A couple of mates and I have purchased for ourselves a 360GLT as an entry-level car for organised hooning. Right now it's stock, and we have the following things in the works:

* Some kind of diff solution (LSD or welded diff or modify housing)
* Racing bucket seats (important as I am too tall for stock seats - can't turn leg to tap accelerator when downshifting while braking)
* B230F, 531 head with KL Racing S/T5 cam, adjustable cam gear, and phenolic intake spacer
* Megasquirt II
* Suspension work TBD (will probably leave at current height and stiffen)
* Power steering solution probably needed

We're also looking at entry pathways into rallying, something @Spac has been assisting with. I think I am going to join Thornleigh Car Club and get my CAMS L2 license and attend some events.

jamesinc

Some pictures

egads (she/her)

The classic swede coilovers are really solid and would be up to rally work I reckon.
Are you sure on power steering? Is it because of switching to a tiny wheel to fit legs?
How does the diff work on these? I never researched as I assumed, probably wrongly, that the odd back end would mean pricy lsd's.

egads (she/her)

I vote webers over megasquirt also but that is just a sickness in regards to what rally cars should look and sound like.

jamesinc

It's a normal diff centre, but there's nothing on the market that is a straight fit. I'm still looking into it.

The power steering is more because the steering is so heavy due to so much weight being fore of the cross-member. It might ultimately be okay, I will be starting without it in any case so if it's not too unwieldy I'll leave it alone.

egads (she/her)

It took getting used to but it felt ok even with a smaller wheel.

Spac

Thornleight is a good choice. Full and diverse calendar FTW.
You'll also meet AJ & Nicole who are probably the most enthusiastic and dedicated motorsport people I've ever come across - although they've just had a baby...

1. Run it stock at first. Everyone gets too obsessed with fiddling with the car, when they should pay more attention to doing it, and learning how to drive properly.
You'll probably figure out that there are other things you need to do ahead of what's on your list. For example, Volvo 100 and 200 series engine mounts are crap.

2. Khana the shit out of it. Do as many as you can. Don't be afraid to travel - they get run at Cataract, Riverstone, Awaba, Gundaroo, South Nowra, among others.

3. Keep an eye out for Introductory Rallies. They are few and far between, so you need to jump on them when you can.
A word of warning, though: These have a huge car destruction rate. Seems that lots of people have blood rushes... Start slowly, work your way up.

4. Three owners is a challenge. Most non-rally events will allow you to double enter, but triple entries are usually OK at some khanas.
The really difficult time is when you get to your first rally. Dual-owner rally cars work pretty well when both owners are in the car (usually swapping roles between events). But when there's a third owner, it gets a lot more complicated - especially if the car gets damaged.

Also, partnerships often fall down when one party is less motivated that the other(s).

Not saying it can't work, just that it needs three level heads and good planning: including planning contingencies.

You're on the right track. Ask as you go.

egads (she/her)

Replace the oil in the mounts with injectable urethane. Collapsed 360 mounts leads to a fair bit of damage due to the upside down style.

egads (she/her)

Or just chain the shit out of it :-P

Spac

Or just buy my old 244 off egads. Less money and less work for a better outcome.

egads (she/her)

Or that. $2.5k plus a donation to riders against depression.

egads (she/her)

Payment can be quite flexible too.

jamesinc

-_- I'm not buying another car! Unless the 360 packs it in. Why can't I just make some solid engine mounts?

jamesinc

Also our team motto is "don't be the guys with all the gear and no idea", so we've agreed that work on the car should only be done when the limiting factor is not driver ability. We need to sort out a pair of basic bucket seats and a boss kit but other than that we're happy to start driving it as-is. I also need to solder in all the tail light wiring as they are really intermittent.

AshDVS

I've got a single base-mount Cobra Monaco S race seat left over from my 240 in red. if that's of interest?

egads (she/her)

Have you looked at the mounts? They suspend the engine and are hangers rather than mounts. Switching to a normal style of mount and solid mounts is probably the best long term plan but requires a bit of work to fab up mounts or late 740/early 940 engine mounts and the classic swede kit. The ghetto way around it is to drain all the fluid from the hanging mounts and to fill with something solid ish.

Spac

Solid engine mounts break things through fatigue - things like the engine mounting brackets on the cross member would require LOTS of beefing up. And then harmonics dramas would start taking out stuff like the alternator mounts, starter motor, etc.

Something as big and lumpy and poorly balanced as a redblock would break stuff at a frightening rate.

egads (she/her)

If you could buy the stock mounts still I would suggest go for them as they are actually a good design and damp vibration really well, they just can't last more than a couple hundred thousand k's.

jamesinc

I'll take a look-see

Spac

My suggestion is to google "escort World Cup crossmember", and copy the engine mounts.
Use old suspension bushes.