Offroad Racing a VX? Some part suggestions...

[REDLYNER]

I haven't bought the Vehi yet. I am still deciding on which platform to go with- IE VX, or Cherokee, or 4Runner, or Ranger. So I am researching all of them.


With such a short wheelbase, I was already thinking about a wider stance. Tires are nearly half price for 17"s over 18"s, so I thought maybe some lightweight 17"s with a 3" backspacing would work.

Tires would be 33"s.


I currently rock crawl with my TJ, but don't want to beat it up they way the ECORS guys do. So I was looking for something that was solid from the factory that I could add a little muscle too (stronger suspension, steering, etc) and go race.

FYI- the TJ has been stretched 6.5", running 37"s, ARBs, etc, etc:

[Marlin]

You can also talk to Joe Darlington, if you were at ECORS, he is the 00 rodeo, him and Pete race the rodeos, I believe they are currentyl in first place in points for the series. He can tell you what to expect.

[RamAirZ]

Check out Bansil's Amigo from the Planet:

http://forum.planetisuzoo.com/viewto...=232519#232519







I'd post this question over there and maybe PM him, he's built a few vehicles for that series and races it all the time, Joe Darlington over there does as well and a few others. You want to keep it as low as possible with the biggest tires possible, I'd say do some trimming, run 32's at the stock height or maybe add a 1" coil spacer, I'd do the Aussie up front myself, put that money toward other parts. I'd upgrade all the bushing, the sway bars included, you'd also be surprised as to what your stock shocks can handle but if you have the dough the Fox's would be awesome. I'd look into getting the Kilby skidplates or making your own. I've got an interesting design for tube fenders if your interested in going that far. Just a few suggestions

[REDLYNER]

Still liking the idea of the Vehi over the other trucks being considered. I talked to the guy that is selling one by me and he said the check engine light is on due to something wrong with over filling the gas tank? Dealership quoted him $300 to fix. Anyone every heard of that?


So with a $2k mod budget (more later, just initial first round)-

I thought this list would be ok:

• Torsion Lift Front $0.00
• Rear Lift: $400.00
• 33"s: $800.00
• Airbumps: $400.00
• Emulsion Shocks: $450.00

Possibly sliders (Another $300 to $400).
Possibly exo-cage


Keeping in mind this is getting race prepped, what other initial mods should be up for major consideration?

[RamAirZ]

rear lift $400? what all is included in that price?

[REDLYNER]

rear lift $400? what all is included in that price?

It was the OME lift on Rocky Road's website. What am I missing? How much should it cost? I'm still researching....

[Ascinder]

I talked to the guy that is selling one by me and he said the check engine light is on due to something wrong with over filling the gas tank? Dealership quoted him $300 to fix. Anyone every heard of that?

Sounds like the charcoal canister in the evap system got saturated from the overfill and it's throwing a code. I think it mentions this somewhere in the workshop manual. Probably just replace the canister, or if you're offroading it only, then don't worry about it. BTW like your racelines, are the rims pretty light? I am on the fence between those and some heavier Hutchinson double locks.

[Ascinder]

Quote:Originally Posted by RamAirZ
rear lift $400? what all is included in that price?

It was the OME lift on Rocky Road's website. What am I missing? How much should it cost? I'm still researching....

HERE you go. The cheapest lift you can do is $60 and it's damn near impossible to break and adjustable to boot. You will need some coil spring compressors for the spring bucket route. I used harbor freight cheapies. I recommend lubing the threads of the spring jacks or they'll be non-adjustable in no time. They work great though. I was running 4-1/2" of lift and that was only because I ran out of adjustment on the torsion bars up front. You may want to look into differential drop brackets too to lessen the wear on your CV's from lifting too. The search function here is your friend.

[blacksambo]

Yes, the VX did win at Paris Dakar, but alas only a few early stages. It lost the the overall challenge due to Isuzu's stupidity. Said differently, they forgot to bring enough spare parts. Their competitors changed high wear items and the poor Vx was sent back out with heavily worn components and thus doomed to failure. It had to be towed home. Sad but true.

[REDLYNER]

BTW like your racelines, are the rims pretty light? I am on the fence between those and some heavier Hutchinson double locks.

I absolutely love the Racelines. Super light for a beadlock, but solid as a rock on the trail. I run 6 psi on the rocks and 20 psi on the street- no burping air that low and no vibrations at 20 psi.


It looks like if I went with the OME 912s and a torsion lift, I could squeeze in some heavy duty tie rods.

[SlowPro48]

[*]Emulsion Shocks: $450.00

It's none of my business really, but I'm gonna run my mouth anyway. Hey - you asked!

For your intended application why in the world would you want to downgrade from the stock reservoir shocks to emulsion shocks? Or has someone already done away with the OEM Kayabas on "the rig in question"? For intense use such as racing I would think you'd be better off with reservoir shocks, not emulsion shocks. Emulsion would be OK for street or plodding along (rock crawling, etc.) but offroad racing's different. The suspension will be swinging from topped out to bottomed out continuously - every second for the entire race - lots of heat to dissipate! I'm betting emulsions would suffer major fade w/in 15 minutes.

If you wanted an upgrade from the stock piggybacks you could go to a remote reservoir but a lot of them have externally adjustable damping which would not be within the rules. The stock KYBs you have to take apart and play with the shim stack to adjust damping so they meet the rules.

"You gotta keep em separated."
The Offspring

[Ascinder]

Originally Posted by REDLYNER [*]Emulsion Shocks: $450.00

It's none of my business really, but I'm gonna run my mouth anyway. Hey - you asked!

For your intended application why in the world would you want to downgrade from the stock reservoir shocks to emulsion shocks? Or has someone already done away with the OEM Kayabas on "the rig in question"? For intense use such as racing I would think you'd be better off with reservoir shocks, not emulsion shocks. Emulsion would be OK for street or plodding along (rock crawling, etc.) but offroad racing's different. The suspension will be swinging from topped out to bottomed out continuously - every second for the entire race - lots of heat to dissipate! I'm betting emulsions would suffer major fade w/in 15 minutes.

If you wanted an upgrade from the stock piggybacks you could go to a remote reservoir but a lot of them have externally adjustable damping which would not be within the rules. The stock KYBs you have to take apart and play with the shim stack to adjust damping so they meet the rules.

X2 to that. For some quality cheap reservoir shocks you might try FOA shocks too. Their shocks are built to race and priced very reasonably. The only thing to worry about is that you'd have to convert the front mounts on the VX from a post mount to an eye mount, which is extremely easy.

2.0" Remote reservoir shock
2.5" Remote reservoir shock

[REDLYNER]

Annnnnnnd oops. The whole time I was meaning res shocks, but kept saying emulsion. I was looking at Walker Evans racing shocks (emulsion) earlier, but the Fox 2.0's w/res is what I had in mind.

For price reasons, I was looking at the 2.0's vs the 2.5's.






You never see VX's, but tonight, ironically enough I was waiting in the parking lot for my wife while she was grocery shopping and a VX parked right in front of me.

[RamAirZ]

It's fate! You have to get one now!

[Ascinder]

Sounds like a sign to me.