2002 Hyundai Elantra - Champ Car Build/Story

[kevinatfms]

New day today!

Got the car running and driving! So far no CEL, no air air bag light and no abs light. Car drives great. Clutch grabs good. Zero complaints on its first journey around the block.

Still a list of things to do but we are very happy with the car as it runs. First autocross of the year is March 16th!

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[xblitzkriegx]

are you gonna cut a coil off on the bottom of the springs to lower it?

 

[blk02edge]

Is the cage a full custom or pre bent/weld in?

 

[kevinatfms]

are you gonna cut a coil off on the bottom of the springs to lower it?

That’s up for some discussion with the rest of the gang. For now though we are going to leave it as is until the cage goes in. Once we get the weight back in it we will see about cutting a coil.

For now though the car is VERY stiff with little to no body roll. But yes, we would love to have the lowered look over the 4x4 stance.

And just to note, that with the 1.4” drop from the springs we also dropped 1” with the shorter tire. We went from a 195/60 to a 205/50r15. A 24.2” tire to a 23.1” tire. So the car is quite low it just has more fender clearance than a usual Elantra due to the tire height.

On a final excuse, we are going to add camber bolts to the rear. Right now it doesn’t seem to have any camber(from the naked eye). So I got two more bolts to add to the rear and we will dial as much in front and rear as possible.


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[kevinatfms]

Is the cage a full custom or pre bent/weld in?

Cage will be a pre-bent and weld in from S&W. The local builder wanted more for a basic chump cage than what we have total in the build. I’m all for safety but that quote was too much for such a simple cage design. He also wanted 25 hours to weld in the S&W cage at $88 an hour. So we are going to weld it in.

We have a competent welder who we all trust to weld the cage in. We have started measuring and will order the cage after one more solid day of measuring and remeasuring to confirm placement.


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[blk02edge]

dp

 

[blk02edge]

Cage will be a pre-bent and weld in from S&W. The local builder wanted more for a basic chump cage than what we have total in the build. I’m all for safety but that quote was too much for such a simple cage design. He also wanted 25 hours to weld in the S&W cage at $88 an hour. So we are going to weld it in.

We have a competent welder who we all trust to weld the cage in. We have started measuring and will order the cage after one more solid day of measuring and remeasuring to confirm placement.


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Nice, I built my own cage (well, pre-bent from advanced autosports) had to cut/notch and weld everything with zero help and zero prior experience. Only part that had me swearing and grinding/re welding was the damn floor plates to the body. Shitty japanese tin was a nightmare to weld to ha

 

[kevinatfms]

Nice, I built my own cage (well, pre-bent from advanced autosports) had to cut/notch and weld everything with zero help and zero prior experience. Only part that had me swearing and grinding/re welding was the damn floor plates to the body. Shitty japanese tin was a nightmare to weld to ha
View attachment 1547482

That is a cage of beauty. Hope ours comes out half that good.

Whats with the dash bar under the steering column? Any issues with knee strikes or clearance? Any tech inspectors have issues?

We are going to set ours right above the steering column but we also dont have a dash to deal with.

EDIT: what paint did you use for the interior? We are going to have to paint everything and any advice would be appreciated.

 

[blk02edge]

That is a cage of beauty. Hope ours comes out half that good.

Whats with the dash bar under the steering column? Any issues with knee strikes or clearance? Any tech inspectors have issues?

We are going to set ours right above the steering column but we also dont have a dash to deal with.

EDIT: what paint did you use for the interior? We are going to have to paint everything and any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, It has been inspected by an scca inspector and all good once its padded plus window nets, I am 6'1 and don't have issues with that knee bar, it was as high as I could go with the factory steering column brace, but either way I dont notice it there.

I just used plain old rustoleum metal paint and rolled it on. I should really sand and spray the tubes though as you can tell it was rolled on but im starting to get overly picky on a budget race car haha. What ive heard to do is roll on the first coat then spray once its tacky

 

[kevinatfms]

Thanks, It has been inspected by an scca inspector and all good once its padded plus window nets, I am 6'1 and don't have issues with that knee bar, it was as high as I could go with the factory steering column brace, but either way I dont notice it there.

I just used plain old rustoleum metal paint and rolled it on. I should really sand and spray the tubes though as you can tell it was rolled on but im starting to get overly picky on a budget race car haha. What ive heard to do is roll on the first coat then spray once its tacky

Any pictures of your spreader plates? We are thinking of boxing the spreader plates instead of just welding them to the floor. This way we can make a stronger mount at the rear bulkhead which ties into the bulkhead, outer body frame and the floor.

Did you just go with straight plates and or did you box them out?

 

[blk02edge]

Not my picture but exact same as mine, I have the scca spec miata rule book which Advanced autosports builds their cages to, not sure if mine is chump/lemons legal. But this is what I did, I would habe much prefered to sandwhich/bolt it to the body but spec miata doesnt allow it.

 

[blk02edge]

Not my picture but exact same as mine, I have the scca spec miata rule book which Advanced autosports builds their cages to, not sure if mine is chump/lemons legal (tube size). But this is what I did, I would have much prefered to sandwhich/bolt it to the body but spec miata doesnt allow.

You can see the front tube landing plate to the left, its got quite the footprint compared to most ive seen

 

[SID297]

Id find a ZX3 with the 2.0L Zetec and a 5 speed. The 6 speed in the SVT was a bit of a chore and had issues with the clutch and pressure plate setup. Also the VCT stuff on the SVT was a pain in the ass. It only made marginally more power than the non-VCT motor and had more issues.

A cool swap would be the 2.3L out of the 2004 ZX4 ST model into a ZX3 chassis with the SVT brakes and suspension. That would be a cool little car. 150+hp, 2000lbs gutted and factory balanced suspension.

What about a ZX2 Escort?

 

[kevinatfms]

What about a ZX2 Escort?

They have been prevalent in Chump/Lemons for a while. Cheap and a lot of parts available that can be retrofitted to the older Escort.

The ZX2 S/R would be killer in factory form with the revised PCM calibration. I’d bet that car could make 170hp with some fuel tuning and a header/high flow exhaust system.

I’d still want to throw a Duratec 2.3 in it. The ZX2 still had the VCT Zetec engine which wasn’t too bad but still had the cam timing issues of the SVT but without the CMCV intake manifold. I cannot state how much I hate the Ford variable cam timing from that era. It was complicated and very prone to failure.

I’d bet the 2.3 would fit with some small engine mount modifications and the computer/harness from a ZX4 Focus.

And just to clarify, the Focus 2.3 into an earlier Focus hatch would be easy as the chassis only got marginal updates. So a lot of the mounting points, suspension and electronics could theoretically swap over without much fuss.

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[kevinatfms]

Just as everyone was giving me shit for the car being too 4x4 stance.....Browing Amazon this morning and just typed in coilovers. This popped up....

$172.67 with FREE PRIME SHIPPING on a set of 36 way adjustable, KSport Kontrol Pro coilovers for the Elantra.

 

[98 svt]

Nice find, but I doubt those will last very long out on the track, getting banged around by other drivers.
No rules in this class? Coilovers are legal?

 

[kevinatfms]

Nice find, but I doubt those will last very long out on the track, getting banged around by other drivers.
No rules in this class? Coilovers are legal?

Coilovers add a VPI point value. Our car's VPI value is 275 to start and each item has a point value. I think coilovers are 20-40pts per axle. Right now we are at 20pts per axle for the camber bolts and springs.

I dont think they are going to get destroyed but they will take some abuse. We will have the setup the car is riding on now to go with as a back up. I snagged these because of the insanely low price.

Ksport is well known in the Honda world and produces a very good coilover for the money. As far as being banged around, it will take some bumps for sure but if we wreck the car i dont think the coilovers are going to be our worry.

 

[blk02edge]

Always got to keep hawk eyes on amazon. I scored an aem wideband a while back for $38 lol. Thats a solid find too

 

[Corbic]

KSports are solid. Those are normally $900. Lots of guys drift and race on them.

You won't get a better shock or spring set for under $200.

 

[kevinatfms]

KSports are solid. Those are normally $900. Lots of guys drift and race on them.

You won't get a better shock or spring set for under $200.

I have heard great things. I hit the buy it now button almost immediately when i saw the price. Our Tiburon strut/H&R spring combo was $260 so this is a HUGE bargain for an adjustable monotube damper with linear rate springs.