PM included my phone number so I could have a chat about what he wanted to achieve and which direction to head. Also to provide more info on the GF8 he'd found on the net.

OK so here's the long post. This is very broad and the CAMS manual and scrutineers/people in the know are best to be consulted. Most of the below is targetted at the GC8 in Group A/PRC trim.

Yes you can use a bolt in cage in a gravel rally car, however as Doug has already stated, there needs to be extra bars added which realistically need to be welded in. There are a couple of bolt in cages on the market which have the additional weld in bars supplied to add once the main cage is fixed into the car. We suggest building a gravel car from scratch with a weld in cage as it ties the shell together better and gives more torsional rigidity. High speeds on rough roads eventually take their toll on the body shell and a well tied in cage will extend the life of the shell dramatically and help prevent twisting and kinking of the shell. A well built cage can also make accident repairs easier as the main platform is held together well. Roll cage must be padded anywhere that a driver/navigator can come into contact with the bars.

You can compete in Club/State rallies with standard seats and seat rails, however most favour using race seats with fixed mounting brackets. Race seats are lighter, if you want to compete at higher levels of rally you need FIA tagged race seats anyway. 5 or 6 point harnesses are the best restraint systems. On many rally cars, the shoulder straps are looped around a harness bar that forms part of the cage. The side straps can be bolted to the factory seat belt points and the crutch strap(s) are either tied off to a harness bar under the seats or fixed to floor using correct mounting plates. Harnesses need to meet the correct standard and be within 5 years of the manufacturer expiry date. You may not use standard seat belts or Y type 3 point harnesses.

You need a minimum of a 2kg dry powder fire extinguisher, many opt to have 2 x 1kg extinguishers. Extinguishers need to be securely bolted in with metal brackets and be tagged in date. If the car was manufactured in the year 2000 or later, a mandatory fire extinguisher bomb must also be fitted and be tagged in date.

4WD Turbo vehicles need to have a mandatory air restrictor fitted on the inlet side of the turbo within 50mm of the blades. NB: A restrictor is optional in 2WD vehicles. Restrictor size is determined by class. 32mm restrictor for Group N and 34mm restrictor for Group A/PRC, however the ARC ran an un-restricted turbo class in 2012 which may filter down to state level in future. The car must retain the engine pertinent to the version of the car. Ie- you cannot get a 1993-2000 GC8 and fit a 2005 engine. *There are some other minor issues with making sure you have the right panels on the car to match the engine too. There has been some slight freedoms with turbos, however the same brand of turbo and waste gate set up must be used. Ie- no T04 Garret turbo and external waste gate. You can fit extractors, however they must comply with the factory homologation design in the homologation book. Most competitors just run the standard exhaust manifolds. There are some minor freedoms with intercoolers, however rule of thumb is to run the factory intercooler. No front mounts and no larger size intercoolers are permitted.
Engine management is free.
Transmission is free, a couple run sequential six speeds in their GC8's. It is common for later model 6 speeds to be fitted to GC8's
Diffs and drive shafts are free. R180 rear diffs, DCCD/plated front diffs and 6 speed drive shafts can all be used in a GC8.
Suspension is free to a point. It must attached to the factory mounting points and operate in the same fashion as the factory suspension. There has been a catch with using offset lower control arm bushes and anti-dive kits. Both are not allowed. Fabricated, fully adjustable control arms are however permitted. The popular gravel rally struts are DMS, and Proflex/MCA however, some use Reiger, I use Pro-Drive/Bilstein and we are going to test STD. You can use factory struts with H/D inserts if you want to keep costs down, or else find a set of Pink STI struts.
Exhaust down stream of turbo is free, however must comply with noise requirements and exit out of the rear of the car. No side pipes.

Brakes are free and must operate on all four wheels using a dual circuit system. Pedals boxes and hydraulic handbrakes are allowed. Depending on the type of centre diff fitted, a hydraulic handbrake may not do much.
The max wheel diameter for gravel rally is 15" so brakes need to fit behind 15" wheels.

You must retain door trims, factory dash and heater controls. Carpets, rear seats and roof lining can all be removed. The car must retain factory panels (no body kits and rear wing pertinent to version must be fitted) Factory bonnet and bonnet scoop must be fitted. No carbon fibre bonnets. Factory alloy bonnet is fine.
All factory external lights must be retained and operable. The car must be road worthy and have washers, wipers, horn, indicators, brake/tail lights, hi/low beam, reverse lights etc.
Mud flaps on all driven wheels are mandatory.

There are other items that are not mandatory, however are worth while. Under body protection and a sump guard protect the car. Navigation computer (Terratrip etc) and intercom to make communication easier. Spot/driving lights (max of 4 additional lights can be fitted) for the night stages.

As Doug has previously mentioned, I too do not recommend starting out in a 4WD car. I have seen far too many people start out in 4WD and come un-stuck. On the road I believe 4WD is safer. On gravel rallies, the extra driving wheels mean everything happens faster and it is easy to be off into the trees before you know what is happening. If you want to go 4WD, start out with a front wheel drive car, learn how to drive it in the Clubman Cup or State 2WD then move up.

I strongly disagree that the GC8 is too old and not a good car to start 4WD Rally with. I think the contrary is true. The GC8 is now the modern Ford Escort. Handle well, readily available, relatively cheap and plenty of expertise and go fast bits around.
Sh*t loads of GC8's were sold in Australia and many are now getting up into the 200+K mileage. The price has come down dramatically and if you are looking to build a competition car, you can find cheap GC8's if you look in the right places. Most parts can be bought brand new, you can still buy jap import engines and you can fit later model transmissions and drive lines. Panels are relatively easy to source (try finding panels or 2 door Ford Escort shells cheap or Celica GT4 parts) and the cars are very competitive. 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the 2012 WA State Rally Championship were taken by GC8 WRX's.

Depending on the purchase price and how much work needs to be done or you can do yourself, you can build a BASIC GC8 rally car for around $10k.
DO NOT SCRIMP on SAFETY. Buy and use the best stuff, it is there to save your life in an accident.
The best bet is to find a good rally car for the right price that has a lot of the good bits already fitted and buy that instead. It's much easier to transfer rego and log book than to apply for a new log book and register a new rally car. Also a well built car with the Go-Fast bits in it can be de-tuned to start with to allow a period of learning before increasing the power.

__________________
[B][COLOR=navy][B][COLOR=navy]Rally Driving Perth[/COLOR][/B][/COLOR][/B][COLOR=navy]
[/COLOR][COLOR=blue]www.rallyaction.com.au[/COLOR]
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
[COLOR=navy]Rally Action Driver Training[/COLOR]

Thanks, cleared up so many questions.

__________________
The one perkent...

Buy an s13. Have more fun.

Skids.

__________________
Wand basics:
One must brake with the left hand and steer with the right foot.
Having Defi's does not make Racecar..

fixed

Skyline not so good for gravel rally.
Heavy, 6 Cyl (Have to add too much weight to reach class weight) and the 4WD system disengages when you provoke them.

__________________
[B][COLOR=navy][B][COLOR=navy]Rally Driving Perth[/COLOR][/B][/COLOR][/B][COLOR=navy]
[/COLOR][COLOR=blue]www.rallyaction.com.au[/COLOR]
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
[COLOR=navy]Rally Action Driver Training[/COLOR]

true true, was thinking more tarmac rally styles, any car can do skids in the dirt

Ok epic grave dig. So taking in board alot of the advice i have been given on here and by various other people i hav talked too since posting this originally im going with a small FWD n/a car. Atm top of my list is a 98 suzuki swift gti. I am going to look at it this weekend. It has over 200k on the engine and gearbox which will need some money spent on it. My next choice is a hyundai excel but its afew hundred kilos heavier than the gti at the same power output. I have not looked into any charades yet, but does anyone have any other recommendations?

__________________
The one perkent...

I have an 87 GTi.
You should send me a PM :-) mine has similar kms.

__________________
2016 Subaru Outback - Work Wagon
350NM of CVT Goodness
Pit Crew, shit talker.

Not sure of your budget.

But on FB Buy sell Rally cars this is in WA $17k


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

also have heard that Tony Floyd lancer is also for sale, but unsure if thats true or not.

Maybe worth heading down to Darling 200 on the 16th have have a snoop around the Clubbies at their end of year event.

__________________
Race Torque Dyno 399 NM, 248Kw @ 20PSI

Straight roads are for fast cars, twisty roads are for fast drivers. I have or am neither.

http://tttmsp.smugmug.com/

The 1985s were weapons, lost a bit when went to unleaded

Same with the SX corollas.

__________________
Race Torque Dyno 399 NM, 248Kw @ 20PSI

Straight roads are for fast cars, twisty roads are for fast drivers. I have or am neither.

http://tttmsp.smugmug.com/