Build Dilemma
 

OK, I am at a bit of a decision point about the ti after this upcoming autocross season. My son & I have been having a blast autocrossing it but we want to start looking into some scca regional road racing. (We are from Watkins Glen and the track averages 3-4 scca events per year, that makes for easy travel for us!) Here's the question: Do I take the ti and turn it into a road race competition car? My son wants us to do that as a project together, strip it out, put in a cage & then go from there. I know it is more expensive to do a build than to buy one already prepped but the prospect of doing some of it myself with my son is appealing. Now the big question: The ti is a 99, California roof with a 5 speed. Do I take a relatively rare example of the ti & strip it out for road racing or leave it alone & look elsewhere? Just looking for a little input from other ti nuts like me as to if I should be doing that to my ti or not. Any input will be appreciated! Thanks & have a Merry Christmas.

This.

I would also investigate whether the Cali top meets the road racing rules. I don't know anything about that sort of thing, I'm just suggesting that you be sure the car would pass inspection before making your final decision. :biggrin:

Happy Festivus!!

Yes! I forgot about that little fact! That may make my decision a little easier!

I mean, I actually picked the Ti out of a long list of candidates as a starting point to build for (eventually) track racing. However I live 3hrs minimum from the nearest track, which means I'll likely end up waiting for a few years before I buy a truck and trailer to really go to those events. I'm building my car as a "stress reliever," AKA, spending my days off this winter prepping for next seasons Autocross.

However, as was suggested... I'm curious about that California top. Miata's get tracked all the time, as do Z3/4's. Should be OK I would assume?

I'm selling my 318ti currently. It has the s52 with shorty headers and m3 brakes and other good stuff. It'd be a great base to start with in regards of adding a roll cage or other racing components.

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I did a little looking in the scca rulebook and it looks as if I need to put a certain type of cage in it but it should be ok. Still trying to decide if I should be stripping out a 99 cali top with 5 speed.

If the production numbers listed here are accurate:

Cali-top became available in 96
16251 Ti's came to the NA market from 96 - 98
Assuming 10% were cali-top optioned that's 1625
Assuming 15%, which seems high for that option, that's 2437

In comparison, 2858 M-coupes were brought to the NA market (2180 S52 + 678 S54)

While I'm no expert and the Ti is probably a less desirable car than the M-coupe, the cali-tops seem to be rare enough that I'd say preserving it is worthwhile. It may not seem like it due to how many are on this forum but consider that we're enthusiasts that seek these cars out.

Should be really easy to find or trade for a non-cali Ti

I say if you want a track car, find one that is a little rough around the edges and start from there. You would then have extra money from selling the cali that you could use right away for the build

I am not going to sell the Cali. And it is already a little rough havi g spent its entire life in upstate NY. My son looked at the numbers a few years ago and he thought that there were only around 150 '99's that had a 5 speed and California roof. I may look into selling another car though.

All the 99s were Sports correct? And I don't think there are that many of them.

My first inclination is to tell you to find a base model slick top ti shell to start with.

I am familiar with this dilemma. I did a few track days in my manual E46 Touring and decided I liked that car too much to risk wadding it up. Much the same story for my Z3 Coupe and Clubsport. The solution for me was a nothing-special 98 active model 318ti. The 98 will be my track car, I look at it as a tool, if I bend it too badly I'll just find another shell. I don't want to be bothered with the worry of denting my special car while thrashing around the track.

My son did the numbers a few years ago & he thought there were fewer than 150-200 of the 99's with a 5-speed AND California roof. And yes, all 99's were the M-Technik sport models. Also currently trying to decide if we go back to street class (HS) or stay in STX. I need a set of stock sport springs if we go back.

Go where the competition is. Autocross is boring if you're racing yourself all the time. How are you doing against all that BRZ's in STX?

By people who know what they are doing and have their cars modified, we are getting our asses kicked! That's why I am looking into going back to the street class. On a regional level we did pretty well in PAX in G Street, but this year the ti moved to H Street and I think we could do OK. Luckily in our region (The Glen) there are not a lot of STX runners, but when they show up, Ouch! My son wants me to sell the Mustang and buy a pair of formula Vee's. Not sure I want to take that step!

I sorta figured that. I plan on running the Dixie National tour this year in my Clubsport in STX. The car is reasonably well prepped and will have fresh 200 treadwear tires but I fully expect to get my butt kicked.

If you don't mind me asking, how prepped is your ti for STX? Wheels, tires, brakes, suspension, software... etc.

Wheels are stock, Tires are Ventus RS-3's with 4 seasons on them (My son and I share the car so it does double duty every event) We had the tires 2 seasons & I am looking into new wheels & tires for the new season. H&R Race springs but I dislike them as they feel way too soft for what we are doing. Koni Yellow fully adjustable all the way round. Eibach 28 mm front sway bar & poly bushings for it(powerflex) X-Brace, AKG Motorsport drop links for the sway bar. Turner Camber Shims, all of them are installed & am running about 3.5 degrees negative camber and have a toe out of about 1 degree on each wheel. Stock rear sway bar, Fogged the airbox. Control arms, bushings etc are all stock from '99, I need to change them as well. 3.45 LSD that I got from Al Taylor, had about 800 miles on it!(Looked like it was brand new!) In 2014, my son finished 2nd in the Glen region in Pax running it in the G Street Class, Should have stayed in it for 2015 But had to move to STX because of the above mentioned mods. If I can get my hands on some stock sport springs I may put it back to H Street for next year. (2 of the 4 springs that came off the car were broken, he did that in 2014 with 2 broken springs!) I thinks the new tires helped a lot in '14, they didn't seem to have quite the grip in '15. Unfortunately my budget is very limited and not even sure I can swing new tires and wheels for this season. Thats why I may just put the stock springs back in & go back to street class with the old tires. Who knows, As I type this It has snowed about 3 inches in the past couple of hours and It looks like I am going to have a lot of time to figure it out before we can do anything!