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Thread: Any AutoX guys still out there?

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    TNasty's Avatar
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    Default Any AutoX guys still out there?

    I've been seeing the same thread untouched on here since I've joined. Anyway...

    I want to start going to some autocross events with the r/t, but don't really know where to start. I haven't done anything suspension-wise to it yet. I was thinking about sway bars and shocks for starters. Anybody have any advice?

    2003 CC R/T - Stock
    1993 Ram W250, Cummins - Tuned VE pump, BD Fuel Pin, 3,200 RPM Gov. Spring, Flo-Pro turbo-back 4" Exhaust, Custom "Blurple-Beer"/White paint, BD 16cm turbo exhaust housing

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    Blown and Squirted

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    This is a double edged sword: some regions will not allow stock height trucks to compete, only lowered 2wd.

    That being said, changing the springs will put you into at least a prepared class.

    List every modification you have for starters, even if you think it wont matter.

    '99 R/T- MSIIextra fuel/spark/idle, ZCP mx422 supercharged, ZCP Tbrake 727, PPC 10" 3800, 4.10, (\/) Headers, 2.5" Duals, Truetrac, Boyd Timeless 6's, Hotchkis TVS.
    Z Code Performance Website

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    Quote Originally Posted by Five9Dak View Post
    This is a double edged sword: some regions will not allow stock height trucks to compete, only lowered 2wd.

    That being said, changing the springs will put you into at least a prepared class.

    List every modification you have for starters, even if you think it wont matter.
    Mods list? haha. One piece headlights, fiberglass tonneau cover, and some sort of locker in the rear. Gonna pull the diff cover off soon to see exactly what's in it. What would you recommend for springs, shocks, etc.? I know most guys go with Bilstein and Hotchkis, but I'm sure there's something else out there too. And as far as the locker goes, it doesn't feel like it really effects my handling too drastically. It's pretty streetable. I can fly around corners all day and it never really wants to oversteer a whole lot. Hasn't understeered on me once, either.

    2003 CC R/T - Stock
    1993 Ram W250, Cummins - Tuned VE pump, BD Fuel Pin, 3,200 RPM Gov. Spring, Flo-Pro turbo-back 4" Exhaust, Custom "Blurple-Beer"/White paint, BD 16cm turbo exhaust housing

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    Blown and Squirted

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    Tell everone it is mechanically stock, don't say anything about the locker. Remove the tonno in the pits.

    I would recommend hotchkis and hotchkis tuned bilstiens when you are ready to move out of a stock class. You're going to need a helluva tire and a lot of skill/luck.

    '99 R/T- MSIIextra fuel/spark/idle, ZCP mx422 supercharged, ZCP Tbrake 727, PPC 10" 3800, 4.10, (\/) Headers, 2.5" Duals, Truetrac, Boyd Timeless 6's, Hotchkis TVS.
    Z Code Performance Website

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    Your first step is to contact the SCCA club in your area. Ask them when and where they have auto x and if you can run your truck as-is. You need to run the courses first so you know what you're doing and how to read the cones.
    There is no reason you should have to modify it first, unless the club says so.
    Another thing to consider is; the more mods you have, the higher the race class they bump you into.

    Mods would include: larger sway bars front and rear, better tires, better shocks, performance springs (simply lowering it doesn't really help much) and better brakes.

    I have all of that (or had at one time) plus the built motor. They didn't quite know how to class a truck, so they put me in SSP.
    Alan Short
    D.R.T.C. #15


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    I race in ESP with my club. By the rules I really think I should have been in SM though. Modified camaros and mustangs with sticky tires would whoop my ass. I did manage to beat a WRX in the rain once. Go figure.
    03 CC 4.7 NV3500

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    i don't think many autox these trucks, mostly due to the braking systems. also owners of these rigs tend to be more drag race oriented. if i didn't have my car i would definitely have my truck built for autox by now, but its not anywhere near ready (probably not for a while). i think the only reason we have an autox section is because we used to have autox at the national meet.

    i will be taking my car out to the autox races on the 17th though.

    if you go i would completely replace your brake fluid. if you don't you will know why you should have by your 3rd run or so when your pedal goes to the floor. brake fluid gets moisture in it over time that drastically lowers its boiling point. normal drivers don't ever get the brakes hot enough to experience this in a day to day basis even on like 5 year old fluid. lol. i have to bleed the brakes on my car every time i go racing. i would replace the power steering fluid too while your at it.

    also you say you don't under-steer, i don't believe that for a second. if your not under-steering on that truck with those mods you are not pushing it hard enough. better sway bars will be great to help control that.

    also run a much higher pressure than you would on the street to prevent your tires from rolling onto the sidewalls.

    what tires do you have? if i were you i would just get sway bars and a 140-200 treadwear tire and tell them its stock. i bumped my SRT out of stock pony car classes a long time ago and i have to compete with modded STI's and EVO's now. lol.
    Last edited by Jontoad; 04-10-2011 at 02:47 PM.

    2006 Black Charger SRT8- Cam'ed and tons of suspenson/drivetrain mods for Autocross/Road racing
    2008 Caliber SRT4- Daily Driver
    2000 Black CC Dakota R/T & 1999 Black RC Dakota R/T- sold!
    autoX vids
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRGBII3NIFc / http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcDLPdlsxPg / http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKoTy-VEw2k

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    Jontoad's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mtlcafan79 View Post
    I race in ESP with my club. By the rules I really think I should have been in SM though. Modified camaros and mustangs with sticky tires would whoop my ass. I did manage to beat a WRX in the rain once. Go figure.
    is that with your club cab? ESP is for 4 passenger cars so your reg cab wouldn't qualify... if you qualify for ESP and you have a tire over 140 tread wear you can also run a street touring class called STU. the Street Touring classes were created for bolt on street cars with street tires, its basically the same requirements as ESP but with street tires. it has a better pax index also.

    i run STU with my car, i have the choice between STU and ESP. ESP is harder to compete in. they tried to bump me to ESP and i had to tell the tech to go back and read the new rule book. sure enough they let me stay in STU and said i was right.
    Last edited by Jontoad; 04-10-2011 at 02:51 PM.

    2006 Black Charger SRT8- Cam'ed and tons of suspenson/drivetrain mods for Autocross/Road racing
    2008 Caliber SRT4- Daily Driver
    2000 Black CC Dakota R/T & 1999 Black RC Dakota R/T- sold!
    autoX vids
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRGBII3NIFc / http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcDLPdlsxPg / http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKoTy-VEw2k

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    That's in the RC. It doesn't matter what class they put me in, I'd get destroyed no matter what. I think the best I ever did was second to last in my class and 101 out of a 200 car field.
    03 CC 4.7 NV3500

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    im working on the handling of the trucks, so far qa-1 shocks double adjustables, kenny brown xbrace, full hotchkis , and a trac bar setup. im looking for a big brake kit set up for it, if anyone has suggestions

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    Quote Originally Posted by rattler360 View Post
    im working on the handling of the trucks, so far qa-1 shocks double adjustables, kenny brown xbrace, full hotchkis , and a trac bar setup. im looking for a big brake kit set up for it, if anyone has suggestions
    Viper brakes are by far the best brake setup you can put on these trucks but they are expensive. The 03-04 brakes are dual piston fronts and single piston rears and they do help stop better then the older trucks.

    I wil be auto-X mine this summer when I can and am not sure how I will do... To the OP you can still get the hotchkis sway bars as I recieved mine about two weeks ago just havent had time to install them yet. My complete suspension setup will be the full hotchkis TVS kit with the bilstiens energy suspension bushings throughout, Hawk HPS pads front and rear and dimpled rotors. As for tires im running SRT wheels and michelin pilot sport tires and hope to be able to hold pretty good in the corners.

    If you can find the hotchkis springs at some point I would recomend them with either the bilstiens or QA-1's.
    Dakotaless

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    I had a full set of Viper brakes, everything you needed and extras for sale but nobody was biting. The fronts are gone now, all I have left is the rears.
    My step mother legitimately thought you could raise boneless chickens.

    edit: she once to her taxes to a taxidermy shop...my hand to god, this woman is a moron

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    im running the full hotchkis kit minus the shocks, i have the qa-1s instead, how much for the rear viper brakes? will they work on a 1999 dakota? im also running a transcooler, setrab oil cooler, and powersteering cooler

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    Thanks guys. For now I think I'll just try to run some sort of a stock class and bring it to test and tunes at limerock or thompson if that's still open, and try to squeak in an autocross whenever I can

    2003 CC R/T - Stock
    1993 Ram W250, Cummins - Tuned VE pump, BD Fuel Pin, 3,200 RPM Gov. Spring, Flo-Pro turbo-back 4" Exhaust, Custom "Blurple-Beer"/White paint, BD 16cm turbo exhaust housing

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    im in stamford connecticut, id love to try to do a dakota rt track day at limerock

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    Blown and Squirted

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    My club puts me in SM2, which is street modified two seaters. IE heavily modded corvettes. The roller rockers are the only mod (when not supercharged) that put me in a street mod type class.

    Needless to say, I never worry about place in class. This is the same reason I bought a 100% stock SRT-4.

    '99 R/T- MSIIextra fuel/spark/idle, ZCP mx422 supercharged, ZCP Tbrake 727, PPC 10" 3800, 4.10, (\/) Headers, 2.5" Duals, Truetrac, Boyd Timeless 6's, Hotchkis TVS.
    Z Code Performance Website

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    Quote Originally Posted by rattler360 View Post
    im in stamford connecticut, id love to try to do a dakota rt track day at limerock
    I'm not too sure how we would go about that, but if you could manage to get something together, I'd love to do that. Not a whole lot of roads around here I can really go all-out through the turns, and I'd like to see just how hard I can push one of these trucks

    2003 CC R/T - Stock
    1993 Ram W250, Cummins - Tuned VE pump, BD Fuel Pin, 3,200 RPM Gov. Spring, Flo-Pro turbo-back 4" Exhaust, Custom "Blurple-Beer"/White paint, BD 16cm turbo exhaust housing

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    Blown and Squirted

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    Yeh definitely don't do that on the street, you'll end up in a ditch, upside or on some railroad tracks. (or all three)

    '99 R/T- MSIIextra fuel/spark/idle, ZCP mx422 supercharged, ZCP Tbrake 727, PPC 10" 3800, 4.10, (\/) Headers, 2.5" Duals, Truetrac, Boyd Timeless 6's, Hotchkis TVS.
    Z Code Performance Website

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    i called they have track days for bmw club, porshe etc.. if we could get enough people involved maybe we could get a track day, or if we could contact those other clubs maybe go ona day they are there

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    Track days and auto-x are two totally different things. If they even let you on the track you can expect: smoking brakes, boiling brake fluid, and toasted power steering pumps. Definitely make sure that stuff is all in good order, if not brand new. Laps on a road course will destroy that stuff.
    03 CC 4.7 NV3500

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    That's what I'm doing with my RC. Not really setting it up just for autox, but I have that in the back of my mind, it's going to be a daily driver.

    It has a 318 with a T56 now.

    Soon to be installed,

    Full RC Hotchkis TVS
    Front Qa1's: TC1914P
    Rear Qa1's: TC2501P
    New rear end: 03/04 rear disc, 4.56 gears with detroit true-trac
    Front siderwinder v1p0r brakes.

    I have everything paid for, just missing a few items but I'm in no hurry. I need a weekend free to knock it all out at once, I don't see a free weekend for awhile.

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    I'm gonna flush everything before I go. I'd kinda like to get into road courses instead anyway. If we get a day to go, I'll definitely be there

    2003 CC R/T - Stock
    1993 Ram W250, Cummins - Tuned VE pump, BD Fuel Pin, 3,200 RPM Gov. Spring, Flo-Pro turbo-back 4" Exhaust, Custom "Blurple-Beer"/White paint, BD 16cm turbo exhaust housing

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    grapejuice1998's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rattler360 View Post
    i called they have track days for bmw club, porshe etc.. if we could get enough people involved maybe we could get a track day, or if we could contact those other clubs maybe go ona day they are there
    http://www.scca.com/divisions.aspx?div=ne
    http://www.ner.org/region/events

    Look through their schedule and see if you can find a meet to go to.
    Alan Short
    D.R.T.C. #15


  24. #24

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    Ok I'm going to chime in, I haven't read all the post. On my 00 I have EBC rotors and Hawk HPplus pads and the back I run stock drums with Porterfield R4-S pads and they work great for my setup. I think the bigger the brakes you have it might hurt you on street tires (easier to lockup wheels, not good for turning). Just put a good pad on the front and learn how to drive before spending money on big brakes. I have Hotchkis on both my trucks and wouldn't trade it for anything!!! I run ESP locally and divisional, I do run against Mustangs and Camaro's but I can hold my own against them. Go out have fun and if you are bone stock you might be able to get away with running in FS.
    03 Dakota RC 4.7, 212x, 68mm Fastman, 3" exhaust with no cats, Auburn LSD, Hotchkis, Bilstein's, Nitto's 275/50/17
    Oklahoma SCCA ESP#7 Best time 14.21
    00 Dakota RC 4.7, 70mm F&B, Mopar LSD, Hotchkis, QA1's on all four, 335/35/17 Kumho V710's
    Oklahoma SCCA ESP #73 Best time 14.47
    http://www.streetfire.net/video/a-fa...ck_2017029.htm

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    ^ what he said. We used to autocross our 98 R/T in ESP. Then, the only mod it had was a set of shorty headers, which put us out of stock class. For autocross, you really need to read the rules of the sanctioning body FIRST, because the wrong single mod can put you way over your head with respect to the competition. That said, I think the Dakota can be very competitive.

    Because our R/T was otherwise stock, on the stock RSA Goodyears, I used to enjoy tossing it around on the autocross course. You had to watch your braking, or you could lock up the fronts easily, but is was sure fun to get on the brakes to load up the front wheels, and get the truck light in the back, then flick the steering wheel to get the rear to step out a bit, and then get back on the gas after your turn. It was great fun. My wife and I did rather well competing in ESP against other more-prepared vehicles than our own.

    One of the really nice things about the Dakota is you're not very limited on tire size. I've seen 335's on a ESP Dakota with NO body mods required. Most GM and Ford F-bodies, you're hammering the inner fenderwell and rolling/cutting fenders to get anywhere near that much tire under the vehicle. The V-6 5speed Dakotas are actually a little quicker on an autocross track than most R/Ts, primarily because they're lighter.

    If you're just starting out in autocrossing, keep the truck stock for a year, and spend the money learning how to drive in the sport, and getting as much 'seat time' as you can. While you're participating, look around to see what classes allow what mods, and where you think you'd fit in best.

    My wife didn't like chipping the paint on her Dak, so we moved to a different vehicle to run that we didn't care much about chipped paint and conemarks. We now run a 3rd Gen Firebird in C Prepared.
    Gene Beaird,
    98 FR CC R/T
    Pearland, Texas

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