othersidemetalworks
Member
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2023
- Messages
- 19
BUT our laws regarding roads and transit have been written by people with zero knowledge of anything automotive. Largely based on raising revenue and prioritise blanket bans and fines over road safety.
SO knowing that conundrum, I think it might be interesting to get some input from you guys about how you would build a prerunner if you have to jump through all the hoops that we do. I'm currently looking for a new car, mild prerunner style build that I can take camping, drive daily etc. If I was over with you guys I'd love to build a ~2008 Silverado, bolt on long travel, short course, full interior etc, wouldn't have a cage or bypasses, quiet and comfortable, still fun but nothing full tilt. That's what I WANT to do, but unfortunately not something I CAN do here haha.
To give you a bit of an idea of the constraints I'm working within:
- Tyre size cannot be increased more than 7% of the size stated on the factory tyre placard
- Track width cannot be increased more than 25mm (1"ish) per side, for an overall of 50mm or around 2" (This includes offset). Yeah... I know.
- Suspension height cannot be increased more than 50mm from factory, this includes lift from tyre diameter and suspension.
- Chassis modification and fabrication is doable but the more intrusive it gets, the more hoops need to be jumped through and the more money needs to be spent.
- Any custom built suspension parts (upper and lower control arms, beams, radius arms, panhard rods, tie rods etc etc) need some sort of testing (FEA) to be passed.
- There are circumstances where these rules can be navigated around but it's very expensive, I'm talking 6 figures. Not realistic for this kind of build!
There are a whole heap more rules and regulations but I feel these are the most obvious in regards to what I want to do. Things like suspension mounts can be cut and fabricated and altered if need be, things like solid axle swaps are doable here, fabrication to replace leafs or standard coil sprung setups with a coilover or coilover & bypass is all possible too, but they still have to work within those aforementioned constraints.
Anyway after talking all that shit, basically there are very few options left. The track width increase is the trickiest one since 99% of prerunner stuff involves a massive track increase. Something like a 1st gen Raptor could work since they are already wider from the factory and come stock with 35" tyres, the 7% tyre increase allows me a 37" tyre and the already widened control arms leave me some room to play as far as suspension goes.
We also have 1st and Next Gen Ranger Raptors, I actually owned a 1st gen already and it was very fun however the reliability has been a bit of a let down unfortunately. Other than that, factory TTB cars are definitely right up there on the list, OBS F150, Bronco etc, definitely very high on my list. Hence why I am already building my dentside.
Couple of things to note, I'm happy to send it and hope for the best with some things, if my tyres are a bit out of the range then so be it, if I get a ticket for them it's easy enough to remove wheels, clear the ticket and reinstall them. Gotta pay to play. Obviously you can't do that with something welded to the frame though!
I guess you can see why the scene here is non existent, I am fucking determined though. I will find a way to daily a prelander/prerunner and continue to build my F100. It's easily my favourite genre of motorsport and our country is a killer place to drive one albeit for the fucken rules. Anyway, enough shit talk, how would you guys navigate this situation?
SO knowing that conundrum, I think it might be interesting to get some input from you guys about how you would build a prerunner if you have to jump through all the hoops that we do. I'm currently looking for a new car, mild prerunner style build that I can take camping, drive daily etc. If I was over with you guys I'd love to build a ~2008 Silverado, bolt on long travel, short course, full interior etc, wouldn't have a cage or bypasses, quiet and comfortable, still fun but nothing full tilt. That's what I WANT to do, but unfortunately not something I CAN do here haha.
To give you a bit of an idea of the constraints I'm working within:
- Tyre size cannot be increased more than 7% of the size stated on the factory tyre placard
- Track width cannot be increased more than 25mm (1"ish) per side, for an overall of 50mm or around 2" (This includes offset). Yeah... I know.
- Suspension height cannot be increased more than 50mm from factory, this includes lift from tyre diameter and suspension.
- Chassis modification and fabrication is doable but the more intrusive it gets, the more hoops need to be jumped through and the more money needs to be spent.
- Any custom built suspension parts (upper and lower control arms, beams, radius arms, panhard rods, tie rods etc etc) need some sort of testing (FEA) to be passed.
- There are circumstances where these rules can be navigated around but it's very expensive, I'm talking 6 figures. Not realistic for this kind of build!
There are a whole heap more rules and regulations but I feel these are the most obvious in regards to what I want to do. Things like suspension mounts can be cut and fabricated and altered if need be, things like solid axle swaps are doable here, fabrication to replace leafs or standard coil sprung setups with a coilover or coilover & bypass is all possible too, but they still have to work within those aforementioned constraints.
Anyway after talking all that shit, basically there are very few options left. The track width increase is the trickiest one since 99% of prerunner stuff involves a massive track increase. Something like a 1st gen Raptor could work since they are already wider from the factory and come stock with 35" tyres, the 7% tyre increase allows me a 37" tyre and the already widened control arms leave me some room to play as far as suspension goes.
We also have 1st and Next Gen Ranger Raptors, I actually owned a 1st gen already and it was very fun however the reliability has been a bit of a let down unfortunately. Other than that, factory TTB cars are definitely right up there on the list, OBS F150, Bronco etc, definitely very high on my list. Hence why I am already building my dentside.
Couple of things to note, I'm happy to send it and hope for the best with some things, if my tyres are a bit out of the range then so be it, if I get a ticket for them it's easy enough to remove wheels, clear the ticket and reinstall them. Gotta pay to play. Obviously you can't do that with something welded to the frame though!
I guess you can see why the scene here is non existent, I am fucking determined though. I will find a way to daily a prelander/prerunner and continue to build my F100. It's easily my favourite genre of motorsport and our country is a killer place to drive one albeit for the fucken rules. Anyway, enough shit talk, how would you guys navigate this situation?
