One for the legal minded people!

[wrxguy]

Heres one for the more legal minded guys out there!

In the photo,

1. is where the wiring loom exits cabin at the front left.

2. is where some existing bolt holes are

3. is the open end of the rail.

This is on the rally car currently under construction! Normally the wiring is clipped onto the rail with zip ties. I want to enlarge one of the bolt holes and run my loom thru the rail so its out of the way and avoiding damage. Anyone who works in the wof industry maybe that has an idea?

[Joker]

whats the question?

[DRFVDR]

if you make an awesome factory looking job I DOUBT they will even know

other option would to get a piece of steel pipe bent to fit under guard.

[wrxguy]

 JoKer said:

whats the question?

Dammit, what a dumbass! I should have said ....

From a road legal side of things is it a wof offence to enlarge one of the bolt holes to reroute loom throu? Im not sure if it would be a road legal thing "being out of sight" but im guessing this rail is part of your strengthening. Even thou I dont believe its really an issue to enlarge the holes, but some people are very an*l with the word of the rule books.

Maybe the msnz scrutineers on clubsub might know?

[subieboy]

Get a piece of sheet steel/aluminiun and cut, bend and shape as needed...

No structural issues then...

[wrxguy]

 We are borg said:

if you make an awesome factory looking job I DOUBT they will even know

other option would to get a piece of steel pipe bent to fit under guard.

Thats sort of what im thinking but if it seen by a scrutineer, or wof man, "and i know a few of each!" I dont wanna be pinged for it!

I dont want to be adding a bit of pipe when I have already pulled a heap of weight out of the car as it is. It wouldnt be much to add in to it but everything I have pulled out I weighed just to see how much weight I am saving!

[clintondane]

Common sense tells me that it'd be illegal in the strictest sense of the law simply for the fact that it'd be seen as reducing the structural integrity of the car. Might be a million miles off but that's my interpretation.

[Stoffa]

you could just do what I did and go through the firewall, I used the old aircon boot, seems pretty crazy though if your not rewiring anyway. Look what Viv did to his old RS and I bet if you ask him the wiring was still intact in the factory position

[Munkvy]

We had ours still in the guards, but wrapped it and checked it regularly. We had no issues, however we generally DNF'd gravel rallys for other reasons! If you really want to move it - run it through the firewall into the engine bay instead?

One to watch out for is the loom running round the front of the car (below the radiator), we had an exhaust manifold fire (antilag melted the manifold flanges) and melted the loom... So move that or protect it thoroughly.

Vivian

[subaru-mania]

It is illegal to drill/enlarge any holes in structural areas... saying this it does not stop people doing so, and most get away with it if done tidy.. But no its not legal..

[Old Skool Subbie]

I think any thing like that would have to certed and checked by an engineer to even be aloud?

[Joker]

"event" cars go thru 1000% more stresses than a legal road going car : common sense rules a fair bit with mods you want to do

[Koom]

Just make wheelarch protection from a decent sheet of plastic like uhmwpe. Use rivnuts or weldnuts to fasten into the arch and you'll never worry about that bit of wiring again. I've had to replace many mudflaps and never replaced the wheelarch plastic on the same cars.

[wrxguy]

Cheers guys. I was worried about things getting stuck under the wheel arch or flicking up and hitting the top of it. Theres not much strength in a thin piece of plastic guard to stop things getting damaged! Thru the fire wall sounds ok, but does anyone know what the loom running the left side to the front is used for?

[clintondane]

 subaru-mania said:

It is illegal to drill/enlarge any holes in structural areas... saying this it does not stop people doing so, and most get away with it if done tidy.. But no its not legal..

This is exactly what I and many others have already said. It comes down to plain old common sense in the end.

[D-Style]

 clintondane']

[quote name='subaru-mania said:

It is illegal to drill/enlarge any holes in structural areas... saying this it does not stop people doing so, and most get away with it if done tidy.. But no its not legal..

/quote]

This is exactly what I and many others have already said. It comes down to plain old common sense in the end.

What about added reinforcement around the area where you drill. (like welding 3mm plate around the hole)

[Koom]

 wrxguy said:

Cheers guys. I was worried about things getting stuck under the wheel arch or flicking up and hitting the top of it. Theres not much strength in a thin piece of plastic guard to stop things getting damaged! Thru the fire wall sounds ok, but does anyone know what the loom running the left side to the front is used for?

Really? Are you absolutely sure about that?

Cause as I said, I've never replaced any of the inner arch protection on any of the rally cars I help out on. We've run cars in the Silverfern Marathon rally without any issues with using a decent plastic liner. I'm not talking about the factory ones, but get some sheet of a proper engineering plastic and make arch protection from that.

The only plastic protection we ever need to replace is the horror flaps that protect the rear arms and they spend alot of time dragging on the road when the clamps/ties get broken.

Even if you do move your wiring, you should still be protecting the inner arches as the metal is pretty thin and gets bashed to hell if you leave it bare.

[wrxguy]

 Koom']

[quote name='wrxguy said:

Cheers guys. I was worried about things getting stuck under the wheel arch or flicking up and hitting the top of it. b]Theres not much strength in a thin piece of plastic guard to stop things getting damaged![/b] Thru the fire wall sounds ok, but does anyone know what the loom running the left side to the front is used for?

Really? Are you absolutely sure about that?

Cause as I said, I've never replaced any of the inner arch protection on any of the rally cars I help out on. We've run cars in the Silverfern Marathon rally without any issues with using a decent plastic liner. I'm not talking about the factory ones, but get some sheet of a proper engineering plastic and make arch protection from that.

The only plastic protection we ever need to replace is the horror flaps that protect the rear arms and they spend alot of time dragging on the road when the clamps/ties get broken.

Even if you do move your wiring, you should still be protecting the inner arches as the metal is pretty thin and gets bashed to hell if you leave it bare.

Am I absolutely sure? F*ck YES. You sort of just answered your own question for me, because currently all I have is the factory ones. Am I sure that the factory ones wouldnt be the best? Yup, as I'm sure with your Rally experience you would have seen that stones do some damage at speed. My road wrx has been used during Rally events. You must know that they are run on tight schedules so it means driving fairly fast to get each job done. Running crews thru stages, timing gear, even following the sweeper car thru stages requires going a little bit faster on gravel, where you have to get in and get out, NOW. Which also means stones and sticks and allsorts of cr*p get flicked up.

Last Rally Nelson, "I believe", it was a branch flicked up and hit the inner guard. Pushing it up it pushed the front bumper and broke the inside tab where the screw goes thru to hold the bumper onto the front guard right in front of the wheel arch. If you want me to, I can post a photo of the damage? Nothing major, it makes that corner of the bumper hang down an inch. Random things happen...

The New Zealand rally scene has become a Mitsi EVO show. In a one car attempt I want to help address this imbalance! Thus its a Subie! My whole point on asking questions on here is to get help from people who have been there and done that.

[subaru-mania]

 D-Style']

[quote name='subaru-mania said:

It is illegal to drill/enlarge any holes in structural areas... saying this it does not stop people doing so, and most get away with it if done tidy.. But no its not legal..

/quote]

This is exactly what I and many others have already said. It comes down to plain old common sense in the end.

What about added reinforcement around the area where you drill. (like welding 3mm plate around the hole)

nah mate certain parts of a car are made to crumple in a Crash (crumplezones) by drilling holes , cutting peaces out or welding bits it you are either weakening or strengthening them , the inner guard is a zone for frontal damage, (headons) and is structural

[Joker]

such as a cage? as this car is caged....

[Koom]

So I will quote myself again cause the original statement had nothing to do with the factory liners.

 Koom said:

Just make wheelarch protection from a decent sheet of plastic like uhmwpe. Use rivnuts or weldnuts to fasten into the arch and you'll never worry about that bit of wiring again. I've had to replace many mudflaps and never replaced the wheelarch plastic on the same cars.

Which you replied directly after, that plastic won't cut the mustard.

Go to Mulford plastics and buy some 3mm plastic sheet of something like uhmwpe. Use this to make new liner protection. Fasten into place with rivnuts or big headed rivets. Never think about it ever again cause if its fastened in there securely, the car will wear out well before the plastic does. Don't worry about the wiring above it as its now protected.

I've been there, done that and have seen that proper plastic liners are better than the other options. Even kevlar liners get bashed to hell. Alloy and Stainless sill protection only lasts a few rally's before looking very second hand but the plastic liners made from a sheet of proper plastic last the life of the car.

[D-Style]

Just put your wires in some Liquidtight flexi Conduit or the like....