Yugo's??? (Page 1 of 2)

It did that well eh?

There are probably some things to be done to keep it from flipping over.  But let's say Yugo's have not made a stellar showing in the past.

training wheels ala the coROLLa?   Maybe cut the springs to lower the COG? 

Hey Judges-IOE contender?

You know, there are enthusiasts for every stupid car ever made!  Last year I was shocked to learn there's a group of Chevy Citation enthusiasts.  They were very unhappy that I was entering one of the beloved cars, a "rare" X-11 knotchback, in a crapcan race.  I was told I HAD to restore it.  umm, yeah. 

So I'm not surprised there are folks that love Yugooooos!

OlCrefoo,

Yes it's in the Akron area and not listed for sale, but I think he'd sell
it if I made him an offer.  It's not in bad shape and he ran it at Nelson
6-7 yrs. ago during a lapping day.  I sold my old FV to him and spotted
the car then.

Mark

Did someone say Yugo?

Yes they can be made to handle amazingly well.
Yes they can be lightened to sub 1400lb weights.
Yes they are a bit tippy, but there are some things you can do....

First, widen it, a wider track is more stable and they are easy to flare.  Diamond racing will make you a set of custom wide wheels for not too much money.

Lower it.  X1/9 struts and springs in the front, if you want to go lower you can take a coil out of the X springs.

A rear lowering kit is about $8 worth of hardware store supplies.  Seriously, we were rooting through my hardware bins this weekend and someone held up a bag full of hardware and said "What's this"...I sez "Yugo lowering kit" it was a spare from back in the day.  If anyone really wants info on it I can show you how to do it.

Addco still has rear sway bars for these which will make the car rotate like nobodys business, you'll have to call them and keep asking till someone stops laughing but they have em.

You can bump up the rear spring rate (transverse leaf) with
a) the trasverse leaf out of a Fiat 128 Wagon....did someone say unobtanium?
b) bolt on an "add a leaf" helper spring, you'll have to play around with sizes and styles from small trucks but you'll find one that works.

There have been rear strut conversions done but they are complex and expensive and I havent seen that they improve much.

I got's my learning from the Yoda of Yugo Dave Benton.   He not only autocrosses them but he has a 14 second naturally aspirated drag Yugo.  He actually worked for the company in the US and knows more about these cars than anyone has a right to.

But definitely...go Yugo...and go wide

If anyone is serious about building one I'll tell ya everything I know, and even make up a few things.

I'd love to find one to build myself.

And if you can find a junked X1/9 you get the front struts and everything you need to make it twin engined with the X engine and transaxle in the rear 

I've measured, you can cram an Alfa 164 V6 in the front if you try

Not that its very Lemons friendly pricewise but I think I still have some good basemaps for megasquirting the Yugo EFI system as a beginning to a great junkyard turbo setup.

Not saying it would be an easy swap, just that dimensionally it *can* work.

Much more "Lemons Cred" for tossing the x1/9 motor in the back and making it twin engine even if it doesnt take the overall

If anyone in NJ wants to take on such a project Im all in for helping out.

We're in the middle of a big project, but there's always "what's next?"   A Yugo...hmmmm

I got a call back from the guy in AZ with the Yugo for sale. Here is the story:

It has a hot rod engine and 5 speed transmission with only 300 miles on it. Apparently a friend of his who raced Yugos built up the motor with a high flow intake and higher lift cam.

The car has been hit from behind. The hit didn't do much to the bumper but the collision lifted the car up and bent the rear wheel inwards - so it's gonna need  straigtening.

He wants just $300 for this car. Seems like an excellent candidate for Lemons and should actually be decently quick even with the motor in it now. I'd get it myself but I just have too much on my plate right now.

Here is the link to his add again:

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/pts/1658296870.html

He seems like a nice guy.