OPERATION: RockStar |
Building A Stadium Rock Sidekick On A Club Band Budget - Finale'. |
Editor:
Eric Bewley Story/Photo: Mike Hagen |
COTTAGE GROVE, MN - We started
this project with our goal was to see how far we could take a TracKick while retaining
mostly stock drive train. Our secondary goal was to have it built in 7 build days. That
would have been possible if we had not fallen in love with the project. As we got further
into it we couldn’t justify cutting corners just to hit our deadline. Our total build
ended up closer to 14 days. As you can see from the final result, we think it was worth
it.
| Our goal to keep it on the cheap worked out
pretty well. We did retain most of the stock drive train, which helped save a lot of
money. Most of our mods were removing something or relocating something. For the front suspension we kept the stock coils with a 1½-coil spring
spacer. The tie rods were flipped to bring our tie rod angle back to stock. The Calmini
Anvil had the perfect drop for our setup. It put our CVs at stock angle also. We widened
the front to clear the Toyota CVs that we had installed with a kit that Stan, a friend of
mine, made. I wont elaborate on this since
you will hear more on this in the near future. |
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For the rear suspension the
stock links were lengthened and a set of Calmini 3 inch coils that we bought from a friend
were added. The rear wasn’t sitting as high as we had planned after the spare was
installed so we added a 1-½ inch spacer to the rear as well.
   
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With the Rock star coming together so well Dan
was really seeing the potential. Besides the fact that hindsight being 20/20 we had
thought of better ways to streamline the process. 12 days before memorial weekend we built
another in its likeness. The only major difference was to be Dan wanted to retain doors to
keep out the bulk of the weather and his budget wouldn’t be so tight. Unfortunately
my camera malfunctioned and most of the buildup pics of this are gone. Our second buildup
we called Operation Porn star since Rock stars and Porn stars seem to mesh so well! The
build was very similar but some extra help from some friends Stan Bonngard and Grant
Peterson who most know as Chunk. The Porn star also got power steering, which I think was
a good idea. The Rock star will get that soon to. Here’s a couple pics of the Porn
star on the way to paint. |
| On the trail we were really impressed with how
well they worked on their first run. I was really expecting to have some major bugs to
work out after such a build. This was not the case. The extended wheelbase really helped
on the steep stuff. |
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These rigs felt so nimble on
the trail we were kind of shocked when we got over to the RTI ramp. The RTI scores were
not that great. Proof again that a RTI score
just measures flex, not the ability of a rig. So next we decided to do a stability test.
How far up the ramp we could go without flopping it over? Backwards we couldn’t, we
maxxed out the ramp. We are going to play with some softer springs in the front and
stiffer shocks in the rear to see if we can make it any better than it already is. On the
trail everything felt good but when on the RTI ramp we could clearly see the front coils
are too stiff. However we were surprised how
far we could go up the ramp with one tire dangling. It was really off camber when I quit.
 
We had anticipated it to be
a really good jumper but as it turns out its really hard to get off the ground. I’m
assuming it’s the wheelbase.
We stuck firmly to our “nothing but
the necessities” plan. Weight reduction was high on the list of priorities. We even
went back and asked ourselves why we had retained the tailgate, since it wasn’t
necessary, it was removed. In the end with
all our trail gear, tools, full size spare, and gas, we came in at 2302 lbs. |
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Now it was time to find the
weak link. Fortunately, this was not that easy to do. We thought the weak link would
either be the welded rear diff or the rear axle shafts since the front had been so
improved. As it would turn out it was very difficult to break anything at all. We wheeled
the project hard for five days straight over Memorial weekend, took it to two more local
weekend events, and finally went to Zukimelt in the Badlands Off road park. Besides having
a great time at this great event for Suzuki enthusiasts, we took second place in the rally
race and pulled first place in the Rock Rage event. Our failures did finally surface
though while hitting the trails at the Badlands. First, a clutch cable failed and then
shortly after that we broke a left front CV. All in all, this is not too bad considering
the ridiculous punishment this project vehicle took during almost two solid weeks of
wheeling. Both repairs took less than 10 minutes and we were on the trail again. Cheap,
simple, and easy, exactly what this project was all about.
Current specs are as follows.
Vehicle: 91 Geo Tracker
ENGINE
Type: 8 valve 1.6 liter
Aspiration: Calmini Header through 2 inch glasspack
DRIVETRAIN
Transmission: 5 speed
Transfer Case: 4.23 to 1 Calmini Rockrawler with Rocky
Road 2 low kit
SUSPENSION
Front: 1 ½ inch Coil spring spacers- Strut plate
flip-frame chop
Rear: Stock arms lengthened 8 inches Calmini 3 inch
lift coils-frame chop
Shocks: Dodge Durango rear shocks
AXLES/DIFFERENTIALS
Front: Calmini Anvil front diff -Detroit locker- Stan’s
Toyota CV upgrade
Rear: Stock Tracker Welded
Ring-and-Pinion: 5.12-1
WHEELS AND TIRES
Wheels: 15x12 American Racing Black 767
Tires: 35-14.50-15 Pitbull Rockers
ADDITIONAL
Racing seats-Optima battery-roll cage
 ZW
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