rally corsa sump guard?

[fatrob]

hi guys im new to the site

me and a few mates are doing the Mongol Rally next year and we're taking a couple of corsas. as the trip is like 2000 miles off road, i think some forrm of sump guard and under body protection is a must.

im really looking for some help on this as in, does anybody know how i could knock one up and where to mount it, or if worst comes to worst, to buy one for really cheap as the whole trip is on a real shoestring budget

any comments are welcome and the smallest info will help

cheers guys

[matius576]

if i was doing that personally i would buy some alliminum that you can shape, take a few bolts out each side of the sump a fix it in there + make it stick out abit more then the sump and pack out the gap with some thick industrial cushion stuff like wats used underneath the carpet on ur car, underseal is a must + i wud cover up fuel + brakes pipes underneath with some more alloy to stop it being ripped off, hope this helps

[fatrob]

thanks mate thats really helpful.

[uktomongolia]

Hello!!

I did the rally this year in a corsa comfort 1.0l. i was talking to the guys i did it with and we were wondering how many people had completed the rally before in a corsa... most people keep a blog and from what i can tell we may be the first. thats how i came across this forum and i thought i would sign up to give you some advice.

two other corsas also tried the rally this year and they made it to mongolia, with no car problems but didnt get across to the finish line. the main issues are the roads in mongolia, basically, there are none. the roads are deeply rutted, and as a result the bottom gets very damaged. we finished with no exhaust, in fact when we finished the radio didnt work, windows wouldnt open, one door and the bonnet was jammed, petrol gauge had broken. the pressure switch came out after a week of driving and was pissing oil everywhere ...we went to an official opel garage in budapest and the guy sold us a new switch, 1l of oil for less than a tenner. but the main issue was the rear/bottom engine mount which broke twice on the rutted roads. its made from thin aluminium and likes to break when a rock hits it!! the first time we were able to get a replacement, (long and lucky story) and the second time we got a new one made from scrap metal!! so we limped into the ulan baator (capital of mongolia) and we heard our car was auctioned for 1200 us dollars for our chosen charity, not bad as we spent 900 pound on it.

anyway, first advice ...protect the rear engine mount and give the back of the engine more support. and find a car with the lowest millage possible, ours had 53000 when we set off (51 reg).

im sorry i destroyed a corsa.

let me know if you need any advice, the guys on here and corca-c.co.uk are brilliant and helped us with lots of prep.

good luck

[fatrob]

wow thats really useful mate thanks
as a team we've had to post pone our entry for a year due to some unforseen circumstances.

the main issue we have is we're setting a personal and local challenge of furthest distance travelled, so we are driving there, then driving home again

the plan is to go out through the kazakstan way then back through russia, which, although they're not perfect, they do have more roads.

would you say the rear engine mount would be one of the real key areas to give attention then? which other bits would you recomend altering/ bodging?

really appreciate the help mate, it's gonna be bloody useful