Questions about '88 Van Diemen 1600

[Jim Garry]

Was the '88 Van Diemen considered a good car or something to stay away from? Does anyone have any information to offer?


Thanks,

[Robins Ken]

Was the '88 Van Diemen considered a good car or something to stay away from? Does anyone have any information to offer?


Thanks,

Excellent safe cars. Reasonable parts availability inc. bodywork. Bell housing to upper chassis is a problem area but can be fixed. Threads pull out.

Put some heavy sway bars on, drop the rear and lean on it.

KR

[Jim Garry]

Thanks Ken

[Buc01]

'85 and '86 cars are better. '88 cars problem is the rear. I ran one in Canada on the treaded tires and it was good.
Back in the states with slicks, the rear of the car was not stiff enough. Had the threads pull out of the bell housing as well.

NOTE: I would recommend the '91 car, is a great chassis. Full push rod suspension front and rear. '88 car was push rod front rocker rear.

Just my 2 cents worth from someone who spent a LOT of time preparing and running '85/'88/and '91 chassis.

Aaron

Excellent safe cars. Reasonable parts availability inc. bodywork. Bell housing to upper chassis is a problem area but can be fixed. Threads pull out.

Put some heavy sway bars on, drop the rear and lean on it.

KR

[Jim Garry]

I agree that I'd prefer a 91. But none available at this time. The 88 is. There's also an inexpensive 86. But probably I should be patient.

Thanks for the info.

[mark elder]

a RF90 and a RF91 are 'almost' the same (this doubles your chances of finding one...).

[old 59]

If a decent RF88 came up for sale at a reasonable price I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. I think they're brilliant cars.

[Jim Garry]

If a decent RF88 came up for sale at a reasonable price I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. I think they're brilliant cars.

Thanks Stephen. How does it compare to your 92?

[Buc01]

By the way, I never seen an '88 go faster than when Stephen was driving it! The chassis and him are were very good on treaded tires that the Canadian Pro series ran back in the late '80's and early '90's.

Aaron

If a decent RF88 came up for sale at a reasonable price I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. I think they're brilliant cars.

[old 59]

By the way, I never seen an '88 go faster than when Stephen was driving it! The chassis and him are were very good on treaded tires that the Canadian Pro series ran back in the late '80's and early '90's.

Aaron

Thanks Aaron.

Jim; I believe the RF 92 is ultimately faster than the RF 88...but not a lot. Really a completely different animal as far as a FF goes IMHO. Both have their pros and cons. Probably easier to find parts for the 90-92 era cars as well. I also had an RF 91 back in the day. If I had to choose between any of my past cars the RF 91 would get the nod. PM me if you have more questions.

[Jim Garry]

Thank you