Ok, time to play the beater game. Lets say you have 2000-3000 to buy a car. This money does not include mods, just the type of car. What would you get and what mods would you perform over a course of time. My goal is:

1. To at least be able to come close to keepin' with a friends WRX.
2. Be a competent club racing setup that is also a daily driver.

The requirements are:
1. Try to stay away from front wheel drive, but if you must its ok.
2. Preferably able to drift but thats not necessary.

I know its a hard challenge but youre bright peeps i know you can do it.

I am liking the Audi 4000CS quattro. You can easily find a model in pretty good condition for under 3 grand. 4-cylinder turbocharged engine, All-wheel drive, it would make a good rally car. Also, an early model mazda RX-7 would make a pretty good pocket rocket, and they could be had for well under 3 grand.

I'm buying a Neon, but I have to plans for mods besides some nicer looking rims, some better tires, and a nice shiny exhaust tip; no not a fart can. That’s about it, my next project car will come after college.

That's 3-4k American right?

I'd buy a 89-91 240SX, a 2nd gen Turbo II RX-7, maybe a turbo MR2 (the newer look, early 90's), a turbo Dodge Omni (cheapest way I can think of to go insanely fast) or a turbo Daytona or Duster (other mid 80's, early 90's turbo Chryslers are good too, they all have the same engines. The other ones are just uglier in my mind, except the LeBaron of course), ummm, 1st gen RX-7 with a motor swap (if your good with tools and can find a good engine for a good price, it should be pretty cheap), a 5.0L Mustang (they are easy to go fast and fairly cheap to buy), an 80's to early 90's F body might be good too, but I don't really know much about them, probably be able to get a Grand National for that much too. Oh yeah, and an older 300ZX, turbo Datsun 240Z, or maybe a VW Corrado if they're cheap enough. A Honda could be bought, but I'm not a big fan of them if you're on a budget. They can go fast, but it takes a lot more to do it. You could be able to get one maybe really cheap, then have enough money after to do some decent things, like an engine swap, but I kinda doubt with that much you'll be able to go as fast as with the other cars.

So there's lots of choices and they all probably have slighty different ways to start to go fast. In general, intake and exhuast is first. For the turbo cars, a boost controller, better intercool, etc would be first after that, for an n/a car it depends on the car, as some things will give you a lot of power gain where it migt not on another.

Forgot a little bit. An older Nissan truck with the KA24DE would REALLY surprise him, and so would a turbo Dodge Caravan.

Can't think of much more right now.

Originally posted by Coal
Forgot a little bit. An older Nissan truck with the KA24DE would REALLY surprise him, and so would a turbo Dodge Caravan.

Can't think of much more right now.
This is true, my friend had a '96 hardbody, and for the amount of stuff he put into it, it was pretty quick. I remember him beating up on a lot of rice before he wrecked it.

ok i was thinking, and i want to try to go with either the Audi 4000cs (man that struck me as a really original idea, plus quattro and turbo, it would make a real nice starting platform), im also intrigued by the 240z. I considered the early RX7s for a while but ive come to the conclusion i dont really want to deal with a rotary and be in college and all ya know?.... hmm im a lil biased against dodge but the daytona might be good.

So anyway, if anyone has any good info on the Audi or the Z, i would MUCH appreciate it.

Also, did anyone consider the Subaru Alcyone SVX? I was considering that too and wanna know your opinions

anyway, thanks everybody.

aight, this may sound stupid to you, but when I was at the track the other night, I saw a dodge shelby daytona with the 2.2L intercooled turbo 4cyl running consistent 13.5's. There was another shelby 2.2 turbo powered car there running 13's as well but I have no idea what it is. It looked like a saab or something. Anyways, I know you can find these things pretty cheap. I've been looking around for one as a possible beater car for my daily driver. I think this may be the same 2.2L that Polygon has (or had :( ) so he might know more about it.

Oh, and lets not forget about good ol' chevy power. Pick yourself up an old beaten up camaro or firebird with a 350 for a few hundred $$$ and it wouldn't be hard to build some serious power from a carbed 350 or any 350 for that matter.

Just popping in for a sec.

http://www.sromagazine.com/cars/profiles/paulsmith/

That's a 12 second minivan using the 2.5L engine that can be found in a Daytona or other Chrysler like that. They're all FWD though :( A friend of mine os going to try to convert his Daytona to RWD, I hope it turns out. I'll learn from him and make a RWD LeBaron >=P

And yeah, I mentioned the F bodies in my post up there, they can definatly be made fast even though there's a lot of "domestic rice" or something I guess you could say. Fast looking musclecars with small engines and huge exhausts. At least we got lots of those around here.

two words:foxbody mustang. 5.0s kick ass

hmm, if i could FIND a shelby daytona around here id be all about it, FWD or not coz ive seen what they can do. The 5.0s sound nice too, but the thing is i wanna be able to hang with a wrx in terms of handling as well as 1/4 acceleration, im not saying that i want to be able to outperform it, just be close to its class range. The normal dodge daytonas run like 15s and 16s dont they?

so yeah, thanks everyone so far, keep it comin this is helpin out a lot :)

Thinking about it I'd probably go with an early 240SX coupe, they're prefect for what you're saying.

They've got a ton of aftermarket support, they have huge room for modding and upgrading, they have great handling, they're great for drifting.

I'd keep the KA in it to keep the extra torque, at higher levels of HP it's a lot better than the SR20DET and the price evens out and makes the KA cheaper to get more hp after the 400hp mark I think. Buy a used '89 coupe and use the extra money for a turbo kit if you can.

that is a good idea too

For <$3000 I would suggest 1 of these:

1. MK2 VW GTI (8v has more tuning potential)
2. MK2 NA RX7 (repairs will be needed more often, and be more expensive)
3. MK1 Supra (Lots of tuning potential, cheap RWD)
4. SOHC 240sx (its gonna be pretty ragged for <$3000)
5. MK2 Integra LS/RS (lots of aftermarket, very reliable)
6. S12 200sx (its the small RWD that came before the 240sx, they look like AE86s and perform similarly)

I would go for the 240SX except for the fact that the KA24 revvs as fast as a special olympic hurdler. So I will stick with the Audi 4000CS :D

How much do you want to work on your car and how much work do you want to do finding parts for your car?

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whats the drivetrain layout for the Celica Supra, sparked my interest.

I would get a 1989 Buick LeSabre T-Type for 2K, the engine swap would be either a 4.9 ltre caddy engine or the supercharged 3800 series 2 out of a 96' model Bonneville. Next would come the exhaust and then intake, since most supercharged 3800's come stock with about 240 hp. Or i would just get an 89' 240 SX and get the SR20 DET engine swap. Just a few ideas

I can get you a Porsche 931 for $3K. With a $1000 into it, you will have a 225hp car, with unbelievable handling, great looks, and you get to drive a Porsche... drop me a line if interested...

Of course, if you want something that is cheaper to maintain and get parts for, go for the RX7 swap idea.

A 1st gen RX7 can go for as low as $500, especially if it has motor problems. It's extremely easy to put a Ford 5.0 motor in one, with either a T5 or AOD tranny. The kit costs about $700, I think... the deluxe package is something like $1000.

http://members.tripod.com/~grannys/

OTOH, a rebuilt 13B turbo with professional porting costs about $2000, and will drop right in, you just need the front crossmember from a 83-85 GSL-SE.

http://www.revolutionrotary.com

Somebody stop me if this is wrong, since it's been a while since my Grandpa sold his Celica Supra and bought a 3rd gen Camaro Z28, but as I recall the Celica Supra is a FR layout with a 3.0L SOHC Inline six and 5 speed transmission. The front suspension is strut, I think, and the rear is multi-link.