3000 dollars, go at it

Allright guys lets say you have 3000 dollars to spend on a car and mods, what car do you buy what order do you mod and what not.

The only rule is you cant work on the body, at all, the only excuse is if your slammin in a supercharcher and you need to cut or replace your hood or your routing your air intake from a different direction or some crayz shit like that.

what would you do...

Allright guys lets say you have 3000 dollars to spend on a car and mods, what car do you buy what order do you mod and what not.

The only rule is you cant work on the body, at all, the only excuse is if your slammin in a supercharcher and you need to cut or replace your hood or your routing your air intake from a different direction or some crayz shit like that.

what would you do...

hmm, well $3000 for a car AND mods as you say........ in this case i'd save up and get a better car rather than getting something for $3000 which would most likely be really lousy.

Now on the other hand if its $3000 just for mods on a stock car then, exhaust, air intake, headers, cam, performance chip, suspension, sway bars, upgraded fuel system, nitrous and probably after all that there will be a bit left for performance brakes. At least this is what i could get for $3000 where i live.

Oh, If i had to pick an affordable car to modify it would either be a camaro which already have 300HP stock, or a civic or CRX which i would replace the engine with a type R engine and tranny.

Have you ever heard the expression cheap + fast = BAD. If I had 3K, I wouldn't be doing a lot of mods. Spend at least 2-2.5k on a car, and then the extra 500-1k on tunning, fixing problems, and possibly a rebuild. Then talk about modifying after that.

$3000 for a car and mods... good luck

Id get look for an old BMW 2002 or a VW Rabbit, or a really nice Trek Racing Bike...

I have a low 14 sec 1984 rx-7, with WAY less than $3000 in the car and mods

A friend of mine bought an RX-7 Turbo II for $2300, came w/ Exhaust + DP.

With the remaining 700 he could easily get a MBC, FCD, Boost Gauge, Intake, and still have 400 left over for whatever....

You guys shouldnt be so pessimistic, you can do more with $3000 than you think, just need to shop around.

But remember the general rule for modifications:

Cheap Fast Reliable, Pick Two...

i'd try to get a datsun 240z and swap in an an lt1.

Find a CRX Si in decent condition for $1500 (it might take awhile, but they're out there), spend the rest on Tein Basic dampers, eBay strut bars to compliment the existing Si sway bars, and some sticky tires. Wouldn't be exceptionally fast in a straight line, but it'd handle like it was on rails and be a blast to drive.

Perfect.

I am well on my way to doing just this. Granted in the end I will spend more than $3,000. I am about to head out to Ohio to buy a 1989 LeBaron GTC Turbo II for a mere $600. The car is in mint condition minus a basketball sized dent in the driver's rear quarter panel. That will need to be fixed but not uncluded here. Here is my list of mods with an estimate of what it will give me. These are the mods I plan to do to the car first:

Car: 1989 Chrysler LeBaron GTC Turbo II - $600
Exhuast: Ported and cermaic coasted exhust manifold, 3" swing valve, 3" stainless steele mandrel bent downpipe, full 3" mandrel bent exhaust - $625
Boost Controller: Greddy Profec B Spec 2 - $420
Fuel Injectors: Mopar +40 52 pound injectors - $152
Fuel Pump: Walbro 255L/H - $120
Intercooler: Spearco - $550
BOV: DSM first gen DV - $40

That comes to $2,582 and should easily have me running in the 12s. Just drive up the boost and dump in some race gas.

12's? With just those mods? Damn, I don't really know anything about LeBaron's, but they seem to have serious potential for the 1/4 and respond well to relatively few mods. What would a GTC Turbo II run stock?

There's an old Mitsubishi Galant GSX(awd) for sale in my area for $900. I'll buy the 4G63 turbo I saw on Ebay last night for ~$300. Lets just say with labor, that comes to $2500. I'll go on a shoppig spree at The Home Depot or some other hardware store, and end up in the low 13s, easy.hehe

12's? With just those mods? Damn, I don't really know anything about LeBaron's, but they seem to have serious potential for the 1/4 and respond well to relatively few mods. What would a GTC Turbo II run stock?

In my last GTC I ran a best of 14.6 @ 98 MPH dead stock. The Turbo Chryslers and Dodges are much like the SRT-4, they love mods and it seems they were built with modding in mind. I felt my car could have done better, but I need to practice shifting and launching a little more. I would guess that it was capable of perhaps 14.4 with a really good driver. Most guys spend less than $1,200 to get a nice Turbo II into the 12s.

14.6? it wasnt stock then

14.6? it wasnt stock then

How would you know?

Please explain to me how it couldn't.

I've seen reviews on the GTC and they are a high 15 low 16 second car.

I've seen reviews on the GTC and they are a high 15 low 16 second car.

There are different GTCs with different engines and transmissions. Also, many of the reports I've seen on the Turbo Dodges and Chryslers are crap and there aren't many, at least on the GTC. Trust me, it was dead stock, and that is what it ran.

No way man....


Im not gonna believe you at all... Even though you have 2 lebarons im just not gonna believe that ur ugly lebaron can be so much faster than me STOCK.

Some of the people on these boards....

I believe you POLY, and i have some questions for you. There basic questions but im lazy and dont like research, do they come with airbags/Abs any type of insurance reduction?

car-stats.com says a 1990 Chrysler LeBaron GTC will run a 15.8 quarter mile. I know nothing about chryslers so I dont know what engine that is or anything.

How would you know?

Please explain to me how it couldn't.

LOL. How is he gonna back out of this?

Entering the convo 4 posts too late...my bad.

No way man....


Im not gonna believe you at all... Even though you have 2 lebarons im just not gonna believe that ur ugly lebaron can be so much faster than me STOCK.

Some of the people on these boards....

I believe you POLY, and i have some questions for you. There basic questions but im lazy and dont like research, do they come with airbags/Abs any type of insurance reduction?

Well, the 1989 GTCs all had drivers-side airbags and in 1990 the GTCs had the option of a passenger-side airbag. They all had four-wheel disk brakes and some had ABS. It all depends on what the dealer ordered them with. I don't know about insurance reductions, but for full coverage I paid $83.00 per month for my 89 GTC.

car-stats.com says a 1990 Chrysler LeBaron GTC will run a 15.8 quarter mile. I know nothing about chryslers so I dont know what engine that is or anything.

Well, like I said, with three engines you have to wonder which one they tested. In 1990 the GTC came with the 3.0L V6 with the shitty A-604 automatic (slow), or the 2.5L I4 with a non intercooled Mitsubishi TE04H @ 8PSI and you could get it with the A-413 auto or the A-523 manual (quick), then there was the 2.2L I4 with an intercooled Garrett VNT25 @ 12PSI with the A-568 forged five speed manual which was designed by Chrysler and built by Getrag (fast). The car I ran 14.6 with was a 1989 GTC with the Turbo II, which was not offered in 1990. It had a 2.2L I4 with an intercooled Garrett T03 turbo running at 14PSI with the A-555 Getrag forged five speed. Granted, I've been told that my 89 GTC was a factory freak and that most Turbo II cars only ran 11-12PSI, but that wouldn't account for a second less in the 1/4-mile. So, that 15.8 was probably an estimate or was run with a Turbo I GTC with a mediocre driver.

:rofl: I can't believe how many naysayers there are in this thread! Haven't any of you heard of the Grassroots Motorsports Challenge? Contestants have to purchase and prepare a car within a budget equal to the year of the competition (i.e. this year was the $2004 challenge). The competition includes a drag race, an autocross and a concours (show) judging. You would be amazed at the cars that people put together for this competition. I was, and I was there competing this year. Can you say "show quality"? How about 1/4 mile times in the 10's and 11's? Handling that would match any car on the road today?

A little ingenuity and a lot of hard work goes a long way!

As for your $3000 question, I'd be very tempted to get an otherwise mint 2nd gen rx7 with a blown motor and swap in a smallblock v8. There were challengers this year (5 of them if I remember correctly) that managed to do this for under $2000, so I figure with my talents and equipment I could get it done under $3k.

Cheers,
Brian

Dodge Colt GT. I almost bought one for 800 bucks but backed off. The car had a freash turbo and 4G63 heads.

The colt GT comes stock with a turbocharged 1.6 engine that is closely releated to the 4G63 but most ppl just swap in a 4G63. THe car is under 2300 lbs and can be lighten alot more.

I like the 240z idea. In fact ive been window shopping for just that. But i cant decide wheather to drop in an lt1 (or the like) or just squeez that inline 6.
I6's are just so damn reliable and smooth, mmmm i6...

Ok only $3,000 for a car and mods, well I think I would get a 1986-1990 Civic Hatchback for $1,200 to $1,500 and then for mods I would go ahead and swap the engine for a B16A for around $1,200 to $1,500. Then that's about it, cuz that would probably take most if not all the $3,000 up. Still with that my little Civic hatchback would have 160HP and 111TQ, not a bad start for a car that only weighs around 1900Lbs.

assuming you can do the work yourself..mk1 mr2 or fiero w/ a v8 swap

i know u can get a nice mk1 for about 1k and if you get lucky or look around enough you might be able to get an ls1 for about 2k. would be one quick mamma jamma :naughty:

Ok only $3,000 for a car and mods, well I think I would get a 1986-1990 Civic Hatchback for $1,200 to $1,500 and then for mods I would go ahead and swap the engine for a B16A for around $1,200 to $1,500. Then that's about it, cuz that would probably take most if not all the $3,000 up. Still with that my little Civic hatchback would have 160HP and 111TQ, not a bad start for a car that only weighs around 1900Lbs.

I like your overall plan, but I think you have a few of your number mixed up. If you're referring to a 4th-gen (EF) hatchback, it'd be a 1988-1991. Also, the lightest hatch is around 2100 lbs. Still, a B16-powered EF is a quick, cheap, and reliable little go-kart.

I like your overall plan, but I think you have a few of your number mixed up. If you're referring to a 4th-gen (EF) hatchback, it'd be a 1988-1991. Also, the lightest hatch is around 2100 lbs. Still, a B16-powered EF is a quick, cheap, and reliable little go-kart.

Yeah my knowledge of Civics isn't the best, as far as 86-90, I was just thinking price, as far as weight I'm not sure on weight either, I just got my stats from here-

http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/spec_Exterior.aspx?modelid=1293&trimid=-1&src=VIP&tab=2&sub=3

Actually, I think you're right about the weight. I checked the weight for the '91 STD hatch, but I remember hearing that the 80's models (particularly '87) weighed even less than the late-model EF's. That said, why not go with a CRX HF? It's close to 1800 lbs! The power/weight with a b16 doesn't get much better or cheaper than that.