any ideas?

ok so im looking at the s13's for sale on carsales.com.au and i thought i might aswell have a look at the 180's (240sx hatch) and i REALLY want one of them, whats the best idea?
buy an s13 non turbo keep it until i get off my p's then buy a turbo 180 when i get off my p's
or
save a bit more or get a small loan and buy a non turbo 180 (96 model) and when i get off my p's buy a turbo conversion kit or do an engine sawp.
or
buy a cheap 180 then buy a sr20de and put that in it and when i get off my p's put a s15 spec-r engine in it.

i reallu want a 180sx i know they are the same as s13's but the look different and i would ratherthe 180sx, plz help me i dont know what to do. and i dont want to be lectured like back in my "180sx" thread.

save your money, buy a beater, get a real car once you can drive it...or buy a turbo car now and store it till you can drive it. there is no point in buying a n/a 180 now because you will most likely wreck it, unless you dont drive it hard, in which case why buy a sports car anyways? just get a beater. wreck it on purpose. get it out of your system. then once you get the turbo 180 you can drive it with more maturity

see this is the problem i had in my 180sx thread i know where your coming from if i had to wait one year so im am eligible for a turbo car i would get a beater, but its 3 years, one year for my l's and 2 for my p's. when i get a job i will be saving, for a looong time i will save about 7k for an s13 or a 180 but what should i get?? beater is out so plz dont tell me to get a beater.

do what u want, not what anyone else wants... most ppl on this forum are gonna tell u to get a beater and save, its the smartest thing. dont ask for advice when the answer your goin to continually get u dont want

Then get a non-turbo 180. Look, whatever we tell you to do, you'll find an excuse not to do it.

Then get a non-turbo 180. Look, whatever we tell you to do, you'll find an excuse not to do it.


exactly...

we're all giving you the same opinion for a reason; we've been in the exact same position you've been in before. i had $8000 in my hand when i was 17 and i bought a 91 honda accord to learn on. sold it after i got comfortable with having my own car, and eventually bought the 240. i got lucky cause i didnt total my first car but it would have been the right car to total. i know plenty of people who have written off their parents cars simply because they didn't have their own. we're telling you to learn how to drive a regular car AND THEN consider something like a 180 turbo. and by learn to drive, i don't mean using your signals and doing your shoulder checks. what i'm talking about are the things you learn from experience. i thought i knew how to drive when i first got my learner's permit but i was completely wrong. i heard it from my parents "you'll have to really learn how to drive before you can have the car by yourself" and thank god they were strict about it cause i wouldn't be a good driver today if i hadn't taken my time.

if i were you, i'd listen to what experienced people have to say; the people who have been through it all before and would hate to see it happen again especially to a kid driving a car like a turbo 180. but i'm not you and neither is anybody else here so in the end its your decision, but if you ask us, we'll tell you to do it the smart way.

yeah, i was pretty set on going KA-t, but im thinking im going to wait a while till i really drive my S13 alot and have fun living. Im not saying that a 240sx is fast stock, but right now i dont think i could trust myself if i ever did turbo because its already seems like a high HP sports car after driving an auto sentra for the past year. I know, i know, stock 240's are slow, but just get an N/A car and enjoy living and have fun with it... Everyone always wakes up and says that they wont get in a car wreck and total there car, but yet millions upon millions do it every day. Im not saying your gonna be a bad driver, but its better to start out on a lower HP car and become a more experienced driver..Good luck with it..

ok so dont get a 180, cant i use a s13 for a beater?? learn how to drive in that thrash that?? i can do with that for 3 years.

yeah, it doesnt matter what you buy really, id just say to not really pick a car with a method of forced induction on your first vehicle.

damn imagine if turbo restrictions never came in......


i would be running 15psi on like my 1st month of gettin a car.

you'd probably die the first month of having your car too. When you first get your license, you will do stupid stuff when the parents arent around. All it takes is one bad turn. A friend of mine had a 1990 civic hatch, and he was driving in the mountains with 1 passenger, and 1 person in the back. He tried to take a left turn and was going to fast (about 100mph) and the passenger put her knees up on the dash to think it would brace the impact, when they went off the side of the road her knees were pushed up into her organs and she suffered internal bleeding. The person in the rear wasnt wearing a seatbelt, and ended up dying. The worst part about this story is, both familys sued my friends family and now they are poor and there family has never been the same (dad is a total meth adict now). Im not saying this will happen to you, but it can happen very easily, all it took was one bad turn, which instantly changed there entire familys lives.

ok i am convinced get a s13 (non turbo) keep it stock learn to drive in that, when ive done that then we will talk about the future.

if your 15 why do you have a turbo 240?

yeah, i was pretty set on going KA-t, but im thinking im going to wait a while till i really drive my S13 alot and have fun living. Im not saying that a 240sx is fast stock, but right now i dont think i could trust myself if i ever did turbo because its already seems like a high HP sports car after driving an auto sentra for the past year. I know, i know, stock 240's are slow, but just get an N/A car and enjoy living and have fun with it... Everyone always wakes up and says that they wont get in a car wreck and total there car, but yet millions upon millions do it every day. Im not saying your gonna be a bad driver, but its better to start out on a lower HP car and become a more experienced driver..Good luck with it..


dude i hear you on that. Iv been driving my 108 hp scion for about 3 months now. I drove my totally STOCK 240 it felt FAST lol. I was like omg wow.

assad....not being a father figure but just listen. I learned to drive on a 240. My first car was a 240...aswell as my second lol. But my first 240 is a total shit pile now. WHY?? BECAUSE I WAS 16 and didnt know shit. Now i am only responsible for 1 wreck with it. THe other 4 were not my fault at all. Shit i wasnt even in the car for 3 of them lol. Seriously, i would buy a decent yet shitty car. The less you spend now, the more you have for later. I could tell a logical way to do it, but i dont know prices in your country and what not. You already said 7k for a 180, over here i could buy about 4-5 running 240's for that amount lol. So in all honesty we cant really tell you what to do.

Now if a sr20det isnt to expensive over there, then go ahead and buy your NA 180 then do the swap in the future. Thats basically what everyone over here HAS to do. We ahve to start out NA then we either do an sr20 swap, or turbo our NA ka. So your basically in the same boat we are.

now if youll excuse me the season finale of "prison break" is on.

i dont have a turbo 240... The only thing i have on my car is 300FF, and CAI.... Im hoping to be turbo by the end of this school year, or by next January. I just want to drive my car untill i get bored of it and think its too slow.

now if youll excuse me the season finale of "prison break" is on.

Hell yeah, i watch that show too. Tonight isnt the finale is it? Damn, i missed last week too.

And he is in the same boat as us if you look at it that way, except we pay a shitload more because we cant just go to a junkyard and find an SR because we never even got em here.

chuki - a non turbo 180 the cheapest would be about 10k usd (sr20de) cheapest turbo 180 would be about 4500 usd (ca18det), cheapest sr20de s13 would be about 5000 usd. that makes it hard bc i can get a cheap 180 and engine swap it with a sr20de and sell the ca18det for the same price as i can buy a sr20de, i dont want a beater i want a sr20de. so s13 or 180.

hit n run - if your 15 why are you hoping to turbo it can you drive good? able to handle high power.

ok dont lagh at me but i think its true, gran turismo 4 (with a steering wheel teaches you alot, when im playing the game and i hop straight into my mums car and start driving there isnt much difernence apart from a lil steering response but i think gt4 toght me how to drive a lil (racing lines etc) im not saying im the best driver but most people my age have NO idea on racing lines and reading the corners.

i said i dont want to turbo now, but i would like to in a year or so after ive driven with a license for a while and am used to driving my S13.

so when do you get your license? do you guys have a system similar to australia with like p's and l's?

i dunno about the States, but up here, I got my learner's in April of 2004 which means i gotta drive with my parents, then in December of 2004 I got my probationnary which means I can drive like a everyone else, but i got 0% alcohol and only allowed 4 demerit points instead of 16 or wtv the limit is, I drove a fucked up old Topaz until July 2005 when I got my 240, now I drive the Topaz to work and to other useless shit and in the winter. Driving my beater was the best thing to get me ready for a real car, and even with an SR20DE or KA24DE, you can go fast enough to kill yourself, first time I tried drifting in the 240, i flew off the road, 2 inches from a street sign, never tried to do that shit again unless I was in an open parking lot. Live and learn.

thats crazy, i wanna learn to drift on a track not where theres all obsticals.

I was gonna use the rosebowel parking lot b/c it's right near my house but some people fucked it up for everyone by getting caught...

ok i think ive made up my mind, i asked my dad about doing the engine swap on a 180 and he said no matter WHAT there is going to be complications no matter WHAT and your probably going to have to end up taking it to the mechanic shop and having to pay out money for them to finish it off, then he said ok so youve installed it what happens if the internals are stuffed and/or it has really bad oil leaks?

so ive ditched that plan period im over it.

now here you guys come in!

its either pay about 5-8k on a non turbo sr20de s13,
OR
buy a non turbo ca18de s13 for about 3-4k.

no matter what car i get im going to do:
suspension (looking towards tein drift coilovers)
5 lug swap
rims
strutbars & swaybars
cam gears
pulleys
air intake
exhaust
and all those smaller mods, but i want to be able to take all my mods off my s13 and put it on my 180 when i get one. i dont want to waste my money on it, but i want to make mods on it.
so plz give me advice on wether to get a ca18de or sr20de.

get the ca18

I really don't care what you get just limit yourself to parking lot stupidity. Take a look at my sig that's what happens when you don't, my friend got sideways at 80 in his 350powered 88 chevy s-10 and we hit a pole. We were 4 inches from where the pole hit and 10 seconds away from burning alive.

your standards are way too high assad. kick it down a notch. what if you spend equivalent of $2k USD on a 200 or 180, drive it for a while, learn the road, learn the car, then sell it eventually, buy something in good shape and mod that. you'd actually have the money to do the mods you posted.. from what you wrote, thats about $5000 worth of mods and you haven't put more than 10whp more down on the pavement. yeah, rims and suspension would be good to have.. just don't spend money on your first car.. buy the cheapest thing you can find.

see 1 problem on mods lol, uhhhh welllll, your not alowed engine mods period. but how are they going to notice cams and internals, maybe i shouldnt even do an exhaust. the cheapest ive ever seen a ca18de powered s13 is $3300 usd, now since there are no engine mods i plan on doing suspension first, aswell as strut bars.
would a lsd go in a s13 ca18de and then go into a sr20det 180?

i go for the ca18 since its cheaper
then use the leftover money to buy some of the parts you listed

i would go...
no 5-lug swap
cheapy used rims
decent coilovers
exhaust and
welded lsd

you might want to wait till your a bit more skilled then go add some more mods. plus youll be spending a lot on tires if your drifting...

can you drift in a stock ca18de? me and my cousin always take is moms carolla out thats a 1.6l frontwheel drive and you cant even get the wheels to screech! so would you be able to drift in a stock s13?

the mods depends on what job i get, if a get an apprenticeship i will only be earning like $180 usd, so i wont have money for mods but if i get a job like working in a factory or not an apprentice ship ill earn around $400 a week so i will have m oney for mods and i will be able to save for a car ALOT faster.

I drifted my stock s13 with the ka24de as soon as I got it up an running, my friend also drifts his virtually stock hachi roku with the 4ag so I don't see why you wouldn't be able to. It's kinda hard with an open diff so my friend welded his and i'm thinkin about buying another one to weld for mine. Its kinda a pain to drive around town with a welded diff especially in the rainy Oregon weather.

how much will a welded diff cost? i wouldnt have a clue what to weld it to. i think i would be better off buying a diff for about $800 usd and then putting it in the s13 then when i get my 180 put it in that instead of welding it.

you can drift any car, any time, the thing with a front wheel drive car is that you gotta be sure the hand brake can lock the rear wheels, some cars, its not strong enough.

well in that case cant you just adjust it?

Yeah, most of the time.

so how much does it cost to get your diff welded?

50 bucks

what are the chances of the weld breaking and does it perform as well as a 800$ diff?

depends on who welds it, how well they welded it, and how you wnat to drive it... a welded diff will lock ALL the time, ur back inner tire will skip around turns and it wont be all the great for street use...


if i got a diff it would be a 1.5 way or even a vlsd b/c im just street drivin, and i think thats what you will be doin most the time too

yea i would be street driving, whats 1 way, 1.5 way and 2way mean?

1.5 way locks up on deceleration, and a 2 way locks up on acceleration..I think thats how it is..someone else better check that for me.

actually a normal diff doesnt lock at all really
it prevents the wheels from rotating at different speeds a variable amount, but almost never fully locked

a 1 way only works on acceleration, a 1.5 way works fully on acceleration, and half way on deceleration, and a 2 way works both acceleration and deceleration

welded diff you would NOT want for a daily driver
whatever RW wants to live with, i guarantee most people would find a hassle, especially when his rear tires need replacing twice as often on just normal street driving.

a couple things, phantom grip or quaife both make pseudo-diffs. they work under certain circumstances but not totally like a LSD
for instance, if one wheel is on ice and has NO traction, and the other has full traction, the quaife will not work at all.

ok i thoguht 1 way was forward and 2way was backwards so the go would be 2 way i found this one for a bit over 700, would that be a good idea? http://www.driftfactory.com/product_info.php?cPath=71_230&products_id=341

cusco is good.

I'd agree with the welded diff being difficult for street use, tire wear, and especially because he's a new driver. It's also noisy as hell when you corner. But when you just use the car for drifting its a cheap easy reliable way to get the job done.
http://www.driftfactory.com/lsdinstall3.jpg
This is a open diff I was too lazy to find the one off of a 240 but see the three little gears in the center they basically get welded to eacother and to the casing that surrounds them.

damn im going to have to take my diff somewhere to get it installed ive never workend on a diff (apart from changing oil) and if i opened one i wouldnt know where to start.

just found out that non turbo s13's dont come in manual, they do but VERY rare, how much would a conversion be? i was thinking do it myself with help from my dad, but its more than just changing the gearbox, its the pedals, clutch plate, i even heard you have to take the engine out aswell. so how much would it cost?

soooo any one going to tell me how much it costs for a auto to manual conversion?

I helped with a manuel to auto conversion on the truck in my sig and it was still pretty expensive. I think i'd be too much to be worth it especially if you are gonna have someone do it for you.

damn im going to either import one from japan wait a long time for one to pop up or get an auto.

as far as i know assad, you'll spend between $1000 and $1500 USD

ok well im just going to wait un till a manual one pops up.