Guest bastaad525 Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 One of our members here has what is, IMO, possibly the best car related signature ever: You can have it done: 1. Fast 2. Cheap 3. Reliable Pick any two. How very true that is But, that sig always get's me thinking. I've already found out personally that to take a 240z and make it fast, isn't too overly expensive. Though it can be (if you have bad luck like me or go for a full blown crazy V8 or huge turbo). But I've never thought of the Z as being tops as far as going fast for cheap. So I thought I'd start a sorta-poll... Have everyone pitch in with their ideas as to what is/are the best car(s) that can be bought cheap, and made fast for cheap. The kind of cars you would enter in one of those Grassroots Motorsports Magazine contests I'm always hearing about where they build cars for like $2000. And I'm not just talking straight line fast, though that is the most important factor in this 'poll' for me. But at least decent handling would also be nice to have. If I have to take one over the other though, straight line thrills are my choice, for sure. But at the same time, I want to know what cars can be made fast for cheap, and yet still be reliable daily drivers. Try to think of cars that you could buy and build up for under $2000-3000, maybe fast enough to run 13's or even 12's in the quarter mile. American cars, japanese cars, doesn't matter to me. I personally prefer RWD cars, as most of us here probably do, but for the purpose of this poll any car will do. If you or someone you know has built a car(s) for cheap that was genuinely fast, please give examples. Year/make/model, how much the car cost and how much you spent. you guys could very well be determining the next car I buy, so please make them good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phil1934 Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 What do you want for creature comforts? Uniqueness? Level of finish? You can take a 40 year or older car and get there with no comfort. You can turbo a Honda. But like anything the details add up. I started with the idea of a simple 4 banger '34 street rod, but IRS, IFS, SS lines, blower, EFI, Tremec, etc. and I'm at $25K. I'm doing a '39 Olds simpler, Chevelle clip, BBO, S-P TH400, 4:11. Cost is at $15K. But now that I found a leather Lincoln interior it will get A/C, OD, etc. 260Z is at $5000 for the swap with $2000 to go. Cheapest is buy someone else's work. But there's a joy in doing it. And all the magazines that tout how cheap somone's car was to build usually have a line like "He traded labor for these parts." Don't we all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Creature comforts rate pretty low on the list. My Z has Z-ilch for creature comforts, and yet I love driving it (just not all the time). Uniqueness - could care less... if anything I like sleepers so something that doesn't stand out is prefered Level of finish - hmm... not 100% sure what you mean there. If you mean, like the finish of the car, how does it look.... than let it be a primered dinged up ghetto monster. If you mean, how relatively 'finished' the car is... well... again, something that would be driveable every day, w/o being in constant need of essential/major parts just to stay running (like how my turbo Z was for the first year or so). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Battle Pope Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 I should be into my 460Z less than 5k when it's on the road and raceable. Of course, it's ugly and won't have much of anything else besides the engine at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 The Z isn't the cheapest, but it ranks, and it's the best looking by far. I think a 5.0 Mustang with a big bottle of NAWZ is the cheapest straight-line go-fast machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 cheapest and fastest? motorcycles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Battle Pope Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 cheapest and fastest? motorcycles he said CARS you know, so he's got SOME chance of survival at 130 mph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyrus Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 83-93 mustang 5.0 5 spd 924 turbo porsche 1986 ish monza 350 ci (california) mid 1970's Any GSX or TSI Turbo daytona's (lame FWD though) 87-92 RX-7 turbo II 280ZX Turbo 1983 ish Any v8 GM car 1972 or older car that weighs less than 3500 lbs In general the turbo cars will bleed you dry after you blow them up with too much boost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confused Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Fox Body Stangs (5.0) Dodge Omni VW Golf 1.8t DSMs (GST,GSX,TSi,Laser Turbo,etc.) Dodge Stealth R/T TT/ Mistubishi 3000gt VR4 There is a lot to list, but I only put a few. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNeedForZ Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 It's hard to determine the cost because skill level of each person is different. One person may be able to do weld/fab/scavange while the other is not capable of much. The more competent ones save money by doing things themselves. In order to go fast and cheap, I think it is necessary to begin with cars that are lightweight. Like AE86, Geo Metro, Datsun 510... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 924 turbo porsche 1986 ish In 86 I think you'd be talking 944T, which is a whole other animal (much better car) than the 924T. My favorite is the 88 944 Turbo S, which had 928 brakes, bigger turbo, and a tranny cooler. Nice car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave88SS Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 VW Golf 1.8t A VR6 GTI is a much better starting point IMO. 1.8t is far too pricey an engine for me to consider screwing with. And none of the 1.8t guys around here can touch the VR6T (and TT) guys... but I also consider being german an automatic disqualification for this survey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest traub83 Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 my vote would go to the old fwd dodge chargers/daytona.s witht he 2.2/2.5L turbo motors, crap for about a grand they can be pumpig out 300hp and that isnt too bad given there weight and such, ive seen many many many hit low 12's with just dodges super 60 turbo upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confused Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 A VR6 GTI is a much better starting point IMO. 1.8t is far too pricey an engine for me to consider screwing with. And none of the 1.8t guys around here can touch the VR6T (and TT) guys... but I also consider being german an automatic disqualification for this survey That may be, but VR6s have way too many problems. On a lighter note, my friend has a Jetta GL that might be dipping into the mid 13s on motor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ULISES Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 If i had any skills i would have been close to 3k on this swap.You could get a festiva even for free sometimes,I got the engine very cheap (got lucky). With no skills here i'm at around $5500 when i'm done.I think its not bad it should turn mid to low 13's with 100mph+.And believe it or not it handles great with a few mods.And it is a perfect sleeper.This car should be done soon maybe 2 or 3 weeks from now.I should have a dyno and a 1/4 right after its done. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/785928 Sergio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EZ-E Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Does anyone remember the old Chevy sprint turbo? I was always thinking about getting one of them and built it up just a bit, to make it a tiny little screamer that would make people go WTF was that? hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JAMIE T Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 RB26 powered Datsun Zcar... Oh wait, you said cheap? I could have bought a C5 vette for what I have in PARTS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 If i had any skills i would have been close to 3k on this swap.You could get a festiva even for free sometimes' date='I got the engine very cheap (got lucky).With no skills here i'm at around $5500 when i'm done.I think its not bad it should turn mid to low 13's with 100mph+.And believe it or not it handles great with a few mods.And it is a perfect sleeper.This car should be done soon maybe 2 or 3 weeks from now.I should have a dyno and a 1/4 right after its done. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/785928 Sergio[/quote'] That is friggin cool :D I've seen/heard of a few total sleeper badass festiva's.... that is definately something I would consider doing. Another sleeper hatchback with similiar kind of swap that I would love to do is the little Mitsubishi Mirage hatch with the Eclipse motor. Seen a couple of those in magazines... I'd trade my Z for one of those any day! Anyways, Ulises man put me on your mailing list I definately want to hear how much power it makes and how fast it goes. Very cool car Does anyone remember the old Chevy sprint turbo? I was always thinking about getting one of them and built it up just a bit' date=' to make it a tiny little screamer that would make people go WTF was that? hehe[/quote'] This is another one I've always been very interested in. I almost bought one of these for $1000 but the interior was pretty screwed... And anyways it seems there's not a lot of info out there for making these fast, don't think the motors can handle much. But yeah definately another cool sleeper that can be had very cheap. I share your sentiment 100% though... much as I love my Z, people just EXPECT it to be quick. I want something that no one even notices except for the 3" muffler sticking out the back as I totally kill them leaving from a light and leave them wondering what the hell that was! REAL JOY would come from getting that reaction from unsuspecting Vette/Camaro/Firebird/Mustang guys All the replies of Fox bodied 5.0's don't surprise me... this was the one car I could think of when I keep asking myself this same question. Someone was telling me that you can have a 12 second 5.0 for less than $5k, just buy the car in decent shape for about $2k and then a supercharger... didn't seem realistic to me but I guess it's not off the mark? I've never been a big fan of the 5.0's but I'll become one real quick if I can make it that fast for that cheap. I should have actually said something in my original post to the effect of "something you can make as fast for cheap as a 5.0 Mustang".... seems to be the standard and the high water mark for cheap speed. German cars are out for me because a) they don't seem to ever be cheap and they don't seem to be very reliable. I'd say for the purpose of this poll... RB26 Z's are definately out of the question TheNeedForZ - agreed 100%. That's why I had my heart set on a 240z for ages... once I found out how light they were and how easy/common turbo/v8 swaps were I thought that is the perfect recipe for going fast. But cost-wise it ended up being way more than I'd thought it would be. 510's are cool and I've always wanted one of those too but they always seem to be selling for way too much. A fast Geo Metro would be sweet AE86's are another one who are getting too expensive because of their popularity in the drift scene. Oh and by the way, my skills are okay, mechanically, but fabbing skills are 0, and unfortunately I'm pretty limited in what tools I have and space I have to work. So everything costs more for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confused Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 All the replies of Fox bodied 5.0's don't surprise me... this was the one car I could think of when I keep asking myself this same question. Someone was telling me that you can have a 12 second 5.0 for less than $5k' date=' just buy the car in decent shape for about $2k and then a supercharger... didn't seem realistic to me but I guess it's not off the mark? I've never been a big fan of the 5.0's but I'll become one real quick if I can make it that fast for that cheap. I should have actually said something in my original post to the effect of "something you can make as fast for cheap as a 5.0 Mustang".... seems to be the standard and the high water mark for cheap speed. [/quote'] No supercharger needed. Buy a 5.0 for around 3k in "Ok" shape. Then do Heads/Cam/Exhaust and your easily into the mid 12's on motor alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted September 21, 2005 Share Posted September 21, 2005 well its been proven you can make a civic run 10's cheaper then a fox body.. so a civic would be on the list. fox body shelby fwd cars 280zx turbo 1st gen rx7 old rx3's and etc monza S30 cars dsm's mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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