Good car to modify?
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Good car to modify?
I was wondering what car to get thats cheap, easy to modify, and will show good numbers. my best ideas so far have been a 1st gen. eclipse. i can get one with the turbo engine for about $500, then i could get a new turbo for it and up the boost. ive heard of people running about 15-20 lbs of boost on stock internals. another idea was to go domestic and get a Chevrolet Nova body and put a 350 in it that i would build myself. anyone have any comments? other ideas? oh, i want to have a car that is a good drag and street/highway racer when needed 
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It all depends on what your looking to do...I wanted to rebuild my own car with an engine swap, just as a project car...so, I ended up buying a '91 CRX Si for $700 with no motor and stripped so that I could do whatever I wanted to do with it...It sits in my garage parked to my 03 Civic EX Coupe, as I speak...mind you, it's not going anywhere anytime soon for obvious reasons, but I wanted to do it all on my own, to have what I wanted done to it done...what are you looking to do with the car, autocross, drag, drift, daily ricer (I mean racer), etc...once you figure this out, then people can suggest cars to you...
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You'd never know this thing runs 11.80s....
Its my friend's car. Yes I've driven it, its so fast I was shaking when I got out of it.
I think the whole car was about 8-9Gs.... 6 of that was motor and drivetrain. The rest was buying the car.
Its my friend's car. Yes I've driven it, its so fast I was shaking when I got out of it.
I think the whole car was about 8-9Gs.... 6 of that was motor and drivetrain. The rest was buying the car.
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Rep Power: 0 seems to me the 240 sx is the popular choice these days and its a great car. but you gotta find out for yourself what you want. search some other forums, research every car, and find the one you want
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Rep Power: 0 thanks for all the replies. well the 240sx i looked into, but its just not what i want. and the z51 corvette is a little too expensive for what i want to do. i want to buy a car for about 500, and then build up the engine. like my 1st gen eclipse idea. i can get one with a turbo engine outa a junkyard for about 500$. then i could clean it up, rip the engine apart and reassemble it replacing any parts that need it, and then stick an aftermarket turbo on there and run massive amounts of boost. this would cost me about 2000$ and id be running 12's. my other idea was a muscle car chasis, then build an engine using ordered/junkyarded parts. and id get down to high 12's with that too. but the muscle car would be more of a long term thing, and the eclipse would be faster and cheaper at the begining. but if i go muscle car, then eventually it would be better. so pretty much im asking, should i go huge speed in the long term, or pretty big speed right now. and i want a road race/drag race car. and from what ive heard the 1st generation eclipses actually came with 4 wheel drive? is this true?
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Rep Power: 0 you gotta actually gotta factor in cost of ownership and what's the car's weakness. like any eclipse you lauch hard enough....you will break the tranny....it's call drivetrain shock to the tranny. and axles they don't come cheap but they sure can fly before breaking.
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Rep Power: 0 Hmm...Decent road racer/drag car...I got it! The ultimate ugly but fast sleeper is the Dodge Omni from the 80's and maybe from the early 90's. It came with an optional turbo and had gobs of torque for such a small car. Or think of a Geo Storm GSI=AWD in such a light little car, just turbo it and get some good tires, and you could be turnin' @least 12's. And they handle sweet too. BTW, I love imports, but people underestimate what our older compacts are capable of and don't expect domestic econoboxes to haul ****. 
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Rep Power: 0 hmm get a 91-95 Toyota MR2 Turbo. You can get one relatively cheap, throw on a bigger turbo, and you have a nice Mid rear car with rear wheel drive. 3sgte has lots of potential.
speaking of potential... 2jz-gte... supra.
speaking of potential... 2jz-gte... supra.
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From: Chandler, AZ
Rep Power: 0 get an older plymouth reliant man
http://www.thedodgegarage.com/the_reliant.html
check it out.... 10 second car in the 1/4 mile with not much work to be done to the car. I would recommend that or of course the all mighty buick grand national... grrr
http://www.thedodgegarage.com/the_reliant.html
check it out.... 10 second car in the 1/4 mile with not much work to be done to the car. I would recommend that or of course the all mighty buick grand national... grrr
Autocross Junky
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From: Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Rep Power: 380 whats wrong with an I4??
The Lotus Elise has one.
the BMW E30 M3 has one.
just about all of the old British roadsters have them
Most all WRC race cars have them
Tons of Spec and Formula race cars have them.
Whats so wrong with having only 4 cylinders?
The Lotus Elise has one.
the BMW E30 M3 has one.
just about all of the old British roadsters have them
Most all WRC race cars have them
Tons of Spec and Formula race cars have them.
Whats so wrong with having only 4 cylinders?
Last edited by Zzyzx; Mar 6, 2004 at 02:19 PM.
HISPAnIC CAUSIn PAnIC
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From: sacramento, California, US
Rep Power: 0 Originally posted by Zzyzx
whats wrong with an I4??
The Lotus Elise has one.
the BMW E30 M3 has one.
just about all of the old British roadsters have them
Most all WRC race cars have them
Tons of Spec and Formula race cars have them.
Whats so wrong with having only 4 cylinders?
whats wrong with an I4??
The Lotus Elise has one.
the BMW E30 M3 has one.
just about all of the old British roadsters have them
Most all WRC race cars have them
Tons of Spec and Formula race cars have them.
Whats so wrong with having only 4 cylinders?
Autocross Junky
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Rep Power: 380 Originally posted by sadboy916
95% of them are slow unless FI thats whats wrong with them , cant you tell every time you step on your gas pedal that you have no power?
95% of them are slow unless FI thats whats wrong with them , cant you tell every time you step on your gas pedal that you have no power?
its never bothered me, and it also hasn't stoped me from outrunning many "faster"cars.... Like the ocational Corvette, WRX, Integra, SRT-4, Porsche, BMW... Ect ect ect...
Its not how much power you have, its how you use it.
Sweetest Dude on 7th Gen
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Rep Power: 300 Originally posted by Zzyzx
its never bothered me, and it also hasn't stoped me from outrunning many "faster"cars.... Like the ocational Corvette, WRX, Integra, SRT-4, Porsche, BMW... Ect ect ect...
Its not how much power you have, its how you use it.
its never bothered me, and it also hasn't stoped me from outrunning many "faster"cars.... Like the ocational Corvette, WRX, Integra, SRT-4, Porsche, BMW... Ect ect ect...
Its not how much power you have, its how you use it.
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Rep Power: 0 Originally posted by sCoTtEh
any civic hb would be good to modify, PLENTY of things you could do to it, and they can get pretty darn fast too
any civic hb would be good to modify, PLENTY of things you could do to it, and they can get pretty darn fast too
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Rep Power: 0 all of these cars are great ideas guys, but they are too expensive for my purpose. like i said before, i can get an eclipse for about 500$. can i get an mr2 for that? can i get a civic hb for that? i have looked into all these more expensive options, and have decided that i dont want to spend as much money on the actual car seeing as id end up completely rebuilding it inside and out. like the eclipse, i would rip the engine apart and rebuild it. why would i want to pay lets say 10k for an mr2 to just rip the engine apart and spend another 5k rebuilding it? it would be just a bit faster then the eclipse once im done, so theres no point in wasting the extra $9000+ at the begining. so once again, does anyone have any other car ideas that are at about the price range of the 1st generation eclipse, and wont cost all that much to modify?
