Fastest car for $5k??

bigmackloud

Active Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Location
Raleigh, NC
Hey,

ok, say you had $5000 to buy and build a fast car. what would u build? and let's say it has to be something you'd actually want to drive and be semi-reliable.

would u buy a cheap generation 1 RX7 and port the motor,etc? would u put a V8 into a Datsun 240Z? get a 5.0 mustang?

have fun,
bigmac
 
any rx7 in your budget worth making fast is going to be a turbo II. reliability? no. v8 Z cars are fun, but you'd be pushing that 5k budget plus the pita of doing a swap. what kind of go fast are you looking for? just straight line, or all around performance? if it's just straight line, pick up any late 70's/early 80's 2 door v8 car. these things are generally dirt cheap, and you've already got the v8 base to work with. spend you're remaining money on a good motor build.

for late model domestic all around performance, you can't go wrong with a 5.0 mustang or 93-97 lt1 f-body. i'd go for the f-body, stock for stock they'll murder a 5.0. for imports, 1g DSM's are where it's at. you can go mid-deep 12's easy on a 5k budget, and have handling/braking with it. doing an SR swap into a 240sx can be done on a 5k budget also, but again there's the pain of doing a motor swap.

there's a number of other things out there that can be made to go fast cheap, alot of it depends on how much time/effort you want to put into the car on top of your budget, and what you intend to do with it (drag, auto-x, track days, etc.)
 
I'd have to say 93-97 f-body. Got a friend running 11's in he 1/4 mile and he has $4200 in his car. If you are patient and look hard enough, you can find them for $3000 to $4000 all day long, and a $1000 will go a long way for that motor. If you are serious about one, another friend of mine has a 94 trans am w/ a 383 stroker moter, headers and straight pipes for $4200, only kicker is its an auto w/ a shift kit but it will run with most any car.
 
Id have to say a mustang..duh. There is tons of aftermarkets for a 5.0. They can easily reach over 300hp for a few grand.
 
Hey,

this is just a hypothetical question. if you had $5k to buy & build a car to go fast (straight or curvy, it's up to you), what would YOU build?

i got a ride in a 11 sec streetcar today . . . that sort of thing changes your life, lol. so it got the wheels in my head spinning or should i say, dreaming.

later,
bigmac
 
Nothing tucks the tails like a Sleeper. Buy an older car with a big block, for $300 to $500 and put the rest in the Drive train!

ON another note:
We have a customer at our shop, his whole family is into racing, dad, mom, brothers all of them. He was invited to bring his Mopar down to GA this last weekend. Went up against the best of the best. NHRA Nationals. He drove against some very high dollar cars. Well long short of it, he is now ranked 3rd in the nation. His last race his Chip dropped out and stayed in 2nd gear, he broke out by .003 of a second. The other guy broke out by .001 What a weekend! A country boy from Valdese NC going down and whipping butt in his duster! Makes us proud at the shop too! Since we did a lot of the machine work on it.
 
Hot Rod magazine did a way cool buildup a few years back to go 12 secs for as cheep as possible....The used a chevy chevette and a cadilac 500ci. engine. Drive sat almost in the back with all the engine setback... im sure if you search you could find it...
 
I have a 78 280Z I picked up a few years back planning on doing an LT1/T56 swap. I got to involved in wheeling though and have not touched the car. The Chevy engine swap in those cars is very easy. You can buy the book from the company below, and it even has templates of motor mounts included so you can make your own. It also explains alot of the swap details.

http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Parts_DATZ_Radiator_Kit.html

Let me see if I can link this video of a guys V8 Z car.

http://www.supermotors.org/getfile/229187/fullsize/Darius-240Z-sideways[1].mpg

There is a better longer version of that video somewhere.

DK
 
Does it have to handle or just go fast in a straight line? I have noticed a number of modified Honda CRXs showing up in autotrader. 13 second 1/4 miles and 30 mpg. And it brakes and handles.

Just another approach.

uzj100
 
Hey,

that V8 Z is wicked. i've got a couple of other video clips of him saved on my computer. one of which is him door to door with an R1! but i'm guessing he's got more than $5k in that car, lol.

Does it have to handle or just go fast in a straight line? That is up to you. which do u have more fun with?? personally, i think i would want something that handled reasonably well.

later,
bigmac
 
Hot Rod magazine did a way cool buildup a few years back to go 12 secs for as cheep as possible....The used a chevy chevette and a cadilac 500ci. engine. Drive sat almost in the back with all the engine setback... im sure if you search you could find it...
Click to expand...
i remember that. car craft did one years ago also with a 500 cad stuffed in an el camino. i think it went deep 13's... traction limited.
I have noticed a number of modified Honda CRXs showing up in autotrader. 13 second 1/4 miles and 30 mpg. And it brakes and handles.
Click to expand...
yeah, with a motor swap... trouble is with hondas, to get much quicker than high 13's requires alot of work/money.

personally, if i was building another go fast and handle car it'd probably be a 1g awd dsm. i had a fwd with about $2500 total invested in it that ran mid 13's and handled very well. 30-33 mpg on the highway.
 
Ohhh, the V8 Z.. That one is Darius's 240, and hell yeah, he had TONS into it... 300ZX rear end, T56 trans, and a Procharger on top of a very healthy 383, if i remember right.

I've got a vid also of a LT1 in a RX-7 (2nd Gen)... Lotsa fun.. light is right.. :D

For $5k, I'd get a bike.
 
I've built several Z-cars all 240's ...just never like 260's or 280's much more weight. I did a V-8 conversion on one stroked 350/383 fuel injected/5 speed ..it would fly but handled like pure T dogshit with all that weight on the front end. I renforced the frame as was done in the 70's by the Scarab co. which converted lots of Zcars to V8s it still didn't help. I was never happy with the car and sold it. The last Z I build was by far the best of them. A 71 240 with a diesel maxima crankshaft/280 block which the end result was a 3.2 liter stroker motor. Triple weber DCOE45's carbs,and lots of other go fast parts. Coil over suspension, recaros,panasports,potenza RE71s. The motor dyno'd at just under 280hp at the wheels. It ran 8.60s on the 1/8 and dominated at auto crosses and SCCA solo races. I had the chance to buy some investmnet property, needed money quickly and sold it for $5000. Although I regret selling it the property I bought in 2002 has appreciated close to 80grand so I don't miss it that much..
It's funny this topic came up, I'm starting next weekend to build another 70' model 240 for a buddy of mine, he's owned the car for several years and I finally talked him into hotrodding it..the budget he gave me was $5000...it should fly when I'm done.
 
ruff - i agree most cars have some potential that can be cheeply exploited, outside that it gets exspensive... I was following this guys web site who was doing a mid 13 second K-car he had done all kinds of cheep stuff to make it faster, removed EVERY non esential item, interior, molding, plastic etc..

site also outlined (how i found it) putting a DOHC head from a neon onto an older 2.0/2.5 common block... was very crafty... needed some machine work and extrenal lines for oiling but was still more/less bolt on... anyway...
 
Greg - I remember reading about the Scarab vs. Jas that run Z conversions.. the JTR puts the engine much farther back, and IIRC, as long as you run an aluminum head SBC, you're less weight than the straight -6 you took out.. So a Ford 302, or the LS1's would be SWEET!

(There's a guy in Durham who was building one with LS1 power, I assume he's done by now)
 
I'd invest the five grand for 20 yrs or so, until it reaches $$$ value. The buy an old jet engine and throw it in the middle of an old ass buick. :flipoff2:

The best things are worth waiting for right?
 
diamond star motors... it's the common nickname for the mitsubishi eclipse, eagle talon, and plymouth laser.
I was following this guys web site who was doing a mid 13 second K-car he had done all kinds of cheep stuff to make it faster, removed EVERY non esential item, interior, molding, plastic etc..
Click to expand...
2.2 turbo mopars can be a blast... there were a few very quick factory production cars from mopar with those motors in the late 80's/early 90's. even the standard turbo models can be turned up cheap, and can handle a decent amount of boost before any major changes are needed. they're usually dirt cheap too, most people don't even know their potential.
 
I would buy a older S10 say 91-92 that had a 4.3v6 and drop a LS1 in it with NOS you would have to put some weight in the back
 
early 90's rx-7 with an lt1... with i/h/e will run 11's easy... then a nos kit for $500 run 10's no doubt about it... buddy proved it to me... sick car
 
Rich said:
Greg - I remember reading about the Scarab vs. Jas that run Z conversions.. the JTR puts the engine much farther back, and IIRC, as long as you run an aluminum head SBC, you're less weight than the straight -6 you took out.. So a Ford 302, or the LS1's would be SWEET!

(There's a guy in Durham who was building one with LS1 power, I assume he's done by now)
Click to expand...

I have researched and read the same thing. The old original V-8 conversions known as the SCARAB swap did handle poorly with the weight so far forward. The JTR engine position puts the distributor almost against the firewall. The hood latch even has to be modified it is so far back. This is now regarded as the standard method and position for doing this swap. Here is an excellent site for info on the V8 Zcar: http://hybridz.org/

I remember Hot Rod magazine did a big block swap of some kind, 440?, into a Dodge Dart many years ago. The goal was to run 12's for less than $2k I think.

Heck I found it! Scroll down, 68 Dodge Dart:
http://hotrod.com/projectbuild/

DK
 
i still say mustang, ill leave you with something to ponder on

Engine_Bay.jpg
 
lt1 or ls1 fbody. Fox bodies are alright, but they were never really that fast...and even with a vortech, they still aren't really that fast (and are severly limited by the block's weakness). Besides, people are asking rediculous amounts of money for 5.0 fox's in even half-decent shape.
 
I'll have to second Studnuts, I also have a soft spot for the Fox bodied 5.0's. I've owned many and loved every one of them. I used to see or here them around all the time. But now a trip to Moorseville drag stip on Thurs night you may see a handfull of them, when it used to be that would be all that was there. Them wuz da good ol dayz.
 
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