I saw this on another car forum and I liked the idea. And I figured some of you guys may enjoy something like this...

You have 20,000 dollars to spend on modifying any vehicle you can.

Some rules for this:

1. Must be street legal and daily drivable aka cannot average like <12mpg combined
2. Must not be a pure drag car, must be able to corner reasonably well and hold its own on a track
3. No Engine swaps(otherwise we will not be able to assess the cars themselves), all bolt-ons are okay. The purpose of this identify a list of good stock platforms that are highly receptive to tuning
4. The car must be reasonably reliable over time, don't post cars that will blow their tranny or crack pistons within 5k miles after modifications

Format:

1. Please provide initial purchase price or KBB price for the car
2. Please provide modification price, by item and or approximate labor
3. Please provide fact & figures to support your claim aka dyno charts, 1/4mile times, 0-60 before and afters, weight before and after etc. etc.


Lets see what interesting ideas we can come up with.

I'll start in the next post.

Datsun 280zx turbo



(the posted example is modified well beyond what I list as my example: merely for picture reference)

Can be purchased for as little as 1500 dollars, or less.

L28et motor modifications.

STOCK l28et long block (7.3:1 cr)

Stand alone engine management: $1000

Larger injectors (440s or 550s): $200

Front mount intercooler: $500

3 row aluminum radiator: $300

HX35 turbo + 38mm wastegate: $800

3 inch downpipe-4 inch exhaust: $500

60mm throttle body: $100

3.70 z32 R200 LSD install: $1500

Coil over suspension: $2000

wide wheels/tires: $2000

Price of base vehicle: $1500-2500
Price of modifications: $8900-9000
Weight of vehicle: (starting) 2800 (ending) 2500-2600 - after simple weight reduction
Projected power: easily 350-400 whp depending on tune. (as evidenced on hybridz.org)

Total cost: $10,400

I doubt many vehicles could beat this one around the track, especially for less.

This post was edited by OldAndyAndTheSea on Apr 14 2013 11:57am

geo metro with m2 browning bolted on. you'll win every race that people dare show up to.

same performance as a geo metro but with like 300lbs extra weight.

Haha! Simple yet effective.

This is a fun topic ! I'll try to come up with something of mine, although I dont know USD value here so ill count it x3 as the exchange price in my country is. ( little over 60k pln )


Honda S2000 - becouse its so fun to drive it. ~ good condition in poland 40k


engine: 2.0 i-VTEC 240 KM
207 Nm / 7500 rev/min
9200 rev/min top's

3' magnaflow exhaust - guessing around 3500 zł
semi slick tiers - 2000 zł
coil overs - d2 racing - 3500 zł

thats 49k so far

add basic maintainance + 3000 zł

52k ~

8k for a decent turbo set up and intercooler + dyno runs and ecu tuning.



This wont be the best but it will be the funnest

This

Good call. Getting real close to that 20k on this one.

But again, probably one of the best choices going.

1987-1991 bmw E30 325 - 2500

2jz-gte swap /w r154 - 4000-5000 (including labor 4 wiring harness)

HSD Coil overs - 1400

GT28rs twin turbo set up + tune + bigger injectors -5000-6000

arp studs/bolts - 150

BC 272/272 cams - 800

3" exhaust turbo back - 1000

Forgot springs/retainers for bc cams -,-. +500

cheapest car to ls swap then dump that 20k into it/win
sad but true