Next Car Poll - RWD Edition

What car?

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Thought you weren't looking to get in as deep as a motor swap?
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not right away. something like an sr20 swap is a less involved swap that i know of several people that can do it. something like an ls1 swap is very involved that not everyone will tackle. so that's a consideration

 
not right away. something like an sr20 swap is a less involved swap that i know of several people that can do it. something like an ls1 swap is very involved that not everyone will tackle. so that's a consideration
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It's nice to know what is possible, but I have always had the mindset, when it comes to motorswaps, that if you are only looking for more power, there is usually going to be a different car that has what you want. And I say that because you ARE looking at a bunch of different cars, if you stated that the ONLY car for you is a 240sx and aren't willing to look at anything else, then more power to you (with a motor swap). I was specific like that, there was only one car that I was interested in buying. Nothing else would satisfy, so I accept the relatively low HP that my motor puts out. For now. It is comforting to know that once i outgrow the lowly 2.4L almost anything is possible and almost everything has been done at one point or another.

I really just ask the question because I know there was a point in time when I though I was going to do a whole bunch of stuff to my cars. I had eveything planned. And never did any of it. Basicly just moved to a different car that got me what I wanted. I know myself, and what I am able to do, better now and picked a project accordingly.

Are you going to be happy with the car you choose, as is, and after all the bolt-ons are done and a motor swap is needed, are you going to actually do it or just move to a different car?

Or maybe you aren't looking to think that deeply on it and just want a quick, fun project...

 
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CN's: Long explination of why I bought the project car I did. If you don't care about my opinion, feel free to ignore it.

I always have had this line of thinking:

1) Buy a cool car. One that I like the looks and performance of the stock trim.

2) Be able to modify it to be better later

I would get past step one and go right to step three

3) never buy any performace parts for said car

4) Realize that there are better cars out there that have the attributes already in them that I am looking for

5) Sell basicly stock car

6) Look for next step up

7) Repeat

That had always wanted to modify my cars and never did (right up to the time I bought my WRX). A Trans Am I bought in college is a prime example of this. I bought the Trans Am with the intention to do a whole bunch of things to it to make it either faster or better (and because at the time they where my favorite car in that price range). Mods where to including taking it down to bare metal to give it a good paint job. With the exception of the WRX I have NEVER bought any parts that could even be though of as performance improving. Trans Am was no exception. I actually got a good way into the paint job and ended up hitting a wall. I didn't want to deal with the little maint. crap that it was going to need to get it back on the road after 4-5 years of sitting. So I traded it for a Gen I 300zx which I was able to sell to get some cash because I realized that it was not a car that I wanted to spend a whole bunch of money on and, in the end, it would not be set up for what I want to do.

After buying the WRX and doing autocross last season, my thinking has changed a good deal. Having been involved in a motorsport and around people doing other motorsports, I now have a better picture of which ones I am interested in, which ones I can afford, and a better idea of what cars lend themselves for which sport. In the end I have a much better picture of my needs, interests and what I am actually going to do. Not what I am able or want to do, what I AM going to do.

So I knew that the WRX is going to take a good bit of money to get it to where I was happy with it. Being a DD, those things may make it uncomfortable for it's primary use. Back and forth to work. For example a cage would make a wagon useless to haul stuff and make it a two seater. Not really a big problem, but not something I want to do to my DD and a car that I don't own outright. Coupled with the fact that it is only a WRX and a wagon at that. An STI with the exact same modifications will walk all over me any day. The WRX is not the right tool for the job.

* More coming *
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I hear where you're coming from. I loved my sti. i got burned financially, as did many people in the past year+. This didn't make me like the car less, just car payments less. Thus my reason behind going on the cheap. i like having car hobbies and miss the speed and handling of the sti. a jeep cherokee just can't match that, sorry ty. like i mentioned in the opening, i've never had a RWD car, and would like to own one to mess around with. i'm not planning on opening up the credit card to jdmenginedepot the day i bring home nissancarx. i plan on cleaning whatever i get up, making it comfortable and pleasant to drive, touching up the exterior, working on the handling, maybe some exhaust work, and basically just enjoying the car. down the road, if i still have the car and love it, then i'd look to customize it more to what i want to do with it. will i like to drift? maybe. will i like to autox? maybe. will i decide i want to rally and move back to a subaru? maybe. i'm not going to invest a guaranteed financial future in the car until i know what i want.

/novel, hopefully it made sense and in someway spoke to what you were saying apollyon

 
I'm not going to invest a guaranteed financial future in the car until i know what i want.
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In the end I think that about summed up what I was heading towards. There is no car that will do everything and until you absolutely know what you want to do with a car, it's almost a crap shoot to pick one. But the best favor you can do is "Know Thy Self". Don't plan on a body kit if you know you aren't going to get around to it. I know that I don't want to be worried about people brushing against my paint and scraching it. So, of course, I am not planning on painting it anything other than rattle-can flat black.

 
In the end I think that about summed up what I was heading towards. There is no car that will do everything and until you absolutely know what you want to do with a car, it's almost a crap shoot to pick one. But the best favor you can do is "Know Thy Self". Don't plan on a body kit if you know you aren't going to get around to it. I know that I don't want to be worried about people brushing against my paint and scraching it. So, of course, I am not planning on painting it anything other than rattle-can flat black.
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Thus why i'm not buying a 944 if i'm going to hate the 2.5 or an rx-7 if i'm not going to like the NA rotary.

With a 300zx, 240sx, or e36 3 series i think i have the best chance of liking the car as-is

 
and i'd have to find a pretty damned good deal on a body kit for me to spend money on one hahaha

 
Are you thinking a first or second gen 300zx?

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I have always liked the body lines of the second gens but if pat says some of the second gen motors aren't the best, I can't contradict him. I haven't owned one. But I would not go anywherer near another first gen. To say that the electrical problems are easy fixes, I think, is sugar coating it just a bit. Granted, some are always going to be worse than others, so I must ahve gotten the bottom of the barrel. After a couple issues I sold the one I had to the first sucker that came along. I have no problem with doing electrical stuff, but there comes a point when I say enough is enough. I won't do that again. Not to metion rust issues.

On the other hand I do know several people who love them. And my brother owned two. Rust issues with one but nothing that I know of with the second. Besides the bent valves it had from the previous owner.

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Totally agree with Dan on this one. LS engines are great. Whatever my next project is it will have an LS swap. I've done a lot of research on the RX7/LS1 swap and think this is a greagt idea. There are lots of parts available to make this almost a bolt-on swap, although any project like this will require some fabrication. And GM makes a lot of great LS engines. You can build different stroker combinations with factory parts. I really want to build a 6.0 LS2 with an 83mm stroke 4.8 crank rather than the 6.0's 92mm to create a high-revving big bore/short stroke 5.3. I have a rare L33 all-aluminum 5.3 that was called the "Vortec 5300 HO" in my basement. The L33 put out 310hp/335lb-ft. This would be a sweet setup in just about anything.

 
Here are my finals. Mods if you wanna wipe the poll and start a new one, that would be nice.

Nissan 240sx s13 (KA24DE preferred)

Nissan 300zx z31 (Turbo/NA)

Nissan 300zx z32 (NA)

Toyota Supra mkIII (Turbo/NA)

I've included the two 300zx's as distinct options because I think they are two very different options. A z32 would be on the high end of the budget, where as a great condition z31 would be near the middle.

Finding a clean 240 would be the biggest obstacle, because they are all beat. All of them.

Finding a supra period might be a problem. There are a couple on CL right now, including one VERY nice restored one but nothing that could be considered a selection.

The z31 wasn't really an option until i saw this: http://nh.craigslist.org/ctd/1535259315.html

It looks MINT. If i could find one that looks like that then i'd have to consider it.

 
Also, I didn't include an s14 240 because they are still a bit high in price, and those that aren't are beat to piss. If one happened to come along that made sense I would consider it, but realistically i don't have much of a choice

 
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