Best (inexpensive) car to mod out?
 

My friend derrick and I after many hours of frustration about not being able to afford to mod our cars like we want them, decided that at the end of the summer we may buy a car with the money we have saved, and co-own/co-mod it.

THat way everything is more or less half the price. No we cant both drive it at the same time, but we are pretty good friends, and I think it would work out fine... My dads a pilot, and I know a ton of guys who co-own airplanes, doesnt seem to bother them.

Question is, where to start? What do we buy? looking at the 4-6K starting car price more then likely.

ummm...

http://i22.ebayimg.com/03/i/01/9c/3f/38_3.JPG

then you both can drive it at the same time :)

Personally I wouldn't do that. My good buddy wouldn't even do that either, but you never know you might have the same taste in parts/car. Just don't want you guys to get into a big fight over what part to use!

I know a few people who co-own airplanes as well. It works out great for them because each person only uses the plane for leisure once every month or two. You'll both probably be wanting to use a car more often though, so keep that in mind.

Now when you say "mod", do you mean actual performance upgrades? If so, you could get an 80s-early 90s V8 Mustang or F-body in that price range with money to spare.

But if you mean installing a coffee can tailpipe and covering it with decals, just get any random econobox that's cheap, they're all the same.

Here's a previous thread about which cars are cheap and fairly easy to mod. It may help you out.

Feh. Skip the Crustangs. Everybody's got one.

A 78-88 A/G body is the way to go. Malibus, Regals, Cutlasses, Monte Carlo's, El Caminos, etc. Factory style 4 link very similar to the mustang, with the right control arms, there are cars running in the very low 8's with the stock style suspension on a 10.5 tire. Everything on those cars including the frame (except for the El Camino, which has a longer wheelbase), interior, etc, with the exception of sheet metal and bumpers are a direct swap, so there are a TON of parts for them. You can fit everything from a GN drivetrain to a BBC in them no problem, any tranny from a metric 200 to a 4l80, and they're the lightest full frame production vehicle in GM's history. There is a TON of aftermarket for these cars, and if you guys are sharing it, you can drop in a carb'd SBC, then run brackets at the local track.

if you want a ricer get a Honda Civic, if you want a F-Body get a Camaro or Firebird:D

We both have daily driver cars we intend to keep obviously. In the end we want one of those cars you take out only when the suns shining. And on those days either we are hangin out together, or one or the other of us has to work. I think the co-own would work well.

We are talking slam it, rims, exhaust, headers, performance everything on the engine, etc. Coffee can exhaust and decals are cheap, if I wanted those I could do it all on my own, lol.

You might be able to find an early LT-1 Camaro or Firebird for that, which would be your best bet.

One question who's name is the car going to be in?

because lets say if its in your name and he smashes it up your insurance gets screwed and his doesn't!

yeah. The only way I see this working is if it is a dedicated track car, which it doesn't sounds like it is going to be. It would be kind of fun to have a codriven rally car or autocross car (drag even) that wasnt' even registered and had to be trailered. Other than that, I don't really see this working.

Get an old 1976 or older Bronco or 1972 or older Blazer.

If you must get a car, look at early 60's Thunder-Birds. I believe they will skyrocket in price. The 50's ones already did.

get yourself a mid 60s nova. Then you will have plenty left over to dump into the engine and drivetrain. I will be fast as hell too.

I'd recommend an Eagle Talon.

There aren't a lot of people modding them, but they can be quite zippy, and also not overly expensive.

They aren't made any more, so you can probably get after-market parts cheaper than a newer vehicle.

Just my two cents. I am not into car modding, but some friends I've met in the past were and talked to me about it a little bit.

I think a tweaked out Eagle Talon would be a pretty nice "sleeper," because I have honestly only seen one of them modded, and it was owned by a co-worker who could vouch for it's performance.

Take care.

What they need to do is set up a non-profit corporation and transfer ownership of the car to it. Then buy insurance for it through the corporation and list both of them as drivers on the policy. At that point, no matter who wrecks it, the corporation's insurance takes the hit.



As to the people that are saying stupid shit like "econoboxes are all the same" and "stop the crustangs" will you please grow up? The whole world doesn't revolve around YOUR favorite cars. Stop the idiot "my brand-X car is better than your brand-Y car" bullshit. It's almost never true, and all it does is start fights that don't need to be started.

well said :D

Good point. Didnt think of that, and well, im less into the idea now that Im all sobered up again...

We did do a suspension on his 95 avenger yesterday, and that went well. 3 inches is a lot. It does make me want to do the same to my new 04 civic though... In a bad way.

EDIT: Coilovers so that means we get to pick it back up in the winter.

Oh yeah...actually tons of people mod them.....well the ones that are labeled as eclipses....

Not really sure what sort of mods you're into ie: Big 4x4 kind of stuff, rice racer stuff, muscle car, etc. but Mazda Miatas can be found in good condition fairly inexpensively and theres a ton of mods that can be made. Whole new body kits, tubo systems, suspension, interior dress up. A 200 hp Miata can surprise the heck out of BMW Z3. A convertiles great when the sun shines too!

Civics are definately easy to mod. There's just tons of stuff you could do to it, you can always find cheap parts, and they're pretty light cars.

Agreed. They're cheap platforms to buy, and relatively cheap to modify. And since they're so popular, there are a LOT of options to choose from. They have staying power as well - it's still pretty easy to get a lot of mods for civics as old as 1988.

What i've heard from a friend to do is get a really old civic and use a motor mount adapter kit so you can put a newer style vtec engine in it....you could gut it and make it a drag racer :)

Why not use the newer version to turn in to a drag racer...more aerodynamic:)

^ :rolleyes: No honda, minus certain prelude's and NSX's are good for "drag racing". Infact, honda's are meant to be used to go and get the kids from soccer practice and such.

You want a fast car get either:
92-94 AWD Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, or Plymouth Laser.

93-97 Camaro/Trans-am

or get a 5.0 mustang.

You want to do track stuff, get a Miata in decent shape, slap on a S/C, with a few internal mods, and some suspension work, you're good to go.

You want a ricer mobile that will hit 15's, after 2 grand of work, buy a honda.

Screw that...just dump a small block ford in it.

LOL I heard of someone dropping a 350 into onf those things..think of the power!:D

Well, i was assuming he would want to race in circuit, where you have to have the orginal engine.

I dont know that Ill ever end up on a track... More along the lines of being able to school those no good rich little pricks you see rolling around... Then again, owning a new Honda, I probably look like one of those.

I want a real nice looking car, tuned and modded for performance. When I feel the inclination, I want to be able to blow people away. But prolly never going to take it to the track.

Honestly if we or I could take a car and builid it up till it schooled our fathers cars (64 Nova, bored out, 425 horse at the crank, and the 67 camaro rs/ss with the 327 my dads restoring) so that we could finaly prove to them its not the only way to go, we would be happy.

Old school muscle will always be better:D

Weight. Plus, the 88-91 civic had something like a .3 coefficient of drag - same as a modern porsche 911. Aerodynamics is not an issue ;)

really though, turning a civic into a drag car is gonna take a lot more effort than turnint it into a track car. They already turn really well. Why not build on that strength?

Kinda what I want to do with my 04...

somehow, I really doubt that....