Cheapest Cars to Build?

[BMR Sales]

Well, if you already have a Fox and torn it apart, doing another one would be easier on the knowledge side

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

first gen celicas... firstgen 240/60/80Zs... maybe still 240sx's

[jerome]

I dont think he would let me turn my daily driver into a cheap racecar

If a cheap racecar is what you are after, finding something that has already been turned into a racecar is going to be far cheaper than building a racecar out of a street car.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

What's the difference between a race car and a street car? My car has a stout suspension, an 8 pt cage, fully braced frame, and a mildly healthy small block. I drive it to work every day and it gets 18 mpg on the highway. I both drag and autocross race it as often as I can. In my mind it's 100% street car that tears it up on the track. I've never considered it a "race" car. Really Pro Touring is about building "race" car performance with street car manners. That's easy to do.

If you have a fox body 'Stang, take the $ you would spend on another car and put some decent suspension and some 18" wheels and decent tires on your fox. There are two resources I know of for nice "replica" Mustang wheels for under $150 ea for 18's. It's not hard to make plenty of autocross power with a transplanted 5.0, or even turbo the 4 banger. I say go for it, you're already half way there!

[theFordguy]

Ive never really thought about it that way.
The only thing that makes me not want to do it is the fact that i wanted to cut into something and fabricate things and weld and design.
Im decent and metal working and welding, Ive taken tech classes my 4 years of highschool.
I just cant find it in me to cut into a car that has just been painted and had body work done to it. If that makes sense.
Matter of fact i just finished putting the last pieces on it a bit over a month ago

[Ben@SpeedTech]

To build a "fun" (let's substitute that for "race" right now) car you really don't need to do a lot of fab work to make it handle well. Most parts to get your car on the autocross are simple bolt ins. Again, you can easily have that while still driving it to school. Once you have all the parts, normally a good solid weekend and you've got a whole new suspension and personality in your car. Only thing I can think of that you'd have to weld is a roll bar and frame connectors, (chime in here Fox guys). The roll bar is a safety thing and along with frame connectors help stiffen things a bit But in reality you don't need those to be competitive.

Perhaps we assumed you wanted a mainly driver/ occasional track car, sounds like the cutting and fabbing is moving you more towards the "show" end of pro touring. That's a tough one to pull off cheap, and they take a long time to build so driving it may not be for 2-3 years if you're on a really tight budget.

Clarifying what I said earlier, if you want to get some fun decent track time in with your daily driver, you can do that relatively inexpensively with the car you have. If you want a WOW! pro touring car, start saving your pennies.

Buying someone's bailed out on project is a good way to get a car already half done, you always pay less than what the other person has into it.

[theFordguy]

Thank you
I wouldnt say that i want a show car, I mean i do want a nice car, but no high end build type of car.
Fun is exactly the word i was looking for when i made the post. I want a car that I can go cruising around in whenever i want and to be able to try to autocross it.
I want something different and to do it up differently than someone else would.
I do want a WOW pro touring style car but nothing too fancy. I love patina and rust and bare metal or satin or matte paint.
Heck, I even think primer looks good.

[Aficionado]

Mustang parts are no doubt cheaper (at least they were last time I looked), but there's a fair amount of potential in the C3 Corvettes, and the mid-to-late 70's ones go begging. Already have IRS and four wheel disc brakes. A lot of DIY tech out there on them, and mods run from easy bolt-ins to serious aftermarket chassis with late-model Vette suspension.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

How about let us see the Mustang? Got pics?

[theFordguy]

Of course, I just dont have any of what it started out as

[theFordguy]

Dont you just love it when computers dont work right?

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Can you run a 275 on the front of those things? If not, these wheels would look killer with a set of 255-40 and 275-40 17s...

You can't beat a price like $114 per wheel for a 17x9.

http://www.americanmuscle.com/black-....html#shop-by1

[silvermonte]

Im going to go with Ben on this one. Throw some 17s or 18s on that thing and go to an auto-x. Then replace one part at a time as you see fit. I have a buddy that autos his completly stock 66 mustang. So I would see no problems with you car being able to do that.

[jlcustomz]

Any car will pass up cheap when you want to build it into something really competitive.

Probably the best deal out there is something someone already spent a great deal of their money properly modifying with quality parts, then has an urgent need for money, taking what they can get.

This requires luck , something many of us never seem to have enough of.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Im going to go with Ben on this one. Throw some 17s or 18s on that thing and go to an auto-x. Then replace one part at a time as you see fit. I have a buddy that autos his completly stock 66 mustang. So I would see no problems with you car being able to do that.

True true! This past season we brought my son's wagon to an SCCA autocross event with only the 16" wheels and my old Varishocks on the rear as upgrades over the factory 1978 all original (including blown out factory front shocks) suspension. I took a lap in his car and it was more fun to drive than mine, I had a blast trying to not fly across the bench seat with it's factory seat belt and major body roll. I shaved one of the front tires half way down the side wall fighting understeer, but I was laughing and wooting through the whole course. Now we've got the Varishocks all around, lowered heavier rate springs, performance control arms front and rear, and new steering linkage and ball joints. It still has factory front and rear sway bars which will be upgraded in time. The next event for us will be in March as we (im)patientiently wait for winter to leave. The coolest thing is that he raced it basically stock, and now he'll race it with some decent upgrades. Next on the list is sway bars, 18" wheels and more power and by then he'll be an even better driver. The build as you go method takes the edge off of the pain of dropping all the coin at once, and you become a better driver while your car becomes a better car. You also learn a lot about suspension systems and how different parts affect your handling. It's a win win deal.

My car is a little rough around the edges looks wise so I was a little embarrassed to take it to a big pro touring event. What I found is that no one cared what it looked like or how fast it was, but everyone supported me showing up and joining in the fun. There were slower cars and faster cars and a couple lot more ugly cars than mine there, but that didn't matter, all in all we all had a great time and ultimately that's what it's really all about.

[theFordguy]

Can you run a 275 on the front of those things? If not, these wheels would look killer with a set of 255-40 and 275-40 17s...

You can't beat a price like $114 per wheel for a 17x9.

http://www.americanmuscle.com/black-....html#shop-by1

I do like those wheels, Im just not sure what I want to do
If i were to go and build up my car I would want it took look something like this:
I know it is probably out of my reach to do a car like that, but thats what I would want to do, I love the fenders on this thing

[Ben@SpeedTech]

That's a pretty wicked 'Stang and I don't even like Fords, lol! That pic is a great example of what you can do with a Fox body, so really unless you just plain want to build a different car your answer for your original question is in the garage. If you're anxious to get on the track, Like Nike says, just do it. In time you can add stuff like the spendy wide wheels and widebody fenders and 1/4 panels and high hp engine, and ...

The other philosophy is build it slowly over time to spread the cost and when it hits the ground it's done. I collected parts for 3 years before my 1st Nova was ready to go drag racing. Having gone through that to me the first option above sounds a lot more fun.

[Jetfixr320]

I do like those wheels, Im just not sure what I want to do
If i were to go and build up my car I would want it took look something like this:
I know it is probably out of my reach to do a car like that, but thats what I would want to do, I love the fenders on this thing

That makes me want to go buy another Coupe.

[andrewb70]

Second Gen RX7 with a LS swap.



Andrew

[79-TA]

I'm a fox chassis Mustang proponent, but the recommendations on this thread are getting a bit rose colored. You can do a lot to a fox chassis Mustang for not much, but limitations and difficulties exist.

To address a question above, you're basically limited to a 245mm wide tire up front if you're not cutting up the fenders. Running 245/40/17's on my Mustang resulted in slightly reduced steering angle with the inside of the 8x17" wheel hitting the anti-roll bar. I think with the amount of camber I was running, I could have fit 9" wheels and maybe a 265mm tire with absolutely perfect offset and a bit less steering angle . . . which was already insufficient in stock trim for making tight u-turns. Yes, I had rolled the fenders out.

The 4 link rear, despite being "triangulated", has trouble controlling lateral movement of the rear beam axle. The fox chassis is ridiculously floppy without a cage or bracing. Once I started getting my car dialed in, I kept chasing alignment settings as the car would just flex more with more grip.

A '94-'95 Mustang is a much better starting point for a build concerned with handling. You get a stiffer chassis, 5 lug hubs, bigger front brakes, and rear disc brakes. Another option is to cannibalize an early SN95 and put the parts on your fox while adding a cage or other bracing. I would love to go back and do this to a notchback car. It really is nice having access to so many cheap used aftermarket parts on craigslist. My '87 GT sourced almost every upgraded part from Craigslist.



I'm not saying any of this to be discouraging, but just realize that there are hurdles with the fox platform. Once you get to a certain performance level with a fox Mustang, it makes more economic sense to just start with a more capable platform. Economic sense isn't the whole story though . . . otherwise I'd not be into the pro-touring scene.




Here's a picture of my car from a couple of years ago.