Best used track car for about 7500$ and small amounts of dd

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by DarkSunrise

E36 M3's are cheap to buy, but I hear can get expensive to track. In terms of reliability, there are lots of guys using these as track cars, so most of the issues should be sorted. The cooling system seems to be a universal weak point from guys I know who track E36 M3's. Not sure what else.

@Dave-ROR has one, maybe he can chime in.

I just replaced my:
Radiator
Water Pump
Coolant lines (radiator and expansion tank ones)
Expansion Tank
Cap
Various O-Rings
Coolant level sensor
replaced mech fan with an electric fan
Fan Shroud
Water pump pulley
Belts
VANOS oil line
VC gasket
Spark plugs
And I'm sure a few other things.


Most of that was because the mech fan blade broke, sheared hosts, nailed the radiator, broke the shroud and tank (which was already leaking) and hit some other stuff. AKA a normal fan blade failure on these. I should have replaced it all before it broke. As a result it severely overheated. I got lucky though since it runs fine. I didn't comp test it because I don't want to know.


E36 M3s are fun DDs and decent track cars with some work into them (horrible stock IMO), but don't expect it to be Honda reliable. Most parts are cheap, some aren't.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by Sideways&Smiling

Hate on them all you want, but there still is nothing comparable for the money that will be faster around a track than a well sorted mildly modded sr20det-powered 240sx. The only other cars I'd look at would be a miata or an MR-2 but both will be significantly slower outside of an autocross environment.

Sure, there's tons of riced out examples out there with shitty chinese/korean parts, but the same is already happening with the FR-S/BRZ and will continue to be true of the FR-S/BRZ in the future. The difference is the 240sx is much, much, much cheaper, and the SR is much, much easier/cheaper to get power out of than the FA20.

I agree. I need to setup a buddys 240 better since it's currently not really great on track (running soft V3s with OTS rates though). The "stock" SR20DET swap is making over 290whp at 14psi on a stock turbo. "Stock" is in quotes because something is clearly done to the engine, I just haven't taken it apart to see what...

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by hmong337

Lol! That's an old school family car/sleeper. NOT a sports car.

Tell that to people I destroyed with mine.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by daiheadjai

Fair enough - but OP only wanted something cheap, light and rwd.. On second thought, the lightweight part might have disqualified the cressida already...

They actually have great balance and aren't THAT heavy. I've often thought about building another one for a track car, just to see the reaction people would have.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by rice_classic

But here's the kicker... purchasing the car is the cheap part.

This.


My Integra that I rebuilt into a track car again took $10,000 +/- a couple hundred (okay plus but I don't like to think about it) when I redid the car a year and a half ago. Granted this was a fairly extensive refresh. Gaskets, seals, bushings, seat, harness, coilovers, ITR calipers with mini front/EP3 rear rotors, etc. But still. $10K.


Since then it's gone through another $5K in event fees and consumables. Nothing has broken since it's all pretty fresh (except a caliper seal but whatever) but still.


It's not a cheap hobby.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

I didn't believe there were any good ones but you're right there are some I would go check out. Thing is they're usually in the $4-$5k and stock or with some unknown engine and a huge list of replacement bits (probably cause the owner blew the last one up with a turbo), and be sure to dodge the automatics, it's a tough sell for most.

Why dodge the autos?


The buddy I mentioned above bought his for $7K I think. 60k miles. Perfect condition car and 100% stock. Yes, an automatic. With ABS and LSD and no sunroof.


Sure the swap is a little more effort but it's not a big deal.

[Sideways&Smiling]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

I agree. I need to setup a buddys 240 better since it's currently not really great on track (running soft V3s with OTS rates though). The "stock" SR20DET swap is making over 290whp at 14psi on a stock turbo. "Stock" is in quotes because something is clearly done to the engine, I just haven't taken it apart to see what...

Probably just injectors and a tune.

The problem with 240s (other than the KA24DE the US got lol) is the stock suspension sucks. It's soft, and the subframe bushings move around a ton... actually, at this age, most of the bushings are probably totally shot.

Swap in an SR, upgrade the suspension with quality parts, and add some decent brakes (forgot to mention the stock brakes are also horrible lol), and it becomes damn good.

Although there are HUGE differences in the time and money spent on these cars, let's not forget Evasive just brought their FR-S to Japan and raced Tsukuba and did it in 59 seconds. The fastest time ever there right now (other than a Formula Nippon) is held by Under Suzuki & his S15, and it's 51.129 seconds.

Of course, that S15 has MUCH more work done to it... (way more power, custom double wishbone suspension, etc.), but still. People in the US that don't know much about the s-chassis severely underestimate them. They can be extremely fast when well put together.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by Sideways&Smiling

Probably just injectors and a tune.

The problem with 240s (other than the KA24DE the US got lol) is the stock suspension sucks. It's soft, and the subframe bushings move around a ton... actually, at this age, most of the bushings are probably totally shot.

Swap in an SR, upgrade the suspension with quality parts, and add some decent brakes (forgot to mention the stock brakes are also horrible lol), and it becomes damn good.

Although there are HUGE differences in the time and money spent on these cars, but let's not forget Evasive just brought their FR-S to Japan and raced Tsukuba and did it in 59 seconds. The fastest time ever there right now (other than a Formula Nippon) is held by Under Suzuki & his S15, and it's 51.129 seconds.

Of course, that S15 has MUCH more work done to it... (way more power, custom double wishbone suspension, etc.), but still. People in the US that don't know much about the s-chassis severely underestimate them. They can be extremely fast when well put together.

With injectors and a tune, they don't do 290+ at the wheels on the stock turbo at 14PSI. 240 or so is normal with that.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

Why dodge the autos?


The buddy I mentioned above bought his for $7K I think. 60k miles. Perfect condition car and 100% stock. Yes, an automatic. With ABS and LSD and no sunroof.


Sure the swap is a little more effort but it's not a big deal.

No foundation I suppose, my pickup has the KA24E (lol singlecam with more torque than the Toyobaru) and I can't imagine having any fun with a slushbox from that era in it but it's a hoot with the manual sliding around dirt roads and wet pavement. I don't think I ever would have found out that yes, they did have fuel cutoff at redline in the 80's.



I suppose situationally it'd be good to pick up up an Auto for cheap and do the swap when you put a better engine in (seems to be mandatory ) but there seems to be enough manuals to go around, spend the extra bucks and save the hassle imo.

Side note: glad you chimed in, probably the best resource on here for this question aside from a few vendors.

[daiheadjai]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

They actually have great balance and aren't THAT heavy. I've often thought about building another one for a track car, just to see the reaction people would have.

I've seen a brown wagon one around my neck of the woods... Sounded mean and the guy driving it obviously loved hooning and modding it... BBS wheels and an aftermarket exhaust...

[ayau]

I was in your same situation. I bought a cheap ITR with 136k. It was completely stock. I ended up blowing the clutch on the second day of the track event. Whatever. Not a big deal since it's my track car, right? Nope. When you're on a budget, you're probably driving the track car to the track, which means if anything happens, you better be really handy or make some really good friends at the track. I was lucky and made a really good friend.

The best way to mitigate this would be to tow the track car to the track, which sort of defeats the purpose of a budget.

Bottom line, there's no such thing as a cheap track car. You'll be paying for it either up front (eg., newish car) or paying later by repairing the car. I totally understand not tracking a car that has a 20k loan. There's track insurance, but that's another subject.

[hmong337]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

Tell that to people I destroyed with mine.

...that they got owned by a Toyota sedan from 1986?

Seriously.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL4kIk8mXSk"]1993 Nissan 240SX Part 4: The 240SS Is Born! (With the Help of an LS3) - Ignition Ep. 120 - YouTube[/ame]

It doesn't have to be as expensive as what these guys did. But I reckon you can find 400hp in a 240sx for a lot less. Like ~$15000 including the car.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by hmong337

...that they got owned by a Toyota sedan from 1986?

Well mine was an 85, but yeah

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

No foundation I suppose, my pickup has the KA24E (lol singlecam with more torque than the Toyobaru) and I can't imagine having any fun with a slushbox from that era in it but it's a hoot with the manual sliding around dirt roads and wet pavement. I don't think I ever would have found out that yes, they did have fuel cutoff at redline in the 80's.



I suppose situationally it'd be good to pick up up an Auto for cheap and do the swap when you put a better engine in (seems to be mandatory ) but there seems to be enough manuals to go around, spend the extra bucks and save the hassle imo.

Side note: glad you chimed in, probably the best resource on here for this question aside from a few vendors.

Oh I was assuming a swap would be done anyways. KA-T works also but almost everyone does the SR swap.. or LSX these days. I haven't driven an LSX one, I wonder how balanced they are.


In this case, this 240 was in great shape, low mileage and a 1 owner car. It went for less than far more beat up manuals so it was a solid buy especially given that it had the LSD and no sunroof. Swap just involves some wiring, driveshaft and cutting a hole for the clutch master cylinder and clutch pedal assembly and once you are doing the rest of the swap work it's not a terrible amount of additional effort.


I agree in general though, if you find a great 5MT car or don't really care about finding a really nice example, then get a manual one and save the extra hassle.