Overhaulin'

New to the tuner scene, sort of, find me a base car.?

I plan to sell my 1985 corvette for many reasons, mostly because of "big brother costs" like cops, gas, insurance. I want to go tuner, I have about a $7,000 budget for the car (approx high-end value of my car) and around $5,000 for upgrades. I want to be faster from a roll above 20 mph, and possibly from a dig, ( i know 350 ft/lbs of torque and meaty tires/RWD will be very hard to beat...) IF THIS CANNOT BE DONE LET ME KNOW NOW!!!!!!!! What are the best turbo base model cars? When I say best, I mean: 1- A lot of after market support communities (online forums) 2- Reliable, popular after market upgrades (ex. ATPturbo.com) 3- Strong engine!!!!!!! (ex, 6-bolt dsm?, MK4?... rx-7 engine? more?) Which cars/engines can handle a lot of boost/power? I will add a list of cars that you should choose from or add to. Feel free to criticize or defend my choices at will, just please be thorough in your explaination. I would get a 1g DSM, but DSMtalk.com seems full of noobs and idiots (like me, i suppose. There are smart people, but they are far and few) compared to the abundant info covetteforum.com has. Also i cant find any BIG upgrade sites with complete kits and detailed descriptions/specs like ATPturbo.com (they only cover audi/vw and similar newer turbo cars like srt-4, mazdaspeeds...) I also feel like 3000gt, 300zx, have similar small communities. Oh, I forgot, Which are easiest to work on? (i can replace my vette transmission, but i would hate to pull an engine just to swap a turbo, or change injectors/plugs. (I almost $hat myself when I saw a friends neon with plugs and injectors on top of the block, as opposed to my vette where the injectors are sandwiched (plenum must be removed) under the intake plenum, and the plugs are in a jungle of exhaust manifolds/heat shields. Here is my list of Possible car candidates. They are organized by similar generational years. Please attack or defend at will, and explain. If I mess up on the turbo's on the car (ie. it really has one, i said it has 2...) please let me know. (t=turbo, tt=twin turbo) ~2001 -Audi: S4(tt), A4(t), A6(tt?) -VW: Golf/Jetta/GTI 1.8t or VR6 (these dont look too good... spec-wise and look-wise) ~misc years: -1990 talon tsi (which have 6-bolt engine?) -2001 integra type r (know nothing a/b this car) -1990 rx7 (1.3L, 200hp wtf? sweet! lol) -1g/2g 3000GT (i know they heavy, convince me otherwise) -1996 300zx (heavy? fast? easy to mod?) -1996 Supra (N/A), can the engine accept a turbo? -200x Mazdaspeed3 or 6 (which is better, why? when did they start making these?) Add any cars that you think are superior, and in the $7-8k range used, good condition, under 90k miles and/or very few small/no repairs needed. can someone explain these terms/engines as far as stock/adding/upgrading turbos... VR6 (do they take turbos well?) MK3/MK4 (thought these were supra engines?) which 6-cylinder cars can take turbos easily? how much turbo can a 1.8t engine take (turbo upgrade, has factory turbo) omg so much, just for a car... *sigh* thanks

Public Comments

1. I'm into muscle cars, but, last night I saw a car that would be fun to build. Someone brought an Austin Healy Sprite there that was unbelievable. The Sprite weights around 1300 pounds and the people are putting RX7 engines into them and with a little boost are putting a ratio of 3 to 4 pounds of car per horsepower. Some of them (some serious beefing up) will easily turn into the low to mid 10's in the quarter mile and a few are into the 9's.