If one is good at making the best deals sourcing parts, it's not that hard to build/install a TII that puts out over 300-350hp for 5k. Spend the rest on suspension, brakes, tires/wheels and that 3rd gen will be left in the dust. I hate to admit what I have invested in all of my suspension, braking and handling mods, still have about 700 left to go, which puts the bill well over 3k. I still need another 4k to build the TII I want. By the time I'm done, if ever, lol, I'll have over 15k invested in the widebody.

That being said, I'd be happy to go up against most any 3rd gen whether it be drag, road race or autocross once all of the mods are finished.

 

Side note. Part of that budget included paint and bodywork which we all know isn't cheap. Remember it was supposed to comparable to a new car at the time. Both in street manners and around the track. It did do the 1/4 mile faster than most recorded times for stock 3rd gens.

Today I think it is totally doable to get to the performance of a stock third gen for 10k. However most 3rd gens are no longer stock, they had about 15 years of development on our first gens and now another 15 years of after-market development. Not really a fair fight.

-Greg

 

I remember when this project came out, I have a few of the articles. They also wanted to build it for a lot less than a 3rd gen and keep it simple (no turbo). Last I heard the car changed owners > once and is a little rough now. But still a great idea on a budget.

The other articles go over engine porting and assembly, and the rest of the powertrain.

 

If you have the part 3 and 4 could you post them.

 

Aussie,

It was good to meet you as well. Hopefully you'll make it to the Challenge. I won't be there due to Pettit LeMans. Maybe next year. On a side note the 79 drove the 1,300 miles home no problem and got about 24 mpg at 75mph.

-Greg

 

After reading through the article, I was disappointed that they spent more money on the stereo, fog lights, and new seats than they did on the suspension. I understand that parts selection may have been limited back then, but I felt that they didn't really give it a good try before they decided it didn't work.

If my car had the horsepower that it would need, I would not be afraid to go up against an fd in autocross. I've already reached the point where the Porsche crowd is no longer a threat, so it wouldn't be much more of a stretch to take on an fd as long as I had the horses I think.

I agree that it would be really cool to see this attempted again using the parts that are now available.


.

 

I agree, Kentetsu, but the thing I'm wondering is - Would you be going after modified FD's or stock FD's again. Having an FB on the same budget as an FD type thing?

If interior wasn't a concern at all, 10K dollars thrown into an FB would make for one stupid fast FB.

 

Taking on an FD in any one particular area wouldn't be that difficult. Beating one at an autocross could be done for under 10k pretty easily. I bet Kentetsu could take on one with his street tires. Especially if the FD driver is inexperienced. Running one a road course (where this test was done) is where it will take a well sorted suspension, brakes and of course the power to keep up with an FD.

I know that coming down the straight at Moroso we were hitting 150+ in our stock 08 BMW 335i. Video below. It's a pretty good video, passing a lot of expensive machinery. I was the passenger for the second half of it.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/pro...e/coupe-scoop/

I can't comment much on the path taken with the cosmetics (seats, paint, lights etc.) other than that it was done to make it more comparable to a "new" car. It was before my time and chalk it up to personal preference. Also advertisers like to get involved in project cars. So we factor what their parts would have cost into the total cost of the car. Seeing pictures of the car I can say that it did need seats and some sort of interior... badly.

If it means anything my blue car should be appearing in our sister magazine Classic Motorsports pretty shortly. It will be squaring off against a 240z. My car needs a tune badly so that is sure to hurt it. However it also has more engine mods to begin with.

-Greg