Ideally, here are the things I would like to get from my donor vehicle:
- complete engine
- transmission
- drive shaft
- rear axle
- steering
- suspension
- brakes
- gauges
- seats
- rims/tires
My ideal donor for this project would be something that meets the following criteria:
- Costs < $1k
- A V-6 < 4.0L || a straight 6 || an I4
- Manual transmission
- 4 wheel disc brakes
- RWD (or AWD/4WD)
- 13-15" rims
- bucket seats
- independent rear suspension (or at least a limited slip)
Nice to haves:
- Turbo/Super charger
- All of the above in good condition
Examples:
- Mazda Miata, RX-7, RX-8
- Datsun/Nissan 200SX/240SX/280ZX/300ZX, Hardbody, 720
- Chevy S-10/S-15/Blazer/etc..., Camaro (V6)
- BMW 3 series
- Pontiac Trans Am (V6)
- Ford Ranger, Mustang (V6)
- Toyota Supra
- Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4
So, now you can see why its so hard to find the 'perfect' donor.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Seaching for a Donor
Trying to find the perfect donor vehicle sucks. What was that a smart man once said? "Waiting is the hardest part"? Well, he speaks no lies.
Ideally, the perfect donor would be something like a Mazda Miata, with low mileage and ran really strong. Sadly, for doing something on a budget you can't just go out and get a $3000-$15000 car only to tear it apart. So, lets say you set your donor vehicle budget at $1000, like moi. This leaves you to scour every nook and cranny of the we web and your local area for a late 70's/early 80's car. Something like an RX-7 or 280zx that more than likely barely runs and looks like it went through a hurricane or two. And when you DO find a descent one, its either been sold (after it was posted like an hour ago) or its got an automatic transmission. Why would I want to spend another 400-500 bucks on a manual transmission. I am on a budget here people! Thankfully one of my good friends from the great white north (I'm talking about Canada for you ig'nint folks) who hauls cars for a living, offered to haul any car I can find on the Eastern seaboard straight to my house. (Thanks, Chris!) This exponentially increased my search radius, though sadly the story up North is the same as it is down here, except all of their cars are rusted on the bottom, too. *sigh* Maybe I'll start trying to find the steel tubing for the frame instead and work on a donor later.
Ideally, the perfect donor would be something like a Mazda Miata, with low mileage and ran really strong. Sadly, for doing something on a budget you can't just go out and get a $3000-$15000 car only to tear it apart. So, lets say you set your donor vehicle budget at $1000, like moi. This leaves you to scour every nook and cranny of the we web and your local area for a late 70's/early 80's car. Something like an RX-7 or 280zx that more than likely barely runs and looks like it went through a hurricane or two. And when you DO find a descent one, its either been sold (after it was posted like an hour ago) or its got an automatic transmission. Why would I want to spend another 400-500 bucks on a manual transmission. I am on a budget here people! Thankfully one of my good friends from the great white north (I'm talking about Canada for you ig'nint folks) who hauls cars for a living, offered to haul any car I can find on the Eastern seaboard straight to my house. (Thanks, Chris!) This exponentially increased my search radius, though sadly the story up North is the same as it is down here, except all of their cars are rusted on the bottom, too. *sigh* Maybe I'll start trying to find the steel tubing for the frame instead and work on a donor later.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Top of the world
It is too bad there are no places to drive around here that look like this. Its no wonder Europeans are so fond of their automobiles, since they allow them to get to places like this.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Initiating...
There seems to be a lot of interest in this project, and I have not really even started it yet. This seems to be the easiest way to keep all interested parties up to date on its progress.
Hi, my name is Mike, and I have a car project.
But, not just any car project. Noooo... that would be too easy. I am building a car from the ground up. A good friend of my family one remarked, "You Hope's don't do anything normal, do you!" and so I plan on living up to that reputation, because I would hate to tarnish my family's good name.
You are probably wondering what kind of car, that is, unless you looked around the page first before reading this. So, go ahead and do that now, I'll wait. Done? Yep, a Caterham 7. That is correct. Here, have a *. And you are probably also wondering, 'a 7?! That's not too out of the ordinary, afterall, it IS one of the (if not THE) most popular kit car known to man.' And again, you are correct. Here, *. But, not too many people undertake the monumental of assembling the car themselves. Caterham sells them in turn key form. Or for a bit less you can get the car in a box (some assembly required). All the parts are there, well engineered and brand new so you don't have to worry about making a bracket to hold your rear differential in place and hope that it doesn't break when you are going around a corner at 97mph. No, sir, only the crazy and the cheap attempt to do it them selves. Hence, the 'low cost'. Give yourself another * if you figured that out before I said something. (Man you are really racking up those * today).
As most of my friends and family know, I am crazy (check) and cheap, well that is until I want something, then I have to have the best (... check anyways). Thankfully my lovely wife and father are going to be watching over my budget to keep me in line. Google Docs is great for share documents like budget and what you are looking for in a donor vehicle. Thanks, Google! Now, if only Google SketchUp could do finite element analysis...
Anyway, check back often, leave comments, suggestions, spare change, whatever. I will hopefully be updating this as much as I have news to post. I am planning on this project taking a couple of years to get to the 'done' stage, so I can progress into the endless tuning stage. So, no promises.
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