Cheap Japanese Restoration/Track Car (what car)

[P1H]

Hi all, bear with me on this. Apologies for the the life story but I think it is relevant to the pipe dream.

In a nut shell: I graduated this Summer and will be living at home whilst my career gets going. My father has just retired. I think it is an ideal time for the two of us to be able to spend the odd weekend/evening on a common interest. I think it would be great to work on a car, especially considering it is something my father did with his father when he was young.

To that end I'm giving some thought to what would be a suitable car to restore and later prep for track day usage. We are keen on our Hondas, I own a Civic Type R EP3 and my father owns an Accord and a Civic. As you can imagine then; I'm strongly considering a Honda. A Integra Type R or S2000 would fit the bill perfectly (despite being very different) but are much more than I would consider spending on what would, in the long term, end up as a second car of mine.

Requirements:
- Under 1k.
- Cheap parts which are readily available.
- Fwd, Rwd or Awd.
- Sub 7 seconds to 60. (which I know isn't a popular measure of performance)
- Isn't an MX5.
- Isn't an RX8

I'd really appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks!

[clarkmagpie]

CRX?

[GT Kodiak]

Stripped out Honda Jazz?

Should be able to find a cheap one by now because they're not your stereotypical "quick honda" which you'll pay the premium on.

By the time you've stripped it out and given it some breathing mods it should be good.

[TheHeretic]

MK2 MR2. Mid engined, bulletproof engines, 'just' over 7 to 60, but stripped, etc, will be pretty quick.

PH'ers Kovac and WackoJacko have one, and it looks a hoot.

Video and their thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akd9qI9-GwI

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[auto1]

SX 200

[gowmonster]

hard to find a vtec'd CRX for 1k. and if you do, be prepared for both rear arches and a respray.

[P1H]

gowmonster said:

hard to find a vtec'd CRX for 1k. and if you do, be prepared for both rear arches and a respray.

This is certainly true of the MKII CRXs. It seems the MKIII (del sol) can be picked up in really rough condition very cheaply. Then again, they look fairly horendous!

[P1H]

TheHeretic said:

MK2 MR2. Mid engined, bulletproof engines, 'just' over 7 to 60, but stripped, etc, will be pretty quick.

PH'ers Kovac and WackoJacko have one, and it looks a hoot.

Video and their thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akd9qI9-GwI

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Great suggestion and thread. I have considered the MR2 and the idea of picking up one where someone has done some work and put a cage in is appealing!

[P1H]

GT Kodiak said:

Stripped out Honda Jazz?

Thanks for the input but I think to meet the requirements I'm looking for every single component would need to be replaced, including the engine/suspension and even then I don't think the driving position or shape would lend itself to going quickly around corners.

[cptsideways]

[redacted]

[OlberJ]

My mate loved his Ignis Sport. Must admit it has a certain charm. No idea as a track car though.

Mk1/Mk2 Mr2 NA (You might even sneak a ropey turbo)
Mazda 323
Honda Prelude 2.2
Nissan 200SX

All fairly good when you strip a bit of weight out of them.

[gowmonster]

Beta Filters seem good for this.

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/classifieds?Acc...

Primera
hyundai coupe
mr2
mitsubishi FTO
Almera GTI
Prelude
MX3
Impreza (albeit probably big end gone impreza)
Celeca

[Tib]

GT Kodiak said:

Stripped out Honda Jazz?

Should be able to find a cheap one by now because they're not your stereotypical "quick honda" which you'll pay the premium on.

By the time you've stripped it out and given it some breathing mods it should be good.

I have a massive closet ambition to buy a championship white Honda Fit. Strip it. Slap Spoon parts on it. Possibly a K20. Profit.

I'll crawl back under my rock now...

[dtmpower]

I would suggest an EK shape Civic, with a B18 or turbo a B16/D16
Stripped out with some decent suspension upgrades could make a reliable and reasonably cheap track car.

[P1H]

Tib said:

I have a massive closet ambition to buy a championship white Honda Fit. Strip it. Slap Spoon parts on it. Possibly a K20. Profit.

I'll crawl back under my rock now...

It would have a certain novelty value and would go like a rocket with a K20 in but I still question the cornering capability of a car twice as tall as it is wide!

[gowmonster]

a guy up Edinburgh way did a k20 jazz, http://www.type-r-scotland.com/forum/viewtopic.php...

[GT Kodiak]

I get your point but how much effort are you and your dad wanting to put into it?

If you wan't to buy something around 20 years old and Jap it's probably going to need it's suspension/brakes/ARBs/Bushes/etc done by now anyway. And if they have been done you'll end up paying for it and you won't get to do it and enjoy working it out WITH YOUR DAD.

I've bought Retro Jap myself but I don't have a dad to work on it with and my Daughter isn't old enough to be trusted with a Spanner.

There are times when I wish I'd saved up a little more and bought a more "sorted" car (like when something breaks 2 days before a Car Show/Track Day) but at least I'm learning more and more about the car and general mechanics and getting to upgrade it the way I wan't it.

If you get a Jazz then you won't (in normal circumstances) have to worry about repairing it before you can upgrade stuff. The insurance will be a lot lower. It'll be a sleeper once finished. It's fairly new so Aftermarket parts are still being developed for it.

Break out the grinder, fit some widearches and lower the roofline!

EDIT: Think about how boring the Nissan Leaf is, then think about the Race Spec version that Nissan developed

Alternately get a DC5 and don't change anything but the tyres

[P1H]

GT Kodiak said:

I get your point but how much effort are you and your dad wanting to put into it?

If you wan't to buy something around 20 years old and Jap it's probably going to need it's suspension/brakes/ARBs/Bushes/etc done by now anyway. And if they have been done you'll end up paying for it and you won't get to do it and enjoy working it out WITH YOUR DAD.

A good question! We are both quite busy and wouldn't be able to spend masses and masses of time on it. At the same time there has to be some element of challenge involved. So replacing bushes, suspension, brakes, inserting a cage and minor repair to bodywork wouldn't present a massive difficulty but completely taking apart an engine would probably be terminal to the project. (But a more realistic answer is I just don't know at this point, which is why this thread is already proving useful)

I take your point about parts likely to have been done, cheers!

[P1H]

I appreciate the suggestions so far, thanks.

The idea of a Jazz seems to be building some momentum so I'm putting an end to it now!

I'm changing the parameters a bit. I got some interest today from the old man which, trust me, is a significant step.

He said 'if we were going to do this, it would need to be:
- fairly small,
- rear wheel drive,
- front engined,
- have a fair bit of space around the engine, (which is not the case with more modern cars)

The MR2, (whilst obviously mid-engined, seems to be quite easy to access the engine) nearly fits the bill. I'd be interested in other ideas, thanks.

[BoostLee]

Deffiatly Nissan 200sx .
I have an S13 - loads of room in the engine bay
Front engine rwd
Cheap to tune to a reasonble level

Win win win :-)