Vulture wrote:
becareful with mid to late hondas. some have bad trannys. My sisters accord went out i think for the second or third time. Do a carfax search before you buy any car.
Indeed. My friend with a 94 prelude with the 2.3L 160hp non-vetec, blew his trans on that engine, put a v-tech trans in it, closer gear ratios and supposed to be stronger. Then he blew the engine just driving down the interstate (commuting back to college after a holiday), timing belt broke at like 80k miles lol, sent the valves into the pistons, total loss. Got a used (from japan) 50k-ish JDMH22 for cheap, had it in the 220hp range, blew another trans, gave the car to his brother, who blew another trans.
I don't have to work tomorrow, so I have some time to give all of this...
Ok, here is my experience, yous may differ, but this is what I know. These cars were just not meant to be driven the way we dove (as teenagers). Drag strips, street races, blah blah. If you want a car that you can actually race on some weekends (street race, drag strip, or just drive around like a jackass) and wont just fall apart... Get you a old foxbody mustang GT. It had a 225hp and 300ftlbs torque in the later years (87-93)
http://i529.photobucket.com/albums/dd33 ... ang009.jpg
Ugly as shit but not 1 single car can match how quick of a car you can have for cheap since it was made, if you get lucky you can find a 94/95, it has a sn95 body, so doesnt look quite like 80s garbage, has the same 5.0 engine in it (final year).
You can tell the difference between the 95, and the 96 (with the garbage 4.6L) by looking at the rear taillights. The 95 have a horizontal cut design, the 96+ they are vertical. By 99 they got some bugs worked out of the head design and got it from a laughable 215hp to an "ok" 260.
Then there was the (what most consider) the best modern mustang made, the 03/04 cobra, known as the blower cobra. Under-rated at 390hp and 390torque (most put down close to 390 at the wheels, so more like 440engine hp). The engines are bulletproof stock, and can plenty. There are simple pulley mods (just replace the supercharger pulley) and now you have 500horsepower, exhaust is already 3inch, replace the mufflers, and get a tune, 550hp easily. I have met so many people that took those cars, did 1grand worth of mods, and they fucking run 10second quarters, but they get nasty wheel hop due to independent rear suspension, some people even swap in the old live axle setup, but that's the track, on the street they are fucking ridiculous. Put a whipple charger, get 680hp, go twin turbos 750 on the stock engine, build a better engine 1200hp+. No car out there can top this sound (and its the same setup except a 5.4L version in the Ford GT supercar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIvpNt0ovVs
All that being said, I have never owned one, but I would like a 03/04 cobra, and besides the cobra they can't turn for shit (and the cobra isnt that great handling).
If you still want a budget car that will haul ass but the cobra is out of your price range, or you just cant find a good one, they didn't make many, I suggest an fbody.
If you want to go cheap, the LT1 is now an old car (93-97) but are still better than any mustang (excluding the 03/04 cobra). They are lighter, they turn better, they have better engines, stronger (T56) trans, the same transmission that is in the 03/04 cobra, the 92-96 corvette, the viper, the aston martin, etc. They have 285hp/325torque.
Then they build the LS series, what most consider to be the best $/performance engine ever made. The LS1 (first one) made up to 325hp stock rating, but more like 350hp.
The LT1 engines were bulletproof, and great starting platforms like the 5.0 mustang. With a few common mods (CAI, catback exhaust) they can be in the 320hp range. If you invest about 4grand into one, you will have a very fast car. I did a head/cam kit, converted the car to a LT4 setup, about 2000 for the total packing, including injectors. Got a tune, put on headers, and a 150 shot of nitrous. Also had an LS1 aluminum driveshaft, full ignition boxes and N2O controller, Strut tower brace, torque arm, subframe connectors, lower control arms, etc. Easily made 600hp, and turned almost as well as my Z06 vette, but was more fun to drive. The vette just looked better and could handle a turn until you got to scared to go any faster, but my car off the nitrous could still beat the 405hp Z06 and flat out drag racing and roll ons. All this at a laughable 14mpg city, but nice 27mpg interstate (the cam kit made city drive a pain).
The LS1 camaro was even easier to mod, and netted 500+hp just off a head/cam swap, do the same things I did to mine, and you will have 700hp instead of 600.
The LS2/3/6/7/9 have all been in the vetted (except the 2 was in the later GTO's and a few other random cars like a special hhr or something).
I am not a fan of the new camaros, not worth the money IMO, and the whole retro thing already getting played out.
The point is, if you even do a few cheap mods to the fbody, it will open up the car, run strong, and not fucking fall apart on you. Mine was all modded out, and I was on the stock everything (that I did not replace for more horsepower) with 140k hard hard miles. The problem is trying to find one not abused. If you can find one that is in great shape and low mile, go for it, but they are just getting too hard to find. I feel sorry for whoever got mine, it had a possible bent input shaft and was blow up clutches left and right.
All that being said, I drive a fucking honda accord, and I want a G37 (in the next year or 2). Once you get my age, you need something that will get you to work, and be able to do long road trips with some packing room, some gas milage, and no worries that the last mod you did, doesn't fall off or something (cough cough driveshaft going 150mph, hinse the bent inputshaft). I would love to own a 03/04 cobra, but they just cost too much, and I got tired of cars, bikes are so much cheaper, a blower cobra will cost you more in the end than a cheap car, a daily driver bike, and a race bike.
One day I will have another "Toy." How about a 69 camaro, 02SS, a 03/04 cobra, another Z06 vette, or maybe a ford GT:
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/photopos ... FordGT.jpg
Or if you dont care about speed, buy a honda or something, whatever you think looks the best, and if you dont fuck with it, it will last forever. Just don't buy a prelude and try to race it, shit fill constantly go wrong and it cost 3x as much to make it almost keep up a fbody that cost the same.
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... My good friend has a V6 mustang 1999 which he tastefully modded. Full intake, Headers, Exhaust, ECU Chip, Short Throw, and he still dyno's at like 200hp to the wheels...
