I would want the car to be somewhat better than my racing ability - which doesn't suck, but it's highly inexperienced. I want the car to have room for me to grow and rise to the level of the car.
Put it this way... if I put down a 53 second run and then a pro puts down a 52 second run, I know the car doesn't have much more to teach me. But if the pro puts down a 47 second run, I know there is more in it that I need to learn how to extract.
This will very much be my "learn how to make good mistakes" first race car. I think the shifter knob should be a binky.
Revisiting this. I finally made the time to go see the cars today. They're... ummm.... rough, but serviceable.
The Corolla has some significant rust. Bottoms of the doors are swiss cheese, rear quarters need help. There is surface rust on the panels where the paint wore through, but that's easy to scrub off. The underside looked particularly good with one exception. Where the frame rails are welded to the floor pan there is rust right under where the driver/passenger's feet would be. The frame rails themselves look good, but the floor would have to come out in those areas.
The imporant areas (strut towers, hatch surround, radiator support, etc) looked pretty solid and serviceable. I'm really tempted to pull the trigger, but I also know that I have nowhere to really work on it. I was hoping that rust would be passable and I could stuff a K24 in it and spit polish it, but it looks like more of a project. Still, I really want it.
I didn't get many pics because my buddy was embarrassed by how dirty they were, but I did snap one. Interested to hear what you have to say at a $400 price point. Ran when parked, but he says the reason it was parked was because it needs an oil pump. The 82 civic is in the background and looks very similar. I didn't poke around too long because it was 30 degrees with winds gusting to 40mph and I just had a flannel shirt on, but I can get more photos later.
Anyone have good sources on replacement body panels so I can research some budget numbers? Used is fine.
Gm 3800 with the t5 behind it. Cheap, good enough aftermarket. 200+ hp stock. Should fit under the hood okay.
Do eet!
I bet the rusty bits can be salvaged well enough with a file cabinet found on the side of the road!
j_tso
Dork
3/14/23 11:39 p.m.
Looks like you may have to steal some street signs to make this work.
I saw this guy and his '82 last week around the corner from me.
Street signs I have, but this would also be an awesome excuse to buy some sheet metal tools... shrinker, stretcher, brake, english wheel, etc. Buy some sheet steel and make magic. Of course I'll have to learn how to not blow holes in anything under 16ga with my welder, but that's another story. I would want it to be at least a "20-footer" so I have a vague chance at the Radwood concours trophy.
It might also bring my designer parts alive. Radical ground effects that cover the rust? It is an 83 Toyota, after all.
This is reminding me of how terrible I am at body work.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Anything cool parked in front of the Civic?
In reply to David S. Wallens :
68 Chevelle if I remember correctly. That one he's hardcore keeping. It was his dad's. There is also Volvo 740 and an 87 Olds eighty eight that he wants to keep for some odd reason.
Pay more for the cleanest car you can find and spend your time modded it to want you want it to be vs replacing rotted metal.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
I have a soft spot for early Honda civics. I love how toss able they are.
It's hard to find mechanicals that aren't all used up though. Plus Rust never sleeps. It's busy chewing away at the next piece of time while we are discussing this.
But then think of all the hours of fun you can have grinding the rust away and then welding metal bits back on.
Then comes the bondo work. Where you try to make it look like it's not what it really is.
Paint? Rattle can or roller?
Then comes the fun stuff.
A guy here bought an early Honda CRV with a Manual. For only $400.
One of the "rebuilt" calipers the pin was badly rusted so he bought a new caliper cheaper than he could buy a new pin.
Then I paid $500 for this 
kevlarcorolla said:
Pay more for the cleanest car you can find and spend your time modded it to want you want it to be vs replacing rotted metal.
That thought had crossed my mind, but finding anything clean these days is really hard. Since I'm making this a challenge build, the initial thought was:
A- my buddy offered me a cheap RWD JDM that would make a great Radwood platform
B- Elbow grease is free in the challenge budget
C- Starting with a clean car (usually) eats up more of the budget than doing work yourself.
It's just that this particular one is a bit rougher than I had hoped. Not a basket case, especially since I would likely strip most of interior out, but a bit more work than anticipated.
Mr_Asa said:
wvumtnbkr said:
I bet the rusty bits can be salvaged well enough with a file cabinet found on the side of the road!
Box flares?
That's in the works. I was going to hit a junkyard and find the closest 80s conversion van and scavenge the fender flares.
frenchyd said:
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
I have a soft spot for early Honda civics. I love how toss able they are.
It's hard to find mechanicals that aren't all used up though. Plus Rust never sleeps. It's busy chewing away at the next piece of time while we are discussing this.
But then think of all the hours of fun you can have grinding the rust away and then welding metal bits back on.
Then comes the bondo work. Where you try to make it look like it's not what it really is.
Paint? Rattle can or roller?
Then comes the fun stuff.
A guy here bought an early Honda CRV with a Manual. For only $400.
One of the "rebuilt" calipers the pin was badly rusted so he bought a new caliper cheaper than he could buy a new pin.
For now, anyway, RWD is what I'm most used to driving competitively. CRV is also a bit... um... tall for my liking.
I used to be constantly surrounded with "you want this old car for free?" For a while in L.A. I had 9 free cars sitting in my project bin. Since moving here, I haven't found that local tribe yet, and with the price of scrap on the way up and covid pricing on used cars, finding the cheap gems has been rough for me.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
kevlarcorolla said:
Pay more for the cleanest car you can find and spend your time modded it to want you want it to be vs replacing rotted metal.
That thought had crossed my mind, but finding anything clean these days is really hard. Since I'm making this a challenge build, the initial thought was:
A- my buddy offered me a cheap RWD JDM that would make a great Radwood platform
B- Elbow grease is free in the challenge budget
C- Starting with a clean car (usually) eats up more of the budget than doing work yourself.
It's just that this particular one is a bit rougher than I had hoped. Not a basket case, especially since I would likely strip most of interior out, but a bit more work than anticipated.
Patience is required to find the nice rust free examples. Best Buy's are in the fall from just before Halloween until just before Christmas. When snow is about to fly
The real "deals" are ones " everybody " knows" are trouble. Like Jaguars.
The funny thing is all of those "troublesome" cars have fantastic networks of people who actually love them and collect them. You go on their sites and they will tell you how little they have to spend on them.
I'm not just talking about Jaguars. Or even British cars.
Air cooled VW's or BMW's, whatever! All have their supporters. Clubs and groups. They will tell you when to replace and what's better.
Spring is absolutely the wrong time to look. Anybody selling in the spring is planning on getting every last dollar possible and isn't worried about too many cars for not enough space.
I don't disagree with the timing of Spring/Fall. Also agree on the "everybody knows" cars. It just takes a little bit of research to find the version of every brand that was a good bet, but depreciated with the rest of them. W210, X308, etc.
Maybe I could give up on the idea of having a second streetable car and just kart the corolla :)
(I'm not going to kart the corolla)
Well, I told him I'd take the Corolla. Having frighteningly serious thoughts about stuffing it full of the free Caddy 500 I am getting soon. Also wondering if GM ever made a switch-pitch TH425 so I can make a mid-engine abomination.
Reviving the Zombie. Was it Yupididdit who was interested in the other car? I can't find the email. I am picking up the Corolla today.
Oh Goody !!! Another Corolla project car. Just some thoughts generated by the things I ran into with my TE27 Corolla. If it's rear steer there will be issues with space for the oil pan of any engine swap. If you want to go to a double A-arm front suspension (I did) the front frame horns are at the wrong elevation by quite a bit (too low) to utilize something like a Miata subframe. I built a front clip to use Miata suspension and to eliminate the stock frame rails because my shell was a rusty mess at the toe boards. Check the area right at the front of the rockers (inside) where they meet the door pillars for rust. File cabinets are fine for outside sheet metal repair but if it's significantly rotted in the interior footwells it's not a fun place to fix. Van flares are for huge wheel openings and are grossly oversized for a 275/35/15 tire. BTDT.
Have fun !!
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
Reviving the Zombie. Was it Yupididdit who was interested in the other car? I can't find the email. I am picking up the Corolla today.
Yup it was I. But, I'm supposed to be picking up a free Omni and my 190e in the next week and a half. Then I'll be away on vacation all of July.
In reply to yupididit :
Gotcha. I'll tell him to junk it.
Truth be told, he probably should have junked this Corolla, too, but cheap car for the challenge was too tempting.
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
This one has its fair share of rust. A few decades of PA and NY winters, then it sat for the last 10 years on a gravel driveway uncovered.
I have my work cut out for me... pun intended.
I have a feeling I will fix all the structural parts (if any... it actually looks pretty solid) and do a white-trash cosmetic fix on things.
I will say this... I picked up a cheapy 5000-lb winch from HF, and it was amazing. Not only did it drag the car down the driveway, up the steep ramps, and on the trailer, it did it with one of the front brakes frozen on the car and conveniently ripped off the muffler in the process. One less disassembly step. Bonus.
And in case anyone is interested... PM me and I can hook you up with my friend if you want the Civic. He's... um... eccentric. Likely undiagnosed somewhere on the spectrum. Expect him to completely miss your email and then blame you for not emailing. Comes across as a total prick, but he's actually one of the sweetest guys I know with a monster heart. He does a lot for charities (including mine) and he told me that the $200 cash I gave him is going straight to St. Judes. He's likely planning the same thing for the Civic, but I can't be sure.
The Civic. Only real body damage (other than rust) that I could see is in the last picture. Driver's front fender is a bit crunched in front of the door.
