I am bored

I am about a month from moving my Spitfire to where I can work on it anytime I want. So most of my evenings consist of sitting around the apartment walking TV (unless I have a soccer game) and this is getting old. And I miss working on the design of cars (from doing FSAE and helping with Baja) and I have a bunch of CAD packages and a suspension design program on my computer. Basically the point of all this is I have two projects in mind and I need opinions. First option, a B Mod or A Mod car. I have somewhere I can drive this in competition. Second option, an old Model T or A (possibly fiberglass body) with a tube frame and pushrod suspension all around with a lightweight turbo 4 or 6 cylinder. This idea is cooler IMHO but I wouldn't really have anything to do with it. What says GRM?

B Mod - you have time and resources to be designing the car of your dreams...go for it man, whats stopping you?

I think you just described a possible way to build up a FF coup. I am now having thoughts of putting the turbo motor form one of those mid 80's mustangs in a roadster.

93EXCivic wrote: First option, a B Mod or A Mod car. I have somewhere I can drive this in competition. Second option, an old Model T or A (possibly fiberglass body) with a tube frame and pushrod suspension all around with a lightweight turbo 4 or 6 cylinder. This idea is cooler IMHO but I wouldn't really have anything to do with it. What says GRM?

I love cars from the 1920s and 1930s, so I'd go for the Model T/Model A option. You're still doing a bit of design with the pushrods, and it is WAY more versatile. (i.e. You can make it street legal, and wow all the people at the local cruise in, then take it to the autocross or drag strip)

4cylndrfury wrote: B Mod - you have time and resources to be designing the car of your dreams...go for it man, whats stopping you?

I am not sure which is the car of my dreams to be honest. I mean I have a car I am building into a racecar (the Spitfire) but I love the idea of building something this ballistically fast and built for the sole purpose of racing. On the other hand having something that I can cruise the streets with an blow peoples minds/ show up at the drag strip and autocross course and be pretty quick even if it isn't in a particular class would be awesome.

Is it not threadjacking as long as I'm stoked about the T or A option?

It reminds me that I need to do more looking into how stuff is classed in some of the British hillclimb events, as it seems like they're better about encompassing all kinds of odd machinery that most U.S. autocross classes just don't have a place for. Like the Beardmore bros. Minor (I'm actually thinking of the tube-chassis one than the Miata-based which gets more focus in that thread) or the Mannic Beattie.

Classing is difficult. A lot. But I'm perpetually bummed about having to decide between building what I really want to build and building what fits the rules, and they do seem to manage it elsewhere...

I'd love to do one of these.

dean1484 wrote: I think you just described a possible way to build up a FF coup. I am now having thoughts of putting the turbo motor form one of those mid 80's mustangs in a roadster.

Except those are too expensive, street rodish and the engine is covered.

I've been trying to find information on a "hot rod" with push rod suspension that will actually handle well. I found a couple of videos on youtube of one running in autocross. Why wouldn't that be able to run in a mod. autoX class? It might not be a serious contender but it sure would be a lot of fun especially if it were kept street legal.

In reply to Graefin10:

The worst-case scenario for autocross is that most places will let you run for time only without slotting into any class. I haven't researched A Mod in particular, but I believe there are particular dimensional restrictions and so forth, so it's not hard to imagine building something that would fit in any class, strictly speaking.

You can still have fun and compare times with anyone you want, and that can be plenty, but having something of a competitive streak (and surely I'm the only one here like that ), it'd be nice to be in direct competition. Perhaps the best option for places that have a not-strictly-SCCA group to run with is to build an interesting car, and try to convince others to build cars which could be logically run against it with simple guidelines of displacement/weight/tires or something. Maybe it's not appropriate for a national championship, but it'd be neat to have a place to race the sportbike-powered, mid-engine Fiat 600 or the tube-chassis VW Fastback that haunt my dreams...

Theres an all original model a in a friends back yard. I think he even has the owners manual. He is willing to sell. Have fun walking your TV, though.

ransom wrote: Is it not threadjacking as long as I'm stoked about the T or A option? It reminds me that I need to do more looking into how stuff is classed in some of the British hillclimb events, as it seems like they're better about encompassing all kinds of odd machinery that most U.S. autocross classes just don't have a place for. Like the Beardmore bros. Minor (I'm actually thinking of the tube-chassis one than the Miata-based which gets more focus in that thread) or the Mannic Beattie. Classing is difficult. A lot. But I'm perpetually bummed about having to decide between building what I really want to build and building what fits the rules, and they do seem to manage it elsewhere...

re:classing

decide how important it is to be competative. Suppose I could A) build and drive a car that I think is awesome all the time and fun to autocross, or B) put the effort into making something that wins but I do not like to (or cannot) drive on the street. Given those two choices, I would build the awesome car instead of the winning car. If you need to win to have fun,YMMV

I think I am starting to lean towards the old Model T or A bodied creation. I have my Spitfire to take care of my competitive streak I guess. Does anyone make a fiberglass body of a Model T or A or Dodge or Chevy equivalent that is not a T-bucket or open car of any kind? I want a sedan or tall T or coupe. I would prefer if I found vintage metal but that is getting ridiculously expensive and after I have finished this Spitfire I am sure I will never want to look at rust again.

In reply to JoeyM:

But I want to do BOTH (flops on ground, kicking and flailing arms)...

Really, I suppose the best answer is to build something so cool that you can lure other people into building bizarre attempts at FTD-with-style-points, never mind the official competition...

Aw man, don't stop the B Mod talk yet. Been thinking B Mod could satisfy my DSR jones w/o the high dollar expense as B Mod could be built a lot cheaper than a DSR or track car. I like the design and fab work as much as driving. Any B Mod guys out there?

maybe this needs it's own thread