Bench Build - All purpose, swiss army, motorsports car

Since we are talking all motorsports including crapcan, here is my choice 1993-1996 Mirage LS:

Drop in a 2.4L from a galant and a decently long travel suspension (the evo coilovers can fit) and you have a 2000ish LB 150-160ish HP car that can be a lot of fun.

In reply to oldopelguy:

GTO? Weight is a factor.

Tom_Spangler wrote:

thatsnowinnebago wrote: Porsche 911. They pretty much get raced in all those venues as it is.

He did mention "low buck endurance racing". Nothing "low buck" about a 911, especially these days.

Also, 911 + big slip angle = big spin (and possibly death), so no drifting. Rally would be a real butt-puckering experience too. The E36 or Foxbody seem like good choices.

My RX7 is basically already this. It has run stage rallies and a LeMons race, the cage is hillclimb legal, and it drifts well enough. Want to buy it?

In reply to ¯_(ツ)_/¯:

This is a bench build thread not a spend money thread!

A few years ago I bought an ex spec RX7 from this board. I ended up selling it when I realized even in an aluminum seat bolted straight to the floor I didnt have enough headroom to wear a helmet.

bmw88rider wrote: Since we are talking all motorsports including crapcan, here is my choice 1993-1996 Mirage LS: Drop in a 2.4L from a galant and a decently long travel suspension (the evo coilovers can fit) and you have a 2000ish LB 150-160ish HP car that can be a lot of fun.

Hard to drift a FWD car, though.

Tom_Spangler wrote: Hard to drift a FWD car, though.

Nonsense. You just need some lunch trays and a good working handbrake- Wendy's has the strongest ones

True....Just load the rear tires on some wheel jacks and go have some fun.

Ok so take drifting out, you can still rally/rallyx, autocross in FSP if you grab the right 2.4L, crap can it, and pound it on track days, and open road rally. If you wanted to keep the factory engine in it and it should be legal for most hornet classes at the circle track too. True swiss army knife.

E36 M3 for sure. The fact that folks I know at or below my income range have gone racing with them assures me of this.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote:

Tom_Spangler wrote: Hard to drift a FWD car, though.

Nonsense. You just need some lunch trays and a good working handbrake- Wendy's has the strongest ones

Skid plate racing does look like fun.

The crapcan requirement makes most of these suggestions a no go.

The_Jed wrote: I vote BRZ/FRS.

What he said, chassis wise. However, the Twins engine design does not allow for much more power to be created. Pretty much designed to its max potential from the factory.

In reply to ¯_(ツ)_/¯:

Not true, mission BBQ has metal trays

Foxbody. Versatile, cheap buy in and huge aftermarket. Theres a reason there so popular.

So it seems there is a general agreement with what we came up with, E36 and Mustang. I think the Volvo 240 idea is a pretty good one.

Much as I love Mustangs, i can't condone them for this idea. Fox bodies and even SN95's are utter total crap. Fun lovable crap, but crap. The work needed to make the chassis strong enough and sort out the suspension geometry requires either cubic dollars or cubic hours.

Realistically for a combination of chump, rally, racing, autocross etc I can agree with an E36, but two others that come to mind are Merkur XR4Ti and 240 Volvo. Both proven chassis in both road racing and rally with build books out there for Worl/European Touring car championships and WRC. In either case I'd toss the boat anchor and fit the 302 SBF you pulled out of the crap-tastic Fox body before you realized it was a rusty POS with the palaces not rusting tearing due to the lack of strength. Seriously I've eaten al-dente pasta with a higher torsional rigidity than a Fox body.

Get a proven all rounder !

In reply to logdog:

I'll be the first to admit that the biggest thing to correct with the volvo option is many have wiring that is in need of attention and they have old school systems with ceramic fuses.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

I had a few others in mind but you swayed my vote.

Volvo checks all the boxes. They are all over the place for next to nothing. All the other options get pricey, rare, or dont meet all the requirements.

I think maybe even a GM A/G body Malibu or something could do well. SBC, so tons of options for power. Decent suspension travel, and the 4 link rear doesn't bind as badly as some of the others out there (cough fox cough). they're heavy, but big brakes are available. Parts in general are easy to come by, and really the main reason for the suggestion is they can also be had very cheap, so would work for chump/lemons.

Volvo 740 turbo.

Hard to argue with the E36... but how would the rear suspension hold up for rallying?

I've always thought a 944 would be fun for rally, autocross, and track but probably not competitive everywhere.

Or...

mndsm wrote: I smell evo.

Actually that's burnt oil and coolant. I guess with the frequency of failures I can see what you associate those smells with an evo.

Also the answer is obviously the answer, Miata.

This choice would have been easy a few decades ago! Datsun 510!

Bit more difficult now though.

I can't really find fault with the Stock Car suggestion. Strong, not too heavy, huge parts and knowledge pool. Easy to work on.