Car planning advise

I've been lurking the forums for some time now and I have to say that I hate every one of you for your demonic persuasion tactics. All day I think about miatas, race cars, craigslist and race car builds. (I don't know another way to say thanks)

So, on with my story.

I have a 05 GTI, I bought it "pre-owned" from the dealer. What drew me to it was the turbo potential, the roominess, and the small niceties like heated side mirrors. But in the last four years of owning it, I've had to replace a clutch, water pump, coil packs, muffler, coolant temp sensor, wheel bearing, and so much more. Even then, I'm still running more lights on my dash than a Christmas tree -- abs, traction control, airbag, brake pad sensor, all of them not working.

Then on top of that the car is only worth 1/3 of what I paid for it and selling it with all these lights won't even give me that.

I'm taking this as a sign, it's time to take this dual purpose daily driver/occasional autocrosser and make it into a track car/race car/dedicated autocrosser.

It's not all bad, the engine's never had an issue, the ecu has been tuned, the airbag light and abs don't matter for track use, the front suspension has some audi tt bits, the exhaust is sorted out now and the cheapo coilovers are blown (i.e. time for some decent springs and shocks). The last piece will happen in a few weeks. I'll be moving into a new place with a garage.

What do you guys say? GTI becomes a race car, and I get another dependable daily driver.

Plan would go as follows

1. Remove unnecessary weight
2. New shocks and springs
3. Good set of summer tires
4. Stiffer bushings all around
5. Stiffen up the frame (subframe braces, etc)

I know it's a long post but I wouldn't ask if I didn't value what you guys, with your experience, have to say.

This thread is ripe for a joke about making lemonade out of a proverbial lemon, but I won't be the one to say it.

Sounds like great direction for the car (of course), but I would figure out what type of racing you wanted to do before modifying the car. Rules and regulations and all that. Also, good summer tires may be fine for hpde's, but you'll want something more serious if you're actually competing in time trial, wheel to wheel action, or even any autocross class besides ST. Same with shocks and springs. Figure out what is competitive in your preferred venue and go from there.

btw - kudos

Is it paid off? I personally would never track a car that wasn't.

In reply to 93EXCivic:

It's paid off

errorgti wrote: and I get another dependable daily driver.

I think the general consensus is Miata, E30, P71, Cherokee, or Mazda 5, depending on your needs.

Wait was that the question?

I would do it then. Are you just looking at doing HPDE or going whole hog and doing wheel to wheel?

Oh and my older sister bought me a gopro hd hero for Christmas. I'm gonna get me some lemonade

In reply to 93EXCivic:

First some autocross, then a couple track days, but ultimately a wheel to wheel series is what I'm working towards. Competitive or not, I want to have fun. I'm going to enjoy working on the car no matter the lap times.

Read the rulebooks for all series involved first to make sure you don't "mod yourself into a hole".

Javelin wrote: Read the rulebooks for all series involved first to make sure you don't "mod yourself into a hole".

Probably too late for scca autocrosses, with the audi spindles and control arms, I'm in Street Modified.

For track racing, I'll look into it and be careful to put myself somewhere competitive. Thanks for letting me know that.