I don't drive it every day any more - got a company car - but this is my frequent driver:
Disks, AC, HEI, AM/FM/USB ...
I don't drive it every day any more - got a company car - but this is my frequent driver:
Disks, AC, HEI, AM/FM/USB ...
In reply to alfadriver:
I'm not sure your choice of swap was what he was talking about. 
an off the shelf pre 80s car Id have to drive daily?
Sure Id love a split bumper camaro, or a sleek 60s Continental...but 8 mpg isnt gonna cut it for my 40 mi round trip daily commute.
I would have to say the car that "Daniel-san" and his mom drove from Jersey to California in the original Karate Kid.
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
MadScientistMatt wrote: Though summer heat isn't too bad if you can keep the car moving, if you stop, it's pretty bad.
Oh man. Not here in VA. No AC in this state means you're driving down the road with the window open. You might as well stand in front of a blow dryer to try to cool off.
~~~~
On topic - I'd love to drive a classic for a DD. I did for awhile. 20 years is a classic right? '91 Miata counts. Pretty damned reliable too. 
Now, older than that? I owned a BMW 2002 for awhile. That would make a fun city car. I'd rather have something with some get up and go if I'm duking it out on I95 everyday.
Let's see...the mullet mobile might be nice. 91 Camaro Z28.
A friend of my family just bought a nice 1969 Javelin with a 6-cylinder from EBay sight unseen to drive daily. It's replacing his early 2000's Jeep Wrangler. He said that the Javelin gets in the high 20's for MPG and is dead reliable. He also lives near St. Petersburg FL so he can drive something that cool year round.
If I had to do it, I'd get one of these:
Make mine a 327 with a 4-speed. 
4cylndrfury wrote: an off the shelf pre 80s car Id have to drive daily?
My 72 Firebird with a mild 400, hei, quadrajet, and highway gears got a lot better than 8. My Chevelle with a 454, 3 speed auto, and 4.11 gears gets 8-9.
I DD a 79 Fiesta and it's not too bad 85 mile round trip. Upper 20's to low 30's for mpg and the wing windows move a good amount of air. Would be nicer with a 5-speed though...
ShadowSix wrote: Mid-70's Celica w/ the old carb'ed 20R replaced with an injected 22RE. Nothing fancy, but it could be as reliable as a 2009 Corrolla with a little work.
See, my idea involved a motor swap, but a really basic swap. It really would not be hard to pull the 20R and replace with a 22RE, bring the ECU, wiring, assorted electronic stuff with it, come up with some kind of fuel pump solution. If you had a donor truck (easy to find here in the Land of Rust where good running Toyota trucks rust through their frame rails pretty regularly) you could do this swap in a weekend, maybe even one long day.
Still, if I had to keep the stock 20R that would be OK. I'd just like to avoid fiddling with a carburetor if possible. The car would be far from fast either way.
ShadowSix wrote: In reply to alfadriver: I'm not sure your choice of swap was what he was talking about.
Oh, so more of an EcoTech into an Opel kind of swap, you mean....
(I would make the same joke about a modern Chrysler product, but I don't know the clever name for a early RWD swap. )
Hmmm, my 83 Corolla uses the same body and chassis it did in 1980... so I'll take my Corolla.....
32mpg, 170hp in a 2300# rwd car with carry capability of a 7' christmas tree, or a months worth of groceries
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/reader-rides/2130/
Very little actually needs to be done to get the 4AGE int there... I've seen it done on the cheap for under $1000. The only key part really is the front cross member, and you can steal one from an AE86 and that is the extent to the difficulty in swapping in the 4AGE.....
If this thing was a little more sorted I would DD it.
It has A/C, PS, Heat, Etc... None of it works right now but hey that's ok. All in due time.
Rabbit or Scirocco with a 16v engine, Datsun 510 or a 140 series Volvo
alfadriver wrote:ShadowSix wrote: In reply to alfadriver: I'm not sure your choice of swap was what he was talking about.Oh, so more of an EcoTech into an Opel kind of swap, you mean....
Pentastar a Plymouth.
Don't know of any 3.6 V6 swaps being attempted yet. Do know the tech guy from one of the Mopar mags would like to do it to a B-body. I'm wondering if it would fit in a '64-65 Barracuda...
Both this thread and Wheels' "Anybody Like Gassers" thread has had me thinking too much about projects. I guess it doesn't hurt to ponder too much. 
In reply to Rob_Mopar:
Here's my response to all that;
Art Car Rules.
A pushbutton controlled 200-4R in another '64 Savoy with a fuelie setup on a slant-six would pretty much be the marriage of awesome and my first car. So I support all of that. Get it some decent power brakes that still have some feel and some other things and that could be a nice DD.
For a manual trans I'd probably just start looking for A-833 OD parts and that'd suit a Barracuda just fine I think.
In reply to alfadriver:
"But the early Capri is better than both (to me), which is easily surpassed by a Cortina."
How is a Cortina better than a Capri when the Capri is a slightly updated Cortina + Mustang styling?
Rob_Mopar wrote: Both this thread and Wheels' "Anybody Like Gassers" thread has had me thinking too much about projects. I guess it doesn't hurt to ponder too much.
As long as you don't lose sleep over it.
I have.
So, here's an applicable project to really keep you up a night.
Locost 7 (see, classic).
as freaking light as you can get with a car motor.
one that can be used to pull a tiny tear drop trailer
Your own 7 like teardrop.
Build a 7 like they used to make formula/sports cars- with sandwitched honeycomb that you can get scrapped from planes.
If that doesn't keep you up at night- half of the projects/swaps on this thread surely have the potential. Start with the car, and how you would make it more durable- say a chemical dip, body repair, and then another chemichal dip to prevent rust. Then what cool modern updates can you HIDE. What motor.
Finally, if you REALLY want to not sleep- do any of the above for the challenge. no way you can sleep thinking about that kind of work.
I've though a few times about Alfa projects- one of my favorites is a Giulia Ti that we update and then send to Puerto Rico as our vacation car. That would be cool in a hot place.
pres589 wrote: In reply to alfadriver: "But the early Capri is better than both (to me), which is easily surpassed by a Cortina." How is a Cortina better than a Capri when the Capri is a slightly updated Cortina + Mustang styling?
Taste? I like the look of the Cortina that was used to become a Lotus Cortina.
If I'm going to update, the engine isn't the only think I would change/update.
Cortina Mk1 > Capri > Mustang.
And since that's purely my opinion, I'm right.
SilverFleet wrote:
singleslammer wrote:
I like both of these...I like them a lot.
In reply to Xceler8x:
Well for the right price the Galaxie is all yours!
I want to find a nice Corvair to DD for awhile.
pres589 wrote: In reply to Rob_Mopar: Here's my response to all that; Art Car Rules. A pushbutton controlled 200-4R in another '64 Savoy with a fuelie setup on a slant-six would pretty much be the marriage of awesome and my first car. So I support all of that. Get it some decent power brakes that still have some feel and some other things and that could be a nice DD. For a manual trans I'd probably just start looking for A-833 OD parts and that'd suit a Barracuda just fine I think.
Yea he is.
I like the feel of the manual brakes with the 11 3/4" front disks on my Barracuda (the one in the avatar), so living without power brakes is fine with me. I concede to power brakes in the heavier stuff.
Modeling the pieces out of a early to mid '90's Dakota probably would give a modern enough feel in something like your Savoy.
The A-833 OD would bolt right in with the matching bell housing (or opening up an original), but the ratio spread is pretty wide. The closer ratios in a T5 would just be more fun for me.
I'm toying with installing regular A-833 in the Barracuda and dropping the rear gears down to something more highway friendly. At least until the Passon 5-speed is available.
ShadowSix wrote:ShadowSix wrote: Mid-70's Celica w/ the old carb'ed 20R replaced with an injected 22RE. Nothing fancy, but it could be as reliable as a 2009 Corrolla with a little work.See, my idea involved a motor swap, but a really basic swap. It really would not be hard to pull the 20R and replace with a 22RE, bring the ECU, wiring, assorted electronic stuff with it, come up with some kind of fuel pump solution. If you had a donor truck (easy to find here in the Land of Rust where good running Toyota trucks rust through their frame rails pretty regularly) you could do this swap in a weekend, maybe even one long day. Still, if I had to keep the stock 20R that would be OK. I'd just like to avoid fiddling with a carburetor if possible. The car would be far from fast either way.
Not that it applies to you, since you want to swap engines, but have you guys that want to DD a Celica like this ever driven one? I found it incredibly underwhelming. A Capri will absolutely whup it in every category.
Now, I say this having on my list a Ford Falcon, for gosh sakes, so I see the irony. But the Celica really wasn't that great of a car. A great Toyota, yes. Great classic sporty car, not-so-much.
alfadriver wrote:Rob_Mopar wrote: Both this thread and Wheels' "Anybody Like Gassers" thread has had me thinking too much about projects. I guess it doesn't hurt to ponder too much.As long as you don't lose sleep over it. I have.
Plenty of other things have kept me from sleeping but thinking these projects through relaxes me. I have woken up on occasion to my subconscious planning some of these things. I usually nod back off to sleep no problem.
So, here's an applicable project to really keep you up a night. Locost 7 (see, classic).
That T-bucket idea I have is probably as close to a 7 as I'll build.
I've though a few times about Alfa projects- one of my favorites is a Giulia Ti that we update and then send to Puerto Rico as our vacation car. That would be cool in a hot place.
I look forward to your Giulia Ti build thread.
I need to go grab some dinner. I'm sure my wife will talk me down to a more reasonable level. Not talk me out of any of this, just talk me down. 
I DD my 73 Super Beetle sports bug for 2 years and sold it to get a mazdaspeed 3. I really miss the beetle and I'll probably wind up with another street-able bug in the future. I got great mileage with the 1600cc motor ~27mpg flooring it every where. Less than half that with the high cr, 180hp 2165cc power plant that replaced it, but the growl of a big cam through big webers at wot was totally worth the sacrifice.
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