What car do you want to build?

I'd like a Caterham wooden crate to be shipped to my house. Followed shortly by a plastic crate with a new 2.0 Ecoboost and a control pack.

Or

One of the final years of the MN12 Platform, maybe even the Lincoln model, find a 5 speed SC and swap in pedals and shifter console, a new 5.0 Coyote and a 'stang trans. Figure out if I should use the new Mustangs IRS or keep the MN12s. Similarly for the front suspension. Would have access to more wheels in addition to a newer suspension design.

Where to start?

In no particular order:

My '87 Tbird needs a 200 I6 turbo backed by a T5, and 5lug conversion. 90% of the parts are already on hand. Really thinking I may put this car on the rockers with an air suspension too.

My X1/9 needs more power. It is a riot as is, but could achieve supercar level performance with a drivetrain swap. 2zz or 5cyl whiteblock volvo are leading the what-if polls at the moment.

Continue developing my EM Ranger racetruck. It needs to lose a chunk of front end weight. Whiteblock replacing the Lima is the current plan.

Build up the F440 I have as a MC powered FM.

One that I don't own but would really like is a Coyote/6spd '72 Ranchero restomod/PT style build.

I am always thinking along these lines and have more wants to build than I will ever have time for.

Currently restoring a bugeye sprite and have a spitfire project on deck (miata suspension and sportbike power are current plans, but there is a backup (below)).

Currently also T minus 2 weeks from due date for first child.

Been thinking a lot about what direction I want to go in and I want to do something more serious than the local auto-x I have been doing. I dont think I am up for the outright gypsy life that national level auto-x entails and want more seat time anyways (I can locally auto-x about every weekend as it is).   Moto-spit is going to be HPDE/autox targeted for this reason. I am dreaming about vintage racing lately as the possible next landing point. 

Vintage race spridget

Vintage Sports Racer

Vintage Formula Ford

those aside...  Cars I would love to build, but may never do because of priorities...

CANAM knockoff using early 90's Audi/getrag 90 degree transaxle (good for 350ish hp). Body would either be T70 spyder or similar to McLaren M6B.  Built light, 350hp could be built NA pretty reliabily and be plenty fast. Getting it street legal would be the challenge. 

Early Jeep rod using NA V8 with as much cheap HP as I can muster, racing trans, quick change rear with the front converted to SLA.  Big racing slicks, but with a set of whitewalls on steelies to drive it to/from events (cars and coffee, eat your heart out. think hella functional racer rat rod).  The front suspension would be moved forward from the stock location and the rear arches trimmed radically to make it really low.  (I must admit a temptation to do this to the spitfire instead of the moto-miata parts)  

Nothing too wild. 

A Monster Miata with fuel injected small block ford engine.  325 hp tops.  Some suspension and chassis work. 

Stickly summer tires.   Upgraded limited slip.

Basically  a Shelby Cobra with better handling than you can get with Factory Five and no carburetor hassle.

Black W126 with airbag suspension and a 2jzgte with an auto trans. Will most likely be my last big project. 

Naturally aspirated 13b NB Miata. I have a NB shell, wish i could do it. 

LFX Starion/Conquest. I have a conquest sitting in California that's a rolling shell. 

Problem is, I don't have the space to finish what i have. And my hands are keeping me from doing moderate mechanical work for the foreseeable future. 

Given current life situation, budget and motivation...

LTG swapped Fiero.

Make it the car it should have been.

Duratec into a mk1 Fiesta. I have a line on the car and could get the engine but I don’t have the space or the skills to make that swap happen. And California makes it difficult. 

I also want to turn my Mazdaspeed3 into a pseudo rally car. Lift it, rally tires and sparco wheels.... that one is doable if I sold my other car to fund it. 

I just want to build my Fiesta.  Being unemployed means that I haven't been able to do anything to it other than some what is legal in HS.  I would just like a little cash to be able to throw the Cobb and Mountune catalogs at it, add a LSD, up the boost, add an intercooler.  Basic stuff, but right now I am just trying to hold onto it as is.  

Mine are pretty simple. 

I think I’ve got 2 LS swaps in my future, and that may be it. 

- The first is a low budget ($20XX Challenge) 400 hp 4.8L in an NA Miata.  I want the NA smaller motor for the response and high revving capabilities. 

- Resto mod my 1960 El Camino. That one I will spend a little more money on. Full body and interior restoration, Lake pipes, custom bed, and a 650 hp supercharged (or maybe turbo) 6.0L LS. Classic body, all modern drivetrain and internals. I want the bigger engine for more torque to motivate the 4000 lb beast off the line. 

Pete Gossett said:

In reply to stroker :

You basically described why I’m building my STS Miata. 

Mebbe there's hope for me, yet...

I just want to restore my Miata.  Other than that, not much else. 

The fantasy of doing another Challenge car passes more every day.  But if it were that, it would be a better turbo Alfa Spider than the one I did.  Much better.

Thanks to selling my race car next month, many of the parts I have to do that are going away.  Which helps me sleep better at night.

Chevette with a 2.0t and appropriate suspension mods for track day fun.

A 2800-pound sports coupe strictly for track use, with an EFI V12 engine and three pedals.

But more likely, a 2200-pound sports couple strictly for track use, with an EFI V8 engine and three pedals.

Because as Coco Chanel said, you can never be too light or have too many cylinders.

I'm about to start restoring my 91 BRG Miata.  Nothing too extreme, 99 engine with a small turbo and lightweight flywheel, megasquirt 3 and it's already on Vmaxx and I have all sorts of FM's frame stiffening goodies on the shelf.  The interior will be appointed with nicely restored seats and a wooden nardi wheel to match the shifter & ebrake handle.

First the truck brakes need fixed.

I want to get my Dodge Dart roadworthy - it is currently at the "starts and idles" phase, but there are a few minor issues I need to get finished before it goes on the dyno. Finding time to work on it has been a bit difficult lately.

If I had that finished, I happened to spot a Dodge Rampage last week that could probably be bought cheap. With 2.2s getting pretty rare in junkyards, I wonder if a PT Cruiser Turbo / SRT4 drivetrain would be an easy swap?

I'd love to take a small hatcback and put a FWD Volvo turbo five drivetrain in the back, add box flares, for a home-built Group 5 tribute 

E36 M3... What car DON'T I want to build?

Currently, an early 70s C65 with a pickup box, on air is the one at the top of the list.

California, 1975 and older smog exempt, so...

MGB GT with Miata suspension and V6 LFX swap (make it fit!!).  I miss my 72 GT with a 3.4 V6 swap..back in NY.  And the DIY turbo'd 90 miata. 

1st Gen Honda Civic restomod with an all motor B18 swap just for bombing around town.  Mileage in the Cayenne Turbo is killing me, although I seem to forget all my woes when on the loud pedal.  Funny fast, that one.

2000 A8 with 6 speed (rear bias center diff), D3 brakes, Bilstein/Eibach suspension, and sequential dual fuel injection to a Cadillac STS V Supercharger.  Gasoline off boost/ E85 from spare tire tank on boost.  Have the car.  The brakes and suspension are done, and have most of the bits for the other two.  Need time and a small budget to get it done.  Makes no sense, but that car has too many memories to let go of.

Too many house projects, kid committments, and unspeakably wanton acts of filthy dirty lust with the girlfriend to get any of this E36 M3 stuff done.  I'll be lucky to get the starter in the Cayenne before it dies.  Under the intake manifold.  Under the the coolant pipes.  Yes, the plastic ones, that burst, because they never forgave us for the war.  Not really.

In reply to alfadriver :

Having the parts is fate's way of telling you to do it.

I’d love to put some modern V8 power under the hood of my Oldsmobile wagon.

Take an early 996 and do a full GT1 replica including a 4.0 GT3 engine and trans. Try to get as close to 600 bhp and the 4.0 n/a will take.

I’d also like to put a supercharged Focus SVT engine in a Porsche 924.

That one’s not so realistic

Several people have told me that this is a dumb idea but I would like to build a car that looks like a MR2, but it has the mechanical parts of a Prius. 

A few of the other proposals ahead of mine sound interesting.  The "built" Capri V6, the Ford LTD wagon with Mustang parts, and the Corvair powered 914 sound both doable and dynamite.

Two other cars I would like: a V8 powered 2nd generation Corvair, and I think it is no longer available, but there was a company many years ago that made a kit that changed 240-280Zs and ZXs into convertibles.

It varies on a day to day basis.

Today, I'm thinking again about how it would be fun to put a Miata engine in a 1980 Mazda 626 (I owned one new), but it will never happen...as far as I can tell there are none of them left on the planet, they all rusted away.

I have two:

One would be easy.. take a Maserati BiTurbo and drop a VQ35 into it.

The second would take a LOT of work. A classic Range Rover with everything from the front doors aft cut off, the frame extended, and a Sunrader fibreglass RV cabin mounted to it. I want to power the whole thing with one of those new crate Cummings engines. I think it would make a great overland camper