Little background, and way too long! Currently 2 hours away from home, and not looking forward to the motorcycle ride back. Figured this would be a good time to make the start of a build thread, to keep me focused on getting this heap finished.
I was always into cars growing up, although no one in my family really was. I couldn't wait to get my license, and a car. Purchased my first car when I was 15 or 16, from a friends cousin after seeing it race a few times.... I didn't have my license, and no idea how to operate the manual transmission in the car. Early 90s turbo Ford junk, which brought me down the rabbit hole of owning 10+ of these same vehicles over my teens.....
I finally realized trying to make those quick, was too much work for me, as no one made parts. Everything had to be made. Got into the dsm stuff, and ended up owning way too many 4g63 powered vehicles. During this stage of my life, early 20s I didn't have any money. 4g63 stuff was cheap and easy to find.
Made a drastic lifestyle change, and moved 9 hours away from my hometown when I was 23ish. Prior to the move, I would only hold jobs that gave me tons of freedom but little pay. Few weeks after the move, I secured a solid job and started to focus on being an adult, and not wasting my time away.
After a few months, I bought what was my dream car at the time. An Evo 8, that was stock with under 50k miles.
Absolutely loved it at first, but after modding it some I started to fall out of love.
Sold it, and started to hunt for a V8 TT Esprit. I couldn't find that "perfect" one, that checked all the boxes and started to give up the search. Someone suggested to find an S4 Esprit, as they are more reliable and better balanced. At the time, they were both pretty closely priced, so it took convincing for me to purchase a 4cyl Turbo variant, when I could have a v8 TT for similar money. Ended up finding one listed online, and was on a flight out a day later to purchase it.
Aside from the transmission, it was a fun car. Eventually sold it for an Elise.
To me, the Elise is the perfect vehicle. I love them. Also, big into motorcycles, and have gone through just about everything over the years, and the Elise is a similar experience for me as a bike.
The next vehicle was a fully built e36 M3, with a single turbo. Made a little under 600hp.
I know people love those cars, but I was never crazy about it. Sold it, and started looking at used r35 gtr and atoms.
Someone randomly got in contact with me, from a wtb post I made 5+ years ago... The moment he told me what it was, I was already planning if I was flying and driving the car home, or shipping it. I tried getting a flight the following day, and the cheapest flight was like $1,200. I rented a car, and after 14 hours of driving was in this guys neck of the woods. He got cold feet, and didn't want to sell the car! I was furious, and started looking for something else in the area, when he finally called me back and we met up.
Sold it, with the intentions of finding an r35 or atom again. My friend purchased a steal of a deal on a local r35 before I could act on it. This was a blessing in disguise, as I used that money to invest in a business.
Now in my late 20s, I've focused the majority of my time and resources on business ventures. I've owned a few "entry" level exotics after the evo 4, but started getting more and more into motorcycles.
The past year or so, aside from a hot hatch, classic Benz, and a ton of motorcycles. I haven't had a project. I've always wanted to do track days, and have something only for that purpose. It was either going to be on a bike, or car. I found a bundle deal on 3 rare 80s superbikes, that ran in a race series at the time. Super excited, I started looking for a way to get them all home from many states away. The seller started to turn me off more and more, after he would always talk about how he is such a good guy, and only sells perfectly working stuff every convo... He was also very hard to stay in contact with.
So I started looking at everything under the sun. One of my friends randomly sent me a link, to a clean low mileage Xr4ti. I completely forgot about those things, but have always been turned off by the motor in those. Having owned early 90s turbo Ford stuff in the past, another sohc Turbo 4 cylinder was not something I wanted in my life ever again. The next day, I kept thinking about how much I actually like the body style of the xr4ti, and it might make a perfect track rat. They're cheap, and if my novice skill set every stuffed it, I wouldn't care.
I went down the rabbit hole of looking for one, and quickly found the perfect example. It was a roller. It came with a spendy custom 8.8 rear end setup, full suspension, multiple sets of wheels, spare parts, and a tubular front end.
The previous owner and his wife used this for autocross for a few years. All the work he did on the car over the years is top notch. Great fab skills, and I wish he was local as I would use him for anything that required a welder.
He had a few motors in the car, all 2.3 Turbo variants.
He even made his own carbon hood
It was dropped off at my place last weekend, and here is how she currently sits.
I've already purchased a 95 Cobra motor for it. Mildly worked heads, cam, carb setup. Heads, and carb are teflon coated. Pretty simple setup, and I will eventually build a 331, or a modular motor if I like the chassis...
Someone makes a mount kit for the 302, and I'm currently awaiting it to show up. It's another week or so out, as the guy makes everything by order.
I already have a tons of parts, and will update this thread as I go. Figured I would make a thread, to keep the fire lit on having this finished quickly. Also I'm new to road racing on four wheels, and would love to start attending events as a spectator while this is being built to get an education.
(Previous owner clearing it out before the trek home)
