What are the Challenge builds that you'll never be able to do?

In reply to Apexcarver :

I've joked about putting a old Fiat 500 body on to my F500 chassis (I only paid 2K for the car) but instead of the 500cc motor use one of the 850cc two stroke engines. 165-180hp would in a 900lb car would do well.

Mr_Asa said:

In reply to Stampie :

You just need a E36 M3ty enough E30

Well there is an E46 sitting in my driveway needing an engine.

My plan was to make a homemade version on the Renault 5 turbo / Clio V6 / Fiesta Shogun but with a Suzuki Swift body (because very light) and the powertrain out of a manual gen 3.5 Nissan Maxima.

My thinking was that the Swift is super light while still being large enough inside and the Maxima has the easily tuneable VQ35, an HLSD in the transmission, common 5x114.3 bolt pattern and a beam rear axle that could be transformed into a DeDion axle to help with the handling (like Smart cars).  And a Swift with huge flares would have looked good I think.

Both of these cars have returned to the earth by now around here, so that plan is out the window.

Find a cheap formula car and cut up the frame from the $40 spitfire to use as ballast. That way the formula car will have factory frame rails. 

In reply to Andy Neuman :

YOU SAID THE QUIET PART OUT LOUD!!

In reply to Andy Neuman :

That car almost became a bike engined track toy. I had miata suspension to put under the chassis and was headed for it.  Then kids happened and my wife encouraged me to get the formula car so I could actually go drive and have fun in the next decade. 

I wavered between that and V8 with a quickchange solid rear. Either way, I was looking at replacing the front suspension with the miata parts, for the brakes if nothing else. 

Mr_Asa said:

The idea is to share that weird car design that you know you won't be able to do, but someone might.

Most recent one for me is something I call the Modular B-body, or the El-Blazermino Wagon (the name could stand some workshopping.)

Start with a mid 80s B-body, probably a sedan.  Chop, cut, and weld so that you can make it into an El Camino, a sedan, or a wagon.  At each event have it be in a different mode.  LS motor and manual trans and done.

 

Less pie in the sky, and more likely to happen, when I finally get in gear to build my hat-truck I plan on bringing the Crown Vic base and leave the keys in the ignition at the starting grid, letting anyone and everyone drive it.  The goal is to at one point have every seat filled and a pro driver piloting.

I love that. But swap out sedan and swap in hearse.

Also, my very first challenge car (750il) had racing seats installed on the power rear seat sliders. I had hoped that the car would have been able to do pro driver laps with people in the back, but I couldn't pull it off. (The car had much bigger issues to fry).

Something that would win. Haha!, kidding! Mostly. 

Played with the idea of a vintage build a little. Like,  what would somebody have brought to the challenge if the year was 1965? MG TD with a flat head ford? Maybe some old T-buckets with god knows what kind of supercharger? Obscure straight 8 mated to a wrecked chevy bel air?

The amount of time spent parts-scavagening would be horrible. Step number one would be to buy a lathe and a mill,  and you'd never finish above mid pack. Still a cool idea though.

In terms of an idea- a decade ago, I was obsessed with the idea of making a challenge car that would be capable of getting a trophy at the SCCA nationals.

Given the cost and complexities, it seems that the best class would be Prepared, and the obvious choice would be a Miata- so make an EP Miata.  Some may remember the Cadillac that got FTD a few years ago, and it actually was eligible for CP in the exact state that it was in (~3000lb min weight).

The one "exception" I would have made was to have N2O for the drag race- since an XP Miata would be a tough one to trophy vs. an EP one.

The other idea was to make an EM car- not long ago, there was a sports racer that showed up here that was an 80in WB car- so a Fiat 850 Spider body would fit right over it.  The car based Mod classes are massively time based for builders- which is in line with the Challenge.

What are the Challenge builds that you'll never be able to do?
 

Hopefully not the one in my garage.

In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :

I feel that one, buddy.

Mr_Asa said:

In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :

I feel that one, buddy.

Same

In reply to KyAllroad :

Pretty good info on this on YouTube and it seems pretty doable if you can scrounge the parts cheap enough

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

What are the Challenge builds that you'll never be able to do?
 

Hopefully not the one in my garage.

I had one, sold it to Andy and he's talking about it here, lol

Pre-92 Mazda B-series with v8 and handling.

I'd really like to take something extremely old that barely moves like a model t or replica motor coach. I just can't justify towing the whole way to Florida to come in last. 

In reply to Ranger50 :

How about a b2000? 1980?

Brother Dustin is selling his....

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

I want more stockish.

alfadriver said:

A 164 v6 powered X19.  Which was one of our ideas coming back from one of the Challenges we went to.

Probably would have never fit, but it was an interesting idea.  At the time, one could get two 164 or 155 Twin Spark 2.0L Nord motors from Italy for ~$1000, some of which were the entire powertrain.   That would have been a possible fit.

back when I was still playing with the Yugo from Hell I had a similar idea for putting the 164 drivetrain in place of the Yugo drivetrain (mostly the same as the X19 for the sake of the conversation)  I went as far as buying a $300 164 to put next to it to take measurements.  It could have worked.   Tight but doable.

Triumph Spitfire with Toyota twin cam engine swap and a Previa supercharger.  I did a lot of homework on it but never bought a single piece.

JThw8 said:

alfadriver said:

A 164 v6 powered X19.  Which was one of our ideas coming back from one of the Challenges we went to.

Probably would have never fit, but it was an interesting idea.  At the time, one could get two 164 or 155 Twin Spark 2.0L Nord motors from Italy for ~$1000, some of which were the entire powertrain.   That would have been a possible fit.

back when I was still playing with the Yugo from Hell I had a similar idea for putting the 164 drivetrain in place of the Yugo drivetrain (mostly the same as the X19 for the sake of the conversation)  I went as far as buying a $300 164 to put next to it to take measurements.  It could have worked.   Tight but doable.

Just dawned on me- a Yugo "SHOGUN" with a 164 powertrain.  That would rock.

I sold off the parts years ago for my mid-engined WRX powered RWD Justy. 
 

Same thing for my AWD Corvair. 
 

And my 3800SC 1988 Fiero

And my turbo Dodge powered X/19

And my 600 hp twin engine Yugo

And my 2GR swapped Europa (but thankfully Machinenbau is building it!!)

Sooooo, where do I find one of these $300 164s?

Asking for a friend.

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

A time machine.  

Otherwise, keep an eye on alfabb.com's classifieds.  There are hardly any 164's being sold there now, but I did manage to see on $500 164.  It was an auto, though.  Can't even find a 164 for sale on FB Marketplace.

It really doesn't surprise me, though- the are starting to be 30 years old and other than the 1991 MY, there were normally less than 1000 sold in the US up through 1995.  Back when we were still challenging,  you could get a cheap one- as 10 year old 164's were pretty rusty with good engines.

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

Sooooo, where do I find one of these $300 164s?

Asking for a friend.

What alfadriver said.  In the past.  This was in the 90s and it was an auto with a broken flexplate and cracked windsheild (almost impossible to find the glass even then)  If it had been a manual I might have gone a little further with the swap but I mostly bought it for investigation purposes then parted it out.