Does anyone know of good RWD donor cars in the USA??? I'm looking at spending max $1000, preferably less. There's always the 5.0 Mustang
or a Camero, but that would be ridiculously fast and I think..dare I say it..excessive?? I think most of the poeple here are from England. Also,
does anyone know of a locost forum based in the USA? that might be helpful too...
Thanks, Andrew.
Hi Andrew.
I'm a Brit, but I live in the US, so I have balanced view of the locost scene from both sides of the pond...
You could join the Locost North America on yahoo...it is good for some US specific info., but to be honest this is the all round better place to be
IMO.....there are more and more US builders joining anyway.
Good luck and welcome.
Andrew -
I looked at the Camaro and that's out... it'd be a 5.0L LT1 which is about 160hp and unmodifiable to any extent... Mustang baby!
mustang
camaro
rx7
rx8
miata
s10/blazer/jimmy/sonoma
240sx
300zx
some other pickups etc....
You can get a japanese front cut fairly cheap, for less than 1k, just need to add your own rear.
I found a pair of rx7's that I will be stripping for $500 which are 60 miles from me on ebay. I took a trip to go see them last week, 1 was in
really good condition, the other had major rear end damage, but I will still take it and recondition the motor then swap them out after the car is
running.
Take a good look through the older posts here, almost every topic is covered in detail and most of the questions you have will probably have been
answed already.
Also expect to pay much more than the $436 the book quotes (250lbs UK$$$) Once I buy the cars I will be just shy of the $1k mark without tools, and I
still dont have a solid rear, aluminum for the body, rear suspension and roll bar. The rear shocks, electrics(gauges, lights etc..) aluminum and roll
bar shouldnt cost me more than another $250, but the rear axle is going to be a few hundred by itself, and I am going to spend another $700 on gauges
and lights, and hopefully less than $200 on seating. I expect my final price tag to be somewhere in the $3000 area. I am also using bike shocks
instead of the much more expensive aftermarket coilovers. It will just take a little more ingenuity to get it to work right.
Where are you located, I didnt see it under your name?
Hi, Andrew & Louis, and welcome. 
To Derf's list of donors, I'd like to add RWD Toyota Corollas, which is a classic if you want to build a light car with book plans.
Some donors are going to require a wider, higher, or heavier-duty chassis (all of the above for a Mustang 5.0). Not a bad thing necessarily,
especially if you are a large person. However, your finished car will weigh 1600-1700# or thereabouts rather than 1200-1300#, which will affect
handling and road-holding ability. If you want a very light car with crazy power, you may want to consider a bike-engined car (see BEC section).
There's a good discussion about donors at the CMC website:
http://www.championmotorcars.com/
I found this very helpful when considering different donors:
Table of Engine Weights
Chassis plans, builder lists, and much wisdom are available at Jim McSorley's site:
http://www.mcsorley.net/locost/
Best of luck,
Pete
On the subject of front ends that might be found in the USA SAAB 99/90/900 front suspension has distinct promise
MustangSix used a straight 6 from a mustang in his build - he's in orlando.
Subaru and Mazda Rotary motors are low and compact and deliver big big power when tuned by someone who knows what they're doing. If you live in
the South and RX may be a good bet and if you live in the North a Legacy, Legacy Turbo, or Impreza/WRX may also be good donors (it's easy to
convert to RWD only if you would like to as well)
What part of the country are you in, what is your price range, etc?
-MR
Toyota corrola and the mazda rx7 are probably the most popular. The toyota rwd van late 80s, Chevy s10 is good solid donor- little heavy but you wont
break it (check out stalker v6).
Mustang or camaro also choices for + build.
Late tbird for irs 89+ but the 3.8l is wide.
I am building using a 88tbird +4+way too much in lenth.
Dale
quote:
Originally posted by mranlet
What part of the country are you in, what is your price range, etc?
-MR
Can you really buy a camaro, mustang, RX7, miata etc. for less then 1000$ in usa? Here in sweden we get some old ford sierra or volvo as a donor for that much money... Even a bad mustang will cost at least 5000-6000$
miata (mx5) even 13 years old go for 5,000 pounds (9,000 dollars) approx!
What about the 3 series in USA? Suppose they are expensive and all straight sixes?
atb
steve
The 3 series here are irs, not sure about the older ones though.
Incidently I did get an rx7 ('88 non turbo) for $500 with a good motor, the interior was gutted, but the car will smoke the rear tires with no
problem, at least until the rear diff started to make sounds. The rear diff is shot, I was told that before I bought the car, but I believe that I
want a solid rear anyway so it dont really matter to me. If a car has enough body damage, and it is at leat 3 years old or has alot of mileage, or a
combination of both you can get fairly cheap (again depending on its shape). It shouldnt be hard to find a '80s or early '90s mustang
fairly cheap with body damge for less than $1k. My second car was a '89 mustang 5.0, that was rear ended hard, I got it for $400, and all I had
to do was switch to a race gas tank, and use jeep wrangler taillights, drove it for a year before I sold it as is for $1500.
It's mainly just looking for the right deal at the right time, keep your eyes open and see what pops up.
your right - i was just thinking rwd not live axle 
atb
steve
where do you find mustangs for $400???
Look here, check daily as new stuff is listed all the time
RX7 is a superb engine/'box combo with old non-turbo engine and manual 'box
I think the Miata is the most complete donor package out there. Before I started building this damn thing i was offered two free Miatas if I would
take them away.
I am so stupid!!(I had nowhere to keep them at the time).I have since found a few on salvage web sites for $500.Do a google
search for "rebuildable Miata". But look into bike engines, the brits are on to something there!
There is a Porsche 944 in my apartment complex for super-cheap ($1500 I think)
It's missing a pass. window, has body damage and lots of wear and tear, but it's a Porsche and the guy says that it drives beautifully
-MR
Porches are nice cars, although I know nothing about them except that they are too expensive for me. I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but the 944 is one of the heaviest cars that they ever made, primarily because of the size of the engine. Not sure, but I remember hearing that.
944 or 951 (turbo 944)? anyway, this car is known to be the GREATEST road race car of all time...
quote:
Originally posted by Louis M
944 or 951 (turbo 944)? anyway, this car is known to be the GREATEST road race car of all time...
I almost got an ae86 Toyota Corolla gts for $350 canadian, was going top snatch it up for a locost, but My buddy who's into toyotas wanted it, so
I let him get it rather than cutting it up.
al it needed was a timing belt.
you could look at pinto/mustnag 2 uprights. dirt cheap at yards and lots of brake soptions to hang on them. next would prob be s10 stuff and then
fox stang parts
all the fox body ford stuff will interchange for the most part (some strut mounts are thicker) you could just pick up some 4cyl car parts and upgrade
to the cobra stuff later on.
btw if you like how the xr4 uprights mount then look at escourts and festivas.
(it is nice having a xr4ti to use for parts)
Nick
I just left a deposit on a set of spindles and a rear from a blazer, total cost is 250, which includes the brakes, and handbrake.
Checking on E-bay and various other used car sites and the Chevy S10 donor deal looks the best and most plentiful to me. The older Pintos and Mustang
II's are getting rare.
I'm thinking an S10 rear axle, spindles and brakes. Alot of aftermarket upgrades are availble for the Chevy stuff.
As far as engine and transmission, the Chevy V6 is OK if not cheap to mod but I have my eye on a BMW M10 (2002 car) 4 cyl. It won't stick up
above the bonnet like the V6.
BMW's are cheap as dirt. They seem to have mechanically sound motors, tuff transmissions in a rust prone body. Perfect combo for a donor. Maybe
an M3 motor swap in the future? ( the M3 motor would cost more than the whole car!)
I'm doing a Locost based on a 1982 Corolla wagon. It is RWD, and has a little 4 cylinder engine that most people regard as indestructable. Only
78hp in stock trim, but apparently more power can be made once i get it built and running with a stock engine.
I also only gave $300, and drove it 20 miles home.
-Aston
quote:
Originally posted by Aston
I'm doing a Locost based on a 1982 Corolla wagon
I only gave $300
Yeah, the poor bugger wanted $400 so i offered him $300.
By the way, your sig is great.
-Aston