Looking to Start, weighing options (Page 1 of 2)

Get the Karmann Ghia.  The judges will love you so much you won't have to worry about budget.

Also, fixing the floors and any other structural metal that the cage will connect to falls within the budget exemption.

I think we're just doing a single race for fun. We don't expect to win, just not come in dead last, and we'd like to cross the finish line at the end of the race instead of spending it in the pits.
Both of us have Lemons on our bucket list, so we figured we'd do it to say we did it. Once we grab a car, I'll be looking heavily in to adding cooling and other health monitoring systems.

The golf would certainly make for an easy starter car, given it's similar to my friend's Volkswagens that he has owned.
I'm a half decent driveway mechanic. One of my Subarus is an SVX, so I'm no stranger to having to do heavily involved wrenching. Since we don't expect to be fast, I don't think the Ghia's speed would be too much of a downside.

Personally I wouldn't mind finding something like an Escort or another brand, but these have been some of the more viable options we've found in our location range.

We may run another race if the first one goes well or try again if it doesn't go well. Five thou is a pretty hefty investment, so I can talk to him about it.

From what he's told me, his dad is strongly on board to help us out with additional expenses like transport and lodging, but I don't know what else. We also know a certified welder who may be able to help us build the roll cage. Both of us are in our later years of college, so prepping a car for a race would look fantastic on our resume.

There's tentative plans to go to the Lemons race in Michigan next month. That may be what makes or breaks our decision to go through with it.

You will be heralded for bringing a ghia, but you will suffer immensely for it. Harder to cage, miserable visibility, seemingly cheap but hella expensive to run because of parts availability is dwindling. But you'd have a high likelihood of winning a trophy regardless of what place you finish in. Bringing a ghia would be closest to the purest form of a Lemons Experience.

The golf is much more practical in terms of parts availability and ease of repairs and much easier to cage. At the end of the day, it's still a crappy car. But it'll blend in with all the other crappy cars. It'll be easier to make sure your drivers are safe in it. And you may even be able to resell it when you are done to some other start-up team. But do you want oatmeal for breakfast and tell stories to your grandkids about that awesome bowl of oatmeal you ate when you were about to leave college or do you want to tell your grandkids how you didnt eat breakfast for days, and when you finally did get something to eat, it was gravel mixed with 20W50 motor oil: and you ATE it and you LIKED it and YOU KIDS NOWADAYS WITH YOUR FANCY SELF-DRIVING, ELECTRIC CARS just need to....

You get the point.

Trust us-- we all WANT to see you build the ghia OH SO BADLY. But you would suffer more just trying to make it get to a racetrack let alone finish a race weekend.  It can be done. And I'm sure you can do it. But the question is, will it meet your goals like Sonic says

Oh, and as for the costs to get a car on track? It can be done for under $1K. I've done it several times. It won't be a "race car", but you also don't have to spend $5K to get a car to be permitted to circle a Lemons track.

The judges will look kindly on the SVX.  The ghia would be an exercise in self flagellation.  The golf is very oatmeal.  Its the little stuff that can nickel and dime you when building a car so just be aware of that up front (seat, sliders, fire supression, harness, spares, etc).  Make sure to read and reread the how not to fail tech.  Also be aware that all your friends will be enthusiastic participants....right up until having to put in long hours and real money.  Make sure they are willing to put in those hours and some real money just to get to the track with no guarantee that whatever you build wont grenade 30 minutes into the race.

Just rent the gear... it's not that expensive.

here's something to keep in mind as well. I foolishly took my ghia up to about 80mph once.... front end got all light and steering didn't really work.

best of both if you did get the svx for cheap is to put that motor into the ghia.

that's asking for pain 100%

If you have access to a welder person that doesn't cost money and a tube bender that also doesn't cost money, that's most of your expense right there.

I think 80 feet of 1.75 .120 wall tube cost me $400, including the random other stuff I bought at the same time (like overkill spreader plates from the scrap pile).

Time replaces money (and vice versa) given minimum expenditures on either side.

It's Lemons, sponsorships count towards budget.

The spare SVX is your answer then... sell the parts to cover the cage material/seat/belts.

Benders look expensive, but are cheap if you are running something unique... I like the RogueFab I bought, but I am old enough to appreciate air over hydraulic. The JDsquared, etc. manual benders weren't cheap enough to make the convenience not worth it.

I'd look on ebay and c-list for a done car if you are only going to do a one or a few races. You can buy done cars for far less than it will cost to build. We bought a running driving car and it was still 4k+ to build. Yes you can do it cheaper but not by much. Out of the 2 the Ghia would be much cooler, however it would be one of the slower cars on the track. If you can get it for $500, I'd get it running, clean it best you can, fix any safety issues and flip it for CASH. Those cars bring could money.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2002-Nissan-Sen … mp;vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Race-Car-Rally- … mp;vxp=mtr

bring ALL the SVX's

It'll be as good as the ghia and maybe even better

I'll leave this here
http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/showthread.php?t=45691

https://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/view … p?id=21949

As someone who absolutely hates Volkswagens and has wrenched and raced them for a good long while now, run the Golf.
The 2.0l motor with the 8V head is stone dead reliable so long as you keep oil in it.  After EIGHT years we finally lost an engine and it was our own stupidity for not adding any oil when we knew it was low.
A VW Golf can be very fast when the engine is tweaked and the suspension is well set up. you can also loaf it around the track all day keeping it stock.
With our 'slightly' tweaked engine we can't get less than 2 1/2 hours on a tank.  Stock everything you'd probably get 3-4 hours.

Eric
Flying Lumberjacks #5 VW Fox