Topic: Car search help for a newbie team
My dad and brothers are looking to build a car for some races in 2021. We’re not very experienced car people but are engineers and I’m pretty handy as long as I can google it. We’re looking to build a car for the joy of learning, and hopefully drive a race with it when we’re done.
We’ve started looking at some crappy cars on Craigslist etc and I’m not sure what level of hooptiness we should consider.
Miles: How many is too many? We’ve got a lead on a Subaru with 300k miles on it, which seems like we’re in for a world of pain but it’s still driven daily so ...
Rust: I looked at an awesome AMC Concord that had exfoliating corrosion on the frame, and a Ford Contour that was only mildly rusty but was questionable in a few places. Walked away from both because I didn’t know what we would be in for if the frame was too far gone, and even how to determine that. We’re in the Midwest so some rust is inevitable but not sure how much is too much.
Engine: Both “ran” but barely, stalled out at idle, or couldn’t produce more than 3k RPM. Should I aim to get an engine that can actually drive? I notice lots of folks swap engines mid race, not sure what level of “rUnS bUt RoUgH” i should be willing to accept.
Anyway, just looking for some sage advice. It’s pretty easy to know what models and years are better than others from research, but some wisdom on how much jank to accept on a new team of novice mechanics would help a ton.