So basically by the end of the summer I'm gonna have about 3-4 grand saved up. I'm debating whether I should stick with the camry or go in a completely different direction.
Let's say I stuck with my gen2 Camry. When you think about it for that much money I could do lots of things. About a grand will get me a good suspension system. For another grand I could get a 3sge (used) with a tranny. Another grand will get me some good lightweight wheels and for a bit more I could get a nice set of tires as well. Plus another grand for miscs like strut braces and polyurethane bushings, etc. If I do all the work my self with help from my gear head friends of course, I could actually build a nice little car
or....
for $1500 I can get a late 80's E30 BMW 325e (2.7L economy motor) that's in need of some TLC. Then for like a few hundred I could get a 325i head, which came from the performance oriented 2.5L motor. Swap the i head to the e motor and make a 327i Frankenstein motor which gives the low end of the 2.7 and top end of the 2.5 motor. Assuming I did this I would still have 2grand leftover and a car that already has about 190bhp. Since about 80% of these things come with a nice limited slip diff I wouldn't need to do anything with the tranny or the diff, maybe just a lightweight flywheel. Assuming I did some upgrades with the flywheel and clutch I would have $1500 leftover for suspension and brakes, which are actually very cheap to come across in the BMW world. Not only that, I've been around these e30 bimmers and they are pretty easy to work on. There's no super complicated electronics on them or anything that will frustrate the hell out of me. All in all this would end up being a nice daily driver/track monster as well
Maybe I'm a bit too confident about the stuff i can do with either car but you get my point. What do you think I should do?
Let's say I stuck with my gen2 Camry. When you think about it for that much money I could do lots of things. About a grand will get me a good suspension system. For another grand I could get a 3sge (used) with a tranny. Another grand will get me some good lightweight wheels and for a bit more I could get a nice set of tires as well. Plus another grand for miscs like strut braces and polyurethane bushings, etc. If I do all the work my self with help from my gear head friends of course, I could actually build a nice little car
or....
for $1500 I can get a late 80's E30 BMW 325e (2.7L economy motor) that's in need of some TLC. Then for like a few hundred I could get a 325i head, which came from the performance oriented 2.5L motor. Swap the i head to the e motor and make a 327i Frankenstein motor which gives the low end of the 2.7 and top end of the 2.5 motor. Assuming I did this I would still have 2grand leftover and a car that already has about 190bhp. Since about 80% of these things come with a nice limited slip diff I wouldn't need to do anything with the tranny or the diff, maybe just a lightweight flywheel. Assuming I did some upgrades with the flywheel and clutch I would have $1500 leftover for suspension and brakes, which are actually very cheap to come across in the BMW world. Not only that, I've been around these e30 bimmers and they are pretty easy to work on. There's no super complicated electronics on them or anything that will frustrate the hell out of me. All in all this would end up being a nice daily driver/track monster as well
Maybe I'm a bit too confident about the stuff i can do with either car but you get my point. What do you think I should do?
) and that's made for driving, not cruising.
