Need some help with a decision

[TheDoc]

Okay, so.. I've spent the past month or so reading pretty much every thread on this site. I bought my Speed3 about a month and a half ago and I like it. I'm not blown away by it but I think for the cost and the performance it's tough to top. My previous vehicle was a Lightning that ran high 12's.. straight line stuff got boring for me.. so I figured when it came time to get rid of it I'd get something that can move a little. ..couple weeks later the Lightning was totalled. Go figure. I loved that truck.

Well, anyway, I got the 3 and I've put a CAI on.. fun fun. But I'm trying to plan out what I really want to do with this car.. A couple days ago, I put a list together where I, more or less, outlined what it would cost to turn the car into a track car. ..A fast track car. A conservative estimate I put together said about 6500-7500 dollars if I did all the work myself. This includes new "everything" aside from the block, trans, and blower, along with some cosmetic upgrades.

Where I'm stuck is that... if I were to buy say... an 85 RX-7 and completely rebuilt it into a stripped, blown, racecar it could probably wind up costing right about the same amount. Big turbo, IC, ported two rotor, diff, and trans come out to the same cost as everything I put together for the ms3. Along with that, I get to continue with the reliability of the speed as a daily driver and just have something on the side to beat up.

On the opposite side of that... the three is already a good track car and with some minor upgrades it could be great. Plus it's new... shiny... and could be shown along with raced- which I'm a definite fan of.

With our cars being so new it's tough to say how they will hold up.. especially once the power gains really start to show up (i.e. is the trans gonna blow up at 500whp), and that alone makes me very hesitant to really push the limits. Financially, I'm stable but there's a reason I bought an MS3 instead of an M3 or AMG.. I can't necessarily afford to throw a bunch of money into a project a once.. so whatever decision I make I have to stick with it for about a year before things are entirely done.. (needless to say my new car sitting in my driveway with a piston through the block for a year would probably illicit some poor feelings)

I realize this is a personal decision I have to make, however, I'm curious as to the road you would take if faced with such a decision. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

[turbobst]

I would start out with basic suspension upgrade and a nice wide wheel and sticky rubber.

Then move to the engine, like fuel pump, waste gate, boost controller, exhaust and BOV to top things off, so that I don't get compressor surge.

OH, Don't forget a good tune!

 

[TheDoc]

I would start out with basic suspension upgrade and a nice wide wheel and sticky rubber.

Then move to the engine, like fuel pump, waste gate, boost controller, exhaust and BOV to top things off, so that I don't get compressor surge.

OH, Don't forget a good tune!

Well, yea. That's definitely how I'd start. I'm fairly confident in the course I laid out if I were to upgrade the MS3, but my question is more do I want to upgrade the MS3 or do I build up something from scratch for about the same price? What would you do?

 

[autoxes]

I'd go for the Rx7. That way, if it blows up, or wrecks, or whatever, you're still good to go. One guy on here said something that sums it all up, "don't race anything you can't afford to leave at the track"

 

[turbobst]

Well, since the ms3 is my daily driver I would lightly mod it and probably build a straight track car.

If I was financialy stable.

You did say you were pretty much financialy stable, correct?

Turning your DD into a track can get expensive after a while, with new brakes and tires every time you take it to the track.

 

[Rotus8]

In my opinion you will be much happier with a RWD track car. No matter what you do, the FWD just doesn't work as well on the track. Keep the MS3 for the DD, do some conservative upgrades to make it fun, but build up another car for the track. My $.02.

 

[jbiird317]

In my opinion you will be much happier with a RWD track car. No matter what you do, the FWD just doesn't work as well on the track. Keep the MS3 for the DD, do some conservative upgrades to make it fun, but build up another car for the track. My $.02.

i agree with this completely. While i would love to see someone throw the money at this car to make it a true beast on the track, it will just never be quite the same fun you could have with a RWD or AWD track car. I would keep the ms3 for daily driving because...... why not? like you said its new, shiny, fun to drive, perfect for a daily. Then you can get an 87 rx7 and build it up the way it should be over time and never have to worry about wrecking ur ride to work in the morning.

 

[redspeed]

I agree with the other guys. Building a good rx7 for track use is gona be a fun project for you and is a car that if destroyed, you can recuperate easy.

You can take the ms3 to the track every now and then just for fun.

 

[GoFast]

i would also go with the rx-7. tons of potential, reasonably easy to find parts, not to mention pretty cheap. plus if you want the thing shiny, take it to maaco and spend 300 bucks and it will be shiny

 

[utopia]

keep ms3 for daily driving. i would obviously upgrade it until you're happy but definetely go with the rx7.

 

[turbodcee]

RX7 all the way! Why would you want to rip apart everything in a brand new $23k car. The RX7 is much lighter, and if you want to be fast, you need to lighten up the MS3. Hence tossing half the s*** you just bought in the garbage. The rear wheel drive factor for me is a big one too.

Hey, Unless you have a lot of money to burn, I would go with an older car and build it up from the base. (This is not a plug but... if you are interested, I have a friend who has a 3/4 chassis 85 RX7 rolling chassis for sale, . He's in Port St Lucie Florida)

 

[Sierra117]

For your Speed, just do the basic bolt ons to have a fun, quick, reliable DD.

For your twisty track car, get that FC, take out a cood chunk of the interior, good street port on a quick spooling single turbo build and a good suspension...drool.