Just curious. Let's say, once I get back to the mainland, I buy a $800 POS. Let's assume I've done my homework and have either bought a car whose engine and drivetrain are very, very sturdy or have learned a few tricks as to strengthening the block, heads, driveshaft, axle(s).... on my own.

What sort of money have those loud-assed hondas and bugs put into their car? FWIW, I wouldn't buy either a honda or a bug, but that's just because I've gotta be different, so I might buy an old Mercedes or Volvo or an old Legacy or a VW Vanagon.

How much of what I've already learned about opening up the breathing and tuning the EM would be adequate? How much more would I need to learn about the drivetrain?

Get an old turbo brick. A volvo to be more specific.

It's turbo so you can do the basic stuff to make it go fast.. raise the boost, open up the exhaust, port things, etc.

RWD, turbo, and cheap.

I won't be doing this for a while, but I figure that I can take advantage of the time to learn.

From the Advertiser, "86 Volvo, 740 Turbo station wagon, white, sunroof, 143K, pwr all, $1200/obo"

Hmmm.

Would be a great opportunity to go into an engine for the first time. The only engine work I've ever done is on the '74 bug my dad made me buy for $300 when I was 13. Let's just say I took it apart and put it back together, but it never ran again.:D

Yup that would be the one... There are a few web sites about these "turbo bricks" check em out...


Also if you didn't want just straight line speed... do as my friedn has done recently and picked up an old GTi.. Or even a 90-91 CRX. Those make great auto-x cars and can be had for relatively low money. Well then again the CRX market here in Hawaii is stupid and I've seen '90 CRX Si's for like $4k-$6k... Kinda like a $20k '93 RX7 ;)