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Maxwellphillips

Thinking of a project car

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Hi everyone, 

I have a pretty chill girlfriend, and she's planning on giving me £200 to spend on a project car. I am considering an E34 525i, as a friend at work is selling a rolling shell (no engine or gearbox) for £200. I've seen photos of the car, it's red, with pretty poor paint condition (rear quarter and spoiler are heavily faded), however I'm told the rest is in good condition, and drove well before the engine was pulled out due to excessive smoke. It has a cream cloth interior by the looks of it. Does anyone have any experience of these, and is there anything I should look out for when I see the car? 

I just wanted a bit of advice as to whether this would be a good project car? I have a small garage and minimal tools atm, but I plan on spending a couple of years fiddling and gathering tools I need. With the ultimate goal of sticking something like a manual coupled with a straight six out of an E46 328i, or an M62, and possibly going supercharged. 

Am I likely to bite off more than I can chew here, or is this something that is doable over a few years with a meagre budget? 

Any project advice would be appreciated! 

Cheers! 

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I say go on eBay and bid on something that is running or at least complete. I was once bidding on 523i and it sold for £320.. 200 for a shell seems a lot tbf. Especially if you don't have that many tools. I had a Toyota Soarer project car in the past, picked it up for £400 as non runner with a suspected engine oil leak. Car needed a new battery, fuel pump & the engine oil leak turned out to be just a rusty oil filter so after spending £100 on it i got it running. I had to rebuild one of the brake calipers because it was seized as the car was sitting for a few years but after it drove. Purring V8. BMW are fairly easy to work on with a lot of parts around so it's a decent project, but go for something like 320i E36, they have I6 engine and they're dirt cheap to buy as most of them have rotten sills. I think that buying a shell is a massive job. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-320-I-SE/273015370062?hash=item3f90fbf14e:g:iuAAAOSwETJaIyZh 

rx8 - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mazda-rx8-192/112744078117?hash=item1a40121b25:g:F5YAAOSwUg9aVJyl

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I'd say plan it through properly as its a £200 car which is nothing in the grand scheme of things considering the hours, cost in parts and tools etc. I'd go after something you really want and special ie m3 over at 316i as an example as when doing it, it's always worth continuing with even on the bad days when the frustration of problems mounts up, plus if you sell it, it's desirable to other people even in bits. If your new to this kind of work id buy a working but run down car so you know it worked before you start and then get a model known to be simple and popular ie mx5, e36 3 series 

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Cheers guys. Probably going to stick with something that actually works then! I like the E46 idea, would consider a touring, maybe go for an Mot failure that still runs? 

I have a friend who had an Rx8 and he's just sunk a load of money into it to have it blow up on him, so I'll try to avoid them! 

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I could be biased as I race them but an MK1 MX5 would be a great project car with abilities in both drifting or track driving. The BRZ feels just like a grown up MX5 meaning that you'd get something similar but much cheaper than your 86. Light weight small RWD with LSD as standard on the imports, they're great little cars for the money. Parts are available and incredibly cheap with also a turbo option if you choose for more power. 

I've learnt an awful lot driving the Mazda and it's great fun! Back to basics with no powered anything or any electronic aids helping you drive. You'd learn so much having that you can transfer to the 86 keeping you safer on the road and as accidents happen on the learning curve, everything is dirt cheap to fix! 

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On 28/01/2018 at 12:03 AM, Sighe98 said:

I could be biased as I race them but an MK1 MX5 would be a great project car with abilities in both drifting or track driving. The BRZ feels just like a grown up MX5 meaning that you'd get something similar but much cheaper than your 86. Light weight small RWD with LSD as standard on the imports, they're great little cars for the money. Parts are available and incredibly cheap with also a turbo option if you choose for more power. 

I've learnt an awful lot driving the Mazda and it's great fun! Back to basics with no powered anything or any electronic aids helping you drive. You'd learn so much having that you can transfer to the 86 keeping you safer on the road and as accidents happen on the learning curve, everything is dirt cheap to fix! 

Cheers! I did think of an mx5, but I'm worried it'd be too similar to the GT, but your point about learning how to handle the car and apply that to driving the GT is very valid, and like you say, better to crash a £1500 mx5 than my treasured Toyota! 

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5 minutes ago, Maxwellphillips said:

Cheers! I did think of an mx5, but I'm worried it'd be too similar to the GT, but your point about learning how to handle the car and apply that to driving the GT is very valid, and like you say, better to crash a £1500 mx5 than my treasured Toyota! 

I honestly think that an MX5 will seem like the poor relation to your GT and it will never surpass it. Rather than waste money on a project car, spend it on your GT and make it better and enjoy that. You can learn very well how the GT handles and do all that tuition stuff on track if you so wish. Take out insurance if you're worried about it. The GT will eclipse a MK1 MX5 in every way. You've got a car that you can tune and develop and still use as a daily car, why not just do that? 

I had an AE86 for 6 years. Spent loads on it. Trouble was the GT was just in a different league in every way so I never drove it much in the end. Which is why I sold it and just put my efforts into the GT. I'm glad I didn. 

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Fantastic cars the MX5. Never driven a Mk1 but I have a Mk2 and thoroughly enjoyed it. I would have one or a small sporty hatch to hoon around track. Given the cost of owning one, maintaining it, the level of parts support and knowledge I think it would be ideal.

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On 07/02/2018 at 6:41 PM, Maxwellphillips said:

Cheers! I did think of an mx5, but I'm worried it'd be too similar to the GT, but your point about learning how to handle the car and apply that to driving the GT is very valid, and like you say, better to crash a £1500 mx5 than my treasured Toyota! 

Yeah exactly that! Parts are cheap and there is a lot of race support in terms of progression, safety parts, lap times ect. It is scarily similar to the 86! I've learned so much driving the Mazda in the pouring rain, managing understeer and oversteer, even introducing oversteer to persuade the car to move where you want it or get out of trouble aha, the importance of throttle and brake control, finding grip on a wet track and more! 

Whilst you could spend money on the 86 instead, the cost of buying some AP brakes and decent tyres for the 86 would be more than an entire MK1 MX5! I only mentioned brakes and tyres as I felt these were the weakest points when I took mine on track for a few laps. They are generally slower than an 86 but I have passed many 86's and BRZ's on trackdays with friends in the Mazda. The 1.6 MX5 (standard engine) will lap Castle Combe in a 1:20 which is .03 slower than Tiff Needell lapped a E90 M3 around there, they're not to be underestimated! An idea I've got is it race my BRZ in a few years and by that point wings ect will be easily accessible and cheap, I hope aha. I know you can get them now but the cost of racing one now would be to much for me at the moment. 

Depending on your budget and if you want to build it from a standard car to a track or fun or whatever car, an option you have is to buy a race prepared car for around £4,000. It sounds like a lot but this is a safe ready to race car that would be very fast out of the box. Although it wouldn't be road legal so would need to be converted slightly (handbrake, lights) unless you were prepared to tow it everywhere. It all depends where you plan to go with it, you could even go drifting?

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