engine and drivetrain What is the best cost effective Auto-x engine?

[Meintii]

I've wondering latley what engine I'm going to but In margie and thought I'd ask you guys (and girls) to see what you thought

I'll be looking for a CHEAP engine that I can dog out, and that gets a good bit of power (preferably stock + or - turbo lol), and is reliable w/ cheap parts.

Some types that have crossed my mind have been:

'74 mustang 2 V6, late 80's supra/rx-7 engines... and so on

It completely does not matter if this is a BMW engine or not, Just want somthing I can find in a junk yard easy enough (or at least keep my eye out for)

Pics and resources would be great

The "soon" to be auto-x car AKA Margie

[Tommy]

How about a m10. It's a nice 2-liter engine with great design and tune-up potential. Hey it would fit straight on to your 2002.

No offense meant but really why look further when the obvious is one of the best choices?

[Meintii]

The idea behind this is to get MORE power than a stock 02's engine with out having to spend 5k in upgrades to it. I NEED SPEED!

[PabloM]

SR20DET. Aluminum block and head so it's extremely light. 250hp with just a piggyback tune and injectors. Reliable. Factory turbo. Someone in the project blog has started a build with this engine already and if I weren't using my iPhone to post this I'd find it.

[Tommy]

Yea - well it depends how much more you want. Until 160...170 hp I would consider m10 is cheap but further from there the budget goes up quickly.

Tommy

[oldguy]

for one.

Any swaped engine will put you into the looney bin swaped engine class where you'll get your ass kicked on a daily basis by all the other delinquents.

Second. The 2002 rear end won't hold 250hp+ for long on a beat on it autox style.

Third. There is no way unless you get slicks or flares that a street tire is going to be worth a crap with that much HP. You'd need like a 225-50-15 minimum and you'd still have a problem with spinning.

[KFunk]

for one.

Any swaped engine will put you into the looney bin swaped engine class where you'll get your ass kicked on a daily basis by all the other delinquents.

Yep. Have you autocrossed before? It's not just a free-for-all with engines and equipment. Sure you can run whatever you want if you just want to goof around, and get beat by everyone in your class. But that'll get old real fast and you'll be stuck with years of work put into a car thats pretty much useless for autocross.

For a 2002, you've got a couple options. You probably won't do stock class (G-Stock i think), so forget that. There's FSP where you can tweak most everything except the valvetrain and bottom-end. There's EP where you can go nuts and rip out your interior and bodywork and highly tweak the engine, but not put a S/C, turbo, or other huge engine mod in it.

There's Street Modified where you can put a big engine in it while still being a street car with interior. You'll have some extreme competition in that class, though....

There's X-Prepared, which can allow a huge engine from a different manufacturer, but I don't know the other details (new class)

Then there's E-Modified where you can pretty much do whatever the hell you want.... but yeah, you'll see some crazy contraptions there. Anything of basic car-like form can basically get lumped into E-mod.

[Harv]

If I was completely honest about the motor in my old Volvo 145 I would have been up against 500+hp STi's and the like.

Stay with your M-10.

Hey Steve K, what kind of motor do you have?.........

John

[Meintii]

Thank for the opinions so far!

The only reason I'm even asking is b/c the doesn't have an engine or tranny, so I thought maybe there was somthing that could be swapped in that gets abit more hp (around 170).

I have auto-xd before with the local club chapter, but with my tii in street modified, but I have not done any SCCA stuff yet.

Maybe I'll just keep my eye out for a decent M10 and get some dual 40's and build it just alittle.

The issue is I start college in 2 weeks, so I will be working part time (16hrs per week instead of 38+) So my cash will be cut down for a long time.

What do you guys think some speedy but cost effective M10 upgrades are?

BTW I'm building this (as of right now) to be stricktly a auto-x car so it will prob be in E-mod (no interior, roll cage, sweet suspension set up) To help with the saving of buying an interior.

When I got this car it came w/ nothing but a shell w/ no doors, hood, fenders, glass, or deck lid... so everything will have to be bought.

[ricortes]

Would we be correct in assuming the heap in the photo is your starting point?

Echoing a bit of what has been said here: One of my friends used to organize auto cross and for a lot of people it is as serious as a broken leg. One of his constant wags was about how people with a new highly modified Porsche would complain about a section of the track being too close to an obstuction. He would tell them the section was intentional to slow speeds down a bit so take it easy in that section *BUT* invariably the same people that complained would crash in that section. Some people would rather risk death and financial ruin then lose.

To me the M10 is the obvious set up and what I would use. It's more then just the rear end not being able to handle the horse power. You have to worry about the chassis twisting, motor mounts breaking, axles snapping, ...

That being said, a while back I did see an outfit that was importing ~RX8 engines with <60k miles, twin turbo + intercooler + ECU + 5 speed for $1299 + shipping. About the cost of a cam and webers for an m10.

Rick

[eastsidebimmer]

.

.......autocrossing that Nissan Stanza Wagon shown in the far background.

Maybe your could mount the wheels backwards to keep it from tipping over?

[KFunk]

BTW I'm building this (as of right now) to be stricktly a auto-x car so it will prob be in E-mod (no interior, roll cage, sweet suspension set up) To help with the saving of buying an interior.

If you're using the M10, then thats perfect for E-Prepared class. You can gut the car and rip most stuff apart in EP, as long as its basically the same block (N/A) and car structure.

[M3M3]

common problem when racing...either auto-x or road racing. people build a car and THEN try to find somewhere to race it. they get dissappointed fast. if you intend to race anything, you MUST pick the class you want to race in FIRST, and then build the car to the letter of the rules for that class.

if show up anywhere with a frankencar, you get dumped in the catch all class where there is no competition.

[Hammer03]

+1 for a warmed over m10 and weber side drafts in E-Production. Since you (and I, coincidentally) have no interior to start with, and don't plan on adding one, EP gives you plenty of room to grow, and you won't be competitive on the cheap, but any of the fun "go fast" parts you want to add short of boost will probably be legal. Get yourself a copy of the SCCA rule book and read the appropriate sections. You can also find it online for free on the scca website. If all your intention is to run it locally, then do what you think is fun. if you think you may eventually want to run it outside of your local event, then at least read the rule book and put some thought into it.

plus, m10's are cheap!

[SteveJ]

What class are you going to run in? That's what decides what you do to the car. If it will be a work in progress during the season, then try to run up a class or two so you can stay consistant in your points for the year.

The most fun season of autocrossing that I have had was in a mostly stock 2002. 320i take off wheels and rock hard Michelin tires, lots of suspension lean...it forced me to be smooth. I ended up taking a first place in C class that year.

My Gonzo class, flared fendered 2002 was very stiff and powerful. My AAA class E30M3 was a very balanced, quick car. I had better lap times and got 2nd's and 3rd's with those cars, but they wern't as much fun as the stock 2002. There's just something about a 'drive the piss out of it" car that is cheap and easy to fix.