[lt1aggie]

I've got a '97 z28 with about 95,000 miles. The car is 100% stock. While too poor right now to get serious, I would eventually like to get in to the road racing/autocross lifestyle. The problem is, I don't know if it's worth the effort to start modding my car or just wait until I can get another one. The car has been great mechanically so far, but I'm afraid it's performance will be severly limited for potential racing with 2.73 gears and an automatic (in addition to the face that it's speed limited). (I know, I know, but I had to take what i could get.) Swaps can certainly change that, but it's just one more thing I'd have to do. The other thing I was wondering is if it would be better to start out with an ls1 car. Brakes are another problem. I know about Bob's brackets, but if I had an ls1 car, the swap seems so much easier. There seems to be a lot of people with lt1's on this board, but I've read that the ls1 is also better in the upper rpm's. I know racing is a huge money pit to begin with, but it seems like it might be easier to just start with something else. I want my car to handle much better for general driving, but I know the more I do, the more I'll want to spend on it. Plus, if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it right and that usually means spending more money out of the box. Should I just wait it out a couple more years until I finish school to get something else or just start the madness now? Any insight would be great. Thanks.

[nape]

I'd say to wait until you're done with school to start modding the car. One motto that I picked up when I was drag racing is "Only morons race their daily driver!" I'm not ragging on the guys that do, but it usually comes down to economics. Don't race it unless you can afford to fix it or buy a daily beater to use when it's broke.

You could probably auto-x it since you'll have less of a chance to hurt the car terminally (vs. open tracking). Definitely put on an additional trans cooler if you want to open track though, I have a burned up 700R4 in the trunk of my beater right now as an example of what happens if you run them hot.

I wish I could take my own advice (college dropout), but stay focused on school and find someone to crew for/volunteer at events if you want a way to get involved. You've already got college making you poor, you don't need the go-fast crack pipe adding to it (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/rotf.gif) (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/thumbup.gif)