[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.

[lt1aggie]

Knowing what it takes to build a 'race only' car (helped my friend build a street stock circle track car), if your goal is road racing, wait until you have the money to buy a car that is already built. You can tweek it to your liking and still not have spent as much money or time as you will building a car from scratch.

Word! The only reason I had Alan build the second one is because I was just tickled to see him do it and there are no CMC 4th gen 'Birds out here (well now there are two that will be flying around California Speedway this March!). There are a couple of fine third gens available out West here right now (see the classifieds for mine, CMC classifieds for others). Cheaper to go this way and immediate seat time.

I've thought about holding off and buying a third gen when I get out of school...but then again, there's a lot of things I want to buy when I get out of school. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) Also, I have thought about buying a car that's already built, but it seems as though those are somewhat hard to come by these days. Maybe I'm wrong?