The donor

I started by looking at foxbodies on Copart.  I bid on a couple, and the auto bid went up above me on both of them.  I started thinking about the logistics of taking a day off, getting a truck and trailer (thanks for the offers Matt and Joe!), driving round trip, trying to get a car unloaded that may not roll, etc.  Anyway, decided to ditch Copart after about 2 months of no good score.

Got on craigslist and found this beauty:

It was nearby.  Had lots of performance parts, but looked like it was chopped and hacked a bit.  The guy selling this had planned to switch it to a carb add nitrous and use it as a track car.  He had some other projects and needed the cash to fix a broken tranny on a beautiful 1966 Mustang.  We agreed he would move it this to my place for the asking price.  I think we both got a pretty good deal.  This was less than Copart cars of the same era that had been stopped by concrete walls, and I didn't have to waste a day getting it home.

I have always loved fox bodies, and I found myself feeling the urge to just sell the Focus and just have this.  Close up though it isn't that complete of a car.  The interior is shot and missing pieces, the doors sag, it had a quicky repaint with overspray everywhere, nothing on it is that straight.  This would be an epic resto job with much money lost.  If I want a nice fox body this ain't it.  I am still not sure how to make this car go away once I have what I need from it, but I don't think that is unsolvable.  CL beckons...

Option 2C Totaled Mustang from 1996 to 2004

What happens when pops buys Johnny a used 1998 mustang on his 16th birthday?  Short answer is that the insurance company soon owns a steaming heap, and they will sell it for salvage if they can.

There are a few auction centers around the US that work with an online broker to sell their totaled cars (and other seized, repo'd, or traded in junk.  It is like ebay but a little different.  Let's call it heapbay.  They go by Copart.com.

I searched for, mustangs at Pa locations, v8, stick shift, 1996 to 2004.  Mustangs in this era had a passive anti theft system (PATS) where the key had a chip that the computer checks.  So I confined searches to cars that had the keys included.  I confined my interest to things that were tboned, rear ended, or lightly front ended.  Keep in mind that they will stage the car for the pictures by placing the bumper back in place so it is easy to eliminate a def bad, but hard to be sure one is good.

Here is a good example of what you want:

Here is what you don't:

The fee structure on heapbay is pretty intense.  There are loads of fees that they don't advertise clearly.  The bottom line is they are approximately percentages of the sell price.  If you win a car for $1000, expect to pay about $1600 total by the time you leave the place with it. You also have to front 10% of the money to Copart just to bid.  Since you are buying just one car your fees are higher than many of the professionals you bid against.

Here is the other wacky thing.  You hook into this ebay style bidding war and you have the high bid when the bidding stops.  What you have won is the privilege of your bid going into the live auction and being bid automatically up to your max if needed.  You don't have to attend the auction, but boy isn't that fun!?  They blow through about a car per minute x three different auction lanes while guys with more expensive memberships than you bid remotely from all over the world very quickly.  These guys buy bunches of cars and load containers and have them shipped to africa, central america, etc for who knows why.

If you want to get a feel for what stuff goes for, you have to sit through the live auction.  Some stuff goes for nothing.  Some stuff goes for crazy money, and it is hard to predict.  I saw a few trends.  If a car rolls over, burns to the ground, or slides over something (undercarraige damage) it is really cheap.  If it was a flood, or light front end, it is expensive.  If it is a newish SUV, or sedan (camry) it is expensive and it is going overseas.  BTW, roll overs almost always have guts in them, so make a mental note not to roll your car, it is apparently not like the movies.

One other thing.  Some state laws require you to work through a broker.  Copart gives you a list of those states and of brokers.  Read their Ts&Cs carefully.  Seriously.  Some of them are pretty rough and will cost you a lot, be difficult to get your money back from, etc.  I bid on a couple cars from New Jersey and used AAA auto sales as a broker.  They were very easy to deal with, and their fees were reasonable.

If this all sounds really shady you are right.  If you get something for really cheap, then it is worth it.  If you are paying close to what you can go buy one for, it definitely is not worth the risk.  When I was looking at the MG13B project I lost a few crashed miatas that went for more than I could get a working one from CL for.  After losing a couple modular mustangs, I rethought the EFI modular strategy and started combing CL for v8 stick shift fox bodies...

Finding a donor car

So now I need some parts.  I obviously need a motor, a tranny, and an axle.  I will also need a bunch of other things that I don't know about.  I want to stay with fords and I don't want to spend a lot.  I see two reasonable motor options

1) 302 Ford.  This basic engine has been around since the at least 60's.  The mustang used this engine in different forms since its beginning until 1995.  The Explorer was the last to use these (stopped in 2001).
+They are everywhere you look.  I see these on Craigslist all the time for less than $500
+There are loads of options and parts for these.
+They are easy to work on
+Relatively inexpensive
-Not all that powerful.  A stock 302 makes about 250hp.  It costs money to get good power from one.
-Fuel economy will be very poor.  I know. Who cares, but Gas may eventually get too expensive to drive this car all the time.  They you all can read with dismay and disappointment about my Focus prius motor swap, and recipes for making your own granola.

2) 281 Ford.  This motor is known as the modular motor and was introduced in the early 90's (1996 for the mustang).  It has an overhead cam.
+Now that the coyote is out and the three valves are old news, I figure the 2 valve 281 must be all over the place for next to nothing.
+Being fuel injection will make this very drivable and will maintain this as a car that can be driven everyday without much fuss.
-It is EFI so now there will be lots of sensors, wire and the the computer to deal with. While there are some aftermarket tuners that can reflash the ECU, this application may require an altogether different EMS built to run the engine ($$$). Either way the Fuel injection will become a major part of an already challenging build.
-Not all that powerful either. Some vesions of this motor make less than 200hp. Even the 96 and 97 mustang only made 215 hp from the factory.
-These engines are really wide which makes them less desirable for engine swaps

 

I see a couple ways to get hold of what I need.

A) Craigslist.  Not hard to find guys parting out this stuff.  I can always find a couple axles, trannies and a handful of engines for sale at any time

B) Find a car that has had it.  Drive it here to its final resting place.  Pillage what I need and sell the rest

C) Find a car that someone smacked into something.  Guys must be stuffing late 90s to 00s mustangs in Philly at like a dozen per day. Fewer miles and cheaper than B.  Right?

I decided against A.  Since I have so much fab to do, I want to be able to get things from the two cars I am combining.  All the little piddly things would have to be purchased one at a time.  I don't know yet how important this will turn out to be...

project selection

I took each of my 4 objectives, gave it an importance, and ranked each project on each goal. 
I made a rank of 3 to be nuetral, with 5 being perfectly matched to my goal, and 1 being not at all matched to my goal. 

People tend to read too much into this type of tool.  I like to use it to get a broad picture of where things are.  I avoid 1-10 rankings, and if two things are close, I wouldn't use this tool to make a final decision.

Project 818 and the Focus land at the top of the heap.  My preference is actually for the 818, but the idea of paying and then waiting one year to begin is not attactive to me at all. 

From what I have read, I think Factory Five makes great kits and this isn't the first time I have thought about going for one. Maybe Peter will be interested in building something in a few years.  He already shows promise at hammering things...

potential projects

I selected the Focus +4 from a couple projects contending for the second bay in the new garage when I finished fixing up our house.

1) Assorted classics
Buy another unusual car that is cheap because it has had it.  Set it right and enjoy.  Contenders: Datsun 510, Datsun 240, Lancia Fulvia, DeTomaso Pantera, Triumph TR3, 911, Esprit, E-type, etc.  (BTW, if you are looking to get started with this hobby, this is the perfect way.  Any of those cars listed here are awesome choices, but as I type this they are all becoming less affordable...)

+ This will probably give me the best financial return on investment
+ Goals 3 and 4 are met
+ I have a lot of confidence I can do this well (so goal 2 is less important)
-Doesn't help with Goal 1.  I know I can remove a busted part and put a non busted one in its place.
-You spend your life babying things because something like a broken gearbox would be big trouble


2) MG13B
My friend Michael was trying to clean out some of the carnage left over from several seasons of passionate racing and development of his SCCA MGB race car.  He had a this 1970 beauty that he gave me for free.  My plan was to buy a JDM "front clip" which is pretty much a car that didn't pass inspection in Japan and they cut the car in half at the firewall and it gets imported and sold here cheap (no title).  It is supposedly a good way to get a lot of suspension and engine parts, but beware, there are lots of horror stories about this.  Pretty much expect to rebuild the engine straight off, and you may be pleasantly surprised.  I was hoping to buy a 3rd gen rx7 this way, and a rear suspension / subframe from a miata.

+ One of a kind
+ Car was free
±Enter the realm of the rotary engine
-Resale on MGB's with wild engine swaps is miserable.  I had my eye on a couple that were up forever even though they seemed impossibly cheap.  
-There were more MGBs made than any other roadster until the Miata.
-Car was a lot less complete than I envisioned.  I want to have the option to modify an already present system or part.  There was no interior, floors are rotten.  Starting from a shell +glass.

 


3) Monster Miata
Buy a Miata, put in an LS2, T56, ford 8 inch IRS.  Handling is preserved, but now runs 11s and sounds respectable.

+Pretty much perfect car for the money
+This has been done a bunch, and there is a lot of info and parts out there (flyin miata, boss frog)
+Possible to break even on the project (build ~20k, sell ~20k)
-Look at it.  The only other thing I have seen that looked like that came with the selling point that it "clumps strongly" and is "flushable".  Tell me that you would feel more inspired to push to conclusion on that than on an E-type.
-LS motors fit in everything.  So everyone wants them, and they are getting to be expensive.  You also get to pay someone else to tune your ignition and fuel injection when you are done.
http://www.flyinmiata.com/V8/RonMSM/index.php?UID=

4) Caterham
Buy it drive it, continue refining the Europa.

+Who has time for car building?
+Try having more fun with a car for $20k
-Your face is at oil pan height on an F250.  Best keep your head on a swivel.
-I already have a sub 1 ton car with a tiny engine.
-Say goodbye to goal #1 and #2

5) Project 818
New kit from Factory 5.  Uses a Subaru Boxer engine as a mid engine power plant

+ fast, unusual, challenging.  Hits all 4 goals
- >1 year wait for delivery currently
- Not very good looking
- Someone else designed this.  Less than ideal for Goal #1.
https://www.factoryfive.com/galleries/project-818/sema-2013-818s/

6) Focus +4
302 in the focus switch to rear wheel drive using a solid axle ford 8 inch.

+Nails all 4 goals
+Have the Focus.  Interior is in great shape.  Personal attachment to it.
+Whole project may cost less than the engine, trans, harness, ECU for the miata project
+Parts for swap are available from Kugel components (expensive, but is a nice safety net if stuck.)
+I already built an engine.  This project does everything else except build an engine.
-Very involved and not much help out there
-Unknowns may add up to more money than expected.
-Not that quick unless I do some work on the motor
-Takes a car that handles pretty good and makes it drive like a truck.

previous projects

I struggle with loving cars and hating to spend money.  It is always a tough balance.  My goals for each project are:

1)  Take a bold step difficulty:  Take on something that is a stretch so I can learn

2)  Spend a small enough amount of money that I can cut bait and throw the whole thing away.

3)  Have something that I am proud to own

4)  Have something unusual

My first project was a 1999 SVT mustang that I bought in 2004 after finishing school.  My plan was to put a supercharger on it.  I formed my goals while owning this car.  This checked box 3 and a little bit of 4, but it was too expensive for my inexperienced mitts to start breaking things off of it.  I changed the springs to lower it a little and improve the handling, but that was about it.

Next I bought a Lotus Europa.  All 4 goals were perfectly met with this car.  There are a few

Lotus cars that nobody cares about:  The Eclat, and the Elite II are at the top of that list, but they are so ugly that I didn't think I could keep my lunch down while working on them.  The next tier was the elan +2 and the Europa.  I always loved the Esprit, and the Europa was the model that preceded it.  I liked that it was mid engine, was inexpensive, yet unusual, with relatively inexpensive parts (Lotus twin cam engine was used in many cars over the years).  I looked at Ebay and saw lots of cheap parts.  I searched and found several companies that specialize in supplying Lotus parts.  My bold goal at the time was to rebuild an engine, So I set out looking for a twin cam Europa with a bad engine and a pretty good everything else.  Score.  Best project ever.  I still can't believe how much I learned for almost no money spent.

In fact, I lost more money on depreciation of the mustang than I have spent to date on the Europa, and The Europa is now worth twice what I paid for it.  When I sell it it will have been free fun for all these years.

Introduction

Hey!  I thought I would have a go at a blog for my build project.  The basic overview is that I have a 2001 Focus zx3 that I bought new before starting graduate school.  It has been a great car for 13 years, but I needed something a bit bigger for the family.  I bought a new Focus ST this year which isn't bigger as it turns out (no regrets).  I hated to sell my old Focus.  At the same time I was looking for the next project after finishing my Lotus project...

I ended up settling on the building my old Focus into a rear wheel drive v8.  I will explain later why this made it to the top of the heap.  Somehow I doubt that I will have time to post and build with everything going on, but I have a lot of ideas and am learning a lot of things that I want to share.  I also wish as I constantly research cars that there were more build info about people's projects.

I hope I keep this up and hope that some of you find this entertaining or useful.