Ask me any car question - the Car Guru

$15-25k budget
daily driver
25 miles of driving a day
low cost of ownership
convertible
roadster

miata, s2k, z4?

halp



impolyt_one said:

Why the 911? It's never been as easy to work on without specialized tools, and you really need a lift to work on a 911. Not to mention the expensive Porsche parts that would still remain relevant to the electric car project. If you want an engine-less car, there are probably better, cooler cars you could do?

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they can be cheap (like 3, 4k for an early 912 with tons of miles and i can prolly sell the engine). without the engine and some other parts i can get the weight down to 1700lb or so which makes it on the lower end of available cars. there's enough room in the trunk for batteries.

it's been done quite a bit, but not as extensive as a market as the 914 (which goes down to 1k or so)

i also like the idea of recycling an old unusable porsche and making it run on electricity.

id like a hard top not a convertible and at least a 2+2

Cedric said:

No major issues with the E92 M3 so far, car has been pretty much bullet proof. DCT and Vanos can be pretty expensive to fix if any issues were to arise, i'd say, Take the car to a BMW dealership for a PPI. Measure clutch, brakes, check for any Vanos issues.
I personally would not buy one if doesnt have the entertainment center option.

i have half a mind to buy a porsche 911 or 912 with the motor blown out (hopefully ****** still functioning) or an old one with a ton of mileage and converting it to an electric car.
bad idea?

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Do you actually have the know how?
If so, then more power to you, i think so far only, RUF has done such a thing, it'll be a 2nd.
IMHO, that would be an automotive blasphemy, that's the equivalent of taking a Prius and swapping the motor out with a big block Chevy. (I think the latter would even be more interesting)

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yeah ruf is one of the reasons why i'd like to do it. i realize it's blasphemous, but i feel like it'd be a fun long term green project to do.

the question i had was the 911 has a weight distribution (depending on the model) of about 37/63. I've seen crunched numbers and it looks like an ev porsche will have a distribution of 50/50. how does this impact the car?

i was thinking of taking auto classes at a community college to use their garage and learn some more.

Old 911's with that crazy weight split and the little 15" Fuchs on the 205's or whatever they were used to step out a lot, you gotta learn how to drive them the proper way. I don't think you'd necessarily need to worry about performance characteristics if you're talking electric power.

Are you talking about doing it the cheap way, and ending up with something with a 15-30 mile range? Or would step up to lithium and spend big money to do things the right way?

lithium.

acid batteries can go up to 60, 70 miles tho with a small lightweight car


i'd use it as a daily driver to get to and from work. i'd have another car for longer trips and hauling stuff

i just want to know if it's doable. suggestions for any other cars?



i looked at costs and looked at what other people have done and in total it's going to cost 17 to 20k, but they did use much less broken down cars

maybe you could look into getting somebody's unfinished 356 replicar or AC Cobra kit and adding the driveline as you wish. Those kinds of cars are designed to use inexpensive parts, are usually rust-free (fiberglass bodied) and often pop up without motors and stuff, and are always in that kind of price range.

Plus, you won't be hacking up an original vintage car, and you'll have something nicer looking with less effort.

for example (I realize the car is expensive, but it's nice)
http://www.beverlyhillscarclub.com/1955-porsche-356-speedster-c-663.htm

this guy seems to have already done it. i just dont like the back end on the notchbacks and the other hard tops are hard to come by. since the trunk is going to house the batteries something with back seats would be nicer

that car looks awesome. I bet it'd cost about $50K or more to do something like that, but 100 miles and 95mph is no joke.

Get some fake Rudge wheels for it

this would be awesome. Bit of money if you want to make it electric, but would be the coolest electric car out there:

http://www.rennsportreplicas.com/acoupe/




damn, I really want to make one of these now too... I've read that importing electric cars to different countries can be done with fewer hassles...

a real deal car, on Rudges, in New York:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3395137.htm

i like the back on the last one you listed.

that is one fine car.


tesla's model s is coming out soon. i think i by the time i'm ready to do an ev conversion it'll be easier to just get one of those, but converting one sounds fun

I say a low mile C5 Zo6, but a new Miata is in that price range. C5 Convertibles. I like the Z4, but it's a car I'd buy for my BF not for myself (I don't know why I always felt that about BMW Z cars). S2K is probably on top of my list for reliable daily driver roadsters with excitement. But I would probably go with a mint Triumph TR6 with A/C. I seem to have better luck with classic cars as daily driver for some odd reason.

~Kurt

horndog said:

$15-25k budget
daily driver
25 miles of driving a day
low cost of ownership
convertible
roadster
miata, s2k, z4?
halp

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KurtS90 said:

I say a low mile C5 Zo6, but a new Miata is in that price range. C5 Convertibles. I like the Z4, but it's a car I'd buy for my BF not for myself (I don't know why I always felt that about BMW Z cars). S2K is probably on top of my list for reliable daily driver roadsters with excitement. But I would probably go with a mint Triumph TR6 with A/C. I seem to have better luck with classic cars as daily driver for some odd reason.

~Kurt

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Z06's were never convertible
C5 convertibles are decent cars, but flip up headlights are so 80's!

horndog said:

$15-25k budget
daily driver
25 miles of driving a day
low cost of ownership
convertible
roadster
miata, s2k, z4?
halp

Click to expand...

Low maintenance and german cars do not go in the same sentence.
Nissan 350Z roadster, S2000 are great cars.
Miatas are for chicks

Pretty obvious that a C5 Z06 and all Zo6's are hardtops, but still a car I recommend for low 20's. It's great sports car for the money... C6 Convertibles may be out of his price range, but C5's are still nice cars. Regular C5's, with the Targa top can and maybe even Z51 can be had for high teens with low miles.

The Miata is far from a chick car, it's still a true sports car. A little under powered in stock form, but nothing a cheap super/turbo charge can't fix. Some even throw in LSx motors.

~Kurt

I was just out smoking on my balcony and this definitively late 70's/early 80's Italian car came burbling by down on the street - only got a top view of it really - I thought it was Fiat X19, but had a slightly squared off front with fixed lights I think, and then long flying buttress C-pillars that went all the way to the tail. It was not a large car, and didn't really size out to be 70's/80's supercar level, merely a smaller sports car with unique styling. What car was this? It was white with a significant amount of black trimwork on it. Lancia?

edit - haha, found my answer on google in 2 searches flat. It was a Lancia Scorpion:

my gf has a Lancia Fiasco 1.6TDi . It suits her temperament. I believe it has a little of the Scorpion heritage.