I have a dilemma....... and its time to make a decision....
Do I sell the 928 Estate and buy a Euro 5 speed to eventually build into racer......????

The estate has proven the strength of the 928 platform for "extreme budget" racing....and I finally feel I am "on top of the car" in terms of my driving...or that I can drive the car to its limits.....its been a great car and would make an excellent entry level racer that is a top notch "lemons or chump" racer... In an ideal world I would love to sell it to a local owner who plans on racing in again in Lemons or Chump...so I can buy a seat!!!

The euro is a much "faster" car.....in excellent condition.....that has more potential speed than the estate...but is a street car right now.....and it would take me a couple years to come up with the $$$$ to convert it to a dedicated race car......so I could drive it on the street + occasional DE in the meantime....

Of course keeping the estate and buying the euro is the best option.....but there is NO WAY my wife would EVER go for that.....not in a million years....

I dunno.................................so many great 928's....so little $$$$

 

You have the estate sorted. Track and enjoy it.
Or sell the BMW and get both.
Or sell the wife get both and a GTS

I fear that if you go to a faster car you will wind up popping the engine again and be back to widow days of no longer enjoying yourself.

 

Colin
Funny guy......the M3 is long gone......I do miss it, but I don't miss the payment!

Can't get rid of the "boss"....

 

Naw Rocco is the funny man not me!

Well if you can't get rid of the boss and the M3 is no longer around either. How about the suburban? You could pay for both with the fuel you will save. Then just put a hitch on the euro and use it to carry the estate to the track.

 

Why not just buy a Euro motor?

 

Why not run the estate and save money to buy a Euro motor or bits to build one to swap in later......just the cost of a rollcage is pretty high. Building and selling racecars is a way to make a small fortune.......out of a large one

 

Very wise words.....................................................

Its just so tempting...... but the cost of building yet another 928 racer is far higher than driving and maybe painting the Estate....

I just feel like the Estate is somewhat "lost".......since it was built for crap can racing, but I quickly grew tired of the politics, so I have a racecar that looks "unique" (the nice way to put it).....

I don't know if I want to take on the stress-responsibility-expense of racing in lemons or chump in the future....sure I love the racing, but I HATE the politics... The role of team manager-owner is stressful.....arrive and drive IS MUCH MORE FUN

So I always fall back on this motto "what costs the least".....keeping the estate, doing races and TT's and racing with NASA next year IS the cheapest option.....

 

Id stay where you are, maybe coax in a euro engine..but..why turn cheap racing into expensive racing when cheap works so damned well?

 

If you don't already have a buyer lined-up for the estate, this is a moot point - no?

 

Find another fresh car without the oddball hatch and transplant the racing gear.
You need that gear, right? Which makes this old 84 worth very little.

Euro is overrated, any 928 will work, your success and $/fun ratio has proven that.

 

I would sell the Estate as a turn key car......then start over with the euro.....pricey for sure.... I don't have a "buyer" lined up......and the market for "lemons" cars is kinda limited....since many people want the "adventure" of building the car themselves....

Its also VERY true that any 928 can do very well on track......for a very reasonable budget (in terms of "Race" car budgets anyway)

 

This is a really easy choice actually. You have much more labor in the estate than your realize and would be starting over with something else. Plus you know it and it is running really well. I would be thinking about 'unestating' the the estate. Is that possible? I mean it was funny and necessary for lemons but now it is kind of like wearing a halloween costume ever day. Does not seem like it would be hard to back it up to 928 shape, at least not in the overall scope of the work you do to that car.
Next, you may be thinking of more power. I'm not sure this is necessary or will really help without better tires, but if you do want more power the first steps is clearly Euro S heads and MSDS headers. You should be able to get into both of these pretty cheap. Let me know if you cannot find a good price on a set of Euro S heads.

 

Get Eu-S running gear and swap into the estate.
The problem is - you wont get any significant $$ for the estate car, and you will effectively waste all the money invested in it already (if you try to sell it, that is).

 

Why o why would you take a nice street legal Euro and turn it into a track car?

Sorted or almost sorted track cars turn up several times a year, and the motor they start with doesn't mean squat, Euro or US its going to need to come out and be made "race ready". Converting a street car when compared to buying has always been more expensive.

Have you driven one of the Euro hybrid track cars? Lots more power in a track car ALWAYS means lots more $$$ to run it.

*** Pay no attention to the fact I have a US 83 I plan to keep pretty stock and a Euro 85 I plan to strip down for DE type events. No clue which way I would go if I could only keep one.

 

Karl.."Next, you may be thinking of more power. I'm not sure this is necessary or will really help without better tires.." it would make a lot of difference in the drag race from corner to corner and help in passing. As it is now he is not spinning the tires all the way down the straight
I agree taking the "wagon" off the back and getting a simple Maaco paint job would greatly improve the WOW factor and tidy up the show...plus add that huge rear wing everyone wants ! I think many enjoy the process of building a car and when it is "done" miss some of the challenge. But seat time and LOTS of it is what really helps build the driving skills and if you are building odds are you are NOT driving.