Lateral-g project car on a budget.
 

I had an idea and emailed our Administrator Scott, He and I thought it would be a neat idea to have a project car that the every guy with some skill could build, His final lets ask, so here we are. The idea is this a car that can be built on a budget most people here have a family and some times the dream car is just too far away from the truth, But lets take a clean buyable car not a 69 Camaro or a 70 Chevelle That kills the budget from the start, Lets set a budget and a platform where the car can be built from, Each step will be detailed as far as cost and how to do it youself, With pics and sorces and total cost of each step, And also each member can put their input in as were we go as far as engine what do we do with our budget every one sends an email we take a poll on each step and thats what we do The color of the car the same we take a poll and so on. Remember this car is not a blown 1000hp this is a car every one can build and also to show and or help first timers. Also a clean good looking handling car with lets say 350 425 hp, The budget I wanted to say 10 grand but 15 is a more realistic idea. Lets do a hard evaluation of the project at 10 but cap at 15K, I think we could build a nice car at that. I will supply the car the cash and labor, I ask of Scott to help with all the posting and poll. So lets get some input on the idea good or bad. I dont want to hear we cant build a car with that amount of money but what can we do. So here it is its up to you YES or NO

Sound like a good idea to me. Lets see, "F" body, second gen firebird, "X" body, Pontiac Ventura, "G" body, 78-82 Malibu. Does it have to be a car? How about a 67-72 chevy truck? any one of those can be bought for $2500 or less drivable in decent shape. Fuel injection also drives the price way up so I would plan on carburating it until most the car is finalized. A detailed list would take some time so this would need to be broke down into smaller steps as we go along. The main thing will picking the vehicle besides cost is the availablilty of aftermarket parts and interchangability of factory stuff.

Mike

Neat Idea:

How about fixing up a 1965 Riviera.

They can be found relatively cheap,
They have Killer lines and no pollution standards.
350-425 hp would be easy with a 425 Nailhead.

For the looks, stance and lines, I think they are under priced compared to many other car that just look bland.

4 Seats, enough for a family.
Lots of parts available.

What do you think?

Is this what you were looking for?

tyoneal

Great idea! I can't wait to see what happens and look forward to following along. As much as I hate to say it, for the sake of budget, you should probably go with a Chevy or at least a GM car with a strong motor that doesn't need rebuilt and would respond to a simple cam/carb/intake/exhaust swap.
There's lots of great aftermaket suspension/brake upgrades available for the previously mentioned GM 2nd gen F, 2nd and 3rd gen X, and G bodies and all are good lookers when done right. If you do an F or X body, you could borrow all the stuff learned from PHR's Project g-28 so that would be a big head start.

As much as I love Rivieras, I think it's too big, heavy and rare to be a good g-machine and I don't know that the aftermarket GM A-body stuff bolts on.

I say start scouring the Auto Trader and Craigslist in a radius you're willing to travel and put your findings to a vote.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Let's do it! I like the 2nd gen F body idea. This sounds like it would be a fun thing for everyone and also help those who are still learning. :thumbsup:

Sounds like a great platform for a G-Body car 84 olds or monte etc everythings available easy to work on and still plentiful and would be differnet and kick ass looking

This sounds really cool. I think it can definitely be done with those constraints if we start off with the right platform and get creative! My vote is for either a 80's g-body (there's a million of them for short money) or 3rd gen F-body. They're probably what everyone will flock to anyway once all the 60s steel is gone or uber-uber expensive. I'm partial to the g-bodies since I had 5 of them!

this is an awesome idea

Jeff (3kidsnotime) and I been talking, and he wants this to be a fully documented budget build that will be covered on our website. What I plan on doing is create a webpage(s) just for the build then have it link to an ongoing thread here on the forums - a blog of sorts. That way, the project will have a dedicated URL and will be easier to find, add pictures to, and follow the progress with, etc, yet still be interactive. I think this is a cool idea and I hope it plays out the way we hope it does.

I talked to Jason Rushforth, and he thinks it would be cool to have the designers on Lateral-g come up with their own designs for the car and then we'd all vote on our favorite.

What do you guys think? Would this be an interesting addition to the site?

Here is the project car:

I like the idea of utilizing active members. Especially the design idea, Full interactive build!

The poll is looking good, Ill tell you about the project car. One owner 72 Cutlass S Purchased from the original owners daughter for $2,500.00 The car has minimal body damge and original paint nothing hidden, 140,000 miles 350 runs drives perfect passed im and inspection with flying colors. The Cutlass has good lines and parts are affordable, So where do we go keep up with the input and voting, A lets hear some names Its going to need one Thanks Jeff

Now this is a killer idea!! ...and being an Olds, well, you had me at Cutlass.
(...OK, and being a cheap bastard, I have ideas.)

OK, then... as we discussed in a couple emails... a few good points were brought up, namely: What are we looking at, deadline-wise (being kinda slammed right now will make this a late-night effort)? I'm in, not only for the fun factor, but also as Jason pointed out, it'll be great to give something back to the community.... and besides, working with the talent pool here is icing on the cake!

Money is right and the platform couldn't be better for parts support. How invloved of a project will this be? Frame off or cosmetic and mechanical restoration while keeping it semi-drivable?

Mike

Mike These are some great questions, At this point frame off or not Im not sure we need to not forget our budget and the point as well to show what we can do also full interactive of members when things get underway frame off or not to frame off will be a question, we need to get a baseline down first of funds and what the obvious items are going to cost. I dont feel we need to media blast the car it might be going a little too far, and well its quite clean, I dont want it to go overboard on the project lets keep it some what simple but above average, when things get rolling there will be very detailed photos of each process done.



Jeff

Do the quarters need to be replaced or just patched in small areas?

this should be good
 

great idea and looking forward for the project to unfold

No major sheet metal work is needed, The focus is on a clean original start point, floors are spotless small amount of rust in lower rh quarter, Right front fender will be replaced in the project and im sure a OAI hood will be installed.

It's a great idea. Just remember that democracy can be a double edged sword. "Too many cooks spoil the broth...." and all that. At a point, it will be important to respect the wishes and preferences of the person who is actually spending all the money and doing all the work. Let him have the final say on parts that are discussed.

Since this is a budget, I'd keep it on the frame and since the emphasis around here is on turning and stopping, I'd start pricing bolt-on suspension upgrades and maybe a junkyard brake swap from late F-body or Corvette. Then some bolt-ons for the motor like i mentioned before, carb/intake/headers/exhaust
Maybe check the classifieds here and at "the other site" for any A-body stuff as well as Olds forums for motor stuff.
Doing one mod at a time and following it through would keep it affordable and from being torn apart for months at a time and make it interesting to follow along with. You could also test-drive and evaluate each modification.

Since it's a Cutlass S, how about S Curves for a name?

Jason I feel your on the correct path, I also caint wait and see the designs. Also we need some input on a name, so lets get some ideas

Whats the total budget, not counting the cost of the car?

Well that depends, if this were Monster Garage you would get about $157,348,730,537,550,357.23 in freebies!

I say $15,000 that would make it both realistic yet challenging.

I voted yes, because if you can get deals through friends... barter for work/parts.. do a lot of it yourself, you can really cut the cost on building a really nice ride. Also, starting with a non "desired" car... meaning, ones that dont go for $100,000 wrecked, is also a good way to start i feel. Besides, seeing really nice odd balls are fun! :D

Mine cost around $24,XXX to build, including the cost of the car.

At first I was thinking 10 grand, but now im thinking 15, Lets make a hard workout on the car at 10 and then have some fun withe the other 5 That might make things interesting

I think $15k is good. Have you made of "wish list" of parts, such as an overdrive tranny, the motor, wheels, brakes, paint, etc.

I have some good ideas, But im working on a budget break down for each area of the car, I think a break down is better

Great idea! The Cutless you have chosen is a perfect platform for this project. I look forward to participating. :thumbsup:

When you say that you will be supplying the labor, is that all labor including paint, body and interior? If so, you should be able to do a lot for the $15K.

aw crap, im already getting carried away :lol:
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/3...ds2copyyu7.jpg

Excellent points, Jason.
I'd also begin with suspension, but add replacing the body mounts with something good and stiff to help isolate the suspension. It may be extremely beneficial to make the most of junkyard swaps, as there are a ton of great factory parts waiting to be exploited. I think that a mix of great factory performance items with complimentary aftermarket stuff will make this project EXTREMELY interesting, and generate some creatiuve thought.

Attacking the project one system at a time will be a great service to anyone new to building a project, and the tech info generated alone will be invaluable. How about turning this into a "budget build book"? Hell, we publish the final build in pdf format and.... ok, a little ahead of myself here, but you can't deny the value of such documentation!

Having a background in project management automatically makes me think "schedule, schedule, schedule", and a detailed look at the disassembly and organization of this project will help all of the rookie builders... as well as creating a pre-made list of items that can be sold/bartered to further fund the project.

"S Curves" is a killer name, too.

To make this a "realistic" budget build, include the market-value of whatever parts you use, whether you got it for a steal, or it's been in your way in the garage for the last 15 years, go by what the parts are worth. The only parts you don't add to the cost are the ones that came attached to the car when you got it.

A $10,000 budget is pretty tight, but completely feasible if you don't get too crazy with anything, and are OK with buying or re-using some existing used parts. Brakes, for example don't need to cost a fortune. 4-wheel discs for well under $1000. Sure they're no 13" C5s, but the budget probably can't support those.

Other ideas to help give the project some direction:

For wheels, something like a 17x8 AR "Hopster" would look good without breaking the bank, give it a Pro-Touring flavor, and they're not TTIIs.

Engine/Trans-wise, I'd stick with an Olds 350/TH350 for a cheap combo, but if it's in the budget, an LT1/4L60e is hard to beat if you want injection and O/D, gas mileage, and reliable power. It's not an olds motor, but it will bolt right in.

I like "S-curves".

Here's a couple in the vein of a budget project:
cheap Skate
Cut-le$$
Tight-pocket Rocket

As far as keeping the olds "all-olds" and rebuilding or buying another Olds engine. I tend to think that money could be saved by getting a crate carbed SBC (if we want new) and rebuilt Th350 or 400. It seems to me that there may be a sacrifice in suspension/brakes/wheels etc. if we spec an engine that inherently costs more. I'm just thinking that this forum seems more focused on the actual performance rather than the originality.

Used parts was also a great suggestion especially for brakes.

a first gen camaro would be nice.
I could donate some parts for the build aswell.
god knows all the extra camaro parts ive accumulated over the years and would never use.
heck i might even throw in a 327 complete motor.
only if the car is built and sold/ raffled off and procceds go to a charity of our choosing.

Hi,
This sounds like a really cool project. Please let us know if there is anyway we and our new "Lateral" wheel can help out.

Thanks,

Jason,
Travis, and Jon

Jason, Travis, and Jon Thanks and thanks to every one and the support on this, I will be snaping some shots tonight of our project and lets keep the ideas coming in Thanks Jeff

Is this something Steve could use in PHR....hmmmmm?

Scott,
This is a perfect idea, especially given all of the interest you are already seeing. Will it be possible to create sub-areas within the new webpage that would each be for suggestions/discussions related to specific areas of the build, such as design, paint and body, wheels and tires, front suspension, rear suspension, interior, etc.?

Thanks.

wow this is very cool :lateral:
showing all aspects in detailed form of a build is just the best for all of us
Those Lateral budniks in a 19/20 combo with some BFG G force tyres will sit very nice under their :unibrow:

I think this would make a great article/series for PHR!! Also keep in mind, I'm not sure if the parts would be compatible on some of the roundy round cars, but if there is a dirt track community near or a good parts community, you might see if someone locally is interested in the parts, that would bring a little extra cash into the project. not much but it would be some. We've got some good ideas going here. I like the LT1 idea, surely we can find one for a good price. Or the idea of the crate motor. I agree with a lot of the comments we should try and stay away from the cookie cutter style of the big wheels and flashy brakes. We should display function over form. A tight budget build that will handle with the big boys. We don't need to haul this thing in from 200 MPH we, hopefully, want it to hit the twisties and handle.