1969-1976 Porsche 914

How about a mid-engined aircooled Porsche?

BMW 2002 1968-1976

Now here's an almost purpose-built track machine right here:

1963 Chevy Nova

Oh gawd, what has gotten into me. I was given some info which led me to this basket case of a car. A 1963 Nova that someone completely disassembled and then gave up on.

It looks like the hard part is done and it was stripped bare and blasted clean. Needs some very minor patch panels in both doors, but otherwise is in straight, rust free condition. There is a 350 TPI motor and TH700R4 tranny that go along with the car, a 9 bolt rear end, and disks all around.

This seems like more work that I had originally wanted to do to my next project vehicle, but upon further thought, this might be perfect. The seats are pretty trashed, so I wont feel bad if I replace them with racing buckets. If the car is going to be tracked, the interior panels and trim probably wont be a huge priority. I can however concentrate on the suspension setup and drivetrain, after I get the bodywork and paint done.

Decisions, decisions...

El Cheapo Paint Job

Whatever bucket I end up picking up, if it requires a paint job just to keep it from being an eyesore, I might resort to this method:

http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

Apparently you can get a pretty presentable finish from Rustoleum paint applied with a ROLLER and lots of paint prep and buffing. Here are opinions on the method listed above:

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/body/hrdp_0707_1962_ford_falcon_budget_paint_job/index.html

Here are some pictures of the VERY impressive results on a Corvair:

1965 Ranchero

1965 Ranchero. Super small, super light weight (2500 lbs), super badass. How awesome would it be to show up to the autocross meet in one of these? Apparently you can even go all out, like this guy.

Composites Books

I just bought "Composite Materials Fabrication Handbook #1" by John Wanberg and it was very reassuring to find that I know how to do about 90% of the stuff covered in the book. I am glad I bought it though because it has a very "Garage-DIY" feel and only uses relatively inexpensive tools that the average home fabricator would have easy access to. This means no prepreg, vacuum bags, or autoclaves. Hopefully when I have a bit more work space, Ill put some of this stuff into practice and build some parts for fun.

I also bought "Introduction to Composite Materials Design" by Ever J. Barbero. This looks like a textbook that might have been used if I would have taken a composites design class at UCI. I am pretty rusty with some of the math covered in the book, but hopefully I can take a crack at it and design some parts, build them, and verify their performance.

Shelby Falcon

"Originally owned by Pete Brock, the Falcon served as an all purpose tow and delivery vehicle for Shelby American. Its powerplant is a full-race Cobra 289.

The Falcon can also be seen in the movie "The Killers" (1964) starring Ronald Regan."

http://shelbyamericancollection.org/collection/falcon.shtml