Looking for a few good cars...

takza · Post by **takza** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 8:26 am

Looking for suggestions as far as 4 cylinder cars that have a power to weight ratio of 20 or better.

The lower the number the better the ratio in terms of the car's acceleration.

I calculate this by dividing the curb weight of the car by the flywheel rated HP for the car....so that a 2000 lb car would need to have a 100 HP rating to manage a PW ratio of 20.

Heres a page with some ratios...calculated in a different way...

<a href='http://www.sff.net/people/dburkhead/Cars/ITRacing.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.sff.net/people/dburkhead/Car ... ing.htm</a>

Wanting to find an older car ('86 to '94?) that is fairly easy to work on....reliable...gets good mpg...and a PW ratio of 20 or less.

No ABS or air bags needed.

Highway mpg hopefully in the mid 30s....

Also a car that handles pretty well. And 2 WD....probably FWD. Manual trans.

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 9:09 am

I'd suggest a 90-91 Corolla GTS if you can find one. Very refined and reliable cars. Fun to drive too. You could also look into the early fwd Celica GTS's. The first generation of the fwd Celica GTS came with a 3SGE; a great engine.

Not sure if you want 2 door though.

shogun · Post by **shogun** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 9:38 am

suzuki swift
starlet gt turbo
civik ek9
crx

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 10:09 am

shogun wrote: suzuki swift
starlet gt turbo
civik ek9
crx

Starlet GT Turbo never came to the US or Canada.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 3:59 pm

I dunno about a Celica All-Trac... But maybe?

4AGE Tercel!!!! lol I think 20v said he was getting 24mpg city and 40mpg highway?

Mac · Post by **Mac** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 9:46 pm

shogun wrote:suzuki swift
starlet gt turbo
civik ek9
crx

those swifts are alot of fun indeed! my girlfriend used to have one, i miss the car alot and so does she.

as for quick little cars, i'm going to buy a 85-87 CRX si and drop in my integra engine along with the brakes and suspension to make a kickass little weekend driver.

stock CRX Si makes 70HP, weighs next to nothing and is pretty quick.

now swap in the integras 113HP engine, beefier front torsion bars, bigger brakes, replace the rear drums with discs and you have a 12 second rocket.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 11:44 pm

HAH! 12 seconds? At 117 horses? What tuning you using?
Our local perf shop, and also local champion in the Import drags (by local Champ I mean Northern Colorado.. total) has a few 400+ horse Civic and CRX's that are just tickling 12's. And these guys know what they are doing. The one I do like a lot is a Civic hatch with 1200 horses that is just within reach of high 9's. If he'll stop blowing his engines every third race.

Being 6000 feet above sea has to cause a pretty massive effect though...

Gasoline Fumes · Post by **Gasoline Fumes** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 3:29 am

Mac wrote:
shogun wrote:suzuki swift
starlet gt turbo
civik ek9
crx
those swifts are alot of fun indeed! my girlfriend used to have one, i miss the car alot and so does she.

as for quick little cars, i'm going to buy a 85-87 CRX si and drop in my integra engine along with the brakes and suspension to make a kickass little weekend driver.

stock CRX Si makes 70HP, weighs next to nothing and is pretty quick.

now swap in the integras 113HP engine, beefier front torsion bars, bigger brakes, replace the rear drums with discs and you have a 12 second rocket.

In the US:
85-87 1.5L CRX Si has 91 HP, not 70
84-87 1.5L CRX DX had 76 HP
84 1.3L had 60 HP
85-87 1.5L HF had 58 HP

Don't bother with the Integra torsion bars. They may be thicker, but they're longer too. They're not really any stiffer and require modifying the floor to install them. 2WD Civic wagons have the stiffest torsion bars, followed by the 4WD wagon. The 2WD wagon bars are shorter and also require modifying the floor. 4WD bars will drop right into a CRX based on what I've heard.

Very cool cars, I'd have one if there was any left in NY. The rust monster got them.

So I got a '94 Metro (Swift in disguise). Swapped, stripped and eventually turbocharged. I'm hoping for a little over 100 HP and under 1500 lbs. That's about the same as a 5.0L Mustang power-to-weight ratio. And I should still get 40 mpg.

Details are on my website.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 2:18 pm

Heh... I prefer the GT 5.4L over the GT 5.0.... A good deal more fun hehehe....
Our 96 Metro is pretty swift... Lol.. Horrible pun intended.
We got the "Performance" 4 cyl model, but its not the LSi or whatever they call it. I actually prefer its low-end to the Terc's. Its high end is about the same, maybe a bit more shallow. A feature I really like is the rev-limiter... It sounds so awesome lol. The Metro seems pretty roll-resistant. Heck, I did a 180 at 30 in it and it didn't lift a tire. Of course, it has 175/70R13's, so there isn't much reistance there.
My dad was able to get 51 mpg on our 5 speed Metro. He has a 15 mile trip into town, and only the last 5 miles are flat. The first 10 are not flat shall we say. If anyone has been around Horsetooth Reservoir by Fort Collins, you know what I speak of. I attribute the mileage to those rear-view mirrors... lol, j/k. Overall, its a very aerodynamic car, for the level of economy it is. I just wish it had flush-mount composite beams, not those small, recessed sealed beams.
The one thing to keep in mind while driving a Geo.... DO NOT GET IN AN ACCIDENT. These things crumple. Ours at one point rolled down our driveway and struck a 1.5 inch thick sapling at about 20 mph and the rear driver side wheel was about 45 degrees off straight, not to mention the body damage. After insurance it was still $1250 in damages. Additionally, I popped my fist down on the hood to close it the rest of the way once. Not very hard at all. It got a rather lovely dent in the hood. I play bongo drums on the roof of my Terc and nothing happens but a noise.
BTW, our Metro has 126,000 miles on it and it fires the first crank, no problem. Of course, the tranny has no 2nd gear and 3rd is quickly croaking, but the engine is still great.

Inkyturbo · Post by **Inkyturbo** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 11:56 pm

Typrus wrote: Heh... I prefer the GT 5.4L over the GT 5.0.... A good deal more fun hehehe....

Heh, and I'd prefer a 5.0 over a 281. 4.6L just seems too small for a V8. But my Auto Tech teacher has one that gets 360hp and 30mpg. :blink: Anyway...

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 11:33 am

My neighbor has a 4.6L Supercharged GT Mustang getting 27mpg and I believe over 400 horses.

Inkyturbo · Post by **Inkyturbo** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 2:46 pm

Typrus wrote: My neighbor has a 4.6L Supercharged GT Mustang getting 27mpg and I believe over 400 horses.

Nice. My teacher's is naturally aspirated, but it does have nitrous, which ups the power to 460hp, but obviously lowers gas mileage.