my low budget dream car build

[chrisbalich]

Originally Posted by TMo

I read trough a bunch of this, and one day I'll read the rest... but I really like the project. I assume the 'budget' part of the build has kind of gone out the window?

Pray tell what makes you think that.

Is it the <$750 paint job I did at home?
The $50 I paid to weld up the rear bumper?
The $100 I spent on food to feed my friends who came and helped me sand the car or to help me do bodywork? (before and after paint)
The engine harness I built myself?
The EFI I've tuned myself with help from friends?
The suspension I've installed myself?
The trans work I've traded my work for or done myself?
The windows I've installed myself?
The engine I rebuilt at home?

I've spent about the same on my (basically fully-built) car (over 5+ years) that you can buy a worn-out, stock example for today.

I challenge you to build a car to this extent on 150% of what I've spent.
I dare you to try.

[TMo]

Originally Posted by chrisbalich

Pray tell what makes you think that.

Is it the <$750 paint job I did at home?
The $50 I paid to weld up the rear bumper?
The $100 I spent on food to feed my friends who came and helped me sand the car or to help me do bodywork? (before and after paint)
The engine harness I built myself?
The EFI I've tuned myself with help from friends?
The suspension I've installed myself?
The trans work I've traded my work for or done myself?
The windows I've installed myself?
The engine I rebuilt at home?

I've spent about the same on my (basically fully-built) car (over 5+ years) that you can buy a worn-out, stock example for today.

I challenge you to build a car to this extent on 150% of what I've spent.
I dare you to try.

First; I didn't intend any offense or accusation, as I said, I haven't read through all 160+ pages... I was making the assumption based on the results, nothing more.

Second; That's awesome, and gives me some hope as I'm about to embark on my own project, and "Low Budget" would be a good description of my available outlay for the project.

[chrisbalich]

Originally Posted by TMo

First; I didn't intend any offense or accusation, as I said, I haven't read through all 160+ pages... I was making the assumption based on the results, nothing more.

Second; That's awesome, and gives me some hope as I'm about to embark on my own project, and "Low Budget" would be a good description of my available outlay for the project.

No worries.
I may have overreacted. I'm 5.5 years into this build and as the car has gotten nicer, it's become more common for people to assume I've, "blown the budget." I can assure you that I have not.

The ethos of this build is: You don't have to be rich to have a nice 911 that you can enjoy and be proud of...as long as you don't mind getting your hands dirty. I'm a man of skill and persistence and creativity more than a man of 'means'. I like to think the LBDC reflects that.

I have put the whole sordid tale on the pages of this thread. I've kept no secrets and hidden no warts. My failures and successes are all on display. This thread is unabridged evidence that you can do it if you put your mind to it. You don't need to be a C-level executive or a trust fund baby to get there. You need grit and tenacity. I'm not going to lie to you. You need to have some funds available and you will need immeasurable patience. Patience to persevere when you'd rather throw in the towel. Patience to live off Kraft mac n cheese and ramen so you can save money when you don't have the cash you need for the next step. Those of us without the liquidity to splash out for big ticket items or big ticket labor have to make sacrifices to get where we want to go.

My car isn't as impeccable as a fresh restoration from the likes of JimTweet or Jonny042 or any of the big name shops out there charging house-money for cars.

But it doesn't need to be for me to drive and love it. How many of us on this board could spend $100-250k on a car and go thrash it across the country, mobbing down backroads, collecting rock chips, and still sleep well? Not too many. My car is not perfect. The paint isn't perfect. The window trims don't lay perfectly. Sometimes, it surges when it idles. It smells like gas and oil and rubber and automotive joy. It has rock chips in the paint that has less than 1000 miles on it and I don't care at all. A pristine garage queen with museum quality paint and no miles isn't a car to me. It's a trophy. It's set behind glass for others to see how great it is, but not to be of any use or to do what it was designed to be. A racehorse with no races to run. An old man with no scars who lived his whole life afraid of being hurt and missing the best parts of life for it. I refuse to be that person. I refuse for my car to be that car. We have scratches and scars and lots of miles, with more on the way.

I want this thread to be a documentation of my story. But more importantly, I want this thread (and the LBDC itself) to be an inspiration for others to strive for your goals and to really live.

[ADDvanced]

I've been following this thread since you started it, and it definitely inspired me to keep pushing and learning new things.

Inspiring people, supporting each other, sharing knowledge, and getting excited about learning new things are what I'm passionate about. Also, I think you missed your calling as a writer. Just sayin'.

[Focker]

I think the ethos behind this is that "low buck" is all relative. It's not a cheap car, but it definitely punches well above its weight for dollars invested.

I feel like this build can serve as an inspiration to others that it isn't as intimidating to build as some may think.

Get out there, get some hand tools, read along and figure it out. You'll wind up with more than just a car, you'll have memories and pride in ownership.

I know the challenges that I have seen you overcome are an inspiration to me to persevere, even when I wanted to walk away.

[LJ851]

Originally Posted by chrisbalich

But it doesn't need to be for me to drive and love it. How many of us on this board could spend $100-250k on a car and go thrash it across the country, mobbing down backroads, collecting rock chips, and still sleep well? Not too many. My car is not perfect. The paint isn't perfect. The window trims don't lay perfectly. Sometimes, it surges when it idles. It smells like gas and oil and rubber and automotive joy. It has rock chips in the paint that has less than 1000 miles on it and I don't care at all. A pristine garage queen with museum quality paint and no miles isn't a car to me. It's a trophy. It's set behind glass for others to see how great it is, but not to be of any use or to do what it was designed to be. A racehorse with no races to run. An old man with no scars who lived his whole life afraid of being hurt and missing the best parts of life for it. I refuse to be that person. I refuse for my car to be that car. We have scratches and scars and lots of miles, with more on the way.

Yes, 1000% Yes.

[fanaudical]

My favorite threads here on Pelican are those cars that are built and personalized in creative ways (and not just "bought to spec" by checkbook mechanics). I've enjoyed watching your journey here, Chris. Keep it up!

[1980 SC Targa]

I for one get great hope from your thread. And hope that I can restore mine using the same methods - though I will certainly go more stock look, I fully share your driver car ethos. A Porsche that isn't eating up the road is a sad Porsche and I will not let mine be sad.

[Joesmallwood]

Originally Posted by chrisbalich

No worries.
I may have overreacted. I'm 5.5 years into this build and as the car has gotten nicer, it's become more common for people to assume I've, "blown the budget." I can assure you that I have not.

The ethos of this build is: You don't have to be rich to have a nice 911 that you can enjoy and be proud of...as long as you don't mind getting your hands dirty. I'm a man of skill and persistence and creativity more than a man of 'means'. I like to think the LBDC reflects that.

I have put the whole sordid tale on the pages of this thread. I've kept no secrets and hidden no warts. My failures and successes are all on display. This thread is unabridged evidence that you can do it if you put your mind to it. You don't need to be a C-level executive or a trust fund baby to get there. You need grit and tenacity. I'm not going to lie to you. You need to have some funds available and you will need immeasurable patience. Patience to persevere when you'd rather throw in the towel. Patience to live off Kraft mac n cheese and ramen so you can save money when you don't have the cash you need for the next step. Those of us without the liquidity to splash out for big ticket items or big ticket labor have to make sacrifices to get where we want to go.

My car isn't as impeccable as a fresh restoration from the likes of JimTweet or Jonny042 or any of the big name shops out there charging house-money for cars.

But it doesn't need to be for me to drive and love it. How many of us on this board could spend $100-250k on a car and go thrash it across the country, mobbing down backroads, collecting rock chips, and still sleep well? Not too many. My car is not perfect. The paint isn't perfect. The window trims don't lay perfectly. Sometimes, it surges when it idles. It smells like gas and oil and rubber and automotive joy. It has rock chips in the paint that has less than 1000 miles on it and I don't care at all. A pristine garage queen with museum quality paint and no miles isn't a car to me. It's a trophy. It's set behind glass for others to see how great it is, but not to be of any use or to do what it was designed to be. A racehorse with no races to run. An old man with no scars who lived his whole life afraid of being hurt and missing the best parts of life for it. I refuse to be that person. I refuse for my car to be that car. We have scratches and scars and lots of miles, with more on the way.

I want this thread to be a documentation of my story. But more importantly, I want this thread (and the LBDC itself) to be an inspiration for others to strive for your goals and to really live.

Amen!

This prose is a great start for a "Prologue" for the rest of the story.

[chrisbalich]

First, I want to say thank you for your support and for catching my drift.
It is a source of both pride and humility that so many take inspiration from my build. I am not an inherently proud person and will always show my flaws before I'll even consider bragging on my wins.

Originally Posted by ADDvanced

I've been following this thread since you started it, and it definitely inspired me to keep pushing and learning new things.

Inspiring people, supporting each other, sharing knowledge, and getting excited about learning new things are what I'm passionate about. Also, I think you missed your calling as a writer. Just sayin'.

Writing is fun, but IDK that I could write so well about other topics. Maybe I could, but my writing thrives on my passion for the topic. IDK. I'm super young as writers go, so I guess there's still time.

Originally Posted by Focker

I think the ethos behind this is that "low buck" is all relative. It's not a cheap car, but it definitely punches well above its weight for dollars invested.

I feel like this build can serve as an inspiration to others that it isn't as intimidating to build as some may think.

Get out there, get some hand tools, read along and figure it out. You'll wind up with more than just a car, you'll have memories and pride in ownership.

I know the challenges that I have seen you overcome are an inspiration to me to persevere, even when I wanted to walk away.

"low budget" is 100% relative and I think a lot of people lose sight of that.

Originally Posted by LJ851

Yes, 1000% Yes.

Originally Posted by fanaudical

My favorite threads here on Pelican are those cars that are built and personalized in creative ways (and not just "bought to spec" by checkbook mechanics). I've enjoyed watching your journey here, Chris. Keep it up!

I absolutely will. I got to spend some time with a racecar engineer over the weekend and use them as a sounding-board for some of my ideas.

Originally Posted by 1980 SC Targa

I for one get great hope from your thread. And hope that I can restore mine using the same methods - though I will certainly go more stock look, I fully share your driver car ethos. A Porsche that isn't eating up the road is a sad Porsche and I will not let mine be sad.

I'm never too far should you have questions you can't find in the thread.

Originally Posted by Joesmallwood

Amen!

This prose is a great start for a "Prologue" for the rest of the story.

Joe, that's a pretty great idea. IDK if I can edit a 5+ year old post. I may add the prologue if I can. I need to mull it over a bit still.

[chrisbalich]

Hey yo, it's a me, D-R-B! (lolwtf)

I did not work on the car last weekend. I worked on another car! I was asked to help with a WRL team at Mid-Ohio. How could I say no? It also gave me the opportunity to shake down the car another 500 miles or so, so I packed up the car Wednesday night and off I went Thursday after work. I have some more road trips planned for this year, so I fired up the GoPro and did a wee timelapse of the journey out there as practice.



Once there, I met the team at the local Mexican place. They even let me sit next to Joe!


Endurance racing teams get up early AF. Good thing I'm a morning person. (bear in mind this is Friday morning and the race isn't until Saturday morning)
Open the garage and guess who's ready to go.


Setting up the tent


On grid for the first time this weekend


This is a great looking race car.


We dyno'd Friday night just to get out in front of any discrepancies between's Joe's dyno and the one that get's drug around the country to all the WRL races.


Once the got the dyno results, we packed up for the night and rolled our new bunkmate into the garage behind our car. *The second Supra is hitching a ride home. We're still a one-car team.*


Then we went out for fancy pre-race dinner at the local Applebee's. You're forgiven for thinking the person who took the pic surprised me. Ha! It was me! lolol


Saturday morning came early and cold. But the Midwest seldom disappoints when it comes to sunrises and sunsets.


Quick snap of the excitement right before the cars rolled out to start the race.

[chrisbalich]

SATURDAY continued

Saturday's race was eight hours. There were some misteps and some excellent moves. And in the end, we did so well, we got protested for power.
Back to the world's sketchiest dyno.


Jason and Joe run a tight ship, so we passed the protest and brought home the hardware.


After dinner, we stopped at the BP for some Chapstick. It was cold and windy and the three of us were in actual pain. The look on the clerk's face when three dudes in a row purchased Chapstick was pretty priceless.
While we were there, these sweet rigs rolled in on a trailer. My uber-fast iPhone photog skills were put to the test, but I got the snap!


SUNDAY

It was Easter. No baskets, but Thunder Bunny Racing sprinkled Easter eggs all over the paddock and in peoples' garages. I spied something on the roof of the LBDC from across the lot in the dark and was working my way up to angry until we got close enough to see it was just a well-intentioned egg. It was really pretty funny finding eggs all day.


They got the Supra too.


Some final checks before Race 2


Jason drove a triple-stint and was in need of some massaging afterwards. I think Scottie may have taken it further than Jason was expecting...


After what was essentially a 7-hour qualifier, there was a 1-hour sprint between our car and the other top four cars in GTO. It was a great race, but we got the checkers.


We got protested again.
:/
Not stoked.
But we passed and again, brought home the hardware. It was a long weekend, but two wins is a good effing weekend in anyone's book.

TODAY
I brought the 911 to work (like I usually do). I was intending to pull it in and look it over quickly before the TOD trip Thursday. It smelled like gas again as I pulled it in the garage. It's done this a few times since I had the motor out over the winter and I looked a little more closely today. Found a fuel leak where the feed line meets the rail.



After several attempts to recondition the fitting on the rail, I called Earl's and confirmed they have the 'conical seals' in stock. So we drove over there and collected a handful. Sealed it right up and I have some spares in case any other fittings decide they hate me...and love BBQ.

I'm tired...again. Almost time to go home and work in the yard for Kelly.

[MikeD930]

That's an interesting story about helping the mk5 Supra race team. Congrats to the team! I can't figure out why there would be HP limit...was this a spec car race? BTW...I currently own a mk2 Supra so I'm somewhat a fan of the new Supra but it's based on a BMW...oh well.

Good thing you caught a fuel leak. Did you say that you're leaving this Thurs for the TOD? Doesn't Rennsports TOD runs from Apr 21st thru 23rd? I want to participate in it but have plans to attend a wedding on the 22nd.

[Focker]

Sorry, had to be done...

[chrisbalich]

Originally Posted by MikeD930

That's an interesting story about helping the mk5 Supra race team. Congrats to the team! I can't figure out why there would be HP limit...was this a spec car race? BTW...I currently own a mk2 Supra so I'm somewhat a fan of the new Supra but it's based on a BMW...oh well.

Good thing you caught a fuel leak. Did you say that you're leaving this Thurs for the TOD? Doesn't Rennsports TOD runs from Apr 21st thru 23rd? I want to participate in it but have plans to attend a wedding on the 22nd.

The car is a GT4 car racing in WRL's GTO class. There are a lot of Balance of Power regulations. Power to weight and 'flat torque limit' are the two they were trying to get us on.

I'm heading down this weekend with the VW group 'Wookies in the Woods'. I have a lot of friends from my VW days and this is the one trip a year that I get to see most of them. The TOD isn't so bad either.

I would like to the Rennsport trip next weekend, but I just can't swing back to back to back weekends away from home. Kelly would BBQ me.
Plus I'm going to need tires after this weekend.

Originally Posted by Focker

Sorry, had to be done...

[Focker]

When I was involved in motorcycle racing, there were horsepower limits at the National and regional levels, tested on the official series dyno.

Even years ago there was rampant cheating with there being a "dyno map" loaded into the ECU. Either a hidden map switch was employed, or as rumour had it, once the bike was shut off and turned back on, the race map was gone and only the dyno map remained.

Maybe not an issue for the car guys, but the bike guys had it pretty well figured out.

[PeteKz]

Why would anyone want to race in a class with balance of performance rules (BoP)? We saw the absurdity of that in WEC over the last half dozen years where the handicaps applied to different cars were fiddled throughout the season, so that, "everybody got a trophy."

[chrisbalich]

Originally Posted by Focker

When I was involved in motorcycle racing, there were horsepower limits at the National and regional levels, tested on the official series dyno.

Even years ago there was rampant cheating with there being a "dyno map" loaded into the ECU. Either a hidden map switch was employed, or as rumour had it, once the bike was shut off and turned back on, the race map was gone and only the dyno map remained.

Maybe not an issue for the car guys, but the bike guys had it pretty well figured out.

I'm not saying it can't be done. It can, for sure, be done.
I will say that Hittman Racing works very hard to stay within the confines of the rules at all times. (not joking or winking or crossing fingers behind my back)

Originally Posted by PeteKz

Why would anyone want to race in a class with balance of performance rules (BoP)? We saw the absurdity of that in WEC over the last half dozen years where the handicaps applied to different cars were fiddled throughout the season, so that, "everybody got a trophy."

The BoP metrics that I'm aware of in this series are generalized like HP/lb, and not model specific. I can tell you that the team has a lot of wins under its belt. So even if WRL is trying to spread the wealth regarding trophies, it's not working.
As for why, well that I just don't know. It's my understanding the team wants to segue into IMSA in the coming few years and GTO in WRL is as close as you can get at the amateur level.

I'm clocking out in 13 minutes and heading to TOD in ~11-12 hours. So I'll see everyone next week.

Feel free to carry the discussion forward. I'll read em all when I return.

[MikeD930]

Hope you didn't forget this!!

[Gonbad]

I bought this at the end of last May and drove it from upstate NY to CT where it sat until October. Then my son and I flew up and drove it to Texas with a stop at his favorite part of the trip.



Had a blast on the TOD.

Here we are at the Mississippi River.



Lots of plans with this and lots of inspiration from your build and all the great advice from others. I also have lots of vendors to look at from all the input from everyone.