Daily driver suggestions?

[Werks]

I am thinking about building a 68-72 Nova daily driver. I am going to step down from my current daily of '05 CTS-V so the step cant be too large. I want to stay around 10k and have a quick, fuel injected v8, 6 speed car that handles decent. I found a 68 locally that is very solid and in primer for 5.5k with stout 350 and th400. I bet I can get the seller to sell it rolling for 4.5k. My question is, should I go 5.3l, ls1, or 8.1? maybe something else? I need about 1k to get the body in decent shape (bumpers, etc). That leaves me with about 4k for a swap...tight i know. Any suggestions?

[coolwelder62]

My vote is for you to try one of those new little smart cars that BMW builds.They look cool & might be pretty quick around town.

[70TWO NOVA]

that could be a sick daily, since your budget is kinda small i would look into a pull out 5.3l LM7. They are cheap and make decent power. Good platform for upgrades later too.

[214Chevy]

$4k left for an LS swap......:rofl: :rofl: Good luck!! You must be doing all the work yourself then. But seriously, as you said, "tight!" Bout time you buy the engine and all the required stuff, such as headers, adapter plates, ECU flashing, tranny, tranny tunnel modification, etc., you are already past the $4k mark.:willy: You might want to rethink this before getting to deep into the project and wishing you hadn't or realizing you're in over your head.:brix: But, it sounds like a great project and will be very fun to do and drive. Just make sure you have all you ducks in a row and everything is well planned and thought out.

[70TWO NOVA]

I think with a lot of careful planning and a ton of homework you can make it happen. Ive heard of guys getting running 5.3s for 2-300 bucks. That leaves you 3700ish to get all the necessary things to adapt the swap. No you wont be tearing up the asphalt but you will have a good running daily driver with tons of potential

[deuce_454]

i bought a smart car... 71 mpg on diesel.. and it NEVER needs any work done... i got real tired of spending my time in the shop on the daily driver and not on the project car....

and once you start building a nova, it wont stop with a 5.3.. prety soon you will want suspension, wheels, paint, interior, etc etc.. it will be a 30.000 dollar car before you are half way content.. and you will have no time or money to spend on your project...

my advice is to build the nova if you want one... and by all means sell your caddy to fund it... but get some sort of tinker free daily driver.. somthing you wont spend money or time on

[GregWeld]

deuce --

Excellent advice.

[rjsjea]

Gonna be a pretty serious step down with your budget. Most all the creature comforts of the CTS-V will be gone.

The "tinker free daily driver" as posted above sounds like good advice

[mike343sharpstk]

The three posts above this are spot on. A driver is NOT a project.
That said, I bought a SRT-4 new in '02 as my daily driver and aside from buying tires for it all the time:rolleyes: , it's been a great daily driver. The only change I made was different wheels/tires. 30mpg on the freeway, and it ran a 14.2 with both of the child seats in the back:) .
You may be able to get one for about 10G now, just make sure it's stock.

[69MyWay]

Not exactly what you are after...but you can pick up a decent 4th gen corvette for that kind of money. 1989 and up will have the ZF 6 speed as an option.

Not many cars you can get for the money these are going for right now that will deliver 0-60 in 5 seconds, top end of 150 or more...and let you pop the top off and cruise to and from work on nice days with the wind blowing in your hair. These cars with the all aluminum suspension, fiberglass springs...and massive brakes will handle corners...stop on a dime while blowing cold a/c. Parts are cheap for these cars.

Plus, I don't see them being worth a whole lot less than they are now...so when you are done with it you should be able to roll your dollars back out.

Here is a arrest me red 89 six speed for just under $10

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevrolet-Corvette-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem563bf36b35QQitemZ37037 2995893QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks