Hey crew, hope this is not a subject that has beat to death but I did take a crack at the search button and did find a few things but nothing that comes right down to the issue that I most need answered... which is the best chassis for me to go after to build my street/track day hybrid fun time big game hunting sleeper car from.

The car will not need to be driven every day but it will see lots of fun spring, summer and fall drives in the hills of SE Ohio with multiple track days a year where the car will be driven as if it was stolen and disliked. I do not care to trailer the car to the track events so some highway time is going to happen.

I have looked at many of the swaps and must say that I am rather interested in the LS1 action as the power to weight gods do not care if the motor and chassis makers are of the same continent let alone manufacture.

The car will also most likely have a good bit of detail work done to the bones, I may or may not be putting in a cage but am inspired by the work done by the folks from Opera racing in a recent Sport Compact. I love the work they did to make a stiff platform while trying to keep the weight down.

I have seen posts that tell me that the 95 and up cars are only 100lb or so more than the 93 and down cars with a stiffer body and less rust problems but I have also seen folks post that the older cars are much better due to the ability to get down to 2200lbs or so.

In short, I do not know these cars all that well yet and trust you, the elder members of the tribe to lend me a hand. Help me out with some thoughts, observations and cold hard facts in regards to building the car I seek.

s13's feel tighter imo...and yes they are lighter

s14's can fit wider tires though

But are they only 100lb or so lighter? If so thats not that big a deal.

Also I can always roll and fluff the fenders on a S13 to fit about whatever I want to stuff in there.

I guess I just wonder if the S14 is a much better chassis or if the extra money is a waste? I like the idea of a little more room and comfort but at what price?

no more room

my hatch has more room than my buddies kouki...the s14 looks bigger but its not at all

yeah, the difference is like 150 lbs...nothing to worry about unless youre in some sort of race class where that would make a huge difference

and the wheel clearance isnt on the outside, they have better inner clearance...you can fit much wider stuff without having to have super low offsets like you do with s13

Wow, this kinda has me leaning to a S13. The S14 is dead sexy but them again I can't look at a car while I'm driving and I could save enough money on a S13 to plug in some huge binders and buy a set of race rubbers.

your going to end up putting a cage in...always happens its a project car

I would say the s13. specifically because, especially for the hatch, more room means a better stiffer cage

Oh well, posted this in the sister of this post in the general 240 forum but I found a car.

I was just about to pull back and start looking for a nice clean little S13 when I got an offer to buy this... I could not say no.

thatll do fine

just make sure you do a kouki front end conversion

have fun fitting 275's all around on stock fenders

Hey, I am SO not above rolling the lips on all that sheetmetal! I have also considered fenders but I have been told that you can go 265 without too much work. Go bigger than that and you can run into problems finding the right wheels.

IMO (as an s13 driver) strickly a driving point of view S13 is the better choice.The price alone will get you a head start on some mods, and anytime you wanna take 100lb's outa my car Im all for it.

The way I see it the S14 is just a little newer, a little nicer, a little more expensive and to some a little prettier....none of which is important to being fun/fast to drive.

Edit: also rally
Modified by Red coupe at 2:55 PM 8/16/2006

Well, I was going to go that route but in the end I found a deal that I could not pass up.

If I had bought the S13 I would have had to upgrade to the 5 lugs to get the big spindles and the car also has the big binders from the Z32 on it as well... also a plus. In the end I figure I got it for less than I could have gotten a S13 for if I add on the price of the upgrades that I would have to add to a S13 to get the same bits that are on this car to start. To top it off the chassis is cherry.

As for rally. I am honestly wondering how much fun a S13 would be in G2 or the like. Guys do well in the DSMs and of course the VWs are huge in that class. The thing that got me away from my VW however is the fact that most of the motor is in front of the wheel. Its like 70%f to 30%r and the rear geometry is just putrid. Great fun and it can be made to be acceptable but why work so hard when you can just start with something easy, quick and lowish dollar?