Is it worth it?

[Sparticus]

Okay, so after xmas, i was planning on a rebuild with forged internals, beefin up the tranny and going boosted. I'm wondering if it's worth the trouble and money to do that, or just get a project car and have fun with it.

[Akfahad]

You'll be able to run some NOS safely if you do that, but... I've contemplated on rebuilding mine when the engine goes, but I know it'll never be the beast I want it to. Which is why I'll most likely wait to rebuild an engine when I get my next car. If I had the money to throw at it though, I'd probably rebuild the solara too.

[jhenty]

honestly I'm in the process of turbocharging and its not worth it. Buy a project car with RWD, something sporty and more fun. I've now spent almost 6 months in research alone, gathering some vital parts, and still waiting for more money and better ideas. To give you an idea, I've spent over $3,000 in parts and I expect another $1,000 in parts plus my own labor to make the kit and install it. and thats on a stock engine without internals yet. Internals will run you at least another $3,000 to do it the right way.

If you want to do a fun turbo project for a decent amount of money I suggest a BMW e30 (86-91 3-series). They are relatively inexpensive and respond to modding very well and are a blast to drive. You can make a really decent and fast e30 without a turbo as well, but plenty of people have turboed these inexpensively with some nice results (12's in the 1/4 very easily).

Also consider other Japanese cars that are easy to turbo and yeild some nice results, just off the top of my head the Mazda Miata, Honda civic, nissan 200sx (pre-95') make good projects really cheap.

Save your cash, make the solara look good, keep it reliable, and stick to a few bolt ons for some fun and you'll be much more satisfied with a faster, cheaper, and more fun project car down the road.

[Fletch]

You sig says $0 for the project until after x-mas?

Then the answer is "no", it's not worth it. I have no idea what your financial situation is nor is it my business, but it doesn't sound like your pockets are deep enough for a build up that involved.

If you like the Solara that much, look for a 5MT already with TRD S/C on ebay, they pop up every few months. It will be fun to drive out of the box and you can still build up a different short block and swap them out at some point.

[SleeperSolara]

If you want a project car, just buy another car and keep or the Solara as a daily driver.

[Sparticus]

the reason i have $0 untill after christmas is because i'm restraining myself from buying stuff for my car, and buy christmas gifts. But next year i'll have a couple grand to play with. Some of my friends are trying to convence me to just get an awesome system instead.

[Eye8Pussies]

don't build up the auto tranny- just pick up an e153 and do all the performance things to that

and nothing wrong with using a solara....sure an e30 would be easy to make fast....too bad it looks like ass unless you really like the boxy look.

But yes...bad points about the solara/camry is the lack of aftermarket support and it's fwd- but that's the fun of it!