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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ OT Omni GLH

Posted by: Joe Ricard Mar 22 2005, 07:21 AM

Going to steer him from the 914. He has had one before and it didn't go well.
He has been bitten by the bug to race now and I am trying to guide him to a competative car in stock SCCA Solo II.
How reliable would a 17 yr old hot rod K-car be? 86 GLH for $2500
anybody ever had one of these? Also a 86 GLH-S with 1200 miles on it. I just don't think I could race that car. price is $11,700

Posted by: skline Mar 22 2005, 07:40 AM

I wouldnt buy a K car. They were nothing but junk when they were new and I dont think they got any better with age. Everyone I knew that bought one, got rid of it within about a year or so before the warranty expired. Which is why you dont see very many out on the road anymore.

Posted by: rhodyguy Mar 22 2005, 07:44 AM

shelby badging and a turbo on that one joe? when portland ax pictures are posted there's a omni that seems to do well.

k

Posted by: 914forme Mar 22 2005, 07:46 AM

Yeah fast econo boxes - 2.2 Liter Turbo all the hangups of the high HP engine in a front drive chassis. The one saving grace is shelby did some work on the design for Mopar. GLH = Goes Like Hell - a shelby phrase that stuck to the little cars. They can be reliable as any other Mopar with a 2.2L. SCCA auto-x or solo2 I am not sure it would be my pick. I hate to say this but I have a cheap Miata I picked up for $500, did not start. I have set it up to be a auto-xer first outing this weekend I was 2 seconds off the top time for my class another Miata Not bad it put me in the middle of the pack, my first outing last year I was 7 seconds off the pace. Crappy tires. The tires alone where good for a 5 second pickup, a few more setting changes and I should be in the hunt. I was pushing hard sunday underteering. I have $900 in it now, new shocks, wheels, and tires, exhaust, and lube in all the right places. Last Item is a roll bar, I need to add one. Don't like my head being part of the cars upside down plan.

So my vote for cheap and competive is a Miata you can find them all day long for the 3K range, if he wants to start racing the larger tracks there is spec Miata after that.

GHLs are fast, front drive point and shoot cars. Used to have one they are fun, Miata is a lot more fun to drive. Now I just need to get the 914 done, April 20th is the due date for that project.

Take care, Stephen

Posted by: joea9146 Mar 22 2005, 07:46 AM

Why not a Miata they are Cheap to run and rleliable. Also make a very good
Autocross car. Here is Just One Example:

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=177482892&dealer_id=55791042&car_year=1994&make=MAZDA&distance=0&lang=&max_price=&model=MIATA&end_year=1994&min_price=&first_record=51&pager.offset=50&certified=&address=06525&search_type=used&advanced=&start_year=1990&isp=y&cardist=1482#vdptop

Posted by: jasons Mar 22 2005, 07:51 AM

QUOTE (joea9146 @ Mar 22 2005, 05:46 AM)
Why not a Miata they are Cheap to run and rleliable. Also make a very good
Autocross car.

Yeah, I see NICE miatas for $3k. Get started in one of those, then you/he could move into the miata spec racing. There is a huge following for that class.

Posted by: Joe Ricard Mar 22 2005, 08:01 AM

Miata I agree. 2 kinds of Miata Owners ... Girls and Auotcrossers. I figure a set of Azienis tires and he can arrive and drive. Miatas are nearly bullet proof. The region President has a "R" Miata. Nearly everyone drives the car it is not uncommon for the car to get 15 to 20 runs on a Sunday. and drive back to Pascagoula 125 miles that night.

It is said that the roll bar improves structural ridgity allot.

Wish I could put him off for awhile till the right car comes along. Anyone know how to tell the difference by VIN number what is an "R" Miata? I know they come with Bilstiens and no power steering shorter springs.

Posted by: 914forme Mar 22 2005, 08:14 AM

Any miata is better than a GLHs why wait to find the limited "r" out there. Chances are the only people who know they have an R are racers. I would start looking at them and hopefully you find one that the end user does not know what they have.

Take care, Stephen

Posted by: ! Mar 22 2005, 10:44 AM

Zooom, zoooo, Zoooommmm.....

Posted by: grantsfo Mar 22 2005, 11:24 AM

Late 1980's Honda Civic Si is a great autocross car. Same with CRX Si. Both are lightweight have tons of aftermarket support and are reatively bullet proof. Stock gear ratio's are pretty good for AX as well.

The older rear wheel drive Toyota Corolla is a fun car too.

Early 1990's Nissan Sentra SER has a sweet 140 hp 2.0

Posted by: type11969 Mar 22 2005, 11:54 AM

Was looking into Miatas before I got my 914, there are a lot of good books out there and a bunch of forums like this one. Do some searches on the internet and you will find a lot. Sorry that I don't remember anything though.

I can tell you that if you are looking for a gen2 Miata (better looking than the gen1 as far as I am concerned), the 1999 Miatas that had power mirrors always came with a limited slip rear end.

They are a lot of fun to drive. Wish I knew how much fun the 914 is to drive, drove mine for about 10 minutes before I started digging into the longs . . .

Posted by: wilchek Mar 22 2005, 11:57 AM

i had the 2.2 liter turbo. fast for what it was. Actually a solid easy to work on engine. I can not stress this enough, check the head gasket. They will go, but not too bad to fix. Beyond that not too bad. I agree go with the miata.

Posted by: porschenut Mar 22 2005, 12:39 PM

Had an 86 GLH turbo. Got loose at 30K miles, fell apart at 51K, right out of warranty.
They are true junk and will not be reliable.
It would also be very tough to autocross. When the turbo kicks in it goes in a straight line no matter where it is pointed.
Little history, when Shel made a GLHS and gave it to the press to test they put a roll cage in the second one. First one got rolled! Want your son in that kind of car?

Posted by: rhodyguy Mar 22 2005, 12:41 PM

a $3k miata is going to eat cash just like a 914. just tires. we need bigger wheels for those. ok, get some konis and springs. what next?

k

Posted by: Joe Ricard Mar 22 2005, 01:00 PM

E stock does not allow such things as changing or upgrading. If it didn't come from the factory you can't do it.
Right now I have a hard time keeping the miata's in there rice box(where they belong) especially in the faster courses. Like Sunday. Tighter courses I can whip most of them.
If the course requires shift to 3rd and back to 2nd back to third I'm toast.
I need to get started on that 2316 soon. That will fix'em.

Posted by: rhodyguy Mar 22 2005, 01:42 PM

do you have to run on the original tires and suspension compoments?

k

Posted by: J P Stein Mar 22 2005, 01:50 PM

There are 2 GHLs that run SCCA localy. One in SM(2?) & the other in D or E prepared. They are quick....specially that DP jobbie. I saw him WAY up on 2 wheels once.....bout twice as far as that pic of Bill..... I thought fer sure he was goin' over.
They are both unreliable, but keep coming back. It's all in the prep, me thinks.

Posted by: horizontally-opposed Mar 22 2005, 02:06 PM

There is something very, very cool about the GLH...sort of in a much-crappier precursor to the Subaru WRX kind of way. Big performance to the people, though the comparison ends at build quality.

Notice how few GLH/GLHS examples you see on the road today. Even compared to early VW GTIs. I recall seeing a GLH a few months ago (beat down!) and being shocked because I hadn't seen one in YEARS... and I am a sick-o when it comes to spotting odd/wierd cars.

I'm with the Miata fans. If I wanted to go racing on a budget, the Mazda would be my horse -- the costs vs. possibilties are very attractive. The reliability is a big bonus, too!

pete

Posted by: lapuwali Mar 22 2005, 02:13 PM

I'm mostly with the Miata types. The very early cars very much need a suspension rebuild by now. They got really loose by the time they were 4-5 years old. I'd probably buy one of the early 1.8s, which had an upgraded diff and something resembling torque.

A proper roll bar (one of the Hard Dog units) bolts in relatively easily.

Posted by: J P Stein Mar 22 2005, 04:07 PM

Miatas are like assholes, everybody has one.....but now, WRXSTIWTF's are even more numerous. There's even one on the cover of the SCCA rule book.....AUGGH!!!

Any way you slice it, going AXing with an older car is gonna cost money. You may as well go to the back of the SCCA rule book & see what the class winners are & go for one.

Posted by: Dave_Darling Mar 22 2005, 06:00 PM

Miata is probably the cheap way to go. 1989 Honda Civic Si is the Car To Have in STS, but you'll spend money to really make it competitive. Just because it has to have hard-compound tires doesn't mean it's cheap to set up. Any of the CRX Si models wil be a fun tossable two-seat front-driver. They're generally as reliable as Civics, except too many of them get "modified" by people stopping at the Rice Counter at every Pep Boys they pass...

Tough to go too far wrong with any of those three. They'll generally be reliable, there's tons of aftermarket support for them, and they are known quantities as far as setup.

--DD

Posted by: Gint Mar 22 2005, 08:05 PM

QUOTE (rhodyguy Posted on Mar 22 2005 @ 11:41 AM)
a $3k miata is going to eat cash just like a 914.

And that my friends has got to be the "phrase of the day".

Eat cash just like a 914! I love it. Thanks Kevin

Posted by: grantsfo Mar 22 2005, 11:16 PM

You could always go the route of a clean 510. I see a clean one occasionally now and then on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4536516375&category=6188

My sense is this guy wants too much. I have see a couple of clean rebuilt cars go for around $2K.

...And there is always the under appreciated Toyota Echo. It has a ripping DOHC 108 hp engine with variable timing. It only weighs 2035 lbs. It has full compliment of racing parts from its twin the Toyota Vitz avaiable including koni sports or tien coilovers, headers, swaybars, suspension braces. 15x7 racing wheels and some r compounds and you have a surprizingly quick car. I ran mine with terrible street tires and no rear swaybar and embarrased a few Porsches at Marina in one of my first autocrosses. Now the car has Falkens, big rear sway bar, koni adjustables and more and I have a lot more expereince. I'm pretty sure I can drive this car faster than my 1.8. Its a very cheap car to work on as well. You can find low mileage Echo engines for under $300. And its not rare to see a 2000 2 dr 5 speed echo for under $4000 now. Biggest problem is that 2nd gear is too tall to be competitive in stock classes where it runs with the 89 civic.

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