Originally posted by vetteowner
Cool... thanks for all the info.
Wife says go for the turbo... but she wants to keep the vette (oh darn! 
) So now I need to decide if I should look into a car already heavily modded (mid 11 to high 10's) or get one thats mild/stock and do the build myself. Any thoughts on this?
You will save an assload of money if you buy somebody's modded car. Modded cars sell for barely more if any than a stock car. Why pay for a $700 turbo, $500 thdp, $600 injectors, etc, when you can get a car with it already done? Although modding it yourself is fun, man do you save money buying it already done.
I would say get a mid-high 11 second car. Once they're faster than that, they start breaking stuff. Even if they're currently working fine, you don't know what kind of hammering the internals took. It could break the first time you take it to the track. With a mid-high 11 second car you really don't have to worry about this. Then you can always make it faster.
I bought my car the way it is. It's a mid-low 12 second car on pump gas. All other cars I've had (a LOT) I've modded from stock. This car is the first I bought already modded out. Other than a few silly electrical problems that I fixed (coil pack went bad, etc), it's nice having a car that's already fast and well tuned. It was interesting getting into my new car, driving it, then realizing it will bitchslap my TA that cost more than three times as much money.
Plus the guy who built it and sold it to me is my mechanic, and one of the only mechanics I trust. It had a blown headgasket when I was making the deal with him and part of the deal was that he fixed it. So I know I have nice new Felpro gaskets. So I've seen inside my motor. His first words when he pulled off the first head were "****, I shouldn't have sold this car." Motor looks new inside.
So I'm rambling. Anyway, I say go for the modded cars. You will save a bundle. My car was $7500 (including a nice stereo system). There's simply no way I could have found a TR as nice, done all the work mine has, and buy the stereo for $7500. Not even close. It costs at least $5k for a running TR that's not a total rustbucket pos. Start adding the parts and labor.. and no way. I've seen cars that look like even better deals than mine was. I know of, in south florida, a guy selling his show quality, 40000 origional mile GN, with a crazy stereo, TA49 turbo, you name it it's got it, for $12,000. His freakin paint job cost nearly $5000. So like I said, you will save a bundle. If you have $12k or so to spend you can get a show quality or near show quality 11 second car. Or more normal car that has a rebuilt motor/trans with awesome internals that runs mid 10s.
