Donor Car

[Nelff]

New to the forum. Thought I'd add my 2cents about donor cars.

After working on cars and bikes for most of my life I'm NEVER going to look for a donor car again. Ever, like never ever with a capital period at the end!

If I need an engine I'll call an have one sent. If I need gauges, I'll look up the ones that I want and order them. Matter of fact I'm leaning toward a GPS speedo. If I need a seat, gee... how many aftermarket seat manufactures are there?

Seriously? I want to build a car that's BETTER than OEM.

Flaming commence......

[Steve91T]

New to the forum. Thought I'd add my 2cents about donor cars.

After working on cars and bikes for most of my life I'm NEVER going to look for a donor car again. Ever, like never ever with a capital period at the end!

If I need an engine I'll call an have one sent. If I need gauges, I'll look up the ones that I want and order them. Matter of fact I'm leaning toward a GPS speedo. If I need a seat, gee... how many aftermarket seat manufactures are there?

Seriously? I want to build a car that's BETTER than OEM.

Flaming commence......

I agree. It'll require spending some time in the junk yards and online finding parts, but I think I'd rather do that than try and find the perfect donor car.

Honestly, if you happen to find a great donor car, then go for it. But if not, start shopping online for the parts.

Steve

[crackedcornish]

New to the forum. Thought I'd add my 2cents about donor cars.

After working on cars and bikes for most of my life I'm NEVER going to look for a donor car again. Ever, like never ever with a capital period at the end!

If I need an engine I'll call an have one sent. If I need gauges, I'll look up the ones that I want and order them. Matter of fact I'm leaning toward a GPS speedo. If I need a seat, gee... how many aftermarket seat manufactures are there?

Seriously? I want to build a car that's BETTER than OEM.

Flaming commence......

I agree that it would be better to go aftermarket on some parts and new on others. But for those on a tight budget, a donor car is the way to go. Many people don't have an unlimited budget to build one of these things in this economy! I think that was the point of setting the target price for a completed car at ~$15000. Personally, I have more time than money, so I'll be looking for a decent donor to donate parts for the majority of this car

[PhyrraM]

Without a donor car, there will be a lot of money wrapped up in 'non-wear' parts. Things like pedals assembly, steering column and switchgear, wiring harness, and engine controls - a million nuts and bolts too.

I don't think this will be like current FFR kits that include A LOT of stuff. I think this will be like the Mark 1 Roadster and rely heavily on the donor.

Time will tell. A glimpse of the go-kart would cool too.

[thebeerbaron]

PhyrraM always beats me to the punch. I think without a donor, you'll die a death of a thousand pin-pricks - a bolt here, a bracket there, even at junkyard rates that all adds up.

What really concerns me is that the WRX is such a hot ticket with people who like to modify cars and drive them hard. And they're getting down to the price range where any joe can afford one even if they don't have the knowledge or the means to take care of them properly. The Subaru is obviously quite a robust car, but no machine is immune to abuse and neglect.

I think there will be a lot of angst on this forum over finding a donor that has not been abused, but is cheap enough to make the budget.

One of the things I'm discovering as I explore the Subaru world is that "part-out" threads are common and active on the message boards. For people with lots of time and patience, they may be an alternative to a donor, but I'm mostly thinking that they'll be great ways to get rid of all the pieces the kit doesn't use.

[PhyrraM]

As Subaru Fanatic with a lot of knowledge, here is what I plan on doing. WAITING......until the official 'Used from the Donor' list is published. Then us Subaru guys can tell you exactly what cars can be suitable. I'll bet there will be some bargains out there, especially if you were planning to spend on upgrades anyways.

My *gut* feeling, at this time, is that a '02-'03 non-turbo Impreza will be the sweet spot. It will have all the hardware stuff needed, but leave all the "upgrade" type of stuff open to add on. (engine, ECU, transmission, radiator, etc). That's the stuff you may have spent money above and beyond the donor anyways, even if you started with a WRX.

[Nelff]

So, almost all of the hardware/brackets/engineering comes from F5. If I want a steering column or pedal assemblies it's a phone call and I get new equipment thats a ton better that OEM. Wiring harness? Another phone call for auto dimming lights, security and EFI. I'm not spending thousands of dollars to get old OEM stuff that's not as good as street rod/race parts.

[Gollum]

I think that's the point though, you're not going to spend THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS on "old OEM stuff".

I have my suspicions that there will be plenty to sell after you're done getting your parts from a donor, and that with enough patients the really frugal will be able to come out at nearly zero cost for the donor vehicle. If you can get a donor for $3,000 or under, there's a plethora of parts there that could easily recoup at least $1.5k.

EDIT: I see your point though. If you have the budget, new parts are always better. Though I must say that in some cases OEM parts can be hard to beat on quality. Lots of time goes into engineering them to make them as good as they can, and it's only their budget that can make them "poor" quality. Subaru generally has higher quality parts than most OEM's and it really shows, when you see just how many OEM parts get used in racing. Obviously trim items like seats, switches, etc can easily be replaced by better aftermarket ones, but there's a tone of parts that will be on the donor list that I wouldn't want to have to go order. Example: Hubs. You're going to have to go with a OEM piece anyways. You can either pay through the butt for a brand new one from the manufacture, or you can get one from someone else that's probably a reman anyways. I'd rather use donor hubs and inspect them the same way I'd inspect something from the parts counter and a local store. If it needs new bearings, I can do that, etc.

[PhyrraM]

Based solely on the target price of the kit ($10K), I'm guessing that the donor car is going to be exploited far more than any other FFR vehicle. I could be wrong, but I anticipate going donorless to be doable, but far more inconvienent that the rest of the FFR fleet.

Subaru seems pretty reasonable as far as dealer prices on most parts. There are a few zingers, but there are a few bargains to balance out. But reasonable or not, buying 20% of a car through the parts department is never going to be cost effective.

[2KWIK4U]

Based solely on the target price of the kit ($10K), I'm guessing that the donor car is going to be exploited far more than any other FFR vehicle. I could be wrong, but I anticipate going donorless to be doable, but far more inconvienent that the rest of the FFR fleet.

Subaru seems pretty reasonable as far as dealer prices on most parts. There are a few zingers, but there are a few bargains to balance out. But reasonable or not, buying 20% of a car through the parts department is never going to be cost effective.

I have to agree with you, both myself and my neighbor built MKIII roadsters at the same time. He went all new and I used a donor. Every time I took a part off my donor I would rebuild it or at least refurbish it. Sometimes I would replace it with an aftermarket part but all in all both of our cars came out great. He had more work finding the little parts, but of course he spent much more on his car when it was done.

The point is, you can use the OEM parts where they don't make much difference and buy the aftermarket stuff where you need it and still have a fun car that would run like crazy but you don't have to mortgage the house for.

Just my .02 cents

[Justen]

PhyrraM,
I have seen a lot of good base imprezas out there for cheap but i have been dismissing them because they do not have a turbo. from your comment im guessing that most of the parts are the same and we can just add a turbo and IC to the stock engine and it will be ok? I'm guessing the internals would have to be swapped out for something stronger? how far off am i?

[PhyrraM]

PhyrraM,
I have seen a lot of good base imprezas out there for cheap but i have been dismissing them because they do not have a turbo. from your comment im guessing that most of the parts are the same and we can just add a turbo and IC to the stock engine and it will be ok? I'm guessing the internals would have to be swapped out for something stronger? how far off am i?

I would not make too many plans until we see what FFR is reusing. In general, Subaru motors can tolerate only very low boost unless you start with a turbo model engine or upgrade the internals. My suggestion to start with a normalally aspirated Impreza was mainly intended for those that already know they will be throwing big bucks on a built motor. No sense spending even more cash on an expensive donor when most of the 'other' parts are the same.

[bromikl]

Question about the donor car: If one were to find a '95 Imprezza FWD, would that work? I know the list of possible donor vehicles isn't out. But the FWD has all the drive-train components we need, right?

Bonus for FWD: no tranny hanging out the rear.