How To Build A Cheap Sports Car

Share in the trials and tribulations of turning a bare frame and wrecked Miata into a racetrack demon, and learn how to build a sports car of your own along the way. This book provides specific answers to common questions and covers the entire building process, including the post-build fine-tuning of the car that is necessary to extract the car's full performance (and fun) potential.

Build a roadworthy two-seater open sports car for a fraction of the cost of a kit car! Using standard tools, basic skills and low-cost materials, this volume shows you how to make the chassis, suspension and bodywork, and advises you on how to modify and use inexpensive but serviceable mechanical components. Contains sections on improving handling, information on how to get through the Single Vehicle Approval test, and builders' own stories.

The all-color practical Build Your Own Sports Car provides all the information needed to build a road-going two-seater, open-top sports car on a budget, using standard tools, basic skills and low-cost materials. The down-to-earth text clearly explains each step along the road to producing a well-engineered, high-performance sports car, providing a learning experience in engineering and design - and opening up a whole new world of fun motoring. The Haynes Roadster, which has fully independent rear suspension, has been designed with the aid of CAD software to develop the chassis and suspension, resulting in a car with performance and handling to challenge many established kit cars and mainstream sports cars. The design is intended to make use of components sourced primarily from a Ford Sierra donor, although alternative donors are mentioned.

The Mazda Miata is one of the most popular sports cars on the road today. In production for more than 20 years, the Miata’s popularity has grown, and the number of aftermarket components available to the Miata enthusiast has grown, too. This immense selection of parts has made it difficult for many would-be modifiers to choose the proper combination that will help them reach the goals they have set for their two-seaters. Author and Miata expert Keith Tanner has been modifying, repairing, building, and racing Miatas for years, and he will guide you through how to best modify your car to suit your needs, starting with an explanation on how everything works and how the various parts will interact. You'll not only learn what upgrades will help you reach your goals, but also how to adjust or modify what you have to make your car work at its best. From autocross to cross-country touring, the Miata can do it all. Keith Tanner tells you how to make it happen!

365 Sports Cars You Must Drive puts you in the driver's seat of a century's worth of sports car legends (and a few rather less legendary), each presented with a fun and informative profile and fact-and-spec box. It's the ultimate gearhead's bucket list and poses the challenge: How many have you driven? Whoever coined the phrase "getting there is half the fun" must have owned a sports car. And the wag who suggested that "it's the journey not the destination"? Probably driving a Lotus or MG at the time. From towering icons like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Corvette to everyman sportsters from Triumph, MG, Sunbeam, and Miata to oddballs like Crosley, Sabra, and DB, sports cars inspire passion and strong opinions as few other vehicles on the road can. In one beautiful book, long-time Road & Truck​ magazine chief photographer John Lamm, along with other top motoring contributors, gives the reader illustrated profiles of every sports car you've ever dreamed of driving! Now, imagine if you could drive a different sports car—any sports car—every single day for a year. Which would you choose?

Trends in automotive modification come and go, some outlandish, some practical. Currently, the trend called "Pro Touring," while expensive, definitely leans toward the practical. Originally a term coined for GM cars, the term Pro Touring has come to mean a style of all cars, and many eras. Pro Touring is essentially the art of adding modern technology to aged designs, creating cars that stop, start, handle, drive, and behave just as modern performance cars do. You can do this in many ways and choose from many suppliers. Detroit Speed is at the forefront of the Pro Touring movement. Both a parts manufacturer and car builder, the company is in a unique position not only to design and manufacture parts, but to build cars and test the parts for their effectiveness on the street and track. Kyle and Stacy Tucker have put their considerable skill in engineering and market savvy to create a unique company to lead the Pro Touring movement. Not only do you learn about the history of the company and how they design their performance parts, install sections cover front sub-frame assemblies, rear suspension assemblies, wheel tubs, fuel system upgrades, brake upgrades, driveline upgrades including an LS swap, cooling system upgrades, and more. The featured cars are customer builds as well as DSE test cars, which include a host of different Chevrolet products, a 1966 Mustang and a 1969 Charger. Detroit Speed’s How to Build a Pro Touring Car is a vital edition to every performance enthusiast’s library.

For gearheads who want to build or modify popular LS engines, How to Build and Modify GM LS-Series Engines provides the most detailed and extensive instructions ever offered for those modding LS engines through the Gen IV models. The LS1 engine shook the performance world when introduced in the 1997 Corvette. Today the LS9 version far eclipses even the mightiest big-blocks from the muscle car era, and it does so while meeting modern emissions requirements and delivering respectable fuel economy. Premier LS engine technician Joseph Potak addresses every question that might come up: Block selection and modifications Crankshaft and piston assemblies Cylinder heads, camshafts, and valvetrain Intake manifolds and fuel system Header selection Setting up ring and bearing clearances for specific uses Potak also guides readers through forced induction and nitrous oxide applications. In addition, the book is fully illustrated with color photography and detailed captions to further guide readers through the mods described, from initial steps to final assembly. Whatever the reader’s performance goals,How to Build and Modify GM LS-Series Engines will guide readers through the necessary modifications and how to make them. It’s the ultimate resource for building the ultimate LS-series engine! The Motorbooks Workshop series covers topics that engage and interest car and motorcycle enthusiasts. Written by subject-matter experts and illustrated with step-by-step and how-it’s-done reference images, Motorbooks Workshop is the ultimate resource for how-to know-how.

If your car needs new paint, or even just a touch-up, the cost involved in hiring a professional can be more than you bargained for. Fortunately, there are less expensive alternatives---you can even paint your car at home! In How to Paint Your Car On A Budget, author and veteran DIY hot rodder Pat Ganahl unveils dozens of secrets that will help anyone paint their own car. From simple scuff-and-squirt jobs to fullon, door-jambs-and-everything paint jobs, Ganahl covers everything you need to know to get a great looking coat of paint on your car and save lots of money in the process. This book covers painting equipment, the ins and outs of prep, masking, painting and sanding products and techniques, and real-world advice on how to budget wisely when painting your own car. It's the most practical automotive painting book ever written!