Hi, first off im new to the site. I got a 1991 Eagle Talon n/a fwd, im interested in either modding the engine on this, or else I like the go-cart styling of the Mini Cooper. (laugh it up i know everyone seems to hate this car as much as  Scion xb's) Im just wondering which one do you people think would be a better investment. Keep in mind the eagle has a better parts market with being a dsm. But ive found that the Mini has a solid parts following too. Also my Eagle's value probally goes up with how much gas is in it. A 2002 Mini Cooper is still worth around 10k so i figure in 5 years the mini's worth 4k and my eagles still worth nothing.  

keep the talon. depending on mileage, drive the N/A motor till it dies, then put in a turbo motor, and depending on cash the GSX AWd drivetrain. But even without the swap its still fast enough to roast your average civic ricer. My buddy has one, and ill be damned if it doesnt at least compete with just about everyone who he goes up against.  

thanks, just thought i would add my parts budget is 5k so i think that kinda kills drive-train swap, and prob engine swap too. It will roast civics i know that. Im a new driver and i wanna practice fwd first or i would just buy a eagle talon awd.  

yea, the 1st gens are fast even tho theyre FWD. Youll only need maybe 2-3 grand to make that where its fast, but not fast enough to kill you lol. Intake, exhaust, and maybe some suspension stuff.  FYI, you might wanna look into upgrading the transmission. the syncros in them are complete *** Ive helped my friend on 11 trans rebuilds now.  But from doing it so much we can drop the trans in 26 mins, and tear down and rebuild in 2 hrs lol.  

oh and dont count out the swaps entirely. check around a couple junkyards, and see if they have one with decent mileage with a bent fram or something. My bud did that and got his manual trans, exhaust, intake, suspension, strut bars, and a ton of other parts for 500 bucks(for the car). ended up it was "totalled" due to a fender bender that tweaked the frame just a lil, and the insur company decided to write it off.  

o god dont get me started on maintence ive got to replace the clutch right now.  

where you at? if your in ct i can do it in a hr or two  

in MN lol no thnks i can do it i just gotta get parts

just thought i would say unless somebody gives me a real reason i think im gonna give up on a mini cuz in mini's it will cost me 40k for a 400hp car probally.    And on my talon 400hp is maybe 12k if i spend wisely.  

My .05 cents:

I have a Mini.  400hp in a MCS is feasable, but not practical.  You'd be fine with 300 or less.  250 is insanely fast--I have 205whp, and it's damn quick.

But you don't want one.

Maintainance is a royal pain in the ass.  Think BMW.  It's going to cost a fortune for parts, and if you think it'll be a breeze to work on, think again.  It's like trying to hammer a square peg in a round hole--the engine compartment is really packed.  To get to the plugs, you have to remove the intercooler.  Oil changes are surprisingly easy, but anything else is a nightmare.  You have to lift the engine to change the supercharger pulley, and you need a special tool for that as well.

I've had a few minor issues, but the engine is bulletproof.  Still, it's FWD.  Unless you have money to do the M3 conversion, it's not worth the money.  They retain value, but you can get an older M3 for that price, and it's a lot more fun.

However, if you were to get one, you can get around 230-250 crank horsepower for under 2k.  Around 5k will get you 300+ (twin charging), and you really won't need more than that. You could do 400 for under 10k, around 7k or so.

Search for the M600 10-sec Mini.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roSIU6UL_4U

Here's a different Mini:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i33lTY-AH4g

If you were serious about it, I'd contact Digital Tuls, the guy that hosted the second clip... he knows his stuff.  

If your trying to be fast on the cheap, I would just get a 1g gsx eclipse/talon AWD and be done with it.

Theres more to a having a fast car than making horsepower, you have to get that power to the ground, which your FWD talon wont be capable of if your wanting 400hp.

You probably dont have the mechanical skill to swap drivetrains, let alone motors. To do that on your car would be very costly, and then your car is still FWD, so youll still be gettin killed off the line by AWD Talon's.

Also it would look mad hoosier to have a busted old parts car gsx to swap parts off of onto your FWD Eclipse, it would make so much more sense just to buy an eclipse thats already AWD.

The Mini Cooper is not much better if your into drag racing, its FWD, albeit supercharged.

The Eclipse GSX is one of the fastest quartermile cars ever built, J Shepherd has gotten into the 7's with his.

And there not too expensive either, the choice is clear, just go out and buy a gsx already done up than spend countless hours/thousands of dollars trying to make your FWD NA eclipse fast.

Heres a nice1 up for sale on autotrader

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=p&car_id=247432205&dealer_id=62893161&car_year=1990&model=ECLIP&num_records=25&systime=&make2=&highlightFirstMakeModel=&start_year=1981&keywordsfyc=&keywordsfyc=&keywordsrep=&keywordsrep=&engine=&certified=&body_code=0&fuel=&awsp=false&search_type=both&distance=0&marketZipError=false&search_lang=en&showZipError=n&make=MIT&keywords_display=&color=&page_location=findacar%3A%3Aispsearchform&min_price=&drive=&default_sort=priceDESC&max_mileage=&style_flag=1&sort_type=priceDESC&address=63119&advanced=&end_year=1994&doors=&transmission=&max_price=&cardist=910  

Just keep the Talon until you get the hangs of things and save up for a 350z, with the raw horsepower!  

I think that for now I'm gonna fix the clutch on my talon then im gonna drive it till it dies. At the same time save up for a new car. Cuz basically what im putting together is that in order to make this car fast im gonna need a expensive drivetrain and engine swap or a 50 gallon bottle of nitrous oxide. The fast and the furious style. lol  BTW: how good of a car is a EVO8?  

The only con I have for the Evo is the interior. Wish they made it nicer. Other than that you have a really good handling car, legendary 4g63 engine, and can be made hella quick. Nice choice on saving up.  

and their gas pedals break. thats a pretty big con to me.  

Ive got a while before I got to worry about a new car.  Im not totally set on a EVO either. Any ideas?