Heres from soomeone whos builds these things for a living:
92 SC300 5speed: $3000 in great condition.
-tt gasket (9:1 comp)/arp studs = engine good for minimum 750whp: $215
-Dave H turbo kit with T67 and FMIC good to 720whp: $2350 complete, bolt on
-oil pan pre-drilled (even on the non turbos, its ready for a 10an): free
-fuel management: $0 (stock fuel + walbro $100) good to 350whp, don't even bother buying a wideband or an afc/ms2/tec, not necessary

RWD + 2jz sound: priceless.

You can say the exact same thing about BMWs. Although, I gotta say the 7 series columbian drug lord mobile is a bad ass mofo!

Yeah, I would agree on this. An IS will push you over budget by a bit, an SC or GS300 is doable.

so you're saying you can have a 350whp lexus sc300 turbo for under 6k????????because I have yet to hear of one around here
I see you are from canada, that may change things quite a bit. my brother has had nothing but lexuses for the past 8 years, and while he doesnt mod them, he goes to meets religiously to look at other, modified ones. He's taken me to a bunch of clublexus.com bay area meets, and I have talked to many turbo lexus owners, and lemme tell you: I have yet to see one that spent less than 6k for a kit alone, not including all the other stuff needed. Now Im not a big lexus fan so maybe im missing something, but here in northern cali thats the way it is.

I said it before, but I'd like to justify it. A 944 turbo would be a fun car to do. I'm not even suggesting it because of my sn. I thought of other cars first to be honest. But, a stock 944 turbo puts out like 220, if its an S, its more like 250. So there you go. Its a fun car to start with. Has great options and lots of room (and seats 4). Picking one up will run from 4.5k-up to 20k depending on condition, mileage and package. Most of them run about 6-9k on FS threads and sites like Autotrader.

With a couple thousand dollars, you can have a well balanced car that can do track days just as well as any Miata and have playing room if you get greedy for boost. They have a low redline for a 4cyl motor (about what an SRT4 has), but being a 2.5 liter motor, they have torque. Also, there are kits and shops that can do a 3liter conversion (more or less engine work on the motor to bore and stroke it). With a 3.0 or 3.2 liter motor, and supporting mods, you can make 500 whp easy. That's all on an 8 valve head. Throw an S2 or a 968 head (16 valve) and expect considerable gains. The fact that they are balanced, makes them fun to sport around in, but being a little heavier than a Miata with a longer, wider wheel base, they ride smoother and are great for trips.

Just a thought, but I felt I had to throw it in. It'd get my vote. And yes... I did mean 3.0liter or 3.2 liter 4 cylinder.

wow, holy crap that is pretty cool..any clips of what that sounds like? geez

You know a guy with a 944 named Clifton? He has a NICE 944 putting down 420whp. Has the 2.5L w/ the 16 valve head you speak of. Head built by Lindsey racing. I don't mean to sound like I know shit about Porche by the way. But I know his car is really nice and really REALLY fast. He smoked the shit out of my friends GT a 8PSI SC'd. I mean handed it to him. I could never own or work on a Porche, but I'll admit they are nice and well designed until you have to work on them. (like changing the clutch.... :) )

3.0 liter 944 with over 400whp (has less in one of the vids I think)

LOL changing the clutch sucks. Actually dropping the oil pan can suck (you have to remove the cross member first). They even have 3 piece cross members for 944's to make engine work easier. BUT if you can spin a wrench, breathe manually and avoid drooling on yourself and (God forbid) can count your IQ points on more than one hand... You can work on a 944. You just have to know what a socket wrench does.

OK this thread has me thinking along similar lines... Since the OP is not adding more specs it is time for a threadjack :fawk:

Our family car will need a new replacement in about a year. The current '99 Avalon is at 150K miles and has a long daily commute so the miles add up quickly. Needs:

4 door (family transport)
auto trans (yeah, I know...)
RWD
boostable, megasquirtable
good mileage when not boosting (90% highway), minimum 25 mpg
$15K budget, DIY

I think building and tuning a reliable sleeper for her to commute in would be a lot more fun than buying another used Avalon or a new Fit. FOrget about modding the Avalon, way too tight under the hood, and it is FWD anyway.

A Crown Vic could do it...

Tim, i know on the older 2.2 subaru's it is a closed deck and they supposedly are boost crazy. Also as long as you're not beating on the car the trans should be fine, its mainly when you change the clutch, i've found out, on the 5spd subie trans is when they start blowing up fast than hustlers blow up doll.

turbo a honda element.....go look it up...crazy

I love the Impreza RS with the WRX STi motor swap. I would purchase one in a heart beat.

One car that responds to boost surprisingly well is the split port V6 Mustang. One of my close friends had one (soon to have another, dumb trick) and his made 380whp / 400wtq on stock motor. His next one is going to have the same turbo setup, only with cams and roller rockers. Shooting for 420whp, and 450wtq.

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SAAB makes good turbo engines (or atleast they used to). Especially the older 900 models can make a ton of power. I know, they are FWD (and so is the Volvo 850 posted earlier btw), but they are actually quite fun to drive.

Perhaps a Volvo S60R (AWD and turbo engine) is the right way to go?

::continue hijack sorry OP::

I am pretty sure the gc8 chassis is around 27xxlbs, yes. :)

I don't think any of the opensource tuning solutions work on the '97 outback ecu. I'd be very interested in knowing if I'm wrong!

I'm using the vortec FMU off my GReddy kit with a 4:1 disc for fuel and the emanage blue for extra fuel, ignition retard, and anti-stall. I'm using Olderguy's autotune for it's O2 clamp which clamps right at boost threshold (0psi). I'm sucking thru the MAF attached to the OEM airbox/K&N panel filter, BOV recirc empties right before the compressor inlet. The anti-stall within the emanage blue clamps the MAF voltage at a preset value for a preset time period when TPS and RPM fall below preset values.

When you chop the throttle the MAF voltage says unusually high, as if it's still reading a lot of air flow even though RPMs are at idle/high vacuum. It takes about 5 seconds for the MAF voltage to come down to where it should be at idle. I have no idea where the extra air is going, I can't seem to find any leaks. But without the Antistall the extra MAF voltage will cause the car to go off the scale rich and stall.

It's a PITA when the engine is cold and the ECU wants a high idle. The antistall-clamp-voltage is too low for the high idle so it goes lean and stalls when cold. Other than that the setup as a whole works fine. Hopefully in the future I'll have Paul or Jason create me a piggyback megasquirt so I can run the fuel and ignition off a MAP sensor like it should be.

I've tried blowing thru the MAF and that fixed the idle/stalling issue but completely changed the tune everywhere else and caused a plumbing nightmare.

Actually that build list was given out buy a guy who lives in California and builds some pretty nice cars out there. The price of a nice shaped SC300 or SC400 is about 5-6 grand here so even here it is doable with the parts listed for about 10k.

You mean Ian? That guy knows his shit.

Ya I took it from his thread when he was showing off his supra and SC300. Ya he certainly does know his shit and definately a great resource of lots of information.

Is that the car that got crunched recently that you had to do a midnite run to the tow lot to recover the goodies from?