New To the world of DSM's...

[STIScott]

Hello everyone,
I'm a relative newbie to the world of DSM's. My current ride right now is a 2004 STI w/ a FP red among other goodies. Dynoed around 390 AWHP. I have always been pretty interested in Talon's in general and due to the fact that I can barely afford my STI as it is I was considering selling it and picking up a 1g or 2g AWD TSI. Im pretty much looking for more of a street sleeper than a daily driver, and from what I have seen first hand buying a DSM may be the most affordable and reasonable 11 or 12 second street car you can build.
From experience, every car I have raced, on the strip or...(gasp) the street that has beaten me has been a Talon. I met one guy who had a 90 AWD TSI, that absolutely destroyed my STI off the line. This was maybe a 700 dollar car and according to him he had a turbonetics turbo, a clutch and a different exhaust manifold. we both ran the quarter about even and according to him, he has put 3000 dollars into the car including the cost of the car itself. Regardless, I have never seen a car launch as hard as this talon in my entire life.
I will stop wasting everyones time and get to the main question... For a car that would be driven 1-2 times a week, exluding the cost of the car, is it possible to build a 12 second DSM with 3000 dollars? a DSM would be my first choice as a replacement to my STI. Some people would say im taking a step back but to tell you the truth Im very excited about possibly buying one of these cars. Thanks everyone!

 

[RallyChick]

well if you wanted a car for racing ppl on a strip the sti wouldn't have been a very good choice, im a huge fan of the wrx and have been a fan of the rally sport for a long long time even before the wrx came over and they were using the GC8 bodies, those cars are more for autocross and so forth, yes they are fast for drag as well, but with the money you spend on them because of what they are equipt with stock you just aren't getting your money's worth with just street/drag racing down a line. you probably should have thought about getting a used 02 WRX for 14k used. and put some money into it instead of spending and extra 20k for the sti model. just an opinion from one subie fan to another.

if you wanna go fast down the track my suggestion get the 1g or get the 2g and do the 6bolt swap. do your research, read alot before you make a decision, and if anything do a search on the web for pro dsm racers some of them have articles on what they have done to get the times they have on the track.

 

[BlackbirdOfPrey]

If you want to go fast on a budget, you can usually find 1g's dirt cheap if you look around. The 14b they have is good for 12's (some have done 11's) which would save you the cost of a turbo upgrade. Just look in auto classifieds and auto traders, and make sure you know what your getting. I got lucky on mine, it was being sold on some backwoods lot I had never heard of, but it was a cheap 1g AWD with the coveted 6/4 combo. It needed some maintenance, but past that it has been gold. Getting into the 12's with a 1g is easy, unless stuff starts breaking....... :thumbdown