I'm finally back! and need some help =S

Not at all, find yourself a Honda Civic. You can find some that need engine work for about $150.00.

 

Just wander around for a while in your own area. Look for the cars that are overgrown or have 4 flat tires and a 10 year old license plate. Most of those are available for cheap or free.

Beware, a disassembled car takes up a LOT of space

 

Any older GM car with a V8 will drive forever and parts are available at every parts store.

 

I agree with Arlie. One of your best bets for inexpensive, reliable and easy to fix yourself transportation is an american truck. You can get a nice 2 wheel drive, manual truck from probably 78-85 for $500 to $1500.

 

citroen ds front brake pads,thats a job you'll like

 

Yeah, buy a full size pickup truck. There's lots of room under the hood and floorpan, so you won't bust your knuckles as much.

 

JRV finally kick you off his site?

 

You want to learn? Get a busted RX7.

 

If you start with a motorcycle, you'll get the easy basics down, but you'll be missing a lot of the "fun" stuff that you have to deal with on cars.

 

i recommend an X1/9 you can get 'em cheap, they look great when done right, they are easy to werk on, there's a really good online support for X-projects, and they're a great intro to mini-exotica (sitting in them feels very reminiscent of a GT4 or Testarossa).

they're slow in stock form, but the engine revs like a motorbike, they are great to throw around, and until the Elise came out unbeatable through a corner (weigh under 2000lbs). there's plenty of options to give them some good get-up, and they just feel great to drive. watch out for rusty ones though...

http://gallery.italiancarclub.com/x19

 

oh, didn't know that... yeah at 13 i had a kawasaki 250 that was almost taller than me and had to do daily maintenance on, but i lived in the outback and chased cows for a living then.

get a go-kart! perfect recommendation, you're at a great age to start racing! trust me, you'll get to 20 and life starts piling up on you and you never get time to go out there and do it... now go.

 

An X1/9 is about as small as they come for cars. I have to admit though, that mine was not easy to work on. If you've got the time though, it wouldn't be bad to start with something difficult. It will make everything else seem easy.

 

really? oh i don't mean from an access point of view... there's plenty of knuckly-grazing moments to be had and tight fits (fine for a kid), but they are very logical and simple when it comes down to it... none of this electronic crap to figger out and stuff...

 

I agree. Mechanically it's very simple, but access was a real pain. I still get pissed thinking about my 6-hour belt change...

 

If i was in your shoes, Id go with a BMW E30 325is. Theyre cheap, and have a huge following with lots of potential to be a cool looking/fast car. Wish i could go back 4 years ago and get that perfect E30 M3 i was offered.

 

oh, and i second the gokart idear also. Id put the gokart ahead of a car or motorcycle actually. You wont even be able to drive the car for three years, so while it might be fun to work on, youll get a little bored with having someone else drive you around and enjoy your hard work. But with a kart, and on top of the mechanical skills youd learn while working on it, youd also learn some serious car handling skills by the time you start driving cars. A motorcyle would be cool, but its like the car thing, you wont be able to ride it for a few years, thatd get old real fast for me.

 

Any Lotus older than 5 years. That should keep you busy.

 

Depends what you plan on doing to it, but usually you can get away with jackstands. I used ramps for everything I did on my X1/9.

 

Dirt cheap. I traded my '84 Volvo 245 DL (which cost me about $900) for my X1/9 with 47k miles on it. I've seen mint examples go for $2,500. Your biggest issue will be finding one that hasn't been scrapped yet.
As for fixing it, it depends what's wrong. Some parts are hard to find and will cost more than your average parts, but if you're resourceful you can find anything you need online.