I could just build most of the limbs and such out of aluminum foil. I think I'll need a paint roller and house paint for my racing stripe. I'm strongly considering doing everything from the bumper, grille, hood, windshield, etc.

I sooo wanna see this thing.
I was following riced out Cavi the other day.
It wouldn't have looked toooo bad if it weren't for the fact that the rear bumper of the body kit lead up onto the sides of the trunk and included the taillights and what not, making them stick out further than the trunk lid. I was like WTF???
Don't know how well you can see it, but it looked something like this
cavalier2003_5.jpg

It'* good to know I have such support for this project. I'm currently looking into a Suzuki Esteem 4-door with a 98hp 1.6Lengine and a manual transmission. It has about 90K miles on it, but the transmission only has 1st and 3rd gears. It'* still drivable, so I figured that would make it the perfect rice burner. However, since the transmission is the only thing wrong with it, the guy that wants to sell it will probably tow it to Canada, the only place where manual transmission Esteems are found, swap in a newer tranny, and sell it for a couple grand. Still waiting on the outcome of this.

Brilliant! I've got a name suggestion for it already:

The Esteem - Low Self Edition.

I'd suggest some LSE badges all over it. Then when people ask you what LSE stands for, you can say "Oh, it'* a limited edition Low Self Esteem - it'* faster than a z06."

Thanks for the laugh, I needed it.
But, it is an awesome idea.

That truly is an awesome idea. I think I've now limited myself only to Esteems. It'* crazy.

I've been looking at some cars on ebay recently, and I've found some excellent candidates. I've found a mid-90s Acura with beaten up quarterpanels and a non-matching passenger door. This is absolutely the car I'd like to have, but the price just isn't right with the reserve not being met currently.
http://tinyurl.com/3dq8he
This Honda is probably a good candidate as well. It'* unfortunate it hasn't been hit, but oh well. The rust and faded paint will have to do.
http://tinyurl.com/3bb3h4

What do you think is wrong with this car?
http://tinyurl.com/ywdg6d

Let me know if you see any really good deals.

I've been thinking about the useless, spinning gauges, and I think it would be very easy to set up vacuum-powered dials instead of electric ones. Is there a time period or a consistent type of gauge that is vacuum-driven?

Also, I'm still looking for a heat-resistant duck call. How much does the exhaust usually cool on a 4-banger by the time it gets to the exhaust tip? Since weight is a great thing for this car, can I mount computer processor heatsinks all along the tailpipe for any effect?

Does anyone have random bushels of unneeded strands of wires? I want to complement the horrible dash with wires sticking out all over the place. I'm very open to sticker donations/small sales as well as the wire thing and all the other stuff you can think of. This is a multi-month project, so it should happen very soon.

Funny story: nagel79 joined this forum because he bought his 95 SE from his dad. Before that, he had a 90 Maxima with 250K miles on it. He said the car overheated, and he had no time to fix it. I bought from him the Maxima for $50!!! Then, I re-sold it for $70.01. The guy who bought it is a friend, and he was happy to inform me that he bought $46 of parts and sold the car for $750!!! That'* crazy! It would have made such a perfect ricer! Imagine - The Minima! No offense, Maxima drivers.

I've got news on the Esteem:
Upwards of $300 for the car, but I'll see if I can talk them down. Everyone I've told about the LSE badge loves it, so no matter which car becomes the ricer, it'll be rebadged to a Suzuki Esteem LSE. If I do pick up the car, because the gears suck so much, I figured I'd put in a $150 automatic transmission from a JY and make it an acceptable car, mechanically speaking.

Also, I can't believe I didn't mention this, but here'* another idea for the interior:
A house phone somehow mounted somewhere on the dash for my "car phone."

I've been thinking about geeking it out and making every electronic mod to this car 100% functional for the heck of it. Please continue giving me more great ideas as I get closer and closer to the rice burner build.

Vacuum gauges are generally powered by vacuum.

You should have gauges everywhere, but functional. Coolant temp, oil pressure, vacuum, tranny temp, fuel pressure, volts, amps, etc.

Ooh, you could rig up one of those digital weather-stations (you know, the ones with the inside temp, outside temp, barometric pressure, etc.) as a DIC of sorts.

Other random idea:

They make stick-on sunroofs now, so it looks like you've got a sunroof. You could do the same thing on the cheap with some black paint, some adhesive, and some plastic/rubber trim.