- There's a gold standard these days when it comes to affordable
straight line speed. I'm talking about of
course the Dodge Hellcat. (tires screeching)
(engines roaring) Now I can't afford a Hellcat. Max can't afford a Hellcat. Neither can Joe. So the other day we were thinking, how could we afford to beat a Hellcat? So we put together a list of
seven theoretical project cars and one bonus vehicle that could smoke a Hellcat
in the quarter mile. But here's the thing. You can build any of
these for under 15 grand. (whip cracking) We're going built, not bought today. I'm James, and this is the D-List. Big thanks to Omaze for
sponsoring this week's episode of the D-List. Now it's no secret that we love the Dodge
Demon on this channel. We talked about its
history on Up to Speed. We reviewed it as a daily
on the New Car Show, rest in peace. And we told you how the
world's fastest Demon worked on Bumper to Bumper. I even have a Dodge tattoo, even though I've never owned a Dodge. So naturally we were
stoked when Omaze hit us up to give away this 2018 Dodge Demon. - Hell yeah, Doug in the hizzy. - what are you doing here, Doug? - You summoned me. I have to appear when you summon me. I'm a demon. That's one of them demon rules. - No, man, I don't think
I'd ever summon you. - Not now? - No.
- Not ever? - I really don't see the point. - Never, ever? When? - No one wants you to hang around, Doug. You're annoying, you're rude. And I don't know if you're
aware, but we are rolling. You're interrupting my job. - I get it, James. You want to hang out with the good Demon, the most powerful muscle car
to ever come out of Detroit. (engine roaring) And this Demon's the only production car to ever do a wheelie. Old Doug's never gonna
be able to do a wheelie 'cause I can't climb on a bike 'cause I don't have
all my muscles. (cries) - Oh, Doug. And it could be yours. Just head on over to Omaze.com/DonutMedia to enter for your chance to win. The taxes and the shipping are included. Plus Omaze is also throwing
in a cool $20,000 cash. - Stop looking at Old Doug. He's an ugly crier. - Plus every donation supports an organization
that means a lot to me, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. So don't wait, go donate today. And now back to the show. Why do your tears stink? - Let me be honest with you. I could take care of
myself a little better. - Okay, just to be clear,
the cars on this list can probably beat a Hellcat
in the quarter mile, at least once. Now after that, we cannot
promise that they won't blow up. A Hellcat has A/C, power windows, a luxurious leather interior, heated seats, air
conditioned seats I'm sure. It's a much better daily driver. These guys just wanna see
the world burn. (laughs) The first entry on this list is a baby little boy
named the Giovanni Metro. It was also sold as the Chevy
sprint and the Suzuki Swift, but everyone calls it a Geo Metro. So I will too. It could be argued that no one liked these when they came out and that no one likes these today. In other words, they're cheap. One just sold for $709. That's as many dollars as
the Hellcat has hrsprs. Now you're probably asking yourself... Here, give me my laptop. How is this little baby boy (laughs) gonna beat a Hellcat? Well, to start, this little
baby only weighs 1,500 pounds, which is about three
Nolans when he was born. And we're gonna be yanking that little three pot outta there. But what innards are we gonna pick for our compact little Frankenstein? There's a ton of engine options that might be able to get you into the tens in this little guy. But for this build, I'm gonna suggest a certain 1300cc engine that you might know from a little thing called the fricking Hayabusa. Hayabusa means falcon
or something. (laughs) Hayabusa engine puts out about 200 hrsprs, which I know is not anywhere close to Dodge's 707 horsepower. But here's the thing. The Geo Metro only weighs a
third of a Dodge Challenger. So you take that
200-horsepower Busa block, add a massive shot of nitrous, and you can probably definitely smoke a Hellcat in the quarter. Now this isn't exactly
the healthiest thing to do to your engine. But all you gotta do is win this one race, and you get your son back. So let's tally the price here. $700 for the car, about
$3,000 for the engine. You'll need to get your
knucks a little greasy, and you might end up spending
a few thousand dollars on some random parts. But we're well under the
$15,000 threshold here. I think we're doing pretty good. - [Doug] Honda Civic. - Everybody's favorite
car has more potential than your dad thinks. Forget the fact that the wrong wheels are getting all the power for
an ideal drag racing setup because, with a little bit of patience and some garage massage, you might be able to take
your Civic to the strip and take home a Hellcat pink slip. For this concoction, we're gonna start with a sixth gen Honda Civic. That's the one from the mid-'90s, and swap in a K20 from
a late 2000 Civic SI. K swaps are insanely popular right now, and for a very good reason. You can find these engines
everywhere for super cheap because they were put into a ton of stuff. They put down solid horsepower, and they're relatively easy to swap. And spoiler alert. This ain't the only K you're
gonna see on this list. M'kay? But this theoretical
build doesn't just end with an engine swap. Did you honestly think it
was gonna be that easy? Well, good job. You played yourself. To get into the tens and
send that Hellcat home, you're gonna need to do some
serious work on the head, not to mention some larger
injectors, a standalone ECU, big old shot at nitrous, and a heavy-duty clutch
to handle all that power. Believe it or not, the
rest of the K20's internals are strong enough to handle upwards of 400 horsepower or more. We priced out the parts
that I just mentioned and the entire build including the car. If you do the work yourself, corners in right around $10,000. Just think of the look on Jason's face when you gap his mopar ass with your fail wheel drive econobox. You might be kind of skeptical about a Civic beating a Hellcat. But go to YouTube and type
in Civic beating Hellcat, and you'll see this car. (engines roaring) - [Doug] Eclipse/Talon/Laser. - We talked about these DSM
triplets a few episodes ago, and we're talking about them again because we like talking about them. I love these cars. They're from my childhood. I'm talking about the Mitsubishi Eclipse, AKA the Eagle Talon,
AKA the Plymouth Laser. They're great cars, and you can still find some of these chappies on
Craigslist for super cheap because they're ugly as sin. You might've guessed it, but the reason that these
triplets are on the list is because of the beefy 4G63
that lives inside of them. This iron four banger was the
same engine found in the Evo. And it can handle a ton of boost without even needing to
upgrade the internals like you would our most engines. Slap on a bigger turbo
with the money you saved by not having to buy a bigger engine, and we still got some
cash left in the budget, so we're gonna buy some slicks, maybe some suspension stuff, maybe, maybe some cams,
maybe a really good two. And this thing will eat
freaking pink slips for dinner (beeps) for seconds, (beeps) for thirds. (beeps) for dessert. Plus you can get them in all-wheel drive, so you get all that sweet,
sweet grip for your launch. - [Doug] Fourth gen Camaro. - It's the worst Camaro of all time. It looks like a fish. You're never gonna get
any pinks with that trash. That's what people are saying every day about the fourth gen Camaro. But people are finally coming around to the insane amounts of cheap power the catfish delivers thanks to the famous influencer slash
tastemaker Jeremiah Burton. (heavy wind blowing) (beeps) The good news is, they're
still hella cheap. And if you go for one after 1998, you can have LS power on your side. Those are big boy horsepowers, okay? That's a lot of potential. But the big dilemma is
whether or not you want to shut down that Hellcat with nitrous, if you want a turbo
charger or supercharger, or if you want to go freaking NA. That's pretty much order
of difficulty slash cost, so we're gonna concentrate on the juice. A stock Camaro SS makes a
little over 300 horsepower. We're gonna squirt a 200
shot of nitrous in there. If you don't know, that means we're adding about 200 horsepower of nitrous. Might as well throw some cams and some headers in while we're at it. So now we're at over 500 horsepower. Still not quite there yet, but the most effective thing
you can do to go faster is to get lighter. And the catfish has pounds to shed. Rear seats, who needs them? Passenger seat, sayonara. Carpet, interior panels, doors, trunk, adios, muchachos. Last thing we're gonna
need is set of slicks and some upgraded rear suspension to handle all that power, baby. Final tally after parts, not
a bad way to spend $10,000. - [Doug] Chevy S10. - The GMC Syclone with an S was one of the wildest
trucks to ever exist. With a few modifications, could beat a fricking Hellcat. But there's no way you're gonna
find a Syclone for $15,000. Syclone with an S people are vicious, and they know what they got. So if you can't find a cheap Syclone, the next best thing, you
build your own Syclone! Finding a first or second
gen S10 with a 4.3 liter V6 shouldn't be too hard. After you got your S10, head down to the junk yard and grab yourself a 700R4
four-speed transmission from a C4 Corvette because you'll need it to
handle the amount of power we're about to get. After that, upgrade the engine internals. I'm talking forged crank, rods,
pistons, the whole shebang. Slap on a turbo and intercooler, and we're basically ready to roll. I'm pretty nonchalant about saying, "Simply upgrade the internals,"
but it is a lot of work. This isn't exactly a beginner project. And paying for this labor
would be super expensive. So let's say the turbos
and forged internals really aren't your bag. (whispers) There's another way. Chevrolet doesn't only sell cars. They also sell engines,
great engines, good stuff. You can buy a refurbished
454 big block for like $6,000 with a warranty from Walmart. Throw on some headers,
turbo 400 transmission, pair with a narrow 12 bolt
rear end, fat rubbies. All that in a lightweight mini truck, we're getting dangerously
close to the $15,000 cap, but this setup will
get the job done right. And you might even be able
to drive this one home. - [Doug] VW Beetle. - They made 22 million Volkswagen Bugs between 1938 and 2003. And it was invented by Hitler, so you don't need to feel
bad about hacking one up. And while the Beetle's
power more than doubled in its 65 year run, the 50 little innocent horses
the Beetle managed to pump out of its air-cooled engine
still isn't very impressive. Turns out there's another company that makes some pretty good flat fours. These engines aren't air cooled, and it rhymes with Bubaru. The Subaru EJ25 swaps in the STI are pretty common on the old VW platform. People put them in Bugs,
buses, things, squarebacks, fastbacks, notchbacks, hunchbacks. But even the EJ25 doesn't
quite give us enough power for what we need it for. So instead of the EJ25,
we're going with an EJ20 with a custom eBay turbo
set up just like in Low Car because that went so well last time. - [Eddie] You good, man? - No, Eddie, not good. What the (beeps) you think, dude? Add some big, old 1000cc injectors, and Jason will be kissing
his pink slip goodbye with his rosy pink lips, beautiful. Jason's total package, brains and brawn. This would be a good time to mention that you should probably
spend a little bit of your cold hard cash
on breaks or a parachute because Beetles are not
very good at stopping good. So what's the price? Okay, let's say $1,500 for the car, $1,500 for a good, as in won't blow up the first time you turn it on engine, $1,500 for the eBay turbo
stuff and everything else, and we're at like six grand. That's enough to pay someone
else to install it for you. - [Doug] MR2. - Everybody loves the MR2. But you don't usually see them dropping commanding times at the strip unless you watch the Boosted Boys, which I suggest you do. They're the main reason that
I added this car to the list. In stock form, the MR2 is
not putting down much more than 200 horsepowers. But remember that thing I
said about K swaps earlier? - This ain't the only K
you're gonna see on this list. That's 'cause we're
throwing a K24 in this bi... That's the engine that Honda used in a ton of cars between 2001 and 2014. Compared to the K20, the
K24 has more displacement and stronger internals. In other words, it's just
a little bit beefier. And we're gonna need all
the beef that we can get. Head on down to your local pick
and pull and grab your own, or you can even buy it as a crate engine that's already built. And since the MR2 is super
light and mid engine, we don't need a ton of power to compete with Dodge's 707 horsepower. By my extremely scientific calculations, around 400 should be just enough. And 400 is definitely doable in a K24. K24s sound really, really good. And the thought of a swapped
MR2 outrunning a Hellcat is one of the coolest things
that I can possibly imagine. But I don't have to imagine
it because YouTube exists. Google it. Just go watch the Boosted Boys. This car does wheelies. We've reached the end of the list. We have one more vehicle. It's not technically a car, but I don't even fricking care 'cause I hate rules, and
this thing is so sick. And I know what you're thinking, "Oh, it's gonna be a motorcycle. "Cool, (chuckles) you're
not fooling us, James." Then I say, "You're dead wrong, pal," 'cause I'm not talking
about a motorcycle either. I'm talking about a snowmobile. - [Doug] A snowmobile? - If you're not from snowy places, you might not realize that
these things can be real fast. Imagine a 1000cc V4 powering a vehicle that only weigh 700 pounds. Now stop imagining it because it's real. Instead of a tiny rear tire, they use a 15-inch-wide track that puts all the power down at once. And I know it sounds silly, but snowmobiles hook hard and can put down
nine-second quarter miles. I'm not talking about on snow. I'm talking about taking your Arctic Cat to the tarmac to fricking smoke Hellcats. Snowmobiles have ridiculous turnover, and you can buy them way cheaper at the end of the snowy season when everyone decides, "You know what? "I think it might be time
to sell the snowmobile. "We didn't really use
it at all this season "since the guys went to uni, eh?" With about three grand to spend on a special rear track
and suspension upgrades to convert it to asphalt racing, these things start in the low 11s. But with a little bit of tuning, people are routinely putting down nines and even eight-second quarter mile times. Is it cheating? Going fast is never cheating. And Jason won't know what hit it. This is without a doubt the
cheapest and easiest way to beat a Hellcat, period. If you want to talk to
me and the other guys, we have a Discord as part
of our membership program. To learn more about that, click the join button below. Or I'll go ahead and put
a link in the description because I know on some mobile devices, it doesn't really work. Make sure you hit that subscribe button and that like button. It's the best way for us to know that we're doing a good job. Oh, Donut, @DonutMedia. Follow me, @JamesPumphrey on
all social media platforms. I love you. (light music)
