Definitely going to go with, yeah he's 23 (supposedly) but should probably grow up a little more
"This is feeling like the porsche forums"
Thats what happens when you take a vehicle that used to have a 40k+ MSRP the depreciates to the point where younger buyer's can realistically afford one. You're mixing the generation that grew up with sitting in their garage with a Dodge Vega or some crud, staring at a timing light, and spending maybe 3 hours of your day to get a little bit of horsepower... THAT'S the spirit of car modification that has been lost since....oh i'd say when 2Fast2Furious came out...(the original one at least had the beautiful example of Detroit muscle at the end.) with the younger generation that is used to letting a real person do the R&D, then having some Chinese people on ebay make it for less, and it bolts right on (CAI's anyone?).
My generation (yes i'm 19, but I try to claim Gen-X'ers as little as possible
) really needs to think about what they're saying before they spout some crap like "cars are my passion" or "i'm a car guy"...no, you're a" neon lights, VTEC, 'I want to just buy something that does the work for me, oh and I dont want to install it, and it should be cheap, and it should make 5 million horsepower out of my 1.8 liter 4 cylinder'" guy.
I dont call myself a "car guy" and it doesn't sound like you should either, car guys (to me anyways) are the people that look at a mod that's already on the market, or a stock part, and say to themselves....I have a better idea! Then they go and try it, and it either turns out terribly, or amazingly, and either way they're happy because all the grease on your hands makes you feel so much better about your day.
From the sounds of what YOU want...I'd say look on craigslist or ebay, find a car that someone has already built up, and buy it, then don't touch it.
In summary, if the idea of cracking your knuckle on a manifold because you were messing with a stuck bolt, then going back to it anyways, only to hit it again, doesn't sound appealing, then i'd say stick with bolton's or go buy a better starting platform.
(I realize this became more of a rant on my generation calling themselves "car guys" than anything, but oh well, still posting it because I'm mad tuner like that.)