As cool and as fun as those things are, they're kinda cheap for a reason. It was Honda dabbling in AWD when they really didn't put a lot of R&D in it. They got smoked by companies like Subaru and even Mitsubishi, and gave up on it (for the most part. I think they tried to bring it back with the Ridgeline.. that didn't work out well, either lol). You'd have to do a lot of work to the driveshaft in order to make it trackable (if that's what you want). If you're just looking for AWD, get a Subbie! I love those cars.
Have you checked the market price on these?? I don't know what your version of cheap is but the only reasonable priced ones i've found are coming from people that don't understand how rare these are. I'm not looking to track (no track in the whole state), but I am looking at getting around 300hp and will be building the car to do so. And correct me if I'm wrong here, but Honda never built this to compete in the rally circuits so your comment about giving up after getting smoked by Mit/Sub puzzles me. It was built as a work horse low cost and efficient delivery vehicle of sorts. Now my history may be wrong and I apologize if it is, but unless it was getting smoked by the mitsu/Sub delivery minivans, I think Honda did pretty well making this little gem
But really, the whole point of the car from a tuner/Honda fan perspective is the theory behind it. It's not about putting down huge numbers or giving a beat down to every car you find. I've been there, done that. No matter what you drive, how much money you make, or what's under the hood, there is ALWAYS someone faster. Once you realize that, you'll look at cars/builds from a different perspective. If you look at it for what it is, A FREAKING AWD CIVIC FOR PETE SAKES, then you'll appreciate the work that will be accomplished. Take a look at a recent post from a new member here in the new member section from the NW. He posted pics of his car and links to other cars similar to it. At $5000 plus for a decent shape 92, I'd say that's not "cheap" when considering you could spend that same money on something much faster and trackable. Do I care? Nope!
BTW, my version of cheap is vehicle and condition specific. How much money I make isn't the factor. A $200 92 Civic is cheap. A $50,000 Lamborghini is cheap.... A $5000 92 Civic is not. Now "worth".... That's a different story.