Value for money mods?

[Pyro]

Hi guys,

Just say you were modifying a car from scratch, and you were on a budget, where you could modify parts every couple of months or so.. what would you start with?

I am in a similar position to this at the moment, and the first thing is get the car 100% (e.g. no leaks, service, get it nice and straight, remove 'hekticness' etc etc)

But when it comes time to start modding, what would / have you go for first??

I was thinking, suspension, wheels/tyres, brakes, power (intercooler/turbo) and go from there.

IS it best, in your opinion, to buy the best first or upgrade slowly, then in the future sell parts and buy better??

Long question, but i'm interested in what opinions you guys have,

cheers

 

[Dean]

General rule of thumb is that you cant modify a car on a budget
If you want to modify its gonna cost you, and you usually cant do one thing without another. Everythings connected somehow.

 

[Pyro]

So your saying unless you're rich you can't modify? I disagree, I realise that things connect to each other, but if you wanted to upgrade say brakes and suspension, there are only really positives that can come from that!

I totaly understand what you are saying though, I'd just like to have a 'guide' to which would be the smartest things/items to upgrade to start off with

 

[Dean]

I guess it depends on what you have planned for the car.
If you wanted to go all out, it would be best to modify it all at once.
If you were after a few mods, say front mount, bigger turbo, exhaust, etc then these can be done progressively.
What are your plans for the car?

 

[S15ETA]

i disagree too dean.....u may spend money like the guys off evooz but i do everything myself on a budget with everything....if i save 50 bux im wrapped........for example, i just made a boot brace for my evo and it cost me $7 with half an hours work......all up ive only spentjust under 5k getting my car to where it is now and thats from stock too ay

 

[OFFON-4]

Well DIY or paying someone else to do it, budgets are bullshit..

What u think it will cost, take that figure and muliply by 3 at least... Something always pops up or is broken or whatever else come ur way when building cars.

Thats my 2cents and no im not from EVOOZ

 

[S15ETA]

so why pay the other cunt 2/3s of whats in ur wallet when u can do it urself???? u can always save money when u do it urself.......i mean people charge for parts even.....u could save at least 10% if u chase it up urself through a friend etc.....i agree that sometimes that u have to pay for things that r out of ur reach but u do ur best cos people have other crap to pay too......so u may aswell get in there and learn how to do it once and properly

 

[OFFON-4]

Dont disagree harry i totally understand, however im just saying when ur building a car unexpected things pop up therefore bduget doesnt exist, im not talking about paying someone else or what not...im just saying u replace one thing another fucked or u like that you might aswell get that

catch my drift cause im struggling to understand what i mean LoL

 

[D3bb4]

So true. And if you source cheaper 2nd hand parts, sometimes you have bad luck with dodgey sellers, shit breaks, costs you even more... dodgey workshops/workmanship, etc. costs a mint to fix.

Shit adds up. 5k isnt cheap. By standards of other cars, you saving a packet. I never expected to be throwing the sorta money i have into my car when i first bought it, thas for damn sure - and I havent been throwing it because i have it spare - it's because i need to to even keep it going!

 

[265T]

I'd just like to have a 'guide' to which would be the smartest things/items to upgrade to start off with

what are your plans for the car? What do you want to achieve with it? Is it going to be a street car or are you going to do some racing? Do you have a VR4? i think my first mods would be an exhaust & boost

like everyone is saying, old cars usually cost lots of $'s due to lack of maintainence in the past, my new VR4 is about 5x over my $1k maintaince budget & i haven't started modifying it yet

 

[evopwr]

agree with s15eta - do as much yourself as you can to save cash and learn something.

also agree with offon4 - you get what you pay for. if quality is what you are after you had better be prepared to pay for it.


If you're after a nice daily, then do everything in moderation. EG, instead of going full Brembo 6pot calipers, upgrade to evo twin-pots with slotted rotors and quality pads (EBC Green for example);
instead of getting $5000 DMS coilovers, look around for a cheap secondhand pair of hotbits for $800

etc

-alex

 

[EVO-00X]

When modifying a car it pays not to keep count of how much time and money you spend on it. Although it sounds good in theory its hard to dismiss the $$ figure as you will always have a general idea of the cost but try not to think about it because it's usually depressing lol.

I think also people have different views on what modifying is and to what extent it goes to. In most cases the general idea you get about how far you want to go with your car goes right out the window because you will find yourself modding up to that level then exceeding it .... then going a bit more.... and then some again. This is why the $$ value blows out BIG TIME and way over your original concept.

A cheap mod for more power will always be a bigger bolt on turbo. Depending on boost levels you will get injectors and upgrade your fuel pump and chip your ECU to suit. With more power comes the need to handle better and stop quicker. Do you want your car to look good, go good or sound good?

I'd go the turbo first for sure, then the exhaust, then boost the turbo and get some bigger injectors/fuel pump/chipped ecu, followed then by intercooler, suspension, then brakes. Then looks. Then save up for forged internals and get that done. But thats just me and shit never happens in the desired order you want anyway. Ultimately you start modifying and... well... there's probably not going to be one pay packet thereafter you wont spend at least $1 on your car for lol.

 

[Dean]

Harry you are truly correct, and i try and do as much as i can myself even with my limited knowledge.
Dave is correct aswell, do it once do it properly policy.
Im glad you two replied to this topic because it highlights the contrast in what you guys want out of your cars.
Thats the real issue.
So Pyro, thats really the main question here....

 

[Missile]

1/ Bonnet lifters

I've always felt that doing power gaining mods in 'one hit' is the best way to go in terms of funds saving, especially when you move in to the chip/piggy back/ full aftermarket ecu territory... which is what you will be wanting to do if you plan on modding correctly

So IMHO how you have listed you plans to mod is golden... suspension and braking mods can go straight on the car whilst you build up you garage full of 'go fast add ons' to do in one hit... keep an eye out on the forums for bargains, as they do exist!

 

[Pyro]

Thanks for the comments guys,

I have a VR4 and plan on keeping it on the road, not really keen on any track stuff, maybe later on in life, keeping it as a daily at the moment.

I guess my main goal is a good reliable base with a little bit of power.

I'd go the turbo first for sure, then the exhaust, then boost the turbo and get some bigger injectors/fuel pump/chipped ecu, followed then by intercooler, suspension, then brakes. Then looks. Then save up for forged internals and get that done. But thats just me and shit never happens in the desired order you want anyway. Ultimately you start modifying and... well... there's probably not going to be one pay packet thereafter you wont spend at least $1 on your car for lol.

I found that interesting, I would have thought that you'd want to upgrade the brakes and suspension before power?

Im glad you two replied to this topic because it highlights the contrast in what you guys want out of your cars.
Thats the real issue.

But this is the reason I asked the question.. To see what people have done with their cars, this isn't about all my car! I was just seeing what you guys think is the 'smartest' way to go about modifying and get a good understanding as to what the VR4 responds to best when modifying!!! I understand that it can be totally different when you have different goals you want to achieve out of a car, but generally you get some 'mods' that are a complete waste of time. EG. braided brake lines, when you haven't upgraded your single pot callipers!

Keep your comments going guys! This is an interesting discussion!

 

[Pyro]

So IMHO how you have listed you plans to mod is golden... suspension and braking mods can go straight on the car whilst you build up you garage full of 'go fast add ons' to do in one hit... keep an eye out on the forums for bargains, as they do exist!

Thanks for the comment Missile, that's the kind of advice I'm after, so you think it's best to accumulate parts over time and do it all in one go?


P.S. I will probably be doing most of the work myself.. with some help of course from the mighty team4g crew!!

 

[Missile]

Thanks for the comment Missile, that's the kind of advice I'm after, so you think it's best to accumulate parts over time and do it all in one go?


P.S. I will probably be doing most of the work myself.. with some help of course from the mighty team4g crew!!

Engine mods yes...

e.g. I had a stock 4g93t engine in my car... purchased turbo/dump pipe/injectors first off... realised it would be stupid if these were put on with with the stock cooler setup, so it was a few months later that the right piping and cooler was bought from the forums... looking at it all relised that the stock gsr throttle body wouldnt accept the new i/c plumbing, so an evo tb was purchased... thort that there was no point in having the larger tb without port matching the intake mani, so purchased a spare intake mani to hone etc. it was some 6 months after purchasing the turbo (which was initially the only thing that i wanted to do at the time) that all of this was bolted up to the engine...

1/ in theory this minimises off-road time
2/ i was running a full after-market ecu and wanted to minimise tuning costs

had this been done piece by piece by bolting any new purchase straight on to the engine i would have been temp making parts to make the new setup work, and making urgent FS threads for parts

If this is your daily, one of your main areas for concern is the amount of time the car will be off the road...

Im not overly clued up on the VR4's... but i dont think that a brake upgrade is urgent... they do have twin pots up front... slotted rotors, braided lines, brake cylinder stopper and some decent fluid which all up isnt very expensive and will have next to zero 'off-road' time e.g. can be done in under a day.

blow some $$$'s a decent suspension setup... once again next to no 'off-road time'... and maybe even some wheels (if thats what floats your boat)

by the sounds of thing you are not trying to build an 11 second street machine, so you can easily follow the 16g/510cc injectors/chip that many vr4 owners do and get great results... once again sweet FA amount of time that the car is off the road...

 

[dedant]

use the knowledge here lots have people have done the research already it may seem unoriginal but who cares when the results speak for themselves. Going outside the square costs and absolute fortune in time money and stress.
so I'd go
exhaust, intake, chip and tunes
suspension, brakes, wheels and tyres
intercooler,piping,turbo

 

[Entaran]

PM me your expected budget and I can give you a roadmap to fun. Also, how good are you with your hands? Actual experience is irrelevant, just are you a person who's relatively good with your hands or are you sort of like me and anything you touch breaks somewhere else?

God knows how many times i've done it or seen it done now.

3 vr4's later....

 

[Pyro]

Well I've recently built up a KE70 dropped a 4age in it! It was fun! Haha, that is - fun being a pain in the ass, I’m ok with my hands I guess, but then again shit does go wrong!

This is my second VR4, so I know a bit about the 4's not a great deal though, mine is a J-spec pre-facelift so it's got the single piston callipers up front.

Entaran - I don't really have a set amount I want to spend on it, I'd just like to know if it's worth accumulating parts over time and doing it all in one shot or piece by piece. I still PM what I've got in mind though! haha

Missile - Great point on the time off the road, I never really thought a great deal about that, but it's one of the most crucial things about 'modding' a daily I suppose!

I'm thinking at the moment,

- Suspension - Decent springs and shocks or coilovers?
- Brakes - Twin piston callipers, ????
- Turbo - 16g Big or small?
- Injectors - 550s?
- Chip - Who ever does em haha!
- Exhaust - 3inch 2nd hand maybe?
- Intake, Is it worth it?

What have you VR4 got? Best brands, places to buy, etc etc