hmmmm... too late know bro. Might as well just give in to the addiction - wait till you start doing cams and headers, and things that haven’t been done yet... the expense has just begun my friend

 

lol! So true! Get out while you can! Save yourself!

 

once you're in, you're in.

The only way out is get rid of the car... like a gang - when you’re in your only way out is die.

Sorry OP - your faith was diced when you put on the clear corners (or whatever mod you stated with)

We are the knights of G-Modville! Long Live Zero Bang for the Buck!

 

set a goal for something really expensive. this will make you save. that way, for a while, you will have money. then, when you spend it, you will be poor, but have something expensive, and be able to distract yourself with what i assume your choice was, a TT kit. this will occupy you for a long time; esp if you try to install it yourself. you will undoubtedly take a long time to figure it out, then call one of your friends and promise them a sixpack and a ride in the completed TTed car for their help. their praise and all the ladies you get will distract you until you amass more money. at this time, the cycle begins again. i assume this is how timmah has so many goddang mods. that or he's rich. i don't know.

if you do not have the patience or a bank account, i have a paypal you can pay into monthly.

 

Spending problem? Where's all your $25 mods?!

 

It's like anything that's addicting... I used to smoke and quitting was really quite hard, resisting the craving for another one, weeks later, months later, even years later...

I have to say that I have hit a plateau where I am almost happy to stop modding my car, but it's more like I've done everything that matters to me without dumping in a much larger pile of money and time (BOOST!) Not that I every stops craving it, but the budget doesn't allow it, funding upcoming obligations like my kids' colleges and (eek) retirement is squeezing out major mod spending. The cool thing is though, I've satisfactorily tricked out suspension, brakes and wheels so the handling needs nothing more, and the lightweight flywheel and clutch plus intake mods, HFCs and tuning have bumped my power to a quite satisfying level :-) The brakes will handle the vigors of track driving without burning up rapidly, the handling is good, the exhaust sounds aggressive and cool, I can burn all the rubber I can afford and much more and chirp gears through 5th... I can actually say that for me, I can almost be satisfied the way it is... Of course I'm considering a Stillen or JWT popcharger and a HKS or Magnaflow back muffler and maybe other exhaust mods, but it's just not that pressing. Yeah I'd like to put 275 tires on in back and that requires wider wheels. Sure I'd like to put in headers and cams but the reward/cost isn't there, at least not for the moment. Sure I want boost but it's generally not good for track days and really on the street I can't afford more tickets...
I guess it's a good thing I don't care to get started on appearance or audio mods! Yeah, I'll probably succumb to the desire again, just like I did to an evil cigarette more than once while quitting. At least I have the joy of this wonderful drive and for quite a bit less expense than a 911!

 

You could start sending $1/week to regular visitors to this site. Then you won't have anything left for your car.

 

I've got almost $10K into my Mustang...and i still need to decide on an engine setup and power adder for it.


I'm forcing myself to leave my G35 stock because I know once i start with it...i'll see what you guys have done and want to do the same. I already do

 

hahaha.. +1

 

LOL. I thought the same thing.


I said "what could you possibly mod on a 4-door sedan?"


And then i found this forum

 

can you give me a mock rating ($$ wise) for a:

1)noob (example $1000)
2)novice
3)intermediate
4)MOD head
5)DARK SIDE

I'm not even a noob yet BUT that is about to change!!!

 

1) noob - $1000
2) novice - $1500
3) intermediate - $2600
4) MOD head - $5500
5) DARK SIDE - $1 years worth of mortgage payments

 

According the the post below, I am 4.) A Mod Head. I think the category and cost specified apply quite well. Any further into the abyss and I will be on the Dark Side.

I have kept track of the cost of the goodies and labor I've put in my car. It's worth noting that I did almost all labor myself, and I shopped aggressively for the best bargains I could find... Both my Tokico shocks and my high flow cats were unused second hand items bought for about 60% of the normal cost. The $300 for the wheels is my cost of buying used Coupe wheels and subtracting what I got selling my sedan wheels. Of course I've actually spent a bit more than this with mods since removed or changed, as well as consumed tires, pads and rotors. I also excluded a few hundred in tools purchased. Looking at my experience, I think it's fair to say that at a minimum to upgrade wheels and suspension is about $1500. A worthwhile brake upgrade of pads, fluids, lines and bigger rotors and calipers up front is again about $1500 excluding labor, and a worthwhile power upgrade can be had with intake mods, high flow cats and a tune, which again costs about $1500.

The clutch and flywheel is clearly optional. I could actually exclude the cost on the basis that the original clutch was beginning to go and so it was a maintenance cost since it cost little more than a stock replacement.

So in summary, it costs about $1500 each for suspension, brakes and power or about $4500, based on doing it all as cheaply as possible.

I cannot see any way to achieve a reasonably complete overall performance upgrade for less, assuming that a driver wants to lower and stiffen the suspension, achieve a material power upgrade, and to have brakes that can handle tracking the car without overheating and destroying pads and rotors.

The next phase for me should I be unable to resist it, would probably be cams and headers, along with a pop charger and exhaust mods. I reckon that might be able to be done for about $2,500-$3000 at best, about half of that parts and half labor. That would bump power by another 30hp or so, or about 10%, That would be around double the cost of the initial power upgrade for about the same power gain again.

Wheels & Suspension
18"x 8" 32mm offset Coupe Wheels and Tires $300.00
Rolled fenders $100.00
Hotchkis Sway Bars (set full stiff front, softest rear) $180.00
Hotchkis springs, w spacers for 1" gap all around $150.00
Tokico D-Spec Adjustable Shocks $300.00
SPC Camber adjustable ft A-arms and rear links $400.00
Circuit Sport Strut Bar $130.00
Alignment $100.00
Subtotal $1,660.00

Brakes
Rotors, stainless steel braided lines, racing fluids, pads $500.00
Front Brembo Brakes, calipers, rotors, etc. $1,200.00
Subtotal $1,700.00

Clutch and Flywheel
JWT Lightweight Flywheel and clutch $775.00
Clutch Labor $350.00
Subtotal $1,125.00

Power
AAM Plenum Spacer $270.00
Z-Tube $75.00
High Flow air filter $40.00
AAM High flow cats $375.00
Osirus reflash $700.00
Subtotal $1,460.00

Total for Wheels and Suspension, Brakes, Clutch and Power: $5,945.00 spread over 2 years.
Initial cost of car: Purchased 3 years old, one owner, 28,000 miles: $20,000
Total cost of modded car: $26,000.

 

Damn, damn, damn!!! Why did you do that I regret to say I'm on the dark side (actually might be shy of it - I stopped adding up, but I need to get my files in order)

Thanks Chris

 

^ haha wow very detailed post Sagemark