Hello everyone. It's 1:40 in the morning. I just finished smashing together some MATLAB code for a class I'm taking, and with all of the caffeine in my veins I'm not going to bed so I thought I'd write a little bit about setting goals and building a car.
I got the idea from a thread over on
Honda-Tech.
Evaluate your situation
First, thing you need to do before you start thinking about buying parts or anything is to step back and take an honest look at yourself, your abilities, your wallet and your toolbox. Being able to do things yourself will save you money. Money = parts and parts = fun. But, on the same topic you need understand what you're capable of and what kind of help and tools you can get from friends or family. Everything else would need to be sourced from outside labor ($$$). Set yourself an honest realistic budget. If you're working for $7.85/hour and supporting 3 kids and paying rent, you shouldn't spend $30k on your car.
It's really easy to get in over your head or to bite off more than you can chew. Then youre not only wasted your time and money, but you're going to be paying someone else to fix your screw ups.I know we all like to say "built not bought" but what is there to be proud of if you built a hacked together piece of @!#$.
Set your goals
Sit down and decide what YOU want your car to be. Fun DD, AutoX car, drag car, etc. This will wholly decide where and on what you spend your money. A lot of people get automotive ADD and just start buying without even thinking about what they're buying the parts for.
Planning/Picking Parts
Once you know in what direction youre heading you can start to put together a parts list. This is A LOT of research and just like anything it will take time.
I like to do this is Excel. Make a column of parts, part numbers and prices. I also like to add notes to myself that will help with what I'm doing. It will help you to make sure you have everything you need. There's nothing worse than getting halfway into a project and realizing that you don't have half of the parts you need or half of the parts you bought are wrong. Its important to make sure that you're honest with yourself about EVERYTHING you'll need. 98% of engine mods work better with a tune. But, a lot of people don't account for it and never get their monies worth out of their parts.
It can really help you to cut costs and identify things that arent necessary. The goal here is to save money in the right places to get you what you really want.
Maybe this would help a lot of the "How much would xxxx cost me?" questions.
Something like this that I did for the motor swap in my Civic. I knew down to the penny what it would cost me. You dont have to go that nuts. It was winter time and I was going stir crazy:
Maintenance
The first parts to buy should be anything to get your car back to stable operating condition. Tune-up. Oil change. Ball joints etc. Maintenance first. Modification second. This is all in the interest of safety and longevity. Throwing stiff coilovers on old worn out suspension parts and then AutoXing will break and wear stuff out very quickly. Staying on top of your maintenance will help prevent anything catastrophic from happening.
Spend your money where it matters
I see so many people spending money on tons of tiny modifications that dont do anything to help each other or buying parts that will be of no use to your ultimate goal.
Like buying coilovers and sway bars but riding around on bald tires or buying I/H/E when the plan is to go turbo. Thats money that could have gone towards a nicer turbo manifold or turbo and proper exhaust to feed the beast.
If you want legit wheels or a Harrop don't go buy knockoffs and a regular M62. Just keep saving your money and wait. It doesn't do you any good to do mods just to get by or just because they're "a good deal." <= Im guilty of that.
Cost vs Reward
When I'm trying to pick parts I find it kind of helpful to do a little bit of cost vs reward work on a piece of paper or in my head. The reward value is a little bit subjective.
For a drag car, a nice new paint job will cost a lot but offers very little reward. The same paint job on a show car would have a high reward.
The Law of Diminishing returns is a good thing to read up on. Basically your return from a constant input gradually declines. You can make 100 more hp on your first 8psi but you wont make 200 more hp on 16 and you wont make 400 more on 32. The cost also increases exponentially. So you spend more and more but get less and less. Or because its a funny way to think about it: The first time you watch a video if someone getting kicked in the nuts its hilarious. The second time you chuckle. By the 15th time you're bored.
Cost vs Reward will help you to decide where to best make your big purchases (forced induction, coilovers, body work). This is also the time to deal with your budget. If you only have $2000 to put into the car make it $2000 that counts.
Failure cost
Failure cost is also something to look at and a lot of people don't. This is a good way to get yourself in big trouble in a hurry. For example, if you decide to go with forced induction, there are a plethora of things that can fail and grenade your motor. What is the monetary and time cost of blowing a ringland or having the seals blow out on your turbo? Can you afford the downtime if its your DD? Can you afford a new engine? What else can be damaged down in your car if something breaks?
In conclusion, its all in planning and having a good idea of what you want. Success is 90% planning and 10% execution. Be patient and bide your time
Its not 2:57am and I think I've said all I need to say. I'll add more if I think of anything later. If this helps one person to save money and get closer to what they want I'll be happy. So happy modding and stay safe. It's bed time for me.
