The Future of My Car

[nametakennow]

Alright ladies and gentlemen, it is time to discuss the future of this little wonder:

Note: this is in General Chat because, well, I don't care what you drive, I want everybody's input

Here are the questions, all of which are based on the following idea:Should I simply make it "nice" and leave it at that as a really simple daily driver, or go all out and make it a streetable front-wheel-drive monster (cough)? (and what would those entail to you?)

1. What all power mods should I do? A. Just I/H/E? B. Cams? S3 or go for it with S4s? C. Cam gears, pulleys, that kind of stuff? D. Hell, boost that bizatch!?

2. Handling, what goes? A. Coilovers? B. Just springs/shocks? C. If B, H&R springs (pretty set there) with what shocks? D. (edit) doh! Brakes! Slotted or crossdrilled? Brand?

3. Aesthetically, what goes? A. Pinstripe, keep or tear off? B. Drop the cash on antenna shave? C. To tint or not to tint, well... duh... but how dark? D. Rims, of course, but which ones? (pics below)

OZ Superturismo GT:

OZ Record:

BBS RX:

BBS RD:

BBS RA:

Something else?If you want to pchop those on there to look, go ahead, I can get a better pic if necessary (hint hint)...

Current plans are as follows: VRS stainless steel exhaust ($420), Hotshot headers ($350ish), H&R springs ($191 + install for kit, 1.5 front 1.4 rear, if I'm not mistaken), nice shocks (still working on this), JWT S3 cams ($550ish + install), Unorthodox Racing Ultra SS pulleys ($220 if I remember correctly, possibly + install)...

Any suggestions on anything would be great! Thanks as always!

[Nathan]

Hmmm, I'd honestly go for all the bolt-on upgrades. Then do some simple suspension work, put on the BBS RX's, and keep it a nice daily driver that is quite entertaining

[nametakennow]

That's my latest train of thought, but I'm still going back and forth. The idea being "why should I spend $5000 plus on a car that is going to just spin tires and not be all that fast/fun?" I figure I could finish it (including wheels) for under $2500, which is about 1 summer's worth of work, though some of that has to go to social cash...

[Nathan]

My big hint of the day is to not make a race car out of a nice daily driver... After 9 months of having my only car be the one I'm building up (turbo etc.) I can tell you it sucks to get really deep into a project without a second car, and it WILL take longer than you expected. This really only applies if you went the custom turbo kit/engine rebuild route Bolt-on turbo kits rock imo for 90% of people

[lessthanjakejohn]

Perhaps I'm no fun, but leave it stock. I'd invest what money you make for a better car in the future. Just dump that cash into some well performing, steady index funds or if you want to be real safe, a CD. In a few years you can pulll it all out and go buy a few year old Infiniti or :oface lexus

:dunce

[nametakennow]

As much as I'd love to do that, I'm addicted, I can't leave the car completely alone, so I'm trying to minimize the damage to my wallet while still maintaining quality... which is why I'm trying to keep it around $2000 to finish and then save for a toy. With all the talk of Miata's lately, I'm definitely considering that route... I wish I'd gone ahead and bought that car sometimes, but I didn't want pop up headlights. Luckily, on a toy, it doesn't really matter if it's not all that pretty, it's made to be driven... once it's broken that means I have a chance to get under it again, which is always fun !

edit: Oh, and I'd have the added insurance a toy would incur, though I bet I could just get the basic of basics, since it'd see more track time than road time... and gas.... Which leads to another question, if you were getting a toy, what would you get?

[SeVa-S13]

An S13. Oh wait.... Seriously, S13's are painfully cheap, handle extraordinarily well for a stock car, and have tons of potential. I'm sure that Miatas are similar in those aspects, but far more....girly. =\ Am I the only one who sees Miatas as rolling estrogen? Like Del Sol's....

[nametakennow]

Whoa now, a Del Sol is a very different animal than a Miata, no hate! If Del Sols are like bunnies, Miatas are like the rabbit in Monty Python: The Search For The Holy Grail...

"Bless this thy Holy Handgrenade, to blow thine enemy into tiny bits!"

However, other options I'm looking at include MR2s (the good ones, in essence, the old ones, the new ones are lame), BMW convertibles (remember, this is completely impractical... I actually found an older Z3 with 80k or so, 5spd, silver, etc for about $4600 hmmm...) the problem there being maintenance costs... and uh... well... that's about it... if RX7s didn't overheat so bad a second gen would be on the list...

[Altiman94]

sell it, buy a 240, sr swap, big burn out, possibly some drifting.

[Mr1der]

second gen 7's don't overheat that bad, it was the twin turbo 13B that had real problems, besides, that's what cooling system upgrades are for:D

[Kaioshin1982]

ahahahhahahah monty python was a freaking hilarious movie! I still laugh when i think about the part where king arthur cuts off the black knight's arm and the knight says "tis a only flesh wound" or something like that lol

[Kaioshin1982]

oh 1 question.... what are the 1/4 mile times on 3rd gen rx7 and 2nd gen turboII

[nametakennow]

I haven't the faintest idea.

Back to the point: I can't sell my car, my parents bought it and just happen to be nice enough to let me mod it (gulps in preparation for the "spoiled rotten kid" speech), so the idea of just selling it and getting something better is out of the question. The idea here is to have a decently fun daily driver that looks simple enough to not get much attention, as well as a crazy weekend tire killer that I don't mind breaking (and thus fixing) in a small handful of years. The SR20DE is peppy and all, for sure, as well as very reliable and easy on gas, but the wrong wheels spin on this car .