looks before power?
 

is there any shame in taking care of the aesthetics of the car before i start on the engine? i just got the car about 3 weeks ago and have to work bit at a time to get it done... gonna take a few years... marriage, house, all kinds of stuff coming up soon... i have been doing everything i can to get her up and running in tip top condition and am just about there i think, but i guess i'm asking, is it TOO rice for me to get the body and such done first? its not gonna stay that way, the engine mods will come, i swear!

you seem to be doin it in order of how i wanna do it once i get a fd.. mods to make sure it stays running nice, 99rz spec body, then power mods. it seems though the first thing that should be done on any fd is mods to get it to be more reliable if thats possible hehe :) + its not like its all that slow stock ;)

Do what you want, it's your money and your car.

For some, the stock performance is more than enough. For others, it's not. There is no rule that says you have to upgrade anything.

My personal opinion is that the car needs to have the go to back up the show. Make it fast before you make it look fast. But as Mahjik said, it's your car, do what you want with it.

Keep in mind you don't need all that many mods to be able to get some real nice numbers. With my mods (intake, dp, ECU and tuning) I can hang with a stock C5 vette, which is damn good for ~$2k of mods. Whether you go all out on performance first, or just a little, I'd say make it faster before you make it look faster.

imho the fd requires very little in the aesthetics department..

go baby go baby!

Your FD must be running like shit.
With intake and exhaust, I was neck n neck with a C5 up to about 100 or so till we both gave off.

Stock C5 does 0-60 like in 4.7s and the 1/4 in about 13.25s. With your mods, you should at LEAST be in the mid to high 12s and do a little more damage than simply hang with a stock C5.

Hey pugg57, like Mahjik said, it's your name, and there's no shame in doing anything. But keep in mind, crazy/wild body kits DO look kinda dorky without a nice set of wheels.

First thing first, I'd worry about reliability mods. Then I'd worry about anything else regardless of what it may be.

:werd:

Forget the FD. It's ugly as hell. There's really nothing to even start with. You need something with much better aftermarket cosmetic support and far more popularity. Like a Honda Civic.

after reliability, most people go with "go" then show (but thats all up to you). if you go show first, i would recommend getting a body kit that is not to extreme such as the 99spec, or something similar. i think fd's look great stock, mabie a set of rims and the 99 front end with a new paint job, and be done with the body.

do as you want..but honestly I would do cooling and catback dp intake before i drove it around like stink....youll save thousands.


j

i plan on doing a number of the reliability mods to start, but for the time being, i'm happy with the performance that the stock FD gives. i was thinking about a full FEED body kit and some nice 18x8 10 spoke rims. 911GT2, what type of 0-60, 1/4 mile are you getting with your mods? any chance you could give me a full list of what you've done to get there?

Only if your FD came with a Veilside knockoff wing ;)

rofl

I reckon it comes down to balance, I tried to match up my look with its power, so the more grunt it gets, the more aggresive I'll make it look.
Reliabilty is different thought, its a necessity, Mods are not. so I dont figure them into my upgrades

im all about speed. Then after Im all done, i will go with suspension, then the body will get some work. The problem is, the body is the first thing to get scratched up while in the process of moding it. So in the end after your all done, the looks will be nice but not fresh and clean along with how fast it goes. If you want to balance it all out, go with all the supporting mods to a single turbo conversion, then work on the body. After the body is done, now you can put the single turbo on. The reality is, you can never have enough speed.

fastcarfreak... you make a good point that honestly hadn't crossed my mind... i guess its just better to go power first. i'm keeping my sequentials though, maybe get a set of stage 2 BNRs eventually.

I bet the first time you ride in a single turbo FD your mind will change real quick. Maybe not though.

One more thing. You can always do a couple of body parts to make the car look better. 99 spec front and rear spoiler. Maybe even a nice set or rims. I must say that most aftermarket rims will slow the car down. Especially the no name brands. The stock rims only weight 15 and some change pounds.

Well, I can tell you this: I've had my car longer than most of the people have had theirs who are posting in this thread.... I wish I would have gotten a new paint job and some rims long before I put 90% of this other crap on my car...

It's always subjective as far as speed verses look is concerned. Think about what you do with your car right now: do you drag race it all the time? open track drive it? or just drive it on the street?

If most of your driving is on the street, as long as your reliability mods are done, power mods can wait (as there are those things called "speed limits" and "tickets".

If you do a lot of track driving now (now as oppose to "I plan to"), then you'll benifit more from the power mods first.

I know when I look at my car now, I can't help but wish I had some $$$ for some rims....

If I were you I'd do intake, full exhaust, used Pettit ecu and run 12-13psi of boost. That would get you way down into the 12's. Buy it all used for like $1000 or so.

Then maybe buy some wheels and a few other things like maybe a 99 bumper or some tastefull stuff like that.

I guess what I'm saying is I'd at least get it running decent first. Cause you know whats going to happen when it looks bad ass? Your going to feel bad cause the first thing people will ask you is "how fast is it?" or "how much HP is it running?" and your going to have to say nah the engine is ass stock and its slower than a Camaro lol

STEPHEN

reliability...some exterior (not too much)...and then performance mods. Again, its ur car and u do whatever u want with it, I agree with almost everyone else saying get the essentials in performance and maybe clean up and polish ur engine :D.

Make your car pretty...but plz back it up with performance.

Personally, I don't understand the need felt by so many to change the looks of the car. The FD has some of the cleanest and beautiful lines of any car ever designed IMO.

I have yet to see an aftermarket body piece that maintained the lines of the car without having too much going on (although the newer Border bumper comes pretty close). I do understand the 99-bumper upgrade because it increases the airflow and updates the look of the car slightly.

But as the others said, if you want to change body pieces, go ahead, it's your car. Just don't post a thread asking for people's honest opinions, because you'll get them....:)

people keep saying i can get low 12s pretty cheap... so i think i'll get that done before the body. as for the body style, i like tasteful too, but i would like to get something a little more exotic than the 99 spec that EVERYONE has. i will be getting some high quality and LIGHT rims though.

I was thinking about it (for all of about 10 minutes) and i think the starter is gonna be intake, dp, hi-flow cat, catback, PFC, and a new SMIC then i'll get to the body... will that performance be enough to spare me from being branded as a ricer? the car right now is just an everyday driver no track no drag... eventually i hope to do some road-track racing

Dont even worry about the IC yet. Just do intake, full exhaust, PFC and run 12psi. I ran that for over a year and loved it. I'd run low mid 12's consistant on drag radials with a best of 12.3@113.

I think when you get to that point you can do some tastefull body stuff if you want and actually being able to "back it up"

STEPHEN