Mod all at once or piece by piece?

[Norm Peterson]

Just looking for thoughts and opinions. So for my 05 gt I accumulated all the bolt ons and suspension parts and just had my shop put them all in at once not sure if I saved any money doing this but it was fun because it was like I sat in brand new car when it was done. Is this something you guys do also or install the mods one at a time so you can feel what each individual mod does to your car??

Sometimes only one mod at a time, sometimes two or three (especially if they all require some of the same tasks).

For suspension in particular, you can't predict exactly how it's going to turn out, so choosing adjustable parts and doing things on more of a one-at-a-time-and-see basis is more likely to end up best.

Now modding a 2012 lava red gt manual car. Anyone know if you save money doing all the mods at once?

Can't help much here, so far I've been able to do everything that didn't require automotive machine shop equipment. But it does beat you up less if you can spread the individual tasks out over a bit more time (and as you get a little older and a little less flexible this last thought becomes a lot more important).


Modding slowly over the years can result in fewer trips down the wrong path if you use the time to put some thought into your choices (so you aren't wasting time and $$$ chasing/paying for the same mod more than once jumping from brand to brand). I might get the MGW shifter installed today, hadn't really needed any improvement in shifting until my last track day a week or so ago. And I may end up DIY'ing a short extender on that shifter's lever before I'm done.


Norm

 

[ChewyR]

The only problem with doing mods over time is by the time you get done modding, you have an old car. People tell me "nice ride", or "slick car", and I am like, yeah it's not bad for a 10 year old car with 120,000 miles.

 

[01yellerCobra]

The only problem with doing mods over time is by the time you get done modding, you have an old car. People tell me "nice ride", or "slick car", and I am like, yeah it's not bad for a 10 year old car with 120,000 miles.

All that matters is that you enjoy the car. I smile and giggle every time I take my car out.

Misspelling brought to you by Tapatalk

 

[Norm Peterson]

The only problem with doing mods over time is by the time you get done modding, you have an old car.

And that's a problem because ??????????


Norm

 

[Sky Render]

The only problem with doing mods over time is by the time you get done modding, you have an old car. People tell me "nice ride", or "slick car", and I am like, yeah it's not bad for a 10 year old car with 120,000 miles.

So what? Mine has 60k on the clock, and most people are surprised it has more than a tenth of that.

 

[46addict]

For some things, doing things as a package makes sense. If you wanted to lower your car for example, you would want to get shocks to match your springs, and caster/camber plates or new strut mounts to go with them. Then you want to think about an adjustable panhard bar and LCA relocation brackets. Doing springs, shocks, and strut mounts in three different sittings would require three alignments.

But piece-mealing makes sense when you are putting together a "tuner" forced induction kit like the DOB phase I setup or when you get a supercharger/turbo kit that only comes with the compressor and a part of the piping which leaves injector, fuel pump, and maf, etc choices up to you. Piece-mealing a kit is better in this scenario IMO because the injectors and fuel pump "solutions" (splice-in boost a pump) will need to be upgraded anyway once you turn up the boost. And the tunes that come with some of the turn-key kits are not tailored to your car so more than likely it will need tweaking. So you aren't saving any money when you buy a kit that comes with a tune. Piece-mealing also gives you a chance to "overbuild" with the next steps in mind and saves you from buying stuff twice (or three times). Not to mention it doesn't hurt as much when you spend $200-$500 here and there as opposed to spending $6k at once and having to upgrade the supporting components later on when the need for more power comes.

Sorry for the long rant. But that's been my experience with this hobby.

 

[Norm Peterson]

For some things, doing things as a package makes sense. If you wanted to lower your car for example, you would want to get shocks to match your springs, and caster/camber plates or new strut mounts to go with them. Then you want to think about an adjustable panhard bar and LCA relocation brackets. Doing springs, shocks, and strut mounts in three different sittings would require three alignments.

Trust me, suspension modding can be done piecemeal. Though doing so is probably better suited to modifying the suspension for function first and either letting appearance fall wherever it ends up at or tweaking that after-the-fact.

Even alignment isn't all that hard to do if you can read the vials in a level, maybe do a little measuring and some basic trig, and turn a wrench.


Norm

 

[46addict]

I guess I've lost the enthusiasm to put spring compressors on the springs to disassemble them from the struts, and then repeat the process for strut mounts. I'd rather buy them at once and have them go in together, once. I ended up buying coilovers, though not installed yet.

 

[Norm Peterson]

I wouldn't do strut mounts separate from struts, though I would do springs separately from that. Did, actually.


Norm

 

[Bingo]

The only problem with doing mods over time is by the time you get done modding, you have an old car. People tell me "nice ride", or "slick car", and I am like, yeah it's not bad for a 10 year old car with 120,000 miles.

I kinda go back and forth on this one. One the one hand, I love my car and all the mods make it mine and unique. On the other hand, it's ancient by current standards. But on the third hand, all the new cars and tech and useless bullshit is stuff I don't need/want anyway. So yeah, whatever. I got an old S197 that I'll probably keep forever, so it's OK.

 

[46addict]

I don't mind having an aging car. For me to finance a new Mustang, my car payment plus insurance would look like a mortgage payment. No thanks. I'd rather put the leftover money in mods or put it in savings and live comfortably. My 10 year old car still gets compliments and people in traffic get excited and ask me to rev the car, etc. Not that I bought and modded the car for attention.

I still oogle over tastefully modified SN95s and fox bodies. Age is just a number.

 

[fdjizm]

Agreed, my "old" car still gets all the compliments and thumbs up that it got when it was brand new in 2008.
I thought that would go away after a while, but it didn't.
It's different with "muscle cars", I still break my neck for an 03 cobra or a nice notch back. ESPECIALLY THE SOUNDS!

On the other hand, nobody gives a fuck about my brand spanking new shiny civic.
So do they REALLY age!? maybe physically but not emotionally.