Buy used parts that aren't subjected to wear (tires wear, intakes don't). Buy the minimum, not every supporting mod. Injectors yes, adjustable FPR no, blox turbo manifold yes, ball-bearing turbo no, etc. Get it running with a stock head, build a block later, then upgrade the head after that.

There are plenty of vitara/stock head/crome builds that were done for under $1k that have been ripping it up for years, while the Joe Q. Public is still saving up for his Mugen exhaust header, Venom carbon-fiber intake manifold, and AEM ecu.


THIS is why other car groups have upgrades grouped in "stages". This is a completely foreign idea to Honda people.

 

Wow !!! talkin about the right button, some of the peeps got hit in the right button, LOL!

I go to pick and pull and pocket replacement parts that I need, that are small enough, and I stick to my rule, no matter what you do, or put to your Civic/Integra/Prelude/RSX, etc., they will still be called that, so, I keep my modification to the minimum and functional, no matter what I put in my civic, it will still be called civic,,,it's not gonna be called Ferrarri after all the money wasted, right?

 

Alot of the guys that you see put together an amazing functional build for next to nothing already have a descent amount of experience behind them. Its the experience that allows them to see how the different items will work together. If you are new to the hobby you are going to be hopeless and your going to screw up. Trial and error is just the way it is.

My first car had plenty of battle scars on it from me learning to install engines and suspensions and everything else. Lots of great learning but the car had seen better days by the time I was done with it.

PS, I know those central Amercian guys can and do stick a rotary engine in just about any car you can think of.

 

I wanna second the notion that theres alot of hype out there and for a beginner coming in theres alot of things that sound necessary but probably aren't.. And you feel like you gotta buy the big name brand of everything.... IS my DC sports strut tower bar any better than those cheap ebay bars????? Its a good thing I got it for cheap so I don't have to worry about it! LOL.... Have you done all the adjustments possible to get what you want??? IF not, keep going before you spend more money!!

 

I took my whip in for an alignment after putting a steering rack on, they found a bad UBJ and told be it'd be $200. I went and got the part, pulled the UCA off and had my uncle press it in at his shop.

New Steering rack:$200 Steering rack from take-a-part:$20
UBJ at the shop $200 UBJ at home: $25
Alignment: $80

I could have paid well over $500, but I got away with it for right around $130.