Lets say you just bought a car. All stock. You want to race it. It may be different for every car, but generally speaking what would you make the biggest priority? The second biggest? And so on.

Sorta on the same topic. Lets say you bought a car, stock. It looked pretty ragged, needed new paint, interior. Would you make it fast first, or easy on the eyes? And of course I don't mean stuff like spoilers, just to get it looking like it did in its prime.

performance...1ST..ENGINE SWAP.... or header exaust and intake. looks..1ST..nicepaint..2ND..rims...3RD...katzkin leather seats......

If it were me: function over form, and value for the dollar. That's the simplest way to put it. Don't do anything unless you're sure it'll help.

You can win races in a crappy-looking car. ;)

yeah, like some gurls say, 'good looks arent everything' but we all know that it is nicer to have a flipflop paint and some leather interior.

its fun to burn people in crappy looking cars though to

Sleepers or Underdogs are always the most entertaining...A stock looking car..Or a FUGLY car that can hand ALOT of cars their tailpipe..but if you're looking to buy a car to race don't look at to what parts are availible for it..See what alternative bases you can work off of...See if the transmission can't be changed to something better..Etc etc....Looks arn't really a huge deal with me..yeah it's nice to have a nice lookin fast car...but it's not a priority

For me, I refuse to drive a crappy-looking car. I understand the sleeper thing, but it's not for me at all. I enjoy having the loudest car on the block with the lopiest cam, drawing all the attention, and when I pull up to a stoplight I have people next to me fearing that I might ask them to race, hehe. I'm not big into custom paint jobs, but I definately say keep the paintjob you have looking good. Rims aren't a necessity, but people who drive around on donuts, or stockies without the hubcaps look like complete idiots and are treated accordingly, I don't care how fast they are. I say strike a balance. Because honestly, how often will you be racing in comparison to just driving around getting groceries and going to work and things?

Practicality has no place in my world!:lol:

This is a matter of the highest priority!

(Now we find out who the anime fans are on the board because they'll actually get that reference)

Anyways......

The top priority has to be making the car RELIABLE!!!! An overtime working cooling, oiling, and ignition system should be very high on the list of anyone with a street-driven modified car (my B, for instance, has twin electric fans and an aluminum radiator pirated from a '96 Neon Sport Coupe). While 40mm Weber DCOE carburettors and a Koni adjustable tube shock conversion will help my car greatly, they'll do absolutely nothing if she's sitting on the side of the road overheated or with a seized crank.

Secondly, make the chassis handle the available power. Even if this just means stickier tires, wider wheels, strut braces and sway bars, do it. Throwing power at a chassis that wasn't even optimized to run with what it had stock will result in an oftentimes dangerous automobile which brings me to my next point....

Safety equipment is a vital thing, even on the street. Stronger stock seatbelts with fresh tensioners are the bare minimum in a performance machine. Look into four or five point harnesses, racing seats (make the car lighter and hold yourself in place better, plus have cutouts for the harnesses), engine kill switches, fire extiguishers, roll bars or full cages, and improved brakes (with new ABS sensors if the car is so equipped) all make for a safer and easier to drive car, plus one that is legal for entering in amateur and some semi-pro racing events.

There you go, my advice for modification priorities.

oh yeah.....Nice one...Now when are you going to be racing down Akage again, mister White Comet....

Whenever I am without distractions. There is nothing more beautiful than a soldier with no distractions. :icesangel

I don't agree with owning a sleeper at all. I think you shouldn't just invest your money into some piece of junk car just to surprise someone. If you're going to make a car fast, it should be something you like, looks good to you, and you can take pride in. It doesn't matter what the hell car it is as long as you like it.

what if you like the paint all worn, head apolstry bubbling/hanging down, donut wheel dints and dings look? :icon16: :lol:

Then I have a "great" truck I would love to sell you.

i cant believe theres another MG guy on here ... I used to have one till i got run into a ditch ... damn that thing was slow but it was completly stock other than the exhaust system we made for it which consisted of 2 cherry bombs and bigger piping than stock

come to think of it the civic aint much faster and if the mg was modded the civic would be done

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid43/p0658823c99dcb422cf233dd68d2d3402/fce835f2.jpg

lol, i would have a great truck i could.... um .... sell myself :sunglasse

what if you like the paint all worn, head apolstry bubbling/hanging down, donut wheel dints and dings look?
lol. But seriously though if thats the look someone likes better then anything else, then I say work with that.

For me, I refuse to drive a crappy-looking car. I understand the sleeper thing, but it's not for me at all.

Amen Self!!!

I just couldn't bring myself to toss thousands of dollars into a shitty looking car. Even if you DID manage to make it into some superfast destroyer of small, puny, unsuspecting Civics... It doesn't change the fact that your car looks like shit.

If you roll up in this real nice looking car with a great (painted=great for all you rice who just couldnt WAIT to put that body kit on) body kit and tint and a nice low non-shopping-cart spoiler, etc. and this kickass sounding engine (with this funny hissing when you rev it up...?) You're going to be intimidating as well as fast and that's what we call respect.
Half the time even if a crappy car does smoke the flaming bejesus out of you, you're just kind of embarassed, a little amazed and you can't believe all the money someone would throw into that thing with the rust all over the sides. There's no real respect there.

But hey that's just me. Still love the sleepers but I couldn't handle not being able to walk into the parking lot and see your car all nice and sleep lookin.

1st of all my steelies are cleaner than most peoples rims*shiny and no i didnt paint them*

my car is very clean for how old is it, it looks stock besides clear corners, black emblems and black bumper lights, you can still look nice and be a sleeper and my "stockies" look better than the cracked hubcaps did

being a sleeper doesent mean you have to look bad and why wouldent a rusted sleeper get respect....why do people hook up their cars in the 1st place? most to be fast correct?

Originally posted by Melt
i cant believe theres another MG guy on here ... I used to have one till i got run into a ditch ... damn that thing was slow but it was completly stock other than the exhaust system we made for it which consisted of 2 cherry bombs and bigger piping than stock

come to think of it the civic aint much faster and if the mg was modded the civic would be done

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid43/p0658823c99dcb422cf233dd68d2d3402/fce835f2.jpg

Another MG guy? I'm THE MG guy! :icesangel: But yours looked great. Sorry to hear about the ditch, though. If you'd got the chance, you would've learned why I'm sticking with Layla rather than looking for something modern.

They aren't the fastest things in a straight line. That's for certain (unless you've got the Rover V-8 under the bonnet. :bigthumb: ) But they'll certainly trounce newer machinery in their same displacement class with the right modifications. Stock, they've only got around 130bhp. But turn it up a bit and there's 240 streetable NA ponies waiting in that OHV 1800cc four.

oops ... bow to THE mg guy .:icon16: hehe anyways nah i had the 4 banger ... and the engine bay was really really dirty.

there is an MG specific shop here in Napa CA and some guy there had a MGB convertible that he put a v8 into ... dunno the exact specs on it though.

Its kinda funny how my life has worked so far ... back when I had the MG i wasnt really into cars but my dad was and he did a lot of the things to it and I was pretty disinterested, and now that I have the civic I wanna do stuff to it and hes like shieet where were you when we were working on the MG ... i kinda miss it though, but im 6' 6" and was havin trouble fittin in it anyways.

The funny thing about the MG shop here though was they sucked at tuning the dual carbs ... my dads friend who was a domestic guy could do a better job while he was drunk (and often did)

anyways, I had the car from december 99 (before I had my lisence) and then crashed november of 2001 ... then it sat in my driveway till about June or July of 02 at which point the guy we bought it from who is a good friend of my dads decided to buy it back from us and fix it up for his daughter ... cause it used to be his wives car and it has a lot of sentimental value to them.

Best thing about that car was it didnt have to smog ... damn I just got my renual papers for the civic in the mail .. so I gotta put the intake back to stock (no carb ID) and take it in soon