Dreams....

Funny things arent they? I've had a lot of them over my life. I love do things and I work hard so I want to play hard. Well, I think I gotta let one of my dreams die.

Ever since I was a little kid I have been transfixed with cars. It was muscle and dirt track cars until F&F shows me a new light, and I was immediately interested. I've been into imports since the movie and I've been into DSM's for easily four years, I remember looking at them sophomore year during lunch in the library.

I think you all know my goals and what I am workin with here.... I was shooting for 450-550 hp and <11.499 in the 1/4. Well, after I got those internals I got excited and was ready to build a monster. Then I got to looking at all this shit. I realized that its going to take an ass ton of money to make this dream come true. For me to decently put down 500 hp, thats going to take a lot of turbo, a lot of boost, a lot of tranny, a lot of fuel system, etc. Well, I am in college now and I can afford it but I cant afford it at the same time. I thought I could save a bunch of money by builing the engine/tranny myself but once I got the engine apart I realized what I am getting into.

The worst part of all this is I have to go behind my parents backs to do it. They know about the car and everything on it now, but the dont now my plans or the Eagle/Ross combo sitting in my closet. Bah, this is sooo tough. Because I want a car that will just tear ass, but its really hard trying to hide it from your parents. I think I gotta just put my dreams aside here. I am sure the ~300 hp I can squeeze out the big 16g will still scare the shit out of me and beat up just about anything back home, and thats what I am going to have to stay with.

Recently I have been doing a lot of self evaluation. I'm trying to be as honest and retain as much integrity as I can, and I just cant do that with my current plans.

My new plans are as follows: stock rebuild, staying on the big 16g til it blows, then an Evo III 16g, stock drivetrain, aftermarket clutch but not the fuckin 2900 I was planning on, and I think I am even going to just get a 190 to keep numbers low. The motor will be rebuilt by me still, but I think I am going to take a couple days off work this spring and go to my dad's buddies machine shop and have him watch over my shoulder to make sure it gets done right. I think I am going to go a little less hard core on it, make it more "streetable." AC and heater core are both still going, but I am going to keep the sound system and probably even put a little green into making it sound good. All of this will be happening over a longer period of time, IE rather than built to the teeth and ready to go by May 15th, I now just want it to run by June, then slowly mod it over the next few years.

It kinda sucks, but at the same time I feel a shit ton better now. Its still going to be literally around 4x the power I am used to and it still scared the hell out of me on stock intercooling, exhaust, tune, and 16 lbs of boost when I launched, I am sure the 300 or so will still get the job done. Homework time, thanks for reading my ramblings. :)

I know how you feel here. I have the same problems at times. Everything I get shipped to me usually gets sent to my girls house or my guys house down the block. Shit, I just had my lifters sent to my work. Everytime something comes in at home, they're always all down my ass about how much everything costs and that I better be saving... it sucks.

I feel the same here. We invest a lot of money into our cars, and for what? Just for some speed? I have a N/T that I've put too much money into getting it running and making faster. I look at it all the time and go Damn, that's an accomplishment. I can beat GSTs... I'm happy with that... or am I? I'm dropping nearly $700 for a full head and intake port. It's just for a little more speed. With all the money put in, I could buy something nice for myself, like a newer, lower mileage, faster car.

It all depends on your situation. Some people have money to throw away, others don't. I know its extremely hard to save and get what you want, especially in school. Shit, each semester is about $8,700 for me. Good thing I live at home. Sometimes we just need to put everything else on hold, and get our lives in order. Build up some cash and enjoy what we have... even if it is stock.

My Talon > Your Talon

:lol:


Just playin man... I know I shouldn't have gone so overboard on it too but I did. Oh well, I'll just be sure to enjoy my built car some for ya too. lol

My Talon > Your Talon

:lol:


Just playin man... I know I shouldn't have gone so overboard on it too but I did. Oh well, I'll just be sure to enjoy my built car some for ya too. lol

Man that is rough....

I feel you though man. Since my car is my daily driver I had to get it done in a hurry. But I wish I had the money and the time to just build everything the way I want it to be in the end. But I am really happy with my set up right now. It feels really fast, and all I need now is a front mount and injectors and I will be pretty much done with the engine. After not having my car for 4 months its like I am in love with my car all over again. :grinyes:

So I guess what I am trying to say is that you will be pretty happy with the car once it is running again especially if you are upgrading a bunch of stuff already.

I had the same problem. I got my first spyder end of sophomore year in college. I wanted to do all this stuff to it and had the money but not quite like i wanted. I ended up in an accident and replaced the car with a gst spyder. I was decently happy at first and was like this is fast it's still fun and it could wait till I was out of school and had a more stable in come.

I bought the new car and now it doesn't matter if the spyder is apart (cept when I want to drive it.). I can take my time, do it the right way, spend the amount I want.

The thing is you have to look at it as it's more then just a car. So dumping 10k into a beater sounds nuts to most people. But this is in reality a hobby. It's something you enjoy doing. Enjoy installing, enjoy driving. It's more then a car. I can't tell you how upset and crushed I was to not have mine for just a month or so after the accident. My whole family felt I just wasn't the same. You have way more attached to the car then you might think.

It's good to go with a realistic build plan and good luck to you!

The best car to have is a car you can enjoy. As long as the potential's still there, there's nothing to worry about :) I'm glad to see that you've realised your limits and you respect your parents as much to discontinue your current plans because of it. You won't believe the number of kids dropping out of school to work at entry level jobs just to buy a couple of things for their cars.

On the side note - I bought my FC without my parents knowing. My mom flipped on me when I brought it homw but she grew to accept it. My mom flipped on me a second time when I told her how much money it takes to run that thing :lol:

lol, I moved out... so Icould buy parts... now I have no money... lol, so what'd I do... have a baby and buy a BMW... lol

my Talon is less than $200 away from being back on the road !!! WTH :banghead:

Thanks for the support guys. It kinda hurts, but its what I gotta do. I have a new plan with some built in limiting factors to keep the cost down and reliabilty up (atleast compared to having 500+ I was aiming for).

-Stock rebuild - Stock shit is going to be plenty for what I need it. Obviously my cams are going in, but since I wont be revving to 9k+ any more I wont need the head done up hard core. I havet decided what to do with the Ross/Eagles and where 9:1 would be sweet, its hard to get a good tune with them.

-Big 16g/Evo III 16g - Yeah, they are on the small side and wont get much power, but it'll suffice. Like I said before, stock car with the Big 16g and 16lbs of boost scared me and my buddies shitless. Take both of them out and all the weight reduction and mods I have done and it'll be all the faster. Also, a 16g will allow me to stay internally gated so that cuts down on cost.

- 650's/190/stock FPR - Since I am staying lower on turbo, I wont need as much fuel. I think 550's work for an Evo III 16g, but I wouldnt mind the extra head room. They are a lot cheaper than the 1000's I was going to get, and going with a 190 I wont need to spend the extra $250 for a FPR and install kit. This is on thing I might change though, I may go 255, like 750's, and aftermarket FPR so I can run E85 again.

- Stock flywheel/2100 or Exedy stage 2/stock tranny and rest of drive train - As tits as light weight flywheels are, thats just another $150 I dont have to spend. Thats the one thing I am not sure on yet though, its entirely possible that I get one. I wont been needing a 2900 any more, and I looked last night at the 2100's. They are good to like 412 ft lbs so that will be plenty. I will still be getting the sprung 6 puck though. I may end up with the Exedy stage II, basically same clamping force so same torque capacity, plus its a sprung 3 puck. Its a little chatter prone though, and its kind of annoying. Stock trannies should be fine into the 12's which is pretty much all the farther I will make it. Thats a major cut back, now I dont have to scrounge fuckin like $1600 for a new tranny.

Thats pretty much all the changes. 3" exhaust, FMIC, and Link are still all in the plans. Its just I wont be putting all this shit on before it gets running again. Now its just the clutch, rebuild, an assortment of guages, link and FMIC before the run date which is also being bumped back so I can have time to save money and save for this car. I figure limiting myself to the 2100 and 190 would keep me from going over everywhere else. I want the guages and Link right away so I can keep an eye on it from the get go to make sure its in good shape from the first time it leaves the shop. Plus this way I can get the rest of the car done in a much more timely fashion. I have changed those plans a bit too. Rather than being a street driven race car/Viper molester, its going to be more of a street cruising car with occasional trips to the track.

Since my AC was fucked all up before, it still isnt going back in the car and seeing how its a summer only car I wont be putting the heater core back in, but I am going to be less hardcore about the weight. Since it is going to be a cruising car, I am going to get a some good speakers and shit for it, along with probably a 10" L7 for my listening pleasure. Its still going to get lowered, painted, tinted, racing seats w/ 4 pt harnesses but saving like 3 grand over the other plan will allow me to get this project done hopefully within the next 3 summers.

Anyway, it should still be a fun, throw-you-back-in-your-seat kind of car, just not a Loch Ness monster of a DSM.

good luck man!! our plans are so similar.. I can't wait for this summer!

My Talon > Your Talon

Hey Brian,

my Talon >>>>> your Talon

Dustin, glad to see you got some shit straightened out, you'll just have to let me know when you want that "Boeing" take-off effect, you can surely come for a ride in my car. :p

...you'll just have to let me know when you want that "Boeing" take-off effect, you can surely come for a ride in my car. :p


Can I?

Hey Brian,

my Talon >>>>> your Talon
I donno if I'd go that far with it. lol :p

Ha ha... well to me, 500 hp monster or not, mine will always be >>>>> all yours.

Can I?

If you drive up to ND.....:)

I donno if I'd go that far with it. lol :p

Oh really? We'll have to see about that....:D

Oh really? We'll have to see about that....:D
We shall. :thumbsup:

My dreams are simple. Get into the 11's on my 2g/evo316g, and that WILL happen this year...

My neon>awd...in a burnout contest. :lol:

we use gs-t's to do burnouts, dsm's got it covered ;)

How about donuts :)

Ha ha, how about them axis spins? Way cooler than FWD burnouts or donuts if you ask me. :lol:

How about donuts :)

AWD donuts > RWD donuts > FWD "reverse" donuts :lol:

AWD donuts > RWD donuts > FWD "reverse" donuts > no donuts :(

Mmmm... Dunkin Donuts...

haha were not getting into the word association thread again