Car modification philosophy

[M1474]

then turn just one more hour.

Dann

Ain't nobody got time for that!

[NitroDann]

...

You.... sonofabish



Dann

[botisto]

Just came across this thread procrastinating my exam study but I have to add how much I agree with the OP, and pretty much all the other inputs here as well. And now I've managed to add my own little rant of my different experience... I'm on my third MX-5, each one has been a daily as I'm only young, and each one got older and cheaper as I wanted more of that special trait of the original MX-5s and more money to make it more fun and better. I completely stopped caring how they look. I've had my current 89 for almost 2 years and It's always had a peeling paint job and I've managed to ruin a few panels. In my ownership though I turned it into the best driving machine I could imagine, de powered the steering, no aircon or speakers, tuned coilovers and sways, 6uls, full NA8 upgrade including 1.8 and brakes etc, torsion with shorter ratios, more steering lock, rollbars, a bit of weight stripping etc etc.

Going through this process and tracking this car taught me everything I know about driving, and I'm sure I'll always be incredibly grateful to it. I also took the car to archerfield drift practice every Thursday I could as it was so hard to get a stock 1.8 or any mx5 for that matter sideways and I wanted to see what I could learn from it. After the first few runs everyone proclaimed that it would never work with such little power. I never touched the engine and it might have taken a year or so but last time I went the car was at full lock every turn and I was able to drive it absolutely flat out, destroying 4 tyres in 3 hours and ruining the egos of some worked SS VEs.

I've gotten to a stage however where I feel there isn't a whole lot more the car can teach me. I'm on a uni student budget so I can't afford to book track days every month to lower my times or go through a few tyres a week. And to be honest I'm kind of over that as a hobby, car's as a hobby seem the most needlessly expensive thing unfortunately haha. The modifications I made to the car gave it incredible handling and balance, but the more that improved, the more the original weaknesses of the car were highlighted. The chassis was always a bit floppy and the driveline leaves a bit to be desired. Yes they can both be improved, but only to the detriment of something else. I love thrashing my car as much as possible and I don't want to mess with the reliability, nor do I want to spend a year of my time and money re building the whole thing to make it work. Making a car powerful when it was never designed for it can be a very flawed concept in the scheme of things. As a pure track car for someone with money and time it could be great, but as I'm progressing with my study of mechanical engineering I'm being pushed further away from the idea of modifying cars. Driving my mx as a daily has highlighted how every change I've made has ruined it in some other sense. I tried my best to take everything into account and to engineer each mod the best I could, but it didn't matter, there are so many factors you can't change, the car wasn't engineered to have the suspension I gave it and even stiffening the chassis will just create stress points and weak areas short of rebuilding the whole geometry. 99% of the modified cars I see on the roads around here just look like they're completely ruined it...

The point I'm getting to is as I'm maturing I'm losing the passion I had for cars and modifying them to the extent I did. Everything I've done is just taking it away from what the designer intended and ruining another aspect. Over the last month I've been taking my car back to stock, and turning my efforts into restoring everything I can to make this a clean MX5 in great condition. It now has stock suspension and daisy's with some stiff sways. On the road the car is so much more fun and comfortable than its ever been, the massive side walled tyres flatten out bumps and somehow give more precise and better feedback and more linear predictable steering. Not to mention how much fun useless tyres are...

I intend to sell this car when I can and buy a MK6 Golf GTI, and leave it stock... It seems a shame to throw away RWD and all that unique character and spirit of an mx5 but when I don't spend my days and nights thinking about cars none of that seems necessary to enjoy them. A golf is completely bland compared to an mx, but driving one I had a great time when I didn't take it too seriously and simply enjoyed it for what it was, an amazing piece of engineering. Having a car that can take all my stuff, cruise around comfortably so I can go on road trips with the misses, get just as good fuel economy and actually protect me in a crash while looking great and offing plenty of fun when your in the mood just seems to make more sense. I don't want to be driving dangerously on the road or spending all my money going to tracks, or my night fixing things and that's all my mx5 encourages haha. My mate's just picked up kite surfing as a hobby rather then modifying his car, and that seems to offer a lot more fun and a better lifestyle for less money.

I don't doubt I'll own other cars like the mx5 throughout my lifetime, but I think other things in life are much more important. And if I want a serious car I'll wait until I can afford a serious car, such as a 911. If I ever had the spare time and money I'm sure I would still really enjoy building a track car from scratch, and I can see the appeal of that when your in the right circumstances for it. I never thought my priorities would change like this though, I always just wanted more out of my mx and never even considered the trade offs. And now somehow I'm really keen for a golf...

[NB98]

I think most of us go through this type of thing. I have found memories in the 90's (in my 20's at the time) driving around in one of my two Swift GTi's both were lowered and loud. In those days I used to drive everywhere, clocking up 35,000klms one year, since then I have owned other modified cars. Then we purchased our first home then it was time to have a family and all your priorities change, money spent on wheels, suspension and other mods go to things that are now more important.

I always promised my self that one day I would buy a MX5, but would only buy one that a would drive when I wanted to not when I had to. Recently I did just that immediately I heard cries of "Midlife crisis" and being in my Forties maybe it is, but hey who cares I'm back where I want to be enjoying driving again. I doubt I will ever do 35,000klm a year in it nor do I have any intention of modifying it but I can guarantee every klm I do I'm enjoying (I also have a rule if its out the roofs down).

I think the point I'm trying to make is just because you lose the need to modify your car doesn't mean you lose the ability to enjoy your car. And enjoying your car is what its all about I think, well it is for me anyway.


Thanks for reading
Deano

[Apu]

Sounds exactly like my story Deano!

I remember the Swift GTis - you must have read about Jamie Bezzina's purple turbo monster too!

[OurCognitiveSurplus]

I find it strange that there's really three views in this thread:

1. Stock is awesome. The factory knew what it was doing. I like my driving experiance low-fuss and easy.
2. I've modded my car as a compromise between daily and track. This works for me.
3. I think it's impossible to have a daily and track in one version, so I had to get two.

I fall in type-. But there's a clear inconsistancy between attitude 2 and 3. Is it just that type-3 people want more from their track car than type-2 people?

[Mr nanotech]

I haven't replied here for a while so maybe I should further explain myself and what I have/am doing.

I own a 1990 na6 mx5 which is in the process of being turbocharged. I also own a 1991 Honda Civic sedan (ed) which is bone stock and will never be modified, with the exception of aesthetics (a nice steering wheel or basic wheels as it has hubcaps). Since owning a daily driving car, It has made me appreciate the mx5 a lot more and has given me the opportunity to explore new ways of enjoying it (turbocharger) which I could not do before. The reason I say I could not do, is because there would be too many compromises having my day to day car boosted.
Since it already had wide grippy tyres and coilovers while I was daily driving it, it really destroyed the fun factory. Driving a fun car in a mundane day to day fashion almost makes you forget that it was a 'fun' car in the first place. This is the reason I bought the Honda. It meant I could drive the mx5 on my terms when I wanted to. Suddenly the fun was there again.

I had always had a passion for aesthetic mods though, check my build thread to see all the different aero crap and wheels I've owned over the years... But now that my car has been off the road as a combination of taking a break from cars and later installing a supercharger/tuning, I was able to clear my head. My priorities changed with time and I gained a lot more focus on what I wanted. What I personally feel I want.
I remembered all the fun drives I've been on with friends and all the memories the car gave me. I realised none of them were working on the car, they were all mountain driving. So that's what the car is working towards. I've stripped off most of the external mods and even returned the headlights to standard.The car is back to one colour and the supercharger is gone in favor of a much quieter turbo system. I want the car to be quiet, zippy and not to draw attention. Because at the end of the day I'm the driver and I can't appreciate a car if I'm paranoid of drawing attention.
I feel as though I'm finished with exterior mods now and after the turbo is in, I'll be done with power. Last it's replacing broken interior pieces. When that stuff is all over and done with I don't want to spend any more money on the car aside from washing it. I'd rather my time spent with it 100% on the road behind the wheel enjoying the scenery and cool mountain air. Enjoying the coast. And most of all exploring.
It's not that I'm against car modification, but I'm over car modification without purpose or a goal. There needs to be a point where you can say "it's done".

[NB98]

Sounds exactly like my story Deano!

I remember the Swift GTis - you must have read about Jamie Bezzina's purple turbo monster too!

Yep Jamie's ITSMAD GTi was the car that started it all for me (and many others) he came on some GTi club runs, great guy awesome car. Good thing is it still exists, although Jamie no longer owns it.

[Lokiel]

I find it strange that there's really three views in this thread:

1. Stock is awesome. The factory knew what it was doing. I like my driving experiance low-fuss and easy.
2. I've modded my car as a compromise between daily and track. This works for me.
3. I think it's impossible to have a daily and track in one version, so I had to get two.

I fall in type-. But there's a clear inconsistancy between attitude 2 and 3. Is it just that type-3 people want more from their track car than type-2 people?

I don't find these views strange, everybody's different but you also forgot another view:

4. The stanced/hard-parkin' crowd - I don't care if I totally screw up the car's driveability, as long as it impresses "The Boyz".

Seriously though, I fall into your category 2 but would prefer to be a category 3 person. That's just not practical though since then I'd need 3 cars and a trailer (my DD MX5, the track MX5 and a tow car for the track car).

[Jeo]

I think lots of people start in the second category but eventually it becomes too much of a compromise. Unless you're building to a lightly modified class, you'll be tempted to further push the care one way or the other. No matter how you weigh it up, it's never going to be the best at both things at the same time. A good job at both is certainly achievable, but a jack-of-all-trades will always be a master of none.

[NitroDann]

It can be both a serious track car and a street car, but you will need to drive like a brand new p plater everywhere on the street to enjoy the car, it won't be a nice experience granny shifting to the shops.

Dann

[Mr nanotech]

It can be both a serious track car and a street car, but you will need to drive like a brand new p plater everywhere on the street to enjoy the car, it won't be a nice experience granny shifting to the shops.

Dann

That's why you invest in a daily and drive that to the shops. I love having a dedicated fun car and a dedicated 'everything-else-mobile'.

Multiple cars is the only way to get the 'best of both' worlds.

[NitroDann]

I chose to drive like I stole it everywhere, didn't last forever.

Dann

[speed freak]

Depending on what sort of track work your into but IMO you can easily have a daily driver that doubles as a track toy... mine does. Im only interested in sprints and club track days though, plus I go out more for the fun factor and the fact its legal so no need to be looking for the flashing lights in the rear view mirror when your nearing 7000 rpm in 4th ;)

I mean if I were chasing very very fast lap times or wanting to be super competitive sure the car would probably suffer more as in wear out quicker, faster = more power and grip and experience etc. So a second car for the track might be the better option there but for sprint/club days out at the track having the one car that doubles as both daily driver and track toy is very easy.

Just to add, yes the MX5 is extremely good right from the showroom but doing some mods here and there doesn't ruin the car again IMO like some are suggesting.

Sure Iv only got basic mods at the moment, actually probably only one real modification, my coilovers, Im using BC BR racing, my factory shocks were stuffed so I though they need replacing so why not upgrade? Sure the coilovers are firm for some roads but 99% of the time they ride much better and are a lot smoother then the old suspension. Then Iv just got braided brake lines and a oil filter relocation kit to make the oil changes easier.

Back to the original question though, Im only 22 and even in the few years Iv been driving Iv changed my ways and needs/wants of modifying. I always wanted the CAI and full exhaust for the sound (and power increase ) and it had to have some nice wheels, lowered, big stereo, maybe a few aero things, never been into bodykits though, or chrome wheels, or chrome anything for that matter.

Now though Id rather have the more 'basic' and subtle mods. Lower it slightly for the looks and better handling but keep at reasonable and legal height, some nice wheels but nothing that draws too much attention, and leave the engine and exhaust stock. Sure I like the sound they both give but seriously the gains are not worth the big $$ outlay. All you really gain is some noise and noise now for a daily driver gets drony and a bit annoying. Clean, simple and subtle is what I like. You get some people who buy anything and everything when modifying and over half either makes the car look sh*t or its just really not needed and go overboard. In the end though its their car and their money but a couple of simple mods/upgrades/improvements to any car is no bad thing, nice set of wheels and done.

[Doug Danger]

I think this is a great thread. Locked out of my house, I have some time to share my opinion on this matter.

I'm 21, I've had a 180sx, S14 200sx, an NA6, another NA6 (current car), NB8B and a Daihatsu Applause (first car).

I've poured so much money into cars, like many and have come to the conclusion that I don't want to spend the rest of my life working for my cars. At 19, I wasn't saving a cent and blew 99% of my money on my 180sx. From upgrading the turbo to aesthetics such as wheels, aero and constantly adjusting the ride height, I hardly ever drove the car. It was always being tinkered with. Similar story with the 200sx and with the p plater laws I was ALWAYS with the fear of the blue and red lights in the rear view.

My first car, the Daihatsu was one of the ugliest, slowest, and loudest cars I've ever owned. Straight piped (literally a straight pipe from headers back), stock suspension, no interior linings, no rear seats, steelies, and POS tyres. My wannabe race car. I always wanted faster, cooler and was jealous when I saw another red p plater drive past in they're s200 or tricked out Silvia.
Now, all this being said I spent the most time in this car out of all of them actually driving it. Revving the sh*t out of it and constantly developing my technique on numerous mountain roads, the local stomping ground with friends, the kew blvd with late night timed runs (please don't sue) and creating memories. Not caring if it was dinged or how others perceived me, just enjoying it.

I guess like you dude, I'm yearning for those raw driving experiences once again (maybe not so much the timed street runs). After a recent engine failure on the na6 I had to really contain my self not to go down the power/turbo path once again, but now that I haven't I'm glad. I don't want to spend my time and money trying to retain its reliability and would much rather be thrashing it around mountain bends and spending my money instead on fuel!
I may get smashed by some dude in their granny's old falcon in a straight line, but now I know I'm happy with where I'm at.

Just my 2c.