Alright guys, I know there is a questions and "how-to" forums on this site (and I did read through 'em) but I wanted to start a thread that was a bit more focused on my cars seeing as to how new to all this I am.

Alright, here's how it is, I'm 17 years old, making a steady $600/month, and have on hand $1500. I want to improve the aesthetics and performance of my car, a 2004 Lancer Ralliart. While all these factors may point towards, well, optimistic conclusions, theres one thing that's really in my way; I'm a complete noob at cars. Yep, cars. Transmissions, Drivetrains, etc, are all words to me. I've tried to learn. I've gone to countless websites, read countless articles, played countless video games; but i have accomplished nothing.

Thats why I started this thread. For my specific general questions on my Lancer. If you were bored enough to read through my introduction here come the questions I have on hand, some are relatively easy and some are relatively, err, complicated?

-I want to get...
------Eyebrows (1. where can i buy good quality ones/whats a good price on em?)
------An Evo Spoiler (2. where can i get a good quality one/whats a good price?)
------Sharkfins (3. are they worth it? where can i get em?)
------A good body kit (4. where/how much)
------Rims (5. whats a good price for a decently unique set?)

General questions on this....

6. Will an evo 8 spoiler have the same holes as the ralliart? or would i have to drill/go somehwere to get it installed?

7. If i buy a body kit online, how do i get it (in what form? a box? do i pick it up somewhere?)

8. Once i have the body kit, do i install it myself or take it to get it done? does getting it done cost much money? how much?

9. I've heard that when it comes to paintjobs you get what you pay for. Whats a price for a really really good paint job, a regular paint job that regular people cant tell the difference to, and a plain out crappy job? (Whats the price of a good, regular, bad paintjob)

Performance questions (I'm not very good at the technical aspects to cars so these questiosn may be very general)

10. I got the stock Ralliart which means it came with everything the factory put on it. What are some relatively cheap (less than $500) parts that i can install that will significantly increase the performance (cost/performance++ ratio)

11. Should i increase the width of my tires or is the standard 16" good? (for performance and aesthetics considered.

12. what do you think i should do with the car, or generally with myself and my poor knowledge of the car.

This question is more of a personal question to you guys because i want to see what more veteran car entrepeneurs see as a priority with their ralliarts
13.What have YOU done with YOUR ralliart that you are very content with and know that it was worth the price?


Of course none of you have to answer all the quetions, any question that you see that you wish to answer is fine. Again, I'm a noob at this so anything that you say will help me.

Thanks guys

 

Hi and welcome to the forums! I was 17 when I got my 2004 Ralliart, now I'm 21! (: I'm hella bored, so I will answer as many questions as I can! You will learn because I was once where you are now, but over these few years, I gained so much knowledge, mainly from this forum. I still don't know a whole lot, but there are some ralliart gurus on this forum. One great website you want to check out is http://www.roadracemotorsports.com

-I want to get...
------Eyebrows (1. where can i buy good quality ones/whats a good price on em?) you can get them from the roadracemotorsports website, but I personally dont like the look of them.

------An Evo Spoiler (2. where can i get a good quality one/whats a good price?) Best way to get this is probably off of someone who took it off of their evo, unless you're willing to get a non-carbon fiber one, but buying the authentic one off of someone who took it off their evo can go for $200-$400

------Sharkfins (3. are they worth it? where can i get em?) They look nice, I personally like them, but also need be aware of some haters becuz putting them on a Ralliart, some evo guys hate on it but you can get good ones from rexpeed.net

------A good body kit (4. where/how much) you can check out roadracemotorsports.com, also body-kit.com
------Rims (5. whats a good price for a decently unique set?) I personally like rotas and you have a lot of options with this brand. they're basically high quality knock off rims for cheap, check out http://www.wheeldude.com

General questions on this....

6. Will an evo 8 spoiler have the same holes as the ralliart? or would i have to drill/go somehwere to get it installed? I believe only the back holes will fit, a new second hole on each side needs to be drilled in.

7. If i buy a body kit online, how do i get it (in what form? a box? do i pick it up somewhere?) it should get shipped to you, probably in a box, dropped off by UPS or fedex

8. Once i have the body kit, do i install it myself or take it to get it done? does getting it done cost much money? how much? Chances are, you need to get the kit painted. Another thing to keep in mind that the body kit may not have proper fitment, so professionally installation is recommended (in my opinion)

9. I've heard that when it comes to paintjobs you get what you pay for. Whats a price for a really really good paint job, a regular paint job that regular people cant tell the difference to, and a plain out crappy job? (Whats the price of a good, regular, bad paintjob) Not sure about this one.

Performance questions (I'm not very good at the technical aspects to cars so these questiosn may be very general)

10. I got the stock Ralliart which means it came with everything the factory put on it. What are some relatively cheap (less than $500) parts that i can install that will significantly increase the performance (cost/performance++ ratio) A good thing to start off with is a cold air intake (preferably Injen brand) and this is something you can install yourself. Another good mod is the Under Drive Pulley (UDP) that replaces the heavy stock pulley. Both are very affordable and the power difference is very noticable.

11. Should i increase the width of my tires or is the standard 16" good? (for performance and aesthetics considered. The widest you should go is 7 inches, I think a good size for the RA is 17 x 7 or 17x7.5

12. what do you think i should do with the car, or generally with myself and my poor knowledge of the car. What I personally did to my car was some cosmetic parts because I didn't really like the look of the stock Ralliart. I chose a theme for my car, which is Red and Black. For my interior I slowly converted it to an evo interior because it looks a little better than the RA (I switched steering wheel, shift knob and carbon fiber ebrake handle)

This question is more of a personal question to you guys because i want to see what more veteran car entrepeneurs see as a priority with their ralliarts

13.What have YOU done with YOUR ralliart that you are very content with and know that it was worth the price?


Of course none of you have to answer all the quetions, any question that you see that you wish to answer is fine. Again, I'm a noob at this so anything that you say will help me.

Thanks guys

 

thank you very much. If there are any other takers on the questions I'd like to get other points of views on it too. Its a hefty amount of money so I want to be well informed before I commit to anything.

Another question; is this (http://www.andysautosport.com, more specifically http://www.andysautosport.com/mitsub...2_2006_lancer/) website reliable? Does it have good quality items?

 

NorCal has already answered very well much of the questions, I'm just going to add my 2c.

I don't recall reading that you own a manual or an automatic, but here are 2 great mods for manuals :

I would get the SpeedSource underhood & base bushings kits. Both kits will cost you about 65USD shipped to you and they enhance the shifting feeling. The shifter is stiffer and crisper. Note that I have the stock shifter, I'm don't have a short-shift.

The RRM SS lower clutchline is also a good idea if you would like to by-pass that slave modulator on your clutch. It will give you a more direct feeling with the clutch.


I currently own the UDP and the Injen CAI and they are great. One thing I like about the Injen is that you can take it back to SRI instead of CAI. I never did this, but if I ever want to I can. The Fujita is can also do this.

If you want to buy new mags, try to get lightweighted mags. Our mags are ~23lbs each so it's pretty heavy. Most 17 inches mags I've seen are around 18lbs. I've seen 14.5lbs for 16 inches. If you can free up some weight there, your engine will have less trouble spinning your wheels and you will free some hp at the wheels.

Another point, I always stress this point, if you wanna go faster, upgrade your brakes. Start with the brake pads and go with rotors if needed. Our stock rotors are pretty good so don't worry about them. I personnaly have EBC Green Stuff on front and OEM brake pads on back. Very very good, it increased the braking performances. Most of our braking is done on front. I also have Brembo plain rotors on front which increased a bit the braking performances. But brake pads did the biggest improvement.

You can also improve your handling and look by installing Tein S-Tech springs. Improve your handling with the rear Progress Sway-bar, which is ticker than our OEM. Or the lower tie-bar will help the understeer.

One another thing that I've learned the hard way, don't go cheap on tires. If you have cheap tires, it doesn't matter if you have the best brakes, a turbo or the best handling parts. I think a lot of people will agree with me that having good tires is a must.

 

I learned alot by playing gran turismo my entire childhood. if it wasnt for that game i wouldnt have my ralliart. go play that game, you'll learn alot.

 

That's actually true. This is how I learned camber and all that stuff !

(Can't wait for the 5th to come out...lol)

 

forza 2? no one? lol

 

Alright, how much is professional installation for a body kit? And as for paint I think the black lancer was something like "greyhound black?." Generally however, I'm just asking how much it would cost to get a whole body kit painted and installed (front bumper, rear bumper, should i get side skirts too?).

Whats the price of a very good, a decent, and a poor paintjob?

Thanks loads guys

Edit: Ralliart_on_LSD, whered you buy your hood and for how much? I just saw it on youtube and i thought it looks amazing.

 

Eh. Forza 2 is more arcade than simulator. Not a really that realistic imho.
More like NFS with real tracks. GT's handling is far less forgiving and realistic.

To the OP. Quite honestly stay away from a body kit. Unless it is urethane it will chip, crack easily and pretty much look like hell after a year or two. Big waste of money. Take a look at maybe a different front lip maybe. RRM or Accolade. The RA's already comes with a nice lip kit over a ES.

Stick with 16's too. They will be lighter than any rim of the same style in a 17".
Less rotational mass the better. Also go for SS brake lines, as they will add firmness to brake pedal feel. Go with slightly aggressive semi metallic pads as stated above.
Get some good, sticky tires(they will be cheaper in a 16 as well.)
Smaller, lighter size with a better compound>wider, heavier with all seasons.

A "good" paint job will cost over 5k.

I see no reason to lower a RA until the springs are shot. They handle amazing(for a FF with an open diff) in stock form.

I want eyelids too.

 

A full paint job will cost you a lot. If you want your car another "OEM" color, sell your car and find another one with the color you want. Otherwise, you'll have to take out the engine from the engine bay to paint...$$$$

As for all seasons tires, I love my Toyo Proxes 4. I had the stock Eagle RSA and the Khumo SPT. In fact, I bought the SPTs this winter and put them for 3 months on the car (April, May and June). I hated this tire. Went back to the shop and bought myself Proxes 4. One of the best choice I've made for my car.

 

got the hood from RRM. love it. very light weight and 2 functional air dams to let hot air out and cold air in. HIGHLY recommend this for turbo'd cars. and looks better upclose than it does on a 45 dollar camera on youtube lol.

 

i got my eyelids from ebay and i just painted them myself, i love the eyelid look on my car because from a distance you cant even tell my car has eyelids because the paint on them matches my car, they are great quality too

 

Welcome aboard. Hope you enjoy the RA as we all have. LSDs car is fast for sure. There is a bunch of good guys and gals that can answer your questions. Again Welcome aboard and enjoy.

 

new question, do Evo IX trunks fit a '04 ralliart?

 

No, unfortunately an Evo trunk won't fit on the Ralliart.