Do you guys regret spending a lot of money building your setup? I see a lot of cars for sell that have tons invested on it and they are getting back a fraction of the cost. I'm thinking about building my engine, but I'm the type that just wants to do it one time. This would include building the engine, sheptrans(evo 8 3rd+4th), and new clutch. The transfer case has already been done. I might even get rid of the red and get a 35r turbo. This so far is going to cost over 10,000 bucks... This would mean I just dropped over 10,000 which is over half the price of what the car is worth.
I do enjoy my evo and would like to push more power, but I'm not since I have a stock block, so I'm thinking in my head "Do you really want to spend all that money?"

What opinions do you guys have?

 

i would say do it if only ur in the quest for more power...if ur content with stock/stock ish power then i would say its not worth it, but for those boost junkies myself included then yea its worth it...im on a red same as u n my engine for the most part is rated up to 750-800 crank hp...daily driver on 91 octane with mild cams will be nowhere near that amount of power...but i plan to go race gas tune map switch setup down the road....how much u got into yours???

 

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if your a TRUE again TRUE enthuisest you build the motor etc to make your evo the best possible car thats a true tuner in my book. Again its just money you will make more of it in two weeks. Money is ment to be spent on something its ok to keep cost low just dont hate on others that go all out. One really is suppose to build it use it then discard it and start another project thats what most do. Have to move on sometime hints why you see some built cars for sale. You should know its a car it does not increase in value you will never get what you put into it back even if it was all stock. another good thing about building the motor is all brand new stuff get that worn crap out of there esp if you bought it used. from that point on anything you do to the car is done by you not prior abuse

 

That's why calling modding an "investment" is misleading when a car is most case a depreciation item. Only reason to mod is for pure enjoyment factor. In the end you'll be lucky to half of what you spend. If you can accept that, go for it.

 

You will not know the answer to this until you go through a couple of builds yourself. Built cars are sometimes not fun for the following reasons:

1- they could be temperamental.
2- cannot be easily driven daily anymore.
3- have taxing clutches or expensive ones that are made for strip use more than daily driveability.
4- You might have to do logs every once in a while to make sure all is good, and look at the gauges constantly to check oil pressure, temps, boost..etc. You will get paranoid after a while because you threw 20k plus on it and you do not want to lose 50% of it cause of a simple mistake.
5- you spent soo much money that you really dont feel like spending an extra 1k on something broke that you already built.
6-With big cams and large diameter exhaust these cars become very loud and you will get complaints from neighbors and others on the street. Really not worth it when all what you wanted to do is go to the gas station. You ill notice that you cant start your car around 10pm or early in the morning when it might be the only time you can take it for a spin. Thats if you are considerate..
7- You get some weird problem or unusual ticking from the engine that you decide to park the car in your garage to collect dust until you have it looked at by your favorite tuner who is 200+miles away and you have to tow your car since you do not want to break more things.
8- The car sits in the garage for too long that you cannot justify all the money locked into it. You would be thinking that you should sell it and spend the money on something beneficial or at least you can use.


These reasons let you know why people sell their fully built cars after 1k miles from driving them. Some people can drive them more miles..they just can tolerate abuse more I guess

I am not saying that you will not have fun at all with a fully built Evo..no...just not as frequently as you might think.


Bottom line is: The closer to stock the car is the more fun you will have with it. You can have way more fun with a bolt on car than you do with a fully built one. IF you want a built car BUY IT ALREADY DONE BY A REPUTABLE SHOP. You will never spend the same amount of money that the original owner spent even if it had problems.

If your car is your only means of transportation and you want to build it to be very fast.......



Good luck with your build

 

I regret it somewhat. I just had a 2.4 built from Slowboy Racing, spent just about all of my money i worked over the summer for, and in less than 200 miles, it already spun a bearing, with veryVERY easy driving. So maybe not so much having the thing built, as much as choosing the right company to build it. They should cover the motor, as it is supposedly guaranteed, but only time will tell. It can be very disappointing, and very stressful. But, if you love your car, and love having more and more power, then it is a must. Just my .02

 

I would suggest a built 2.0
There are plenty fast 2.0 engines. Money comes and goes, but you will need to put the value on the fun you'll have with more power. The money will be lost either way. Not getting spent money back, but as mentioned prior, money comes and goes. I know of a few fully built guys that drive very often. 272's, exedy twin, gt35rish turbos. Reliability of the engine is in the build quality and tune.
Although torque breaks stuff, this is just part of it.
Maintenance also becomes more important. There is a balance of performance and comfort. Youre just moving the ballast towards performance more, so comfort will likely decrease, ie cold starts, cammy idle.

 

What I've found through the years is that you should only really put the amount of money/time into the car that you expect to get out of it with use/grins on your face.

Having a built 500whp car that you only drive to work and the in-laws house doesn't make sense. However, if you're tracking the car and need a durable and powerful engine, then it makes sense.

Bottom line is that you need to evaluate what it is that you're using the car for. If you want a "fast" street car...300-350whp is more than sufficient and can be achieved with relatively little money/modification.

 

Have goals, do in-depth research, and plan things out! Also, dont cheap out of anything, and you wont have to pay twice for it.

 

Nope. Did my research for what i wanted and stuck with it. I think the key is to find a point where you are happy with your mods and call it good.

 

Yah just know where to stop I guess. I would say settle on a dollar amount more than a power level, because that will just end up with an empty wallet.

 

I make over 400 on pump gas with a conservative tune using VDR on evo-m mode with an FP RED. I guess I'm satisfied with that. I drive to work mostly. I guess I'll just stop modding here. I don't want to spend any more money other than maintenance now that I think about it. I think it would be a never ending cycle. With more power, it would be more money on maintenance (clutches, axles, etc). Sometimes I do wish I had a built block with a 35r turbo though...

 

For your cost estimate of 10k lets add about 30k more and then you'll be closer to the reality of cost of this project. I've spent 30k and I'm still not done yet.

 

All depends on you my friend. Got to ask yourself, what are your short & long term goals are with the car? Whether you plan to keep your Evo for a brief or long period of time? Are you planning to DD or use it for recreational purpose (Show, Track (drag, auto-x, etc)).

One of the key factors you should think about is your current situation. Can you afford this? Or should the money be better spent on paying off your debt? Or do you have a family which requires the funds, etc.

If you got the cash and in no serious needs to save/invest, then why not. Only live twice so might as well enjoy it now or never.

~Chug

 

basically if you're rich and got nothing to lose, try it. if ur not, and its your only car and daily driver, dont risk it. it all comes down to $.

the question is, what is the limit to where you have decent power without risking having downtime of your daily driver?