My advice would be if you want to avoid the "fast and the furious" car, start doing actual mods. Sure your trying to make your car "look good" and such, but really, its basically gonna end up being an ES with a body kit and a wing. We have like 100 people on this site that are exactly the same, and we all know what we'd call a honda if all it had was a body kit (for comparison think of something along the lines of a skyline, civic type R, integra, etc. kit) and a wing (hint" its a food staple in a large portion of the world). If you want to avoid being called a "wanna be", get some real power under the hood, especially if your getting an evo 7 bumper.

 

Note, I'm not trying to be mean, but I value performance over looks, and as such I'm not into the whole body kit thing.

 

yeah you know what man. you do raise a very good point. If i keep making my car LOOK fast and it isn't - - ppl will laugh at me on the freeway or the streets when they ride next to me. [aka these little mustang bastards, etc]. so yeah, i just gotta get more money ya know? i wanna start by doing an intake, but cold airs don't fit in an Auto -ES =( shame...would u suggest anything else? [headers..?]

 

I got a manual and I went with a SRI simply because install was easier, it was cheaper, it's better for throttle response (very important to me), it has no risk associated with it (I live in Canada and considering in winter we can get down to -35 celsius, its not CAI friendly), and the difference between it and a cold air is negligible, I'm talking like 1 or less HP, nothing noticeable. If you want a good set up, I'd go with the RRM SRI, RRM header, bored out throttle body, and an axle back exhaust system, thats what I have (minus the exhaust) and I'm very happy with it. Sure you can go cat-back, but you'll lose at the bottom end, which is something I didn't want. If I go turbo I'll upgrade, but thats a very big if. You might be able to get the RRM piggyback ECU as well, but if you have very variable weather, I'd advise against it, too many people have had problems with crappy idle and such when the weather changes. If you want to get into autocross and such, I'd suggest doing suspension mods, this car responds very well to simple modifications. So far I have the Progress sway bar, autocross perches and the RRM single tube strut bar and the car is quite nimble. Don't bother with just springs, go full out, get a set of tein, or NEX coilovers, depending on budget. I'm in the same boat as you, I have an ES, which although it doesn't come with as many bells and whistles (lip kit, black dash, etc.) its still a suitable platform to build off of, and with enough money, can give some very nice cars a run for their money.

 

well thanks man for all that. i'm definitely gonna think of gettin most of this stuff. turbo is definitely not something i'm gonna buy. i could use that $1500 for a down payment for an actual EVO. ya know? umm - but i actually painted my dash black. or close to it. i'll take pics, but yeah...i saw a website earlier about the K & N typhoon, and those are HELLA expensive, and it said it'd only give me 4.6 HP or something like that. is 4 HP really worth $250 or so? i mean seriously? i need something like a REALLLY noticeable difference, when i dont have to PUNCH the gas to get it to move. right now i ask myself " can i pass this truck and have enough time to get back over in my lane before that oncoming car gets to me?"...but i wanna be at the point where i dont even need to think about it - i know my car can do it!

 

car looks good, but like you said, just need some rims, and possibly some springs or coilovers

 

I feel you on that cuz, yadadamean?

looks good, although I do think you need something to compliment the rear lip and ss, but I understand where yer coming from. Can't do **** if you aint got the bread.......lol

I mean, everybody who has a lancer and reads these forums, prolly has things on their list that they want to buy for their cars, cause ****, I know I do, but if I ain't got the money, then its gonna have to wait. I'd like to go all out with performance mods myself, but seriously, yer talking hella bread, and that's **** that prolly most cats on these forums dont have. So I mean, if you take it one step at a time, it'll be all good, yadadamean? If you wanna go looks, then go wit looks, if you wanna do performance then go wit performance. its really all up to you how you spend yer money. Maybe a good mix of both, then thats the best of both, yadadamean?

 

teamemperor - thanks man. you feel me- finally someone one who does. i know my boy's dave and daren got my back too. yeah...some of these cats must work for the CIA....they can afford all this sh*t. But i devote my time in a little something called "budgeting" [try it sometime ppl]. lol. think about it guys. our cars, our lancers are hotter than your average 4-dr sedans out there. seriously. we make the accord look like miatas, we make 4dr-civics look like crap too. we've just got like the sporty look [stock]. and we really don't look like much of a sedan. anyways....yeah, the next mod i get. THE next mod is wheels/tires...then who knows from there.

 

Hope you don't mind - I hate links, so I changed them to IMG files...

 

Yeah an intake is an intake, its not worth spending 250$ on one. I spent like 100$ or whatever it is for the RRM one and people have even said that is too much. I've got the same problem as you, a turbo is simply too much for me to rationalize on a lancer, especially with the exchange rate and install price, I rather just use the money to buy a ralliart, SRT-4, WRX, or, if they ever come out here, an evo.

 

i have an aftermarket sh*tty ebay intake, w/ the filter and stuff, but the bracket broke while driving for a while - and my filter was bouncing around basically...so i just never got a hold of another alluminum bracket. i wanted something w/ cool piping. ya know? i think its cool for the engine to have all that Shiny piping and stuff. lol. but im thinkin of buying a CRX intake or civic intake from autozone for $35 and just taking it to a muffler shop and gettin them to cut/bend the piping to size so i can put my filter on and stuff. =) anyone done anything like this?

 

no need to make stuff complicated.. but yeah..and intake is an intake.. did my own.. not ghetto at all.. just use a maf adapter+ decent filter(aem,k&n,etc..) then ur set..same function if u ask me.. and yeah...nice rims..

 

they're not rims. =P they're actually the plastic wheel covers painted black. umm - hmm, ive gotten into this whole painting frenzy lately. gotta paint everything. umm - problem w/ piping, is gotta anchor it someway so it wont be leanin downward or hanging from the throttle body