So, here we go, I started off about a year ago with an 04 Lancer ES. This was to me a car of sheer necessity because at that time I had just rolled my previous car down a mountain and was in dire need of a car yesterday for school, work, etc.

Long story short, my options at the dealer were this Lancer and a 1998 Saturn SC or something. Not deciding to leave my life in the hands of a plastic chew toy, I chose the Lancer (it was the only other thing in my price range). Like every other time I'd gone seeking a car cash in hand (or ready to sign a loan), there was not one cool car in sight, no Honda's, not one Celica, no 240's, nothing relatively decent. So, In my eyes I had just bought the biggest regret of my 20's out of sheer necessity.

I see now that I may have been wrong about the car, sure it's no Honda, not that it's better or worse, not that it's the greatest, but for the time being, and for a long while, it's mine, and that's what matters. So, without further adieu, here she is:

The first thing I ever did was rims:

(click the image for the full size)



And another one:

 

Well, now that the intro is out of the way, here's some of the other mods I've done, they are obviously very basic cause I'm just now toying with the idea of doing anything to the car, but eventually it will all come together I think.

The rear end of the car...DEBADGED!!! lol, this wasn't as easy a mod as most people might think...I had some trouble with it (mainly cause I didn't read much on the subject and figured, "how hard could it be?").

Here's a pic:

(as always, click the pic for full size)

 

cool, what else do you have planned?

 

This weekend marked my first REAL mod to my car...I purchased a magnaflow weld-on from ebay and figured, well, let's get it in the car and see what happens...well, here's a pic of the muffler before it was mounted:

(click for larger)



Here's some pics of the car before the muffler/resonator:




And finally, the car afterwards:




That's about it for now...

Future mods will include Megan Racing coilovers (but I'll probably buy some lowering springs to drop 1 inch or so in the meanwhile), Black Projector housings with Dual HID beams 1xlow and 1xhigh (that's like a 400 dollar kit!!!), Black tail lights, tint (Cali's laws are pretty ghey on tinting), Rear OEM spoiler (not too flashy), 17" rims with 225/35 tires, Ralliart lips and sideskirts (if I can even find them!!!), and...hmmm, oh yeah, K&N Typhoon SRI, and maybe some painting here and there...the car's auto, not too much power anyway, and plus, I can't afford speeding tickets...lol.

So that's it, shoot me some suggestions or criticisms or comments, cause I'm open to all three!

 

thanks wangman, read my last post for future/planned mods, any suggestions? I basically have a blank canvas, but budget won't let me go crazy with 4k on a turbo, so, I think the engine mods are pretty much at the bottom of the list of things to do...

but I'd really like to do the bored intake/throttle body mod, it's not too expensive and I'm sure it'll give the car a little extra pull, the K&N supposedly bolts on 4.5 horses...even though it sounds pretty weak, there doesn't seem to be much you can do on this car (especially auto) without serious money...

I'm just going for elegant looks more than anything...I'd even looked into painting the car a different color and swapping the interior completely out, but again, I don't have much play money...

 

Coilovers!

 

mos def dude, coilovers will be coming at some point, but with a decent set going for 800-1200 bucks, it'll likely be one of the last things, once I have bought JDM fogs and a few other things, I'm actually going to wait on the coilovers until after the 17's because that's another 800-1200 mod...oh, I'm going to get the rear sway bar with perches and the front strut tower bar (more for the look of the thing than anything else, as it's not a huge handling mod).

but anyways...here we go, any suggestions on a good body kit or should I keep the low pro look and stick with stock lips and sideskirts (WHICH I STILL CAN'T FIND!!!) pardon the caps, but it's getting annoying.

I actually found one place that had the lips and the whole set was like 800 bucks!!!

then I have to get them painted?! another 600 bucks?!?! damn, there has to be an easier way...I wonder how much the paint and clear coat costs...I have a friend with a gun...hmmm...

 

i say boost it! see my sig you need one..haha.

 

i would definitely say intake next.. it feels and sounds good.. next prolly coil overs.. keep it up.. its clean..

 

just a heads up, that muffler looks like it doesnt have anything other then the pipe supporting it. If thats the case figure out a way to rig something bc its gonna break at the weld after its bouncing around for 6 months or so. Trust me on this one, ive been there

 

The K&N is coming next payday (15th), then after that I thought of doing some more minor exterior mods, projector headlamps, HID kit, tails, tint, but definitely coilovers are on the list, there just damn expensive...lol

I might keep the 16's on it for a while though, so I might get the coilovers as soon as late this year or early next, when I get my income tax.

Lot's 'o bills, not too much cash flow, it'll be a slow process, but, it's coming along.

 

thanks for the heads up chaos, actually, if you take a look at this pic here, you'll see that actually the welder did me a favor and tried to hide the hangers, but all three stock hangers were used, you can kick the muffler and it barely moves, thank God, cause I don't want my bumper burned lol...

 

Looking good! You should check out my car, just look at my sig.

 

Invest in some eyelids for your headlights. i think 04's+ look twice as good with a decent set of eyelids

 

thats a nice muffler... the color of that lancer is kinda boring nut it dont matter that much anyways... my lancer is yellow and i wish it was a diff color sometime and just feel like giving up on the car... but i prolly wont change cars for a long time cuz of money constraints... and spending more money on it seems pointless... but just have fun with it...