?? How on earth do you guys afford all the big engine mods!! ??

[Martin.]

I don't earn bad money (well at least I don't think I do), and I bloody love modifying my car. In fact it's all I think about!!

Constantly looking and planning what next etc... Do I have issues or are you like this too? I actually really look forward to getting some spare time so I can do bit and bobs on my car.

BUT....I just cannot understand how all of you guys can afford to carry out all these big engine modifications. Coming across so many recently. I'm talking ITB set ups, Turbo and S'charge conversions.

I'm looking into getting some cams, and it excites me just thinking about it (how sad is that), but I'm finding it hard to fork out £1700 odd for it. No idea how people afford the £4-£5k prices for the big conversions ?

Maybe I'm just too tight, maybe you work much harder and earn more than I do, or maybe I need to learn how to be more mechanical myself.

Some lovely motors out there. I love looking though all the build threads with a passion!

Anyone got any tips lol!!?

M

 

[LukeW]

Will be watching this as I wonder about this every time I'm on here!

 

[Fred@BTM]

maybe you're sensible LOL!

 

[tom172cup]

I have worked fecking hard for the stuff my car has on it. if i was a bit better at driving a spanner I would of had to not work as hard for it i guess.
im still living at home as well so that helps a large part of it.

 

[Bluebeard]

In my experience, there are three types of people that like to mod cars...

1) Mechanical people. They buy the parts, mod the car, when they're bored the sell the mods, sell the car and lose very little money.

2) Then there's Cheque book modders. They just prefer to buy a car, send it away and have it come back all done. Minimum fuss. Sell it modded at a huge loss but they don't care.

3) People that talk a good game but do fcuk all about it. (Me! lol)

 

[Chip-mk1]

I have a pretty finite budget for cars and not a very big one compared to some of the people on here, at most I can spend about 20K per year on cars, some years even less than that, and that is a total including all mods and trackdays etc, so its a case of juggling one thing against the other sadly, the more you use them the less you can spend on them, so it means I have to hold back a lot on some of the mods I would like to do, just because I cant afford them, this week for example I bought a set of steel rods, set of forged pistons, and 2 quaiffe diff, which was well over 2K, so wont be buying anything else now till next month. On months where I do a few trackdays, or a ring/spa trip or something like that, I cant do any modifications at all as simply no money for it.

 

[Martin.]

maybe you're sensible LOL!

Maybe, or more likely I'm too tight

I have worked fecking hard for the stuff my car has on it. if i was a bit better at driving a spanner I would of had to not work as hard for it i guess.
im still living at home as well so that helps a large part of it.

I'd like to think I work reasonably hard though too. Do you spend all your salary on your car for example? Or are you saving for other things too?

I guess having the thoughts of moving out in my head too don't help me pull the wallet out!!

 

[ben_r1]

I took out a loan for my ITB kit ( came in at £5400 total ) and to pay it off I rarely go out on the piss or have fancy holidays. IMO still worth it because I get so much enjoyment out of driving it.

Sometimes I wonder if it'd just been easier to buy a fast car in the first place....

 

[Martin.]

In my experience, there are three types of people that like to mod cars...

1) Mechanical people. They buy the parts, mod the car, when they're bored the sell the mods, sell the car and lose very little money.

2) Then there's Cheque book modders. They just prefer to buy a car, send it away and have it come back all done. Minimum fuss. Sell it modded at a huge loss but they don't care.

3) People that talk a good game but do fcuk all about it. (Me! lol)

I guess I'm a number 3 too then LOL. But I do like to try and do little bits myself if possible! I'm only talking about putting seats in and fitting an ARB though hehe

I have a pretty finite budget for cars and not a very big one compared to some of the people on here, at most I can spend about 20K per year on cars, some years even less than that, and that is a total including all mods and trackdays etc, so its a case of juggling one thing against the other sadly, the more you use them the less you can spend on them, so it means I have to hold back a lot on some of the mods I would like to do, just because I cant afford them, this week for example I bought a set of steel rods, set of forged pistons, and 2 quaiffe diff, which was well over 2K, so wont be buying anything else now till next month. On months where I do a few trackdays, or a ring/spa trip or something like that, I cant do any modifications at all as simply no money for it.

20k on cars a year :0 you must be working MUCH harder than I am LOL

You're very mechanically minded though aren't you so I guess you do pretty much all the work yourself! You are a number 1 on the Daniel scale

 

[Bluebeard]

I have a pretty finite budget for cars and not a very big one compared to some of the people on here, at most I can spend about 20K per year on cars, some years even less than that, and that is a total including all mods and trackdays etc, so its a case of juggling one thing against the other sadly, the more you use them the less you can spend on them, so it means I have to hold back a lot on some of the mods I would like to do, just because I cant afford them, this week for example I bought a set of steel rods, set of forged pistons, and 2 quaiffe diff, which was well over 2K, so wont be buying anything else now till next month. On months where I do a few trackdays, or a ring/spa trip or something like that, I cant do any modifications at all as simply no money for it.

Lol, I don't even earn £20k per year!

Lets put this into perspective. I pay a mortgage for a house of two adults, two children, two cars, two abroad holidays a year.... On the same budget you've set yourself for modding cars! Mental.

 

[Hixle]

You're very mechanically minded though aren't you so I guess you do pretty much all the work yourself! You are a number 1 on the Daniel scale

Apart from Chip builds them then never sells. Lol!

 

[Martin.]

I took out a loan for my ITB kit ( came in at £5400 total ) and to pay it off I rarely go out on the piss or have fancy holidays. IMO still worth it because I get so much enjoyment out of driving it.

Sometimes I wonder if it'd just been easier to buy a fast car in the first place....

This is always on my mind too. By the time I have no more plans left then I will have spent probably £10-£15 on a CLIO! Over the course of many many years obviously if it were to actually every happen.

I don't go out on the piss much either, but I just cannot justify saving up and spending so much lol...

 

[MicKPM]

Sell body parts... Preferably other people's like the homeless.

 

[tom172cup]

Maybe, or more likely I'm too tight



I'd like to think I work reasonably hard though too. Do you spend all your salary on your car for example? Or are you saving for other things too?

I guess having the thoughts of moving out in my head too don't help me pull the wallet out!!

Im saving for a house at the moment. and still buying crap for the car but its cheaper stuff now lol.

 

[Martin.]

Sell body parts... Preferably other people's like the homeless.

What's the going rate for a kidney? Guess I could live without one of them..

 

[Chip-mk1]

20k on cars a year :0 you must be working MUCH harder than I am LOL

Im lucky in that I have skills that are fairly well paid currently, so dont have to work massively hard to still have a reasonable income, I think I have a reasonable work-life balance other than that I tend to be away from home for half the week which means cant spend evenings working on cars which is a pain. I also have some property income as well.

You're very mechanically minded though aren't you so I guess you do pretty much all the work yourself! You are a number 1 on the Daniel scale

I cant remember the last time I paid anyone to do anything on a car for me TBH other than tracking/camber measuring, as I can do pretty much everything myself and the occasional time I cant I tend to find that I can just swap skills to get it done instead, like for example the guy who did some ally tig welding for inlets and stuff, I map his car in exchange.
So that helps me stretch my budget a bit further, but parts are pretty expensive if you want to do things fairly well, like even a quick freshen up on my mrs clio ended up costing us 1600 quid despite no labour, cause while we were at it we went for uprated valves, rod bolts, 182 manifold, arp head studs etc, sadly one of the downsides to doing the work yourself, is you end up suffering a lot from "spec creep" where you keep deciding to do more and more things, in fact we are upto over 7K now spent on the mrs daily driver 172, and thats still only a basic spec, but by the time you get it right, its a lot of spending.

 

[Martin.]

Lol, I don't even earn £20k per year!

Lets put this into perspective. I pay a mortgage for a house of two adults, two children, two cars, two abroad holidays a year.... On the same budget you've set yourself for modding cars! Mental.

Wow when you look at it like that it seems like another world. Chip must earn £50-£60k plus I'm guessing..

 

[Chip-mk1]

Apart from Chip builds them then never sells. Lol!

FLOL, yeah, I could deffo do with getting rid of a few things.

 

[Chip-mk1]

Sell body parts... Preferably other people's like the homeless.

FLOL, genius idea!

 

[Martin.]

you end up suffering a lot from "spec creep" where you keep deciding to do more and more things,

I deffo suffer from this too. I plan something and then think while im at that I might as well get this done, and this, and then might as well add that on too.

Before you know it a simple task might end up being something very costly! Not on the same scale as you though lol!

 

[Dan519]

Aside from the fact I obviously do things and take advantage of the trade suppliers and industry contacts I have, the money I spend on mods is what I have available due to having very little in the way of financial commitment outside of work. I'd probably get more extreme things done if I didn't keep buying more and more cars through boredom. Anything I do is also a tax write off, so it's a case of spend it on something business related or they'll take it

 

[Chip-mk1]

Lol, I don't even earn £20k per year!

You're just saying that in case the tax man is looking, FLOL

Lets put this into perspective. I pay a mortgage for a house of two adults, two children, two cars, two abroad holidays a year.... On the same budget you've set yourself for modding cars! Mental.

Fair play if you really are managing all that on that budget, thats some good housekeeping you are managing there

Im lucky in that my outgoings are relatively low at the moment, although next year im probably committing to buying another house near where my girlfriends family live which is going to see me much much harder up, but I'll just go back to doing less expensive mods instead, TBH sometimes its actually more fun doing things on the cheap anyway.
My nova for example, I did about 12-15K on the mega spec vauxhall engine for it, but now im pissing around with saab engines for pennies instead and its more of a challenge in many ways and hence more enjoyable.


Some of the people who's cars I have featured in magazines I write for have annual budgets that have me really going "WTF", like literally into 6 figures, and its not like I write for rolls royce monthly either, lol

 

[Chip-mk1]

I deffo suffer from this too. I plan something and then think while im at that I might as well get this done, and this, and then might as well add that on too.

Before you know it a simple task might end up being something very costly! Not on the same scale as you though lol![/QUOTE]

Yeah its very easy to get carried away and the problem with the F4R if staying N/A is that even if you do get carried away and spend half a dozen grand, it still wont actually be a particularly fast car.

 

[Silent_Scone]

maybe you're sensible LOL!

^ This

You're going to love me even more by the way next week.

 

[Space Cadet]

Its all horses for courses, I think the people on here that do spend a lot on their cars tend to be older therefore realistically are earning more and the Clio is a toy rather than perhaps being 20 and the Clio is the sole means of transport. I'm 37 now and my Clio is a track-car luxury, I probably spend £1k a month on it and it probably owes me £35k now, after the joint mortgage & bills, various savings accounts what I have left is mine to spend, what the wife has is hers. I just need to get her interested in cars!!......

 

[Chip-mk1]

Its all horses for courses, I think the people on here that do spend a lot on their cars tend to be older therefore realistically are earning more and the Clio is a toy rather than perhaps being 20 and the Clio is the sole means of transport. I'm 37 now and my Clio is a track-car luxury, I probably spend £1k a month on it and it probably owes me £35k now, after the joint mortgage & bills, various savings accounts what I have left is mine to spend, what the wife has is hers. I just need to get her interested in cars!!......

Definately, When I was 20 my budget was about 20 quid a week and had to include petrol, lol

 

[Alan]

Ball harder.. Scared money don't make money..!

 

[Space Cadet]

Definately, When I was 20 my budget was about 20 quid a week and had to include petrol, lol

Likewise. Come to think of it I didn't have my own car until I was 20 and that was a hand-me-down 4-door Nova 1.2 from my then deceased Granddad. Unfortunately salaries and age are un-proportionate, when you're younger and need more money you learn less because you are less experienced. But when you're older and somehow earning more money you think a good weekend is being in bed by 22:00 each night and having had chance to do the gardening on the Sunday. Blimey if I had my current salary when I was 20 I'd probably be dead or in rehab.

 

[Martin.]

Unfortunately salaries and age are un-proportionate, when you're younger and need more money you learn less because you are less experienced. But when you're older and somehow earning more money you think a good weekend is being in bed by 22:00 each night and having had chance to do the gardening on the Sunday. Blimey if I had my current salary when I was 20 I'd probably be dead or in rehab.

Well put, what do you do for a living if you dont mind me asking mate?

 

[Martin.]

Chip I'm assuming you do some kind of mapping for a living?

 

[Chip-mk1]

Chip I'm assuming you do some kind of mapping for a living?

The last few years ive been splitting my work time between:
Computer programming for car manufacturers
Mapping
Motoring Journalism

Last year or so though the programming stuff has been taking up almost all of my time, so has been by far my main source of income, where as in some previous years it was a much smaller part.

I also have some income from rental property.

 

[Martin.]

Then again I'm sure there's plenty of 20 years olds or maybe even younger forking out for ITBs on their clios. Always see pictures from projects on the K-tec facebook page. Good on them I say wish I could do the same..

 

[Martin.]

The last few years ive been splitting my work time between:
Computer programming for car manufacturers
Mapping
Motoring Journalism

Last year or so though the programming stuff has been taking up almost all of my time, so has been by far my main source of income, where as in some previous years it was a much smaller part.

I also have some income from rental property.

You sound very very intelligent!!

What motoring articles do you write for?

 

[Chip-mk1]

You sound very very intelligent!!

Only in a few areas, am fecking useless at things like foreign languages or cooking for example. Tends to just be maths and logic type stuff I get on with, so engines and ECU's are right up my alley.

What motoring articles do you write for?

Main ones I have been writing for are Total Vauxhall and Fast Ford.

At one stage I was doing 2-3 articles a month, but more like only that many in the last year due to a combination of a lot less spare time, running out of things that interest me to write about, and also the mags budgets are getting tighter for expensive freelancers.

 

[Space Cadet]

Well put, what do you do for a living if you dont mind me asking mate?

I just made myself laugh re-reading the end of my last post - its so true, asleep by 22:30 and a good nights sleep is more appealing than raving it up till 09:00 the next morning. I wasted so many years of my life - and money!! I don’t mind you asking, I'm not a willy-wagger but have worked hard and am therefore proud of what I am - I'm an underwriter in the City (and my wife is an investment-banker).

 

[Chip-mk1]

I just made myself laugh re-reading the end of my last post - its so true, asleep by 22:30 and a good nights sleep is more appealing than raving it up till 09:00 the next morning. I wasted so many years of my life - and money!! I don’t mind you asking, I'm not a willy-wagger but have worked hard and am therefore proud of what I am - I'm an underwriter in the City (and my wife is an investment-banker).

That sounds like a couple of very well paid jobs to be in

 

[Rob]

As Daniel says, for an average joe, the key is to not be scared and be smart. Buy 90% of your mods second hand, fit yourself, and sell before you sell the car, you lose peanuts, it's just having the money to do it.

 

[Lal B3N]

If it wasn't for my car i don't i would spend any money to be honest. But doing anywhere from 300-500 mile a week costs me a decent chunk in my 182.

The rest i spend on the small modifications, the girlfriend, going for meals, cinema etc.

I'm lucky that currently don't have any thing to pay for yet. My only monthly payments are phone contract and car insurance.

I don't earn much at the moment either, only just £1k a month after tax. Will get better once I have worked my way up in my career but for my wage I think I have a decent amount to show for it.

Some of my mates earn 2k-3k a month and have nothing to show for it at all, other than a hangover every weekend. But thats how they choose to live.

Luckily with where I work I get to be pally with a lot of companies and get a lot done cheap. I get all my bodywork done free as I'm good friends with the owners and keep them straight with their computers etc. I get exhausts made dirt cheap from a guy who I advertised his work well from my friends seeing his work so they all go to him for work done etc.

 

[Martin.]

Guess that's my problem lol, I don't have a fecking clue about anything mechanical!

So for me the only option is normally having to pay someone to do the job for me. Costing extra monies..

 

[Knuckles]

ive just moved in with my gf so i have to save/budget for car bits... it will end up how i want it... just not as soon as id like.

once were on track, with her settled in her job and we both know exactly where and when our money is going, then ill be able to start balling on my car

im almost 22 if that helps