# Whats the point?



## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Ok, 
Long overdue in the making is this post. I've been procrastinating since I didn't really want to write it, but its in response to all the hating that goes on in the 'import world'. This is only my opinion as to why I do it, not anyone else.

So whats the point? Whats the poin to what? Fixing up your car.
I've been a car guy for over 15 years. I've only had two cars in my posession, an 88 Integra (first generation) and my B14. Both were deals from my parents. I needed a car for High School so I could do errands while my parents worked so I got the integra (it was a old ladys car and we picked it up for $2K)(that was a long time ago), and I needed a car in college (while my brother inherited the integra) so I got the B14. Both were bone stock and were not loaded, just had auto, A/C, pw pm pl, and thats it. No ABS, and the B14 has an airbag where the acura does not.
Obviously neither of these cars are my dream cars nor close. But they were the best that I could get under the circumstances and beggers can't be choosers. So they needed too be upgraded to my standards. I'm not into looks or performance per-se. Meaning I'd love a porsche like the next guy, but when you have a Sentra performance is not the name of the game. Sure with 10K you can get performance, but if I had 10K on top of the money for the cost of the car I wouldn't be driving a sentra.
Lets focus on the B14 since it is my daily driver (the acura is in Miami and will probably be my wifes car when we move down there).
I wanted the car to perform up to my standards. I never liked it from when I got it. The seat was (and still is) uncomfortable and the brakes are wierd. Unfortunately it costs about a grand to replace the front two seats and $500 for new brakes. Its not that easy to fix when you have no money. However I did have bouts of $50 here and $20 there, so I spent the little money I had on changing things. Not for show, not for go, just to be different and because I liked it, and working on my car.
For example My car didn't have a tach. So, I did the junk yard route and got a tach. Then I saw some Reverse EL's for the SE-R. So I sold my tached cluster and got an SE-R cluster and reverse EL's. I got nis-knacks el HVAC to match. This was purely form over function with the exception of the tach. I'm very pleased that i have a tach and that was the only reason I did the whole thing, but I decided to change the look while I was at it. It was 'broke' so I fixed it. Otherwise it would have been silly to take a car with a tach and do all this surgery. Finally for $20 I got an aluminum cover to give it that infiniti look on the inside.
While I was on the blue theme, on e-bay were neon tubes for $10. So I got 2 at a time for a few weeks until i had 6 and with radio shack wire ($4) installed them. Now my car had a blue interior theme and i liked it, my family liked it, and my friends liked it. This was not for entering a show or cruzin down the street, just for my own benefit, and the occasional chance to have a different B14.
With the perception that somwhere down the line I will get a new suspension I got a front and rear strut bar for $70. (50/20) Again I installed them myself and enjoyed the slightly better hold on offramps. I dont autocross or race, just liked having the stiffer ride.
Meanwhile my engine bay was pretty ugly and I've herad that when you have a clean engine bay when you go to the mechanic they take better care of your car since they see that you car about it. So at Canadian tire I got myself some spray paint for $3 and mirage color shift paint system for $20 and went to work on assorted caps covers and the like. Personally I don't think its too pretty, but what can you do if you can't afford stainless steel parts like an intake or exhaust maifold.
I am in the process of finally doing the brake fix which i have been waiting 4 years to do. I decided to do a layaway concept. Since I can't afford all the parts, I'll just get them one at a time. A rotor here, a caliper there. After 4-5 months I'll have all the parts and only spent like $50 a month. (So far I have the rotors and SS line, just nead loaded calipers)
Again I dont' race. I just want the car to be a car that suits me, and my (driving) style. 
One thing I did do was upgrade the radio. I wanted a sub and an amp in the trunk, but that costs like $600. Instead I got a component set up front, two ways in the back, a decent HU and a 5 disc in dash changer for $200. THe sound is really good, and I would like a sub stil, but maybe some other time.
For a euro look I threw on some side markers that match my halos and stealth sides. This was completely cosmetic since my lights worked fine. However I like the way the black looks on my burgundy car. If only they made a stealth center panel and rear lights for the back of our cars.

See, if I had the money to get a 3 series or a porsche or an S4 or something, I woulnd't touch the car. I'd pretty much leave it stock unless there was something missing. In my B14 there is alot missing. (Like an armrest which I got) I have to fill it in, whether is a personal thing that is missing or an engineering flaw that exists that I have to fix. One day when I get enough moiney to spend on a car that I like and pick for personal reasons not financial, I can buy somehting that fits my needs instead of starting low and adding parts. No matter what having a car that is built right the first time is more respectable that parting it up. For some reason no matter how old you are putting parts on a car is considered immature. 
Whatever, thats not how i feel, but thats just the public vibe. 

Nowadays with the 'tuner' culture and the need for CAI's and rims and fart cans and the like people/kids think that cars need them. That they are supposed to be there. No, its a personal choice. If you want to spend money on that its fine, but it isn't the point. 
There will always be the few who do just whats necesary to get by, and others who get by anyway and do whats unnesecarry.
Its to each there own. YOou build a car for your own purposes. If you race you build a race car. If you go to shows you build a carpet queen. But don't try to build something that has no purpose. 
My next draw was HID or new suspension. Since my headlights/fogs/and driving lights work fine I will probably never get HID for my car (my version of HID is getting the reflector off a junk yard 5 series and install it with a proper phyllips ballast D2S kit). However since I have been living in Montreal, Boston, NY for the past 4 years and put 35,000 miles on those crap roads and god knows what the car went throughf or its first 20,000 miles (before I onwed it, and for the mathematically inclined thatd over 50,000 miles on the suspension that came with the car) I may be in need for a new suspension anyway. When that time comes, this summer, Ihave to decide what to do, and understand that I am not racing, however it wouls be a shame to replacei it with a stock part. Those tein cilovers for under a grand are appealing. But thats 4 months from now. Some things that I will never do are a full body kit, race seats, roll cage, turbo, engine swap, and the like. The car has to be as normal looking as possible with only the congoscenti being able to tell it apart from the rest.

So in the end I just wanted to make clear that there has to be a point. It isn't to be cool or to be the first one on your block with a certain setup since especially where i come fron no on on the block gives a damn. I do it for me because I like it and in certain circles (like here) there goes a little respect for ingenuity and completion of a project. One day I won't have the sentra any longer and will have a new car. the first thing I'm going to no is not fix it up. I'm going to drive it around and see if it has any shortcomings. If so I'll do my best to fix them. Maybe along the way I may throw some pointless mod on it for the hell of it, but that was just because I wanted to and liked the way it looked. Not because I was trying to impress anyone or join a crowd.

I think (or hope) that I've made my point.

Seth

P.S. If I could do a total of money that I've spent on the car it would probably be under 2 grand. Thats including rims and tires, and everything else listed on my webpage. Take a look.


----------



## Honest Bob (Nov 7, 2002)

Exactly how I feel. I would like a deeper sounding exhaust, but I am waiting for the pipes and muffler to finish rusting through before I touch them. A WAI would also be nice but thats waiting until my air filter is ready to be changed. Other than that I dont plan on changing anything else. I like doing everything I can to get my car running effiecently for very little money.


----------



## andre (Apr 30, 2002)

Same here....but I got the whole performance deal because the car was slow....just like everyone else here. I doubt someone would do stuff to theirs for NO reason....everything must revolve around what the person likes....and taste changes over time, so a person might swap different parts from time to time. I got cosmetic parts to look different/better...just like you...I think we all do (except the car show people). I believe that people who build strictly show cars are crazy....because I can guarantee that they dont like their cars 100%.....I love mine (except the noise from the exhaust parts....but that is soon to be taken care of). I dont know why I typed all this, but whatever you said for yourself is just about true for most of us.

Oh, and I dont like the over-modded look either.


----------



## MP2050 (May 1, 2002)

WHOA.....Iread allt hat only cuz it was you seth....lol 

I think U really made some valid points. After the whole excitement of having my first car wore off-then reality hit.

I was soon hating everything about the car. The fact that I couldnt get it past 110. The fact that it had cheap black moldings and a boring interior. The way all I saw was Hondas on the road and when I saw a Sentra it was a old lady driving....

But I got a hold of myself and decided to make the best out what I had. Thanks to these forums and guys like U seth--I realized that I could make this Sentra fit me and my standards...

I decided to attack the exterior first and now comes the engine and etc....Im not sure what Im gonna end up doing with the car. I hope to continue modifing it and putiing it in shows and hopefully be able to get another car as my daily-like a Alty or Max...

As much as Ive put into it--I cant imagine letting it go NOW.....


----------



## Rain-Xx (Jul 29, 2002)

MP2050 said:


> *I think U really made some valid points. After the whole excitement of having my first car wore off-then reality hit.
> 
> I was soon hating everything about the car. The fact that I couldnt get it past 110.
> 
> As much as Ive put into it--I cant imagine letting it go NOW..... *


I agree, lots of good points...

I've grown acustomed to the small things which are problems in my '87. At first, I hated the car.. it was a little small for my liking, and it was noisy inside. But then I looked at the good points.. sports car, excellent handling. T-top roof, fun and easy to drive.. good on gas. And I got used to those minor problems. Now, eight months later, I love my car and I couldn't imagine myself in anything else (until I start a family).

Couldn't go past 110? Is that KPH or MPH?  My car has troubles getting above 140 KPH but hey, I love it anyways.

To each his own, because there are people who hate the look of cars fresh off the lot. People don't rag on others for owning a Pontiac Aztec ( Ok, so around here some people do - but I've heard they're useful ) or any other car that's stock. It's what they like. It just seems that we target the people who take a car and customize it. I know a guy who has an old Buick Regal and he's done a lot of engine work to it and now it's still butt-ugly, but it's fast and he loves it. He made his car into something he likes, and that's great. Why can't we all be like that?


----------



## himilefrontier (Jan 21, 2003)

I agree.Most people fix up cars not because the're necessarily what they WANT,but what they HAVE.When I was in High School (about 10 yrs ago),I really really wanted(still do!) a 69 SS396 Chevelle with a 4 speed.What I had(still have!)is a 1979 AMC Spirit with a 90 hp 3.8 litre L6 and an auto tranny on the column. I took what I had and made it into a unique and pretty fast car for less than the cost of the Chevelle(and I might add it's every bit as fast as a stock 396 car too!).I used to be made fun of(ok,I still am sometimes)for the car but now I am more likely to get praise for doing something different.The point is no matter what you drive you can make it into something unique and fun to drive. And don't worry about the critics because no matter what you have there will always be someone who has something negative to say.


----------

