1G Budget project 1g AWD keeps costing... how's yours?

[ricky_rockstah]

So I had $1500 to spend on my 92 GSX, now I'm down to $1000.

so far, I've swept through all of the free mods, cured the vacuum fiasco, thrown on a MBC and boost gauge, pulled off useless stuff that was weighing me down, cleaned it up pretty good, blown the oil filter seal twice, killed a battery, watched my alternator die, lost a front motor mount bolt, did a full timing job, switched front half of the interior, replaced the dash, pulled the dash again ( i put a 90 dash harness in my 92 and everything was messed up, replaced a faulty coil pack, taken out the platinum plugs in exchange for some NGK R's, changed all my fluids.... and now it's time to spend $$$.


I'm currently looking to purchase a dejon tool dp,
custom catback w/ (3" hemi resonator)
dejon intake 2g mas setup
evo 8 fmic, with custom mandrel piping
evo 560's
SAFC II
EVO III manifold and O2 housing
and possibly some new struts.


How are your projects coming?

 

[robs90tsi]

I spent all my $$$$ on my car, but I managed to scrape up enough for a TurboXS MBC, K+N air filter, and a boost gauge and oil pressure gauge, and I bought one of those intake manifold gaskets that lowers the intake temp, but i forgot what it was called, now I just have to take the time to put it on

 

[carl5463729]

I got the car on memorial day of 2005, and all i have is a k&n, and the free mods. I just bought a big16g, port and polished a 2g manifold. So hopefully those will be going on soon. I'm probably a grand in debt though with my father. I hate insurance and Burger King(my job)

 

[Flavor-DSM]

I saved all winter and right now I have 2300 so far. I'm waiting for my taxes to come back and I loaned 500 to a friend to help him buy a truck for a daily driver. After I get that money I'm going to do a complete rebuild on the good 'ol talon and make it run smooth again. Hopefully I will have enough money and when I actually start rebuilding it I'm going to keep one of those online journal things of my progress so everyone can comment and tell me how retarded I act. Hoping everyone elses DSM projects are looking good?

 

[boostinaintez]

finishing up my tranny and clutch/flywheel install after blowing it at the track for the first time after i finished it up. I didn't even get a good run in darn dsm's haha just kidding guys.

 

[steve]

I budget what my car payment might be and set that aside for maint and upgrades.

Steve

 

[ricky_rockstah]

I budget what my car payment might be and set that aside for maint and upgrades.

Steve

That's an awesome idea. now I just need to get a rid of the car payment on my daily driver first. (it's only $250 ) but I could make it a lot farther on my project if I had that towards my car.

 

[Decker0004]

I just got my taxes and I have 1500 to spend on traction for my fwd. So I got an awd.

 

[ricky_rockstah]

I just got my taxes and I have 1500 to spend on traction for my fwd. So I got an awd.

That's what i did. I got my AWD after throwing a lil over$2,000 into my '03 VW 1.8t (that was a full suspension, poly mounts, a Peloquin LSD, and I still cut a best 2.1X 60ft on street tires.


not so good when youre shooting for decent 1/4 mile times.

 

[Dream On]

Bought my car in the summer for $2600. I've replaced the front axles, ball joints, tie rods, clutch, flywheel (though it doesn't disengage and is at the mechanics now...), fuel filter, fluids, thermostat, fan switch, interior lights, rear main seal, rad. cap, oil pan gasket, and some other little things. The only real mods I have is a K&N filter and a boost gauge. I can't wait to get my car back, then I'll fix the boost leaks, then I'll get an exhaust, hopefully before the next thing breaks.

 

[sherwinz28]

My $250 TALON TSI turned out to cost me almost $3000 so far. At least I have some nice parts on it though. At moment the car has more problems then horsepower. So far I have this parts list with major regrets on certain parts.

Stage 3 BJ Cylinder Head Fully ported intake/exhaust manifolds
DejonTool intake pipe
ACT2600 clutch kit with Prostreet Flywheel
Bullseye M-Trim Turbo with a self ported O2 housing (which I think I messed up)
Supra SMIC...waiting to switch to an ebay short route FMIC kit anyone got a link to one?
Other small miscellaneous stuff I can't remember

For some reason after a rainy day the car does not want to idle or even run properly. Need some spare time to look into it though. Will do the usual compression check and look for vacuum leaks.

Hopefully everyone elses project is going better then mine. I'm tired or throwing money and time at this so I'm taking a small break from it. Will most likely start working on my camaro again and prepare it for some minor drag racing this summer.

 

[Minimalitia]

Bought my car like 3 months ago for $500 and it had a K&N open element on it with a stainless steel 3 inch turbo back ehaust. So far i have swapped it over to a 1GB frontend (non flip up lights) i have installed 3 gauges which were a 5" tach, boost and air fuel gauge. Still have water temp, oil pressure, and volts to install. All the gauges are Faze Competitions. I have 1000 watts in it, 450 to the 12" power acustic sub and 550 to the rear 6X9 Sonys. Waiting to be put on i have a fully stage 2 ported, polished and knife edged 91 head with mod cams and a ported and port matched intake manifold and possibly a Evo III 16G ported and polished, or a different one not sure what i want yet. Also i NEED to do bigger injectors, fuel pump and a very in depth boost leak test. I have no e-brake, back brakes are toast, i ripped out my power steering (better feel for the car) and my stock wing is off too. My passenger side rocker panel is almost completly eaten away. I have very big plans for my car and it hasnt given me too many problems other than when i first got it it would piss out all my coolant like every other day, i blew all my belts and over heated on the highway doing 115 mph (not my timing belt though). Oh, almost forgot a stub is snapped off the front drivers hub. i think thats all though.

 

[Dark_Horse]

I've got you all beat.

In the last year, I've replaced piston rings, valves, bearings, valve guides, crank, lifters, cat, muffler, downpipe, springs/retainers, cams and exhaust manifold. That doesn't count the machine work too.

Originally the project was just to replace the piston rings...And one thing lead to another. Granted, the springs/retainers were because I had to have FP2x cams.

And in a few weeks, I'll replace the turbo, intake manifold, MAF, cooling fans, injectors, fuel pump, cam gears, flywheel and head gasket. Fun times...

 

[KlowdDragon]

I spent 3000 to buy my car back in california
1000 to ship it to arkansas
just got it back from repairs costing just under 2000 (part of it was for a stage 5 clutch though)

6000 for a 1990 Tsi AWD

Oh well, i'm just glad it's running right now, even though first gear is pretty screwed...

 

[ricky_rockstah]

Spent last night hunting down a good used alternator. Even O'Riely's wanted a ton $$$$.

Hopefully i'll get to do osme ordering today.


then lots of work this weekend.

 

[XLR8]

As everyone knows a dsm will always cost more than expected and you will always break something. But you will still love it no matter how much it costs. I don't even want to know the total I have spent on mine but recently I got a 90 tsi auto that supposedly only had a starter issue, which of course did not allow for a compression test. After putting in a new starter the compression was horrible. It definitely needs a new head but I am hoping I will not have to tear into the block on this one.

 

[ricky_rockstah]

I just like being able to do a lil project every day. ! I practically can with this car.



but all is working out fairly well so far.

 

[AWDMENACE]

I bought my car six months ago or so for 3,500 mint condition with 75k ..nothing needed to be done but oil change spark plug wires and spark plugs...still waiting to have anough money to get tbelt replaced so shes gettin babied right now.Got all my mod money into speakers and headunit at the moment..but this summer should be able to get a complete turbo back system with 2g manifold(p&p),mbc,gauges,springs and hopefully shocks,struts.Other then that ill be doing cheap stuff i can do in my front yard..sandblast the undercarraige shine things up clean and paint brakes up black ..nothing ricey just to prevent rust and make it pretty behind the rims.

 

[femmeDSM]

I paid $1200 for my GSX. Interior and exterior were nearly mint, and the car came with a fully rebuilt motor (less than 10K miles), but didn't run due to the previous owner's neglect.

So far I have put about $600-700 into repairs, and just got the car running last month. Still has a few "quirks" that need to be worked out, including transmission issues, all of which will probably run me around $1000-$1500 including labor (don't trust myself with a transmission, so she will need to go to the shop for that part, haha). So far all labor has been done by me. A hell of a project (basically "restoring" the car), but it's a great feeling seeing a car that had been neglected for so long slowly coming back together and start "coming to life" again. I've put a whopping 38 miles on the car in the 7 months I've owned it

All worth it, though, and I wouldn't trade her for a running DSM for the world. The knowledge I've gained from piecing her back together has been priceless

 

[andytalon]

I got my car for 1,600, put 4k into it that includes $800 for insurance. I have 6k worth of recepts from the previous owner of mantenice done to the car, so im up there!
Im 16 and waitin till im 17 to join the union and accually get paid by my damn father heh, 18 bucks an hour to start!! cant wait!! 5 more months. Im sellin my car and buying a 92-94shell and building a whole new motor with all new setup and dsmlink!!!!!!!

 

[jaredgsx]

I honesly dont mind when my car breaks, that means i get to buy a better part .
Right now i am getting everything ready for a turbo upgrade.
ugh too much crap list, it will end up costing me about 2400 with out the turbo and i have 2000ish saved so i am getting close, hope to have it all done by may

 

[v2ner]

'93 TSI AWD Shell - $500
6-Bolt - Had one already
PTE turbo/ Ex. Man./Ex. WG - $1700
Custom Exhaust - $75
Autronic P&P - $1500
PTE 720cc/255 LPH - $360

This is excluding stuff like air filter, plugs, plug wires, and the labor done by me and my firends. Not bad for a 10.5 sec. car.

 

[supermariobros]

Bought my stock 90' Talon Tsi for $3,500 a year ago, just got done making payments for it. 2 Months after i bought it the engine blew. Dont know why either. So the past 3 months i've purchased a new JDM 6-bolt engine, slowboy racing LSD, slowboy racing boost controller, act 2100 clutch and act flywheel, autometer boost and air/fuel gauges, and now im facing paying $1,900 to put it all together at Pina Motorsport in Kent, Washington. So my $3,500 car is now up to $7,800........almost makes me wish i would have bought a 2nd gen or a muscle car

 

[MyBeatGSX]

Wow, based on everyone else's prices I got raped. I paid $6,000 for my '96 GSX with a 6 bolt, s16G, and 102,000 miles. Thankfully no major repairs yet (knock on wood). The motor mounts are shot and being replaced with prothanes one at a time. The 2100 is on its way out. My oil cap (first stock and now aftermarket) won't stop leaking. I had to fix a fuel return line leak that I was driving around with for the first month I had the car. And next on the repair list is my oil pan gasket that leaks like it was designed to.

As for mods, I REALLY need a front mount. I'm going with coil on plug to hopefully fix my ignition issues. That 1G intake manifold is doing no good with a 2G throttle on it, so that's on the list too. I'm getting a custom made external dump O2 housing (cheap cheap too ) and the turbine needs to be ported (I got boost creep like mad). After that its on to non fast parts, like AGX shocks (stocks are blown), some kind of rotors (stocks are warped bad), and then MAYBE stuff like good speakers, some nice light non leather seats, and of course rims.

Total spent? I don't even want to look at the receipts (sp?) or order histories. I'm guessing an additional $3,000-$3,500 so far. So much for budget....

 

[gridlyne]

When I bought this car for less than 1grand I thouhgt it was gonna be a cheap budget car. I wanna go back in time and rape myself for thinking so foolishly. I have spent almost 3 times as much and its still not running.

I know how u feel bud.