Overhaulin'

how much will it cost to tune/modify a car?

im thinking about tuning a honda civic to make it into a racing machine (legally). mine is all stock and im starting from scratch. i know its gonna take alot of time and money but i am willing. i know your gonna say it depends on how you want to tune it. im talking about not being cheap or going all out i just want a decent tuned car.

Public Comments

1. Depends mostly on HOW you want to race the car and what class you intend to compete in. Start with sticky rubber. All the power and great suspension is NOTHING without being able to get it to the ground. Stock class autocrossing will mount 'R' compound tires on stock steel wheels. Drag racers will use fat drag slicks on wide wheels in the front. Wheels are open to whatever is appropriate (and permitted) for your intended use. ALWAYS look for the lightest wheels you can. Removing weight (especially rotating weight) is just like adding horsepower. Next is suspension. You need to control wheel hop, minimize roll and lower the roll-center of the car. Drag racers use special shocks in the front and may disconnect the front sway bar to help get traction. Power increases are last, and the most expensive. Just make sure the rest of the driveline (axles, clutch, gearbox) are up to what you intend to give them. Fancy wheels and body kits look good, but are not what 'rracing' is all about. REAL race cars don't look like that. Check out some local autocrosses or SCCA racing in your area to see what racing is really all about. You'll need to do some research and add it all up, but you can do a lot for just a couple of grand- or you can do very little speed-wise and waste 10g's. Good Luck.
2. Unless you want to use your civic to race autocross DONT DO IT. Take it from someone who has been through it. I spent a ton of money on a delSol only to realize how bad FWD cars suck. To put it very simply you can't race FWD cars. Sure you can hook them up and drive them fast and race against other FWD cars, but it feels like crap to do so and you will never ever stand a chance against a RWD with similar modifications. Save your money until you can buy RWD and then play with that. If I hadn't spent over $5000 on my delSol I could have used that money on my BMW now and had an incredible car.