Proving a point, S-Chassis cars can be built cool on a budget. TheFro's Daily S14

[thefro526]

So, I don't have an E46 anymore so I needed a new daily. I went back and forth between older cars and newer cars and I finally settled on an S14 for the time being.

When I was looking for S14's, I decide that I wanted to put together a car on a reasonable budget, so I picked out $7,000 as my number - including the cost of the car. My number one priority was making something that was one color, tasteful and cool.

Here's how I bought it, base model S14, converted to 5-speed, 5-lug, sitting on stance coils with Z32 brakes.



First purchase was a set of LED kouki tails... not sure why I bought them but they're kind of cool.



Then I bought some skirts and rear valances off of a friend of a friend.



Found a Navan Bumper on eBay and scooped it up. Shipped from Japan, only took like a week to get here.



Another shot of the front, I think I took it to compare the headlights pre and post polish.



Bought some Rota Grids and mocked them up on the car. Super Sketch.



Car on the ground after mounting some 225/40/18 Falken 452's to the Grids.



Got the car out of the driveway for the first time... Only took 10 minutes.



POS S13 and the S14.



Bought a clean black hood off of a friend at some point, also tinted the corners amber.



Then I took the car apart for paint.



Creeped by the paint shop one day, saw my car sitting out front.



Got the car home and dyed the front and rear seats black. (not sure why picture is upside down, long hair, don't care.)



Put the interior back together.



Put the car back together and attempted to align it to be somewhat straight. At this point I cleaned up some of the inner fender stuff and leveled out the car. Also installed RUCA's and replaced a worn tie rod end.





Second day on the road, stopped by the mall to buy some pants and sweaters.



Rico at 215 Motoring hooked me up with some tint. 35% all around, awesome job.



Then I washed it and drove it to the FDR meet. (images are hosted on FB, might not be visible to some)







The last two were taken by a guy named Mike Young at a meet. Pictures came out awesome.

Car still needs some work, little maintenance stuff, an alignment, some spacers, etc, but for right now I'm having a blast driving it.

All in all, I think I'm somewhere in the $7500-$8000 total in the car. If I didn't buy things like floor mats, tail lights, suspension arms, etc, I'd have met my budget goal of $7,000 no problem.

I'd like to think that this is proof that some of you guys out there working entry level jobs and already own S-Chassis can make your car into something reasonably cool with $3000-$4000 into the car... Which really isn't much at all.

[Captain Falcon]

Just wanted to say I really enjoyed reading about your build! Nice, clean and unique car. Props to you for practically staying on budget, my budget constantly changes as I want more and more lol

[Fries]

Good stuff man! I'm literally going for the same look body-wise.

Too many people get caught up in the "race car" bs. You don't need to strip your interior and do weird mods that take away from creature comforts for a bitchin s-chassis. Good example of a fun and great looking car.

[racso_dor]

good job mate !

[thefro526]

Thanks guys, this car is probably the one I feel most connected to of all I've owned or turned wrenches on, and it's definitely been an excellent ongoing learning experience. There's this part of me that wants to continue to attempt to make it perfect, which is where I've been going since this thread was originally written - as shown above, the car looked the part and drove better than most S-Chassis on the road, but it definitely wasn't 'right' by any means. In the state it was in, it could have been driven for a good while without too much issue, but I felt compelled to chase every little thing that I came across until it didn't bother me anymore.

Ill throw together an update post soon, I think I've put just around 12k-13k miles on the car since it was painted and put on the road, and a lot of interesting stuff has happened.

[NoPistons!]

Little bit of taste and patience goes a long way. Beautiful car. Love the corners

[FaLKoN240]

I kinda liked it more when it was multi color...

Any of those colors it was would've been better than the final one.

Nonetheless clean build, on a budget, no less!

[Got Insulin?]

Originally Posted by FaLKoN240

I kinda liked it more when it was multi color...

Any of those colors it was would've been better than the final one.

Nonetheless clean build, on a budget, no less!

Unfortunately, the car's color is sort of an oddball and it does not photograph well. It's a good deal more subdued and greenish in person.

[OBEEWON]

Love this car so much. Even better in person.

[ixfxi]

obee
how did you get a s14 body kit for your e46?

[OBEEWON]

Originally Posted by ixfxi

obee
how did you get a s14 body kit for your e46?

hahahaha. crap we should do pictures together.

[supersayianjim]

how much did your paint job cost?? and is it a stage 2??

[SuperLame]

Cool build. How is the seat dye holding up?

[SupaDoopa]

I heard people dying their seats and the color getting all over them when it gets humid out. Hopefully they doesn't happen or that would absolutely suck. Also, if you went OEM pearl white, I feel like it would do the car a lot more justice but pretty dope none the less. I bet the paint was the most expensive part.

[nastymilk]

Are you going to plan an engine swap of some sort? Or are you going to keep rocking the KA for the foreseeable future? Awesome build btw, I LOVE that color.

[Mikester]

Are the door jambs, under the trunk, hood & engine bay the same new color as the car?

Rims are SICK!

[510-SR20DET]

Can you list the price of everything including the car? I am having doubts. the decent paint alone would be 2000-3000. JDM tail lights and that navan bumper aint cheap either.

[Big Zee]

^ if you look for deals its possible. also he hasn't said how long its taken him so I doubt its a week long or 2 week build which would cost a lot more as parts become a premium.

I like the color I see, you sir did a great job on this S14.
creature compforts are where its at, my next big mod will be puting in a AC system with a DCC so it looks modern and will have cold air haha

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by NoPistons!

Little bit of taste and patience goes a long way. Beautiful car. Love the corners

Thanks dude, the corners are now clear, there are new pictures below.

Originally Posted by FaLKoN240

I kinda liked it more when it was multi color...

Any of those colors it was would've been better than the final one.

Nonetheless clean build, on a budget, no less!

The color is a love it or hate it thing - half the time, I hate the color, especially when it's really sunny. Any way, thanks for the kind words.

Originally Posted by OBEEWON

Love this car so much. Even better in person.

<3

Originally Posted by ixfxi

obee
how did you get a s14 body kit for your e46?

Laughed my ass off at this.

Originally Posted by supersayianjim

how much did your paint job cost?? and is it a stage 2??

Paint alone was $800, including the additional fees for the door jams, trunk jam and that stuff - which IIRC, was an extra 250-300. There was also $800 in body work done, primarily on the doors and quarters.

Originally Posted by SuperLame

Cool build. How is the seat dye holding up?

~15-16k later, the dye isn't that bad. The driver's seat is starting to 'grey' a bit, but the passenger seat and rear seats are pretty solid. I haven't seen any transfer to clothing yet. In a perfect world there's probably some finishing product to use that will 'seal' the dye and make it stay it's color longer, but I'm not sure what that would be. If you're dailying a car and the seats are dyed, I'd imagine you'd need to re-dye them every 6 months or so to keep them fresh.

Originally Posted by SupaDoopa

I heard people dying their seats and the color getting all over them when it gets humid out. Hopefully they doesn't happen or that would absolutely suck. Also, if you went OEM pearl white, I feel like it would do the car a lot more justice but pretty dope none the less. I bet the paint was the most expensive part.

Paint actually wasn't the most expensive part, lol. If you include paint and body work, then yes. But otherwise, not paint alone. Also, I haven't gotten any color transfer from the seat yet, or at least none that I've noticed. I'd imagine it'd be most likely to happen while the paint is fresh and the weather is warm, but in my case, I dyed the seats in the fall, and they didn't see +80 deg weather for a good 6 months after that.

Originally Posted by OBEEWON

hahahaha. crap we should do pictures together.

Yes.

Originally Posted by Mikester

Are the door jambs, under the trunk, hood & engine bay the same new color as the car?

Rims are SICK!

The door jambs, visible surfaces of the trunk, and a Handful of other 'missed spots' are teal like the car. The underside of the hood is still black, and I painted some of the engine bay black, but some is still red. It'll be tackled eventually, but the hood is popped so rarely that I couldn't care less.

Originally Posted by Got Insulin?

Unfortunately, the car's color is sort of an oddball and it does not photograph well. It's a good deal more subdued and greenish in person.

Truth.

Originally Posted by 510-SR20DET

Can you list the price of everything including the car? I am having doubts. the decent paint alone would be 2000-3000. JDM tail lights and that navan bumper aint cheap either.

The car was purchased for 3,500 dollars and had the following mods:

5-lug conversion
Stance coil overs
R33 Front brakes
HKS Hi-Power Exhaust

I then added:
Wheels/Tires for $1000
Paint/Bodywork at $1600
Navan Aero at $1000
New-er hood at $150
Tune Up at $100 or so.
Interior refresh was like $50 in paint
Tint was $150?
LED Tails were $150 because they had the cracked center section

And that's about it up to where the car was first put on the road. Do the math, I'm right around 7-8k without accounting for anything on the car that was sold or reused on my other car. Since then the total has gone up, because I'm ADD/OCD with cars, but yeah.

Originally Posted by Big Zee

^ if you look for deals its possible. also he hasn't said how long its taken him so I doubt its a week long or 2 week build which would cost a lot more as parts become a premium.

I like the color I see, you sir did a great job on this S14.
creature compforts are where its at, my next big mod will be puting in a AC system with a DCC so it looks modern and will have cold air haha

The car was built over 5 months, starting in May of 2012 to October of 2012, at least to the point that this thread was made. Most of the stuff I got was 'not perfect' which saved me some money, tbh. The AC is cold, but I do want to get a DCC eventually.

Anyway, more recent pictures:

Late October 2012:





December-ish of 2012:

Originally Posted by thefro526

June-ish of this year:







So yeah, I should really update this with all of what's happened since the original post, I daily-ed the car for much of the winter which was an adventure... Lol.

[mechanicalmoron]

You paid 8k for more weight, rotas, and no more power.

Epic build.

[inuyasha3466]

Still looks nice and clean!

[revat619]

Originally Posted by mechanicalmoron

You paid 8k for more weight, rotas, and no more power.

Epic build.

You clearly aren't paying attention. It's a daily. Who needs massive weight savings and tons of power for a daily?

Not a fan of rotas or the color, but i know what you were going for and you executed it quite well. Props!

[mechanicalmoron]

Originally Posted by revat619

You clearly aren't paying attention. It's a daily. Who needs massive weight savings and tons of power for a daily?

Not a fan of rotas or the color, but i know what you were going for and you executed it quite well. Props!

I read it just fine.

Who said that daily's have to be slow?

Daily or not, it's my contention that most of the money spent on a car should make it better. His mods, with a stock engine, make it WORSE.


It DOES look good, but it could be just as (moreso, without rotas) mechanically sound, and preform much better, for the same price.

[jr_ss]

Originally Posted by mechanicalmoron

I read it just fine.

Who said that daily's have to be slow?

Daily or not, it's my contention that most of the money spent on a car should make it better. His mods, with a stock engine, make it WORSE.


It DOES look good, but it could be just as (moreso, without rotas) mechanically sound, and preform much better, for the same price.

Who said it had to be fast? And who gives a shit what you think? It's his car, his money and he can do whatever he chooses to do with it. When you start funding his build, you can voice your opinion on what he is or isn't doing wrong. Until then, shut the fuck up.

[mechanicalmoron]

Originally Posted by jr_ss

Who said it had to be fast? And who gives a shit what you think? It's his car, his money and he can do whatever he chooses to do with it. When you start funding his build, you can voice your opinion on what he is or isn't doing wrong. Until then, shut the fuck up.

Yep, everyone needs to kiss his ass, on his slow jelly-belly lookin' thing.

....nah.

[jorge1190]

Originally Posted by mechanicalmoron

I read it just fine.

Who said that daily's have to be slow?

Daily or not, it's my contention that most of the money spent on a car should make it better. His mods, with a stock engine, make it WORSE.


It DOES look good, but it could be just as (moreso, without rotas) mechanically sound, and preform much better, for the same price.

Try to build a good running, reliable, fast 240 for what he spend and you will end up with nothing. Power costs a lot more money than people think.

PS: I am assuming you have not built anything that makes actual power.

Good job on the build Fro. The styling of the car is very similar to mine, Navan, simple wheels, but mine is pearl white and not as low.

[sleepyS14se]

Originally Posted by mechanicalmoron

You paid 8k for more weight, rotas, and no more power.

Epic build.

yep, did you not read that he built this to be a "driver's car" "a daily driver" ETC..

man this is one comfy lookin CLEAN ASS S14. PROPS TO OP for being original, keeping it clean, and not following bandwagon bs.

btw, i am keeping my s14 ka24de for good daily usage, they seem to be good engines for daily use so i cannot blame him for keeping the ka

[poundit]

He said his set number was 7k, even though he spent 8, to make a clean daily. Yeah he prolly could have spent some of that money on performance stuff but not everyone cares about that. As long as he is happy with the money he spent there it shouldnt matter if its fast or not. but then again this is zilvia.

great looking car btw

[mechanicalmoron]

Originally Posted by poundit

He said his set number was 7k, even though he spent 8, to make a clean daily. Yeah he prolly could have spent some of that money on performance stuff but not everyone cares about that. As long as he is happy with the money he spent there it shouldnt matter if its fast or not. but then again this is zilvia.

great looking car btw

I do see both sides of it, and it did turn out nicely.

I just also think that's a lot of money to spend on just looks.

[bc.]

On a budget doesn't mean cheap, it just means you are trying to stay around a price point you set for your build. He set his budget for $7K, a reasonable amount, and ended up at $8k, which is not too far over.