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For full features; Go to How should I attempt to start modding my car?
I'm curious what sort of things are cheap/easy to start doing, just to get
a feel of the car and start to know where things are and how to change
them. For instance, what did you guys do when you first started being
interested in cars? I just got my grandma's '96 oldsmobile so I figure no
harm done in fooling around with it.
Enigmatic42
How did I start? I researched the car I wanted and saved.
Unfortunatly, there isn't much you can do to a 96 Olds. When you're
modding a non-performance ar, it's going to be more costly (compared to
something like a Mustang) and you'll get less results. Most things will
have to be custom made as there isn't much of demand for performance parts
for a 96 Olds. Honestly, after you've put $10,000 into performance mods
for that car you'll still be getting beat by stock, performance-oriented
cars that cost 1/2 as much as your mods, and they have a alot more
potential from that point as well.
If you want to learn about cars, just try to do all of your own work
yourself. Some things will be too big to start with, but buy a Haynes
manual for your car, it'll run about $20. If you really want you could
probbaly find a shop manual for your car which will be much more detailed
and accurate (Haynes books usually cover several models for each repair),
but shop manuals run about $100.
When you want to start modding your car, there's a reason most people that
are fast don't have a N/A FWD 6 cylinder. Really, it's going to cost a lot
to make that car quick.
giant016
Best advice: Don't pour money into it unless it's going to be solely a
learning experience. You probably won't want to have that car forever.
jedimario
Heres the thing, I don't really expect to get much out of it, I just want a
project to do in my spare time/learn my way around under the hood. I only
have a few hundred dollars and I'm about to go to college where I cant even
bring the car, so if anything I'm spending money for the experience of
installing or changing things on my own. I figure besides routine
maintenance and small fixes I could install a cold air intake system for
around 200 bucks, I found this on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Oldsmobile-Ciera-3-1L-Weapon-COLD-AIR-Intake
-95-96_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247QQcategoryZ38634QQihZ0
16QQitemZ260028256195QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V
Any other suggestions for something to do thats cheap would be great.
Thanks
Enigmatic42
Do you have any idea of what maintenance was done on this car and when? If
not, you could start with a few simple things first, spark plugs and wires,
air filter (or a CAI if you so desire), and PCV valve. If you have never
opened a hood before, check the coolant level, add windshield washer fluid,
check the brake fluid and transmission fluid, change the oil and oil
filter, learn what your engine looks like from different angles. The main
thing is getting comfortable around your engine before you tear it to
pieces.
dvdrose18
