Question about S14 mods

[ka24ever]

Hello everyone! This past January I purchased my first car, a 1995 240SX SE. I've been driving for 4 years or so, but this is the first car I've purchased on my own. Anyway, my question was about where I could best invest my money on mods. When I purchased the car, the previous owner (who owned it since 1998) had already installed:
-hotshot header
-HKS super drager exhaust
-JWT ECU and intake
-KYB GR2's
-ebay front STB

My dad is a mechanic and when driving it home, we noticed a few things wrong, and I began the diagnosing process. Since then, I have installed/done:
-Energy Suspension subframe, differential, and front tension rod bushings
-oil change(w/ filter), new trans and diff fluid
-new rear rotors, pads, and I had both calipers rebuilt
-OE thermostat, upper and lower radiator hoses

Now, where should I spend my money (what very little I have as a full time student)?

[JM216S14]

spend your money on your education...

[ka24ever]

Well, I get scholarships, and the amount that I do take out in student loans, I've already began to pay back the interest on it. Basically, I don't really need a job, but have one to fund my hobbies.

[silviaks2nr]

You've only had the car 5 months, keep driving it and fix it up as you go along. I like to do things slowly as needed, heck I've owned my s14 for more than 11 years now and the outside still looks fairly stock. Changing the sound system would be on the top of my list though. The factory speakers and head unit if still installed are pretty awful. Oh and a projector hid retrofit. The factory lighting is complete crap.

[ka24ever]

Thanks for the suggestion. My plan is to own this car for a long time and build it up along the way

[OBEEWON]

Nah bruv. If you live on Mt. Akina you are sure to run into trouble. I suggest you find a group b motor and get it tuned with a new tachometer.

[FaLKoN240]

Buy tires and brake pads.

[brndck]

buy the biggest shift knob you can find and an underglow kit. proceed to run them streets.

[Ilya]

Spend the money on education and being in school aka go out for a beer with friends or party. Once school is over and you are looking for a job with political science degree, you will be struggling and when you do find a job, you won't make enough and your free time is still gone since you work 8-5:30 plus 1.5 hours of traffic a day.

So car mods + student = putting a 3inch catback exhaust on a Tesla.

[ehhhregartless]

I'd recommend you submit your concerns to Meta World News. They come through every time

[ka24ever]

Lol thanks for the responses. I'll be graduating with a dual degree in biology and psychology, and hopefully will begin med school in 2 years or so.

[JM216S14]

:2f2f:Looks like you have this all figured out:2f2f:

[simmode1]

I vote driver mod. Take it 'as is' down to the local autocross & see what shakes loose.

[CamberWear]

I'm a full time student who traded for a bone stock 95 SE a year and a half ago. Since owning it I did what you did and replaced the worn out footwork parts and did some maintenance then i started working outward on things that will further improve the car, 5 speed swap, intake, header, straight pipe to muffler, agressive wheels, coilovers, some more suspension arms, lsd, some interior goodies, exterior goodies. Next is wide body, engine work, paint job, boost. It's been my daily and continues to be.

[10psitx]

First...spend time doing some research about car...that will or should lead you to basic mods and then into some more "involved" stuff, my advise.....one should always proceed to "modify" an automobile in such a manner as to improve the braking, handling and response in that order. The BIGGEST modification any car owner can do for a car is LEARN car control...ie driving school (not DMV related).
As mentioned before... Find a race course/track close to you and sign up for teen driving lessons, search the googles for auto cross events in your area and attend, speak to the competitors as well.
Learning to control the car "AS IS" first, develop your skill to the point that the car is limiting you as a driver....then upgrade the system that is holding you back and go from there....Cosmetic bull shit is just that.... bullshit...that can come after.

Mods to consider, reasonable brake up grade (300zx front and rear) do it right...search for the threads for the information.

You did some suspension stuff, great....keep going...search and you will find alot of info on the interwebs, if it confuses you then come back here and ask questions about options...(heads up, you will get flamed for stupid questions)

Response...doesn't mean engine swap...the stock engine is plenty for a novice, Tune up, fix any leaky bits, address cooling if necessary, improve breathing of the engine...again search the internet for options, then come back here and ask the stupid noob questions eventually you will get answers or pointed in the right direction...but for now open a new tab on your computer, go to the search bar and type in "bolt in brake upgrade s14 240sx" you will be taken to an amazing world of options, it actually exists.....try it...

[ZenkiKid]

Tires, pads, and seat time.

When you make more cash start looking into upgrading the suspension.

[Kingtal0n]

First thing I do when I get a 240sx is a motor swap.

takes < 1 day to do a full sr20det swap. +100 horsepower / 12 hours, good ratio.

[ka24ever]

I probably shouldn't have made it seem like I'm such a noob, but I've wanted a 240 since 7 years ago, so I know quite a lot about the car. This thread was geared towards eliciting responses/opinions about the best area of the car to modify first.

[simmode1]

^^^Well, I still say driver mod first. But if you want mechanical suggestions, I'd suggest forgetting about all the garbage N/A mods. There are few bigger wastes of time for a 240 than N/A KA mods. Be grateful it was the PO who wasted his time on those. Figure out what your goal for the car (autox, hardpark, dirft, HPDE, etc), then set a budget. The discipline you pick will determine the priority of your mods. But personally, I'd go with Fortune Auto coilovers, PSM suspension arms, J30 diff, Z32 brakes, 18x9.5/18x10.5 wheels, Circuit Sports clear headlight lenses with Junyan corner lights, aero of your choice and finally paint. Then start saving for the eventual KA-T build or ubiquitous engine swap.

[wurley]

coils+ wheels

[ka24ever]

Thanks simmode! That's exactly the type of response I was hoping for. I tend to agree with starting by improving my skills as a driver, especially since this is the first manual car I've owned, let alone driven.

[simmode1]

^^^No problem. I'm not sure about the availability of Parts By Max suspension parts anymore, so hopefully someone can recommend some alternatives aside from ISIS stuff. Might want to check out Phase2Motortrend... http://www.phase2motortrend.com/

[sil80takashi]

why even go viscous, it's a noobs mistake
and just plain waste of time and money

go mechanical lsd if you're ever gonna upgrade

[simmode1]

^^^Totally agree, but he's a noob so I gave him the 240sx starter kit setup. He'll learn his own preferences from there.

[Ratpack_Chad]

GK tech also makes great suspension arms since PSM has been out of some key components lately. Also SPL, cant go wrong with any of the three above mentioned company's in my opinion.

[Kuma]

alarm first. Then suspension, power, aesthetics.

[DenkiMan!]

the very first thing i did to my stock s14 was a welded diff, i literally did it 2 weeks after buying it lol but i had intentions of drifting so i already knew what direction i was going in mods-wise and i made a sort of list.

like simmode said decide what you want to do with the car first and go from there. PBM arms are still available according to their site, but check out SPL and Stance stuff, they're on par with PBM. Battle Version is also a cheap and reputable alternative, i personally know some pro-am guys running their arms