- The year was 2013.
I just picked up a nice, fresh set
of Eibach Sportline lowering springs
from a 98 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS.
A little backstory on me.
I grew up in small town Northern Wisconsin.
You might know there was like,
a lack of Japanese sports cars that like,
upsets the majority of people in that town that owns trucks.
Small town Northern Wisconsin.
Being a new car enthusiast that didn't have really
the necessary tools or education rather,
to install said lowering springs onto my car.
I was lucky enough to, you know,
maybe have a socket wrench and a jack at that point.
That was probably about it.
So my only option was to get a hold of a local shop
to get these springs installed
so I could finally have a lowered car.
The first shop told me that
they don't work on import cars, like at all.
The second shop, after a slew
of not so politically correct things
so that they would work on an import car,
but ended up quoting me a total cost of right around $650.
After I politely told them they can go get bent,
it took around two or three other locations
to finally find someone to do it for a reasonable price.
Now I know not everyone watching this lives in small town
Northern Wisconsin, consider yourself lucky.
But the fact of the matter is, I ended up paying someone
to do a rather, now that I know,
easy installation that I could have done myself,
or at least had a friend help me along the way.
And it got me thinking, who else has run into this issue?
You know, where maybe, you know,
the costs of the part alone,
wasn't the issue to actually buy it for your car.
But the cost of the installation on top
of the cost of the part, actually was.
So today, we compiled the list
of some of those modifications that you can do by yourself,
or maybe with the help of a friend or two,
to help save you a couple bucks on today's episode
of "Strapped for Cash?"
Why is there a question mark there? "Strapped for Cash?"
(upbeat electronic music)
And the clapped car owners.
- Hello, Gels. Hello, Fitment Industries.
- Hey, nice wheels, gentlemen.
I could see you didn't use as low as 0% financing,
quick delivery at Fitment Industries.
(obnoxious laughter)
- Hey, where'd you get those wheels, the toilet store?
- Since we started this with my little story about my quest
of the lowering springs,
we might as well talk about suspension,
whether that be a set of lowering springs
that have coilovers, or maybe you bombed out
and went with an air suspension kit.
If this is one of your first modifications to a car,
it can kind of seem a little bit daunting.
I mean, you're ripping apart some of the key vital pieces
of your car, but in all honesty,
it's really not all that bad.
Starting with lowering springs,
even though it's less parts, are actually a bit more
of a task to install than a full set of coilovers.
Since you have to take apart your stock start assembly,
and install the new spring,
and then re-install the whole thing. Still can be done.
And if you don't have the tools like a spring compressor
or things like that, you can easily rent one from one
of your local auto parts stores.
As long as you return it, it's free to use.
CliffNotes version of an install like
that goes something like this.
Put your jack in, remove the wheel,
remove your lower strut bolt, top hat bolts, drop the thing,
ads brake lines.
Out of the way, removing the strut completely from the car.
From there, you can press the spring, move top head,
decompress the spring, replace the spring,
reinstall the top head, put it back in the car.
And you're all of a sudden good to go, right?
Well, maybe a little more steps than that.
Maybe a little bit more frustration,
but there's plenty of videos you can watch
and help you through it. Step by step.
Which I would suggest doing.
If you are replacing your stock suspension
with the complete coilover kit, you can kind of skip that.
You don't have to worry about the part where it literally
feels like you're diffusing a bomb in your garage,
and you just swap out the entire old strut assembly
with your new coilovers.
Air suspension takes it a little step further,
but still can be done by yourself in a matter
of about a weekend or so. I think Dakota said it best.
If you're gonna sole coilovers
and you sole aftermarket radio,
you can more than likely install air suspension on your car.
Companies like Air Lift make this an incredibly easy task
and they make that possible by giving you things
like color instructions specific to your vehicle,
which makes the entire process that much easier.
I've done two air suspension installs on vehicles
on jack stands alone.
And even though you get a little sweaty,
you get a little dirty, it can still be fun,
and still be done.
It's not fun.
I mean, it is fun but not ideal. (laughs)
And of course it makes for some great stories to tell
with your buddies.
Doing this by yourself or with some friends
can save you at least a couple hundred dollars.
And maybe even more, if you're talking about air suspension,
that can get a little more pricey.
If you're looking to change the sound of your car,
maybe open up that airfield for some more performance things
like an exhaust in the intake or some great modifications
that you can knock out sometimes in a matter
of like, less than like, an hour,
but we all know how that goes.
There's a reason they're called bolt-on modifications.
You unbolt the old one, you bolt-on the new one.
Exhaust installs personally are like,
my favorite things to do.
For the most part, you don't run into any issues
and it is like the instant gratification modification,
as long as it's a quality exhaust
and it's gonna sound good.
Otherwise, you know, might run into some fitment issues
and kind of sounding poopy. It's gonna be a bad day.
Now with the new cars,
you might get an extra step along the way
to take into consideration. Like removing the under panels
and dealing with like, the valves and things like that
for the different modes.
But overall, nothing too crazy.
I think an aftermarket exhaust is one of,
if not the first modifications I have ever done to a vehicle
and would suggest anyone who gets one
to, you know, just do it themselves.
This can save you up about like, $150
to a couple hundred dollars depending on where you live
and what kind of shops are around you.
But if you are looking to have something custom made,
then you can expect that price increase as well.
Hiccups and pickups. Am I right?
The next one is one that I have personal experience
with just this last year during the build of my RSA.
And that is wrap. I think I had hundreds,
if not thousands of DMS and comments asking about
how difficult that actual process was.
To wrap my car and any tips that I had because they want
to now wrap their car.
Now hear me out.
I've wrapped one thing in my entire life.
And one car my entire life, and nothing prior to that.
The only thing remotely close
was applying Monaco covering on my RC airplane.
And even that is pretty different in a sense of applying.
After finishing the wrap on the RX-8,
I developed an entire new respect for those wrap cars
for a living. Was it difficult?
Absolutely. Did it take up an entire week of my life?
Yep. But was it worth it? Absolutely.
Now this is one of those things
that are like, pretty subjective. You're like, jealous.
I don't really have the time or place
to do something like that. That's completely fair.
All right. I got it.
I also think that the price of those
who do wrap cars for a living,
and it is also completely fair.
But if you have the time, you have enough patience,
and you do some research,
and are willing to learn a new skill,
you can absolutely do it by yourself.
I mean, everyone's gotta start somewhere.
Is it going to turn out perfect? No.
But the satisfaction that you get when you wrap up
that last piece is really indescribable.
Maybe, might've been a little sleep deprived,
but it felt so damn good when I took a step back,
looked at the entire car when it was done,
might've shed a tear.
Might've been the sweat dripping from my forehead,
'cause it was like a hundred degrees out that week.
It was like, the hottest week
that I could have ever done it.
But you know, it is what it is.
Your typical wrap job will charge you right in between
2,500 and $5,000 or more depending on the wrap
and what vehicle you're getting wrapped.
Which like I said, is completely fair.
It takes a lot of man hours, not only to install the wrap,
but to learn how to do it properly.
My total cost throughout my car was probably around $850.
All said and done, with the cost of material
and the tools I needed to do it.
And of course, a little bit of my sanity.
But, at the end of the day, good chunk of change saved.
Like I said, not perfect,
but nothing a little rewrap in the future
of some parts can't take care of.
Back in the day, something like an off the shelf tune
or an access port that we know of nowadays,
it was really kind of unheard of.
You would have to bring your car to a performance shop.
They would have to load it up on the Dyno
and get your car professionally in tune by a professional.
Someone who learned how to do that.
Today, we kind of have a little bit easy.
You can go buy a tune built specifically for your car.
And in some cases for specific mods,
like a header, or intake,
or what kind of fuel you want to run.
And they're like, $500.
These tunes are insanely easy to do yourself.
That's like, the whole point of them.
To be able to do it yourself.
Back in the day, it's the thought of messing
with your maps and like, timing on your own like,
with no prior knowledge or experience,
sounded bat crazy. But today, even idiots like me,
can do it in a matter of a few minutes.
Off the shelf tunes have become extremely popular,
not only for boosted, but even NA platforms.
I have one of my FRS.
And actually, I'm like, you know quite a bit of torque
because then it has a torque dip and it helped out.
Utilizing your OBD2-
Utilizing your OBD2 port, oh my God,
Utilizing your OBD2 port (mumbles)
Utilizing your OBD2 port, you can unlock a few horsepower
in like, a matter of a few selections on the screen
and a few turns of your key.
Now, if you're looking to get an absolute most out
of your car.
Or maybe you have a specific build you are doing.
Absolutely a hundred percent, taser shot with the Dyno
and get your car to make and tweak it just right
to get the most out of your car and your build.
Because every car, no matter what it is,
it's the same make, same model can be entirely different.
Off the shelf tunes have a factor of safety built into them,
which is how they're able to be sold
to people like you and me.
And knowing that it's not gonna blow up your car.
Unless you do some really dumb shit. All right.
The truth is here.
There are a lot of modifications out there
that you can do yourself to save a couple extra bucks.
And honestly, in the long run,
makes you feel a little bit prouder,
knowing that you did it yourself.
But you know, sometimes things just need to be left
to the professionals.
And that is absolutely okay. For instance,
I just didn't have the confidence to start cutting into my
RX-8 myself, which is why I had a shop do it.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
Don't feel bad about having someone else do something
for you if you don't have the confidence to do it yourself.
Because at the end of the day,
it's about how the car turns out.
And you don't want to turn out poopy 'cause it's your car
and you want it to look good,
and that's what shops are there for.
So let us know down in the comments.
What mods you think, you know?
Should be left for professionals or ones
that you can do yourself?
And of course, if you're looking for some wheels,
tires, or suspension, go check out fitmentindustries.com.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
I'm Gels, from Fitment Industries. We'll see you later.