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automatic worth the mods?

N

Nerawkas

CEG'er
Joined
Feb 26, 2008
Messages
213
Location
West coast
i own a 99 contour se. i had an intake put in, plus dual custom exhaust system, i was going to go all out and buy headers, manifold, etc. etc. but just stopped and wondered. is an automatic worth the mods? am i just wasting my money? my friends see my car,(honda owners) and liked my intake. but when they heard my exhaust, thats when i started hearing negativity, "you wasted your money" "automatic? what are you thinking?"
"that thing isnt even fast..."
blah blah blah, its my car, my money, i do with it whatever i want.
anyways, i was just wondering IF the automatic is worth the mods, if not then ill just stop while im ahead. BUT if it is, does anyone have pics? also dyno results too would be nice.
 
I would have to say no, but it is your car... Look at Zorrex, he has an automatic with dual exhaust and an intake, plus his car is only Zetec :p ;)

Oh yea, what kind of exhaust did you get? I bet the Honda guys did not like it because it was not a coffee can muffler :laugh:
 
hey man. dont let others tell you what to do/not do to your car. if its what you wanna do, go for it. yes, you will get flamed about it on car forums. but hey, its not their car. i say if you have no desire in buying a manual in the near future, go for it!
 
yeah, but you are right, hearing your feedback though about it being my car, iunno. i just needed some reassurance, i love it, but im hated for it. got any pics on Zorrex? oh wait, maybe ill just search for him.
 
Black 98 CSVT said:
hey man. dont let others tell you what to do/not do to your car. if its what you wanna do, go for it. yes, you will get flamed about it on car forums. but hey, its not their car. i say if you have no desire in buying a manual in the near future, go for it!
Click to expand...

but i do have intentions on buying a new car! but not in the near future, i got this car as a gift from one of my closest friends as a goodbye present. im going to blow his mind away when he sees the car, but thanks for the reassurance, it is my car, ill do what i want. btw, i am looking for some headers, anybody know where i can get some? i tired looking in the parts section, but didnt find any for my car.
 
It's your car, do what you want. You should probably know that the tranny is not known to be one of the strongest ones. Having said that, I understand your stance completely. In the early '70s I had a car that had factory rating of 400 ft.lb. of torque, the automatic I had was known to break at anything over 425. I put all kinds of stuff on that motor, it finally did what everybody warned of and tranny broke. Switched it to 4 speed manual, best thing I ever did, it ran even faster. That's hard (but not impossible) to do now though because you have to change so many more components than back then. We didn't have computers and all the specialized switches, wiring, and sensors cars do now. I can look back now and would not change a thing, I realize that I was taking a crash course in mechanical engineering and didn't even know it. I say be careful, ask craploads of questions, and have an open mind, you'll see all kinds of things, some of which you may not believe, I know I did. I've had the luck to build a lot of racing engines in the past and learned a whole lot, never formally trained but I read books and manuals like crazy. I have NEVER paid anyone anything to work on my cars EVER, I do all my own work from one end of the car to the other, it's a challenge to me to avoid the hourly rates that dealerships and garages charge. I may take a little bit longer than that "factory" guy does, but at the rates they charge I will probably never get paid better. I owe it all to the fact that I wanted to learn everything I could about my ride.
 
Just pretend this as a automatic:
contest099.jpg

newpics011.jpg




See, it doesn't matter. It is weather or not you like your car. Make it your own, and who says "cool" cars can't be auto? Post pics of yours, it will make you feel better. Hey, at least you have a car and it is still running :shrug: :blackeye:. I have a "cool" looking manual contour that I can't drive because it is busted...... Enjoy what you have, and do what you want. - JOE

End on this note - it probably is better than this:
bodykit-honda-civic-9698-feels-fb.jpg
 
BoSoxBruin said:
I would have to say no, but it is your car... Look at Zorrex, he has an automatic with dual exhaust and an intake, plus his car is only Zetec :p ;)

Oh yea, what kind of exhaust did you get? I bet the Honda guys did not like it because it was not a coffee can muffler :laugh:
Click to expand...

Hooray I was made an example of!

But seriously, do what you want, man. It is your car! My car is going to be getting some serious pampering this summer because it is what I want to do. I'm seriously looking into maybe doing some suspension modifications. Does my car NEED it? No. But, it will look really good and it will make the car more fun. Does my car NEED the SVT exhaust? No, but it adds a couple ponies and makes the car more fun. Mods aren't just for performance, but for personal satisfaction with the car as well. No one wants to be embarrassed by driving a super crappy car, do they? Because that's how I feel right now :laugh::laugh::laugh:
 
you're sinking money into a 10 year old Ford Contour, of course its not worth the money.

But if you like doing it, if you like modding cars and turning the ratchet, then go for it man! you are learning life skills by working on the car yourself, sure its costing you money to make the car faster, but whatever, if you like doing it, who cares what other people think? Those other people arent you.

come to think of it, theres a guy on here that has an SE tour with an SVT motor with headers he just put in his car, and its an automatic, and that thing scoots really nicely.

There was a guy on here a while back that had an ATX SE contour that he put a 3L into, and that thing hauled ass.
 
I did it, regardless. DO what you want man. Do it for yourself, like I did mine. You have to drive it every day and who cares anyway? Its always going to be a contour. I love driving mine, just because I get to see the goofy expressions on everyones face whether going WTF or what is that?
I get all kinds of questions and you know what, I had fun doing it, although it took me forever haha.:laugh:

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Mod it. Who cares what a bunch of goofy Honda owners say?

I know my zetec will never even come close to running 14's in the quarter, but i love dumping money into it regardless. It's my baby. :eek:
 
SOLD! you guys are the best! tomorrow im actually getting 3 inch pipes installed XD
ill post pics of everything tomorrow... CEG ROCKS!
 
my car(first car) is a 99 SE Zetec ATX, Yet you can ask a couple people on here who have seen it, its kinda a beast (not meaning fast) at the moment. But I love it and I'm planning on doing a lot to it. With this being my first car I don't really know so much about mods or anything else really. So I ask these guys and gals, let me tell ya they are helpful. But i still have people telling me, Why would you put all that money into that car with that mileage (103k) when its probably going to die on ya. I never really have an answer for that, except I love it. If you look at the thread I made introducing myself you'll see Ive vowed never to get rid of it. So if it does end up dying on me ill have an expensive paper weight.
 
Manual trannys ARE faster, but they have one really big flaw, your female fondling experience will drop by 50% (all that shifting). Oh, one other thing, if you start to make any kind of big power, you can expect to buy a transmission manufacturing company's worth of broken parts. When my brother and I raced American Motors cars, I got where I could pull, overhaul and reinstall a 4 speed to turnkey in 1 1/2 hr. Cars ran 1/4 in the tens @ 130 mph but sure ate up driveline parts.
 
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