Deuce has cost me some bucks for sure

Headers with install $1,000 give or take $100
Cat backs 700 about
K&N 300
Tune with tuner 600
MPD ram Air Hood painted 2,000

Now members will say "Those mods didn't make the Deuce go faster" But at least now I can take the baseball cards out of the spokes (LOL)

 

Thanks `Tadd for your post & modification cost ($)

That's what I was hoping for on this thread

I think you made some super Mod's for your Award Winning Deuce Thank You

 

That Mickey Mantle card in the spokes was an expensive upgrade!

 

Yes, @ the cost of $1 K a `Card, it can really get expense 4-Sure

 

Well most I've spent on my Monte performance wise is $80 for two super 44 mufflers. I fabbed up my own dual pipe and that would be it. It's a daily driver and I always tried to have a daily driver and another car as a weekend/pleasure car, the M5 I've spent over 12k on it so far

 

i dont know how much i have spent to make my car faster all i know is i invested double what i paid. bought the car for 2100 2 years ago and to date i have spent 4k in gas and 5800 in repairs....still well worth it

 

That's definitely a tough question. At some point I'd like to put together an exact list of what all has went into it just to see where it stands. Just going off the top of my head with some rough estimates:

-Totaled 98 gtp for the swap $1500 (made some of that back selling excess parts off the car that I wasn't using for the swap)
-Forged/coated pistons $900
-ATI balancer $500
-Meziere Flex $350
-Machine shop work for bottom end mods, machining, etc $1200
-ARP main studs / head studs $150
-ZZP S4 heads $2000
-IS3 Cam $350
-Rollmaster double chain $150
-ZZP pushrods $100
-"LS7" lifters $125
-HS 1.7 rockers $300
-Meziere HD water pump $325
-AC delete $30
-99+ alternator setup from junkyard $50
-ZZP alternator relocation bracket $75
-ZZP LIM outlet port matched to S3 heads $100 (?)
-PRJ modifications to cut and re-weld LIM inlet $250 (?)
-Yella Terra IC / whipple lower adapter $700 (?)
-PRJ IC extension with thicker core $500 (?)
-Frozenboost FMHE $150 (?)
-Frozenboost IC tank $100
-Bosch IC pump $100
-Whipple setup $2500 (with animul adapters that have been partially replaced with YT/PRJ parts)
-Yella Terra snout $350 (?)
-Yella Terra pullies (3x) $125
-Whipple bypass valve $250
-8 rib conversion pullies $75
-SC belt wrap kit $150
-102mm TB $350 (?)
-100mm MAF $250
-PRJ fuel rails $300 (?)
-Bosch racing 110# injectors $500 (?)
-2x Walbro 255 fuel pumps $250
-Aeromotive pump speed controller $300
-Magnafuel adjustable FPR $200 (?)
-PRJ wires $100
-2x Elite Engineering catch cans $300
-TOG Xtreme Headers $350

Quick total on that is roughly $15k, but is a little misleading because I made some money back selling parts of the GP and by selling the Animul lower whipple adapter. It also doesn't include numerous other misc parts (machined oil pump cover, all AN fuel line under the hood, bearings, misc bolts, gaskets, fuel hard line, belts, hoses, stock replacement parts like TPS/IAC/Radiator/new alternator/etc, etc etc). I also didn't include any trans mods, suspension mods, etc.

Obviously she isn't running right now either and will need more money to get her running again.

I do have a little bit of a tough time with the word 'investment', especially when spending money on a depreciating item like a car. The return on money when selling the car (especially these cars) is virtually nothing. Even parting out the aftermarket mods, you're lucky to get 50% unless it's some rare item (GM diff, etc).

It depends. If I were to have that money up front, I think I'd rather have the money. But without the engine swap and time I've put into the car over the years- I don't think I'd still have kept the car either. After the sound system got stolen, I probably would've DD'd it until the mileage got too high to keep driving.

I certainly know a lot now that I could've done differently to save money too so I could have the best of both.

How it stands right now, I'm pretty happy with it. I enjoy going out and wrenching on it a few hours a week as a hobby. My favorite thing by far is how unique it is. There weren't a whole lot of L67 swapped 5th gen montes, and there are very few whipple 3800s out there. When it is up and driving (although that's been a couple years now)- I absolutely love it, it is very unique. I always get lots of compliments, and it's always a good conversation starter.

It's one thing when you've got a car where you bolted on a bunch of performance parts (as much as I love my vette, it definitely falls into this category- and probably always will since it's hard to be unique). It's another thing when someone drops their car off somewhere with a stack of money to get a bunch of stuff done. But, it seems like you get a lot more respect when you've done everything yourself, especially when so many things need to be custom made- when you have a platform that isn't so common. Regardless of all the FWD hate you'll get, it seems like the majority of the comments are positive.

 

 

That is some impressive list Chad! I don't even know what half of that crap is!