Anxious for more GO!

[ltpl4y3r]

I bought my car to get in to Rallycross, but since the purchase, my funds seem to be evaporating from my pocket. Unfortunately, those funds aren't really making their way into the car. I've been doing some needed maintenance, such as stabilizer bar bushings (all 4), ran SeaFoam through the crank case and fuel, changed the very black oil after that, dropped in a whole quart of Lucas to stop the drippies, lubed up the exposed rack, and started the hunt for all the other little projects.

These little projects are starting to add up:

• All the bushings on the shifter linkage have disintegrated
• The boot for both sides of the rack have disappeared
• There is a hole in the floorboard on the driver's side that needs to get patched up
• The wipers are barely functional
• The start is very rough
• The exhaust has been very poorly patched (they put a tube INSIDE to patch the area)
• There is surface rust in many places and some deeper spots in others (luckily not anywhere critical)

So, I am stuck in planning mode, until the funds start rolling my way.

I feel I am getting a bit overwhelmed by my options to move forward. WTFestiva has inspired me to get into stage rally, so I am keeping an eye toward that future. I want to do the Aspire/Rio swap. I would really like to do a BP swap, but I'm also not really opposed to spending some money to rebuild/PnP/etc this engine similar to the way drumnerd33 (http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...super-b3-build) did, but I am really anxious to see his dyno numbers. My Festy is carbed, though, so do I want to go through the effort of the engine swap and convert to FI?

Then I fantasize about an all wheel drive with dual B3s like this crazy lupo (http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...-Twin-24V-Lupo). That would make for a truly killer rally car! Bonus: if I decided I wanted to upgrade engines, then I would just double my swap, since they will both be compatible.

Oh! Not to mention all the non-engine stuff I want/need to do! Like, going to 14" wheels (which means that I need to make a decision/wait on the aspire swap), building a roll cage, upgrade the suspension to something "better" (I'm still trying to understand the car terminology and what is good/bad), better exhaust, headers, etc...

So, I am going through all of this, while trying to learn about cars and car repair/modding...

Any advice for a guy feeling a bit overwhelmed and a bit impatient? What would you do first? How do you keep the cost and simplicity manageable?

[getnpsi]

Cost and simplicity is to go with the long standing upgrades from other oem cars first before you think custom one off for only your car.
1. As far as running rough start your tuneup with the cheapest stuff first for peace of mind. plugs with too big of a gap do that. Copper plugs are great replacements, all i use.
2. Ebay short shifter and longer hardware. 25 bucks tops
3. Get the aspire swap done and rio struts. Turned down bushings to direct replace what you can up front.
4. If you have to weld on your floorboard might as well get the guy to weld brackets so you can change to other seats out of another vehicle of your choice, that seems to make sense if you have to rip out your interior halfway anyway.
5. I still have to pass emissions test this month but my plan is to get a used aftermarket civic exhaust and have it mated to mine. thousands of kids in the US run out of money and its decent pieces for pennies on the dollar. Again if you have a welding guy this is the time to do it all at once. Id take off my whole exhaust and do it myself on the ground.

[Bert]

Start small: stop relying on other people to fix your car. I switched over to synthetic oil 3 decades ago in order to reward myself for doing oil and filter changes. I know this is peanuts overall but (for me) it sure was a first step in the right direction towards avoiding $100/hr shop rates.