So I have this vision for my 05 xa. My fav style of car building is rat-rodding and I want to bring that into how I build my xa. We all know times are tight so I keep my budget super low, $50 max on none essential mods. My plans are to use cheap used parts from junk yards and ebay when ever possible. I love the diy stuff on here and want to take the diy down a different path, lets throw around some ideas for using parts from other cars to better our own. What have you guys tried and what problems and fixes has everyone faced, what are you thinking about trying?

Some simple things im thinking of are, a foward opening hood I've done this before with junk yard hinges, an arm rest lol, I got some old kinda beat up rims im gonna clean up and paint. Ect.
Some harder things im thinking, corolla intake manifold and throttle modded to fit and heat wrapped for that oldschool look, pieced together full exhaust also heat wrapped to keep the heat down, maybe a bigger radiator, maybe a small supercharger?

Im sure you guys get the idea. I could go on for ever I have so many ideas. Anyone else out there wanna share ideas.

 

do some thing like this


http://www.diariomotor.com/2012/04/1...anica-trabant/

 

i like rat rods, but honestly that looked like garbage

 

lol! that is why i posted it, to discourage him

 

There's no discouraging me lol. Rat-rods can be alot cleaner then that. Im talking about function over form. Im pretty good at modding things so they work with other things. For example rather then spending stupid money on a fancy direct fit racing radiator, take a min take some measurements and go to a junk yard and find a bigger radiator to you can make fit and save a ton of money with the same result of better cooling and it's alot of fun to spend the time under the hood doing custom one off ****.

 

100% with you.
Look at somthing like this:
http://www.jims59.com/RatRodsBarnFinds/index.html
Find some good ideas and go with it. What color is your car? I too love the Rat Rod look and when it come down to paint it's always flat.

 

For now its stock color, a dark blue with almost like a flake sheen to it. Im going flat black on my rims once I clean up some minor curb rash and I want to paint the headlights flat black and hand paint some orange pinstripping on all the flat black and have the tail pipe heat wrapped in orange, once I do the exhaust. Thats about all im thinking for visual modds to give it a ratrod look.
I also have a neat idea for a bumper sticka I want it to say:
Rat-Rod Tunner
Goin Fast Savin Gas

 

What!? Who is this guy? An xA rat rod with 50 bucks! Flat black rims making things rat rods? I've had a handful of rat rods and I didn't even know it! OH BOY!

 

Why would you want to build a rat car? Yes it is a rat car not a rat rod since it is missing the power of a hot rod?

I will never understand why someone would take a nice looking newer car and work at making it look unfinished and "ratty".

It is one thing to decide to paint your car flat black and do a reverse hood. That is custom and many people do it. It is the idea you suggested of throwing different intake parts and a larger radiator on the car just for the look. There is no need for more cooling with our 90hp at the wheels.

One last thing, there is no way you are going to make some random super charger work on your car. Especially for the $50 mod limit.

 

Just a reminder when the flat head v8 came out it had less h.p. then our cars. And im not saying im gonna just throw some random parts on my car fir no reason. Im trying to talk about ways to make our own parts for a fraction of "performance" parts price. Everyone talks about how expensive parts like the weapon r intake manifold with small power yields are. Why not make the parts yourself using junk yard parts and some machining equipment and get similar power results. Ive read some post about people making the corolla 1.8 intake manifold fit and the throttle body is like 10 cm bigger. I started this post to see what other ideas are out there.

 

Modding for looks is easier than modding for performance. What are you after exactly?
Manifolds and TB don't give any gains on the otherwise stock motor BTW.

 

im pretty sure rat rods are purely form over function.

 

I am just going to add one thing here. Your modern day ECU will not respond well to any homegrown performance mods. It will just adjust everything to compensate for what ever you do to achieve best fuel economy possible.

If you want to do homegrown power builds you need a more mod friendly drive train.

But hey it is your car do what you want with it.

 

I had no eye deer using the term ratrod would cause such a rucus lol. Basicly Im just passionate about doing my own work and making my own parts when ever possible lol.and I know realistically I might get to 115 hp with basic bolt ons. But I love driving it now so any extra from modds is just that much more fun. I got a wife anf kiddo on the way so my mod money comes from my pocket change lol.
Ive had my 05 xa fir 18 months 24k miles.
So far I have a fujita cai I got used on ebay an axle back I made using a twin loop muffler I had laying around and an exedy stage 1 clutch. I installed all the parts myself and thats how I like it lol.
Next planned modd will be energy suspension sway bar and end link bushings. The stock ones are toast.

 

good luck getting 115hp out of the car w/o f.i.