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Any Sport Compact Enthusiasts Here?

(I figured this is the place to put this, if not, would a mod be so kind as to move it? :wink2: I consider it a sport activity. Especially if actual racing is involved (sanctioned of course). )

Mitsubishi, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan... Basically all japanese compacts and small american cars.

Is anybody here into working on them, making them faster, racing (on a track, I'm not about to encourage, endorse, sanction, allow street racing), etc?

I'm going to guess that a lot of this forum is into classics and muscles. But surprise me whydontcha?

I'll start it.

I have a 1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS 10th Anniv. OZ Racing Ed. (right, no turbo :sad: ). I've done intake, a 4-1 header with a 2.25 outlet going into a 2.25 inlet, 2.5 outlet hi-flow cat, then 2.5 the rest of the way. Upper strut bars. Coming in the mail are some new pedals. The stock pedals (in combo with the ginormous steering wheel) make heel-toeing darn well impossible. Especially when you're 6' 1". It is possible later that I will get a lightweight underdrive pulley and/or a 60mm throttle body. She's not super fast, but she'll get up and go :thumbup1:

In the show side of things, I made a custom fiberglass sub enclosure in the back. Looks pretty snazzy, but still needs some tweaking. Oh and I wired up some leds in the rear footwell that turn on when I turn on my lights (wired in with taillights). Looks sweet at night and no, does not impair vision. Their aimed low and you can't even tell from the front seats.

Her name is Klipsy. She's white. I love her.

In the future, I'd very much like a 97-99 Mitsu Eclipse GSX. Like mine + AWD + Turbo :001_tt1:

So let's hear it from you lovely folks! :)
 
I had a 07' Honda S2000, all stock. Boy did I enjoy that car, amazing handling and stupid fast, very light agile, was a true canyon carver, ahhh.
 
I had a 07' Honda S2000, all stock. Boy did I enjoy that car, amazing handling and stupid fast, very light agile, was a true canyon carver, ahhh.

Oh man, that's awesome! That's one Honda I wouldn't mind owning (I have this thing about Hondas, but I'll try to tone it down here!).
What's with all the past tense??
 
I used to own an '87 Celica convertible. I used to mod the 4th generation forum at celica.net (since closed, split, and moved to celicatech.com).

Then I owned an '85 Celica GT with almost everything done sans boost (including supra lsd rear-end).

Cars now days mean work and expense. I'm not such a fan anymore. I still enjoy a little occasional spirited driving, but I'm too old for that crap now. (at the ripe age of 27)
 
The only japanese car i'll even look twice at is a datsun 240/260/270z, if i was desperate for a daily driver, i can say the late 90's-early 00's toyotas are probably the nicest of the small jap cars i've driven. I'm not a big fan of small cars, although possibly my favorite (modern) car my family has owned was our 95 vw cabrio. 290k miles and it would still chirp 2nd :thumbup1:.

The stock pedals (in combo with the ginormous steering wheel) make heel-toeing darn well impossible. Especially when you're 6' 1".
that's what i never understood about the eclipse, it's a relatively large car (compared to other offerings) and yet there's absolutely no legroom, front or rear.

fun eclipse story: ~11th grade i "helped" (read: did all the work) a buddy put a stereo and speakers in his 99 eclipse. one of the ones with the fancy lcd screen. fast forward 2 weeks, he buries the nose under the back of a minivan and totals it (he swore he wasn't playing with the stereo) :lol:
 
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I used to own an '87 Celica convertible. I used to mod the 4th generation forum at celica.net (since closed, split, and moved to celicatech.com).

Then I owned an '85 Celica GT with almost everything done sans boost (including supra lsd rear-end).

Cars now days mean work and expense. I'm not such a fan anymore. I still enjoy a little occasional spirited driving, but I'm too old for that crap now. (at the ripe age of 27)

Hey that's pretty cool! I'm a fan of those earlier Celicas, not a fan of the new ones...

So with the '85, was it your plan to not boost it? Or did it just happen that way?

The only japanese car i'll even look twice at is a datsun 240/260/270z, if i was desperate for a daily driver, i can say the late 90's-early 00's toyotas are probably the nicest of the small jap cars i've driven. I'm not a big fan of small cars, although possibly my favorite (modern) car my family has owned was our 95 vw cabrio. 290k miles and it would still chirp 2nd :thumbup1:.


that's what i never understood about the eclipse, it's a relatively large car (compared to other offerings) and yet there's absolutely no legroom, front or rear.

fun eclipse story: ~11th grade i "helped" (read: did all the work) a buddy put a stereo and speakers in his 99 eclipse. one of the ones with the fancy lcd screen. fast forward 2 weeks, he buries the nose under the back of a minivan and totals it (he swore he wasn't playing with the stereo) :lol:

haha, I like small cars, when I have to drive the Bonneville (97) I feel like I'm driving a boat around and when I'm driving the truck (chevy 03), I feel like I'm driving a battleship lol.

But you're right, it is a relatively large car, compared to say a civic. It does have loads more truck space (it is a hatch after all) compared to a civic though. I'd disagree about front leg room though... at least in the front. There's tons of leg room in the front, in the back however, you need to be a short-torso'd amputee. I once drove to a concert with a couple of girls. They are both short so it worked perfect! They were comfortable. Otherwise, it's rather uncomfortable.

And that's a sad sad story haha, funny, but sad. I say no to those lcd screened decks.
 
Just spent too much money :/

But! I have some Eibach Pro Kit springs and Tokico HP (Blues) on their way. So that should be cool. Take away some of that nasty wheel gap that plagues Eclipses. And hopefully it handles well to boot!
 
I have a Protege5 bone stock, but I've helped numerous friends mod there Proteges. Very fun car and I'll be sad once I have to get rid of it. Not very fast but the most nimble front wheel car I've ever driven.
 
Cool man, actually the car I was driving before I got Klipsy, I had a 99 Protegé. Auto, base package I think. I put an intake on it, that was it. But yeah, it seems very agile. With the right suspension and a beefed up engine, it would be fun as heck!
 
I have a 2003 Subaru WRX that is both my toy and my daily driver. Performance-wise I lowered it about an inch and a quarter (new struts and springs), grounding kit, larger and better flowing intercooler, short shifter, full 3 inch turbo back exhaust, and catless up-pipe. As far as aesthetics, new wheels and tires, painted black interior with carbon fiber accents, carbon fiber hood and trunk, and tinted windows.

Defintely my favorite car and I'm now Subaru people for at least quite a while.

Edit: Forgot JDM STI headlights.
 
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I have a 2003 Subaru WRX that is both my toy and my daily driver. Performance-wise I lowered it about an inch and a quarter, grounding kit, larger and better flowing intercooler, short shifter, full 3 inch turbo back exhaust, and catless up-pipe. As far as aesthetics, new wheels and tires, painted black interior with carbon fiber accents, carbon fiber hood and trunk, and tinted windows.

Defintely my favorite car and I'm now Subaru people for at least quite a while.

Jealous. Seriously. Maybe one day for me. Question: Did you notice any sort of difference with the grounding kit? I've thought about getting some 8 gauge wire and making my own kit. I read up on them a couple years ago, but I can't remember what they're for.
 
Jealous. Seriously. Maybe one day for me. Question: Did you notice any sort of difference with the grounding kit? I've thought about getting some 8 gauge wire and making my own kit. I read up on them a couple years ago, but I can't remember what they're for.

I did, actually. It doesn't make as much of a difference in '04 and above models but bugeyes are really badly grounded. It starts and idles smoother and seems to run better than before the mod.

If you have the means, I would highly suggest you get one. You can usually find an '02-'03 WRX for around $8,000 or less if you don't mind fixing it up a bit. I promise, you won't be disappointed. These cars are very hardy and easy to work on, aside from being amazingly fun to drive and, in my opinion, beautiful.
 
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I've had a few Sport Compacts over the years but after having owned a Mustang I'll never bother with a compact again. There's no replacement for displacement.
 
I used to be very much into it. Another Subaru guy, at least at heart. Had a 1998 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS, rally blue pearl 2-door nougatty goodness. Over the time that I had it, I had performed just about every possible bolt-on mod there was, short of opening up the engine itself. Suspension with many bells and whistles, intake/exhaust, all kinds of stuff. In fact my first experience with a proper message board was on an old Subaru fansite.
Had to sell off my ride and essentially put my tuner habits on hold to go back to school and learn a new career. One of these days I'll get my mitts on a new Subie and get back to wrenching.
 
I've had a few Sport Compacts over the years but after having owned a Mustang I'll never bother with a compact again. There's no replacement for displacement.

True, very valid point, but at about 30 mpg, I'm not looking for more displacement. I guess it all depends on what you want. I'd love to at least drive a car that had the massive torque of a big engine, but I love the high revving zip of a 2.0L :wink2:

That's pretty cool Miles. That happened to me with girls. Girls take a lot of money it seems and I'd usually have to delay various upgrades I wanted to do.

And I'll have to look into that, Breadstick. That's good to hear some positive comments on a grounding kit, because in all honesty it seems like a snake oil + butt dyno kind of thing! But yeah, I'm hoping to make my own, we'll see how it goes...
 
True, very valid point, but at about 30 mpg, I'm not looking for more displacement. I guess it all depends on what you want. I'd love to at least drive a car that had the massive torque of a big engine, but I love the high revving zip of a 2.0L :wink2:

Definitely. I guess I'm of the mindset that if it is a toy I don't really care what it gets for mileage. Now, if it HAD to be my daily driver and I wanted a little zip/fun I could see a Sport Compact being the way to go. These days my Ducati provides all the speed I need. :thumbup1:
 
Definitely. I guess I'm of the mindset that if it is a toy I don't really care what it gets for mileage. Now, if it HAD to be my daily driver and I wanted a little zip/fun I could see a Sport Compact being the way to go. These days my Ducati provides all the speed I need. :thumbup1:

Okay, yeah I totally agree with you there. If it's my weekend drive/fun car, then yeah, I wouldn't care about milage either, but Klipsy's all I have right now!

Oh man, a Ducati sounds really fun! ...I know I'd kill myself on one though, so I'll abstain.
 
Okay, yeah I totally agree with you there. If it's my weekend drive/fun car, then yeah, I wouldn't care about milage either, but Klipsy's all I have right now!

Oh man, a Ducati sounds really fun! ...I know I'd kill myself on one though, so I'll abstain.

The Duc is a blast. Fills my need for speed (though I try to be as sensible as possible). Motorcycles have taken over the "toy" department for me though. So the Duc for now and I don't know what is next.
 
Back in college, I had a VERY customized '91 Jetta...lowered, new paint, exhaust, ginormous stereo system, wheels/tires, tint, custom headlights (2 circles on each instead of one big rectangle...) Loved that car until some idiot in an Eclipse hit me head on.

Got hosed by the insurance company (won't pay for customization, only Blue Book value) so I lost several thousand that I put into the car.

With the limited budget, I picked up an almost-new '96 Dodge Neon. Did some paint, Wings West body kit, wheels/tires, exhaust/intake/minor engine work, tint.body graphics, crazy stereo, fully upholstered interior in black and grey tweed (looked AWESOME, a buddy pulled it our of his show car for me)...ran that car to death working in another state.


Traded it in for another car and I SWORE to myself I wouldn't mod it...still have that car today, 10 years later and still haven't done anything to it other than modifying the stock intake and some tweaking for MPGs.

I grew up I guess...and got married when I bought that last car. :laugh:

Oh those were the days...pouring every cent I made into my cars.



Honestly, I prefer American V8 muscle to sport compacts, but when in college, I did what I could afford.
 
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