TOP MONEY-SAVING TIPS TO MAKE YOUR RIDE MAAAAD

The cost of building a cool car has never been higher, but in the face of adversity it's sometimes important to work smarter not harder. And sometimes you need to put in a bit of elbow grease as the convenience of buying new parts or ready-to-fit parts isn't worth the extra price they cost. 

If you've been watching out latest build on our a red Daihatsu Cuore (SEE LATEST EPISODE HERE)  then you'll have watched us spin spanners in the OG driveway, and do things on a real budget level. 

Here are some of the top ways you can save big bucks when building a cool car...

RESTORE, DON'T REPLACE

What's cheaper than buying a brand new part? Tidying up the tatty, but still completely serviceable part on your current car that you already own! 

Our Cuore has spent decades sitting outside so not only is the red paint all faded, but all the black trims and parts like the wiper arms have faded under the harsh Aussie sun. While we had the luxury of being able to sand-blast these parts, we could have used three different sheets of sandpaper (which is dirt-cheap to buy by the sheet at hardware stores) to sand the surface rust off, before using some cheap epoxy primer, and then a neat satin black paint to top-coat them and have them looking new. 

Similarly all the black trims on the car can simply be rejuvinated using plastic trim restorer dye. This can extend to working on carpets, where you might want your blue, brown, or grey carpet and door trims to be a nicer shade of black - you can give them a deep, thorough clean and then use trim dye rather than buying or retrimming all those parts!

SPEND TIME, NOT MONEY

The biggest way to save money on your build is to spend another important currency: your time. The easiest way to build a car is to ship it off to a professional shop and have then do it all for you, but that's a great way to spend tens of thousands of dollars (at the cheapest), so roll up your sleeves and get ready to do all the work yourself. 

At night or when the money is running low, spend your time looking for parts you know you need and hunt as widely as possible. Don't just rely on the top search on Google - look on Marketplace and websites where second-hand parts are listed (Gumtree in Australia is a brilliant, oft-forgotten resource) and don't buy the first one you see. Search for the bargains, save good examples and come back to them when you've exhausted all the options.

GET THE CLEANING EQUIPMENT OUT

On the back of the bargain hunt, quite often people will overlook parts that are dirty, stained, a bit rusty or crusty, simply because they're not shiny and new and ready to fit. If you hunt around you can find second-hand bargains that just need a good clean up. 

A great example of this is with seats. There are often bargain seats online that need a good shampoo clean with a proper trim cleaner, then a run past with a steam vacuum (like our maaad Ryobi above). Minor tears in the cloth or leather can then be taped up with heavy duty fabric tape (like duct tape), and a seat cover thrown on top to provide you upgraded seating that's clean and ready to use, but at a fraction of the cost of buying brand new seats. 

DON'T OVER-SPEC YOUR BUILD

Future-proofing for more mods is all well and good but, when building on a budget, try to keep a tight lid on the parts you buy. If you're building a basic street car (like the nuggets we are) you don't REALLY need to spend big biccies on semi-slick tyres, or remote-damper coilover suspension when there are far more budget-friendly options. 

It's all too easy to convince yourself that "while I'm in here I should do/buy..." but unless it's critical to the car's reliability or making it work, don't go down that path. We could have fitted a way higher-spec ECU to the Cuore but the car doesn't really need all that extra cost or complexity, and we're building this car as a simple street car for us to enjoy - if you're not building your car to win races or "break the internet" then do you need all the super-expensive mods? 

FOCUS ON RELIABILITY FIRST

Nothing will burn through your budget quicker than a car that is always breaking parts, especially for silly reasons. Spend the time to ensure the car works properly by doing things like servicing it - fresh fluids, spark plugs, double-check the timing belt (or chain) and all the belts and idlers.

Is the clutch good? Are there any sensors, vacuum hoses, or cooling system parts which need to be replaced? Can you see oil leaks that need to be taken care of - do them first before you start making the car maaad, because once you're in the thick of the build it'll be easy to get carried away with spending all your meagre money on cool stuff rather than sensible stuff. 

But, you know what's cooler than a broken car sitting in a garage? A working car you can drive with your friends and do cool stuff with.  

KEEP THE BUILD SENSIBLE 

Here is the biggest tip. It's great to have big dreams, but if you're trying to build a car then you need to be realistic about what you can achieve on your budget. Everyone's idea of a "budget build" is different, and everyone's goals for their cars are different, but it's vital you keep a lid on the daydreaming and focus on your sensible end goal for the car. 

This will keep your motivation up, will help you continue to make progress on the project, and will let you actually get to enjoy reaching your goals... which should be to drive the car and enjoy it. Spend the time researching how others may have done budget builds in the style you're thining of so you can get a bit of an idea about whether you can afford the project you want to do, or whather you need more experience, money, tools, or a place to actually do it, before you buy any parts or cars. 

All too often people sell unfinished projects because they got carried away and let what began as a sensible project roll completely out of control - or they didn't sit down and work out if they could actually finish the project they initially set out to do. 

It's better to be a bit humble at the start, and approach your project with humility rather than getting cocky, wading into a wildly difficult project and having to scrap it or fire-sale it off. Most of all: consider whether your project will be fun to build, and fun to own.

Because that should always be the end goal.