How long can I get away with it?????????

[Bushbasher]

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.....how long can I get away with tweaking the wagon without the missus catching on that I'm throwing money at the car chasing improvements, all in the name of economy and safety you understand ;).

I was sitting here musing on the fact that I said I wasn't going to touch the car this time and leave it stock. I'm a firm believer in "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", normally, and she knows it, so the bigger and more obvious stuff will have to wait till they break or wear out but in the mean time there's the little things that she won't notice like the larger snorkel I just aquired or an air filter or that little device that firms up the trans gear changes. I can slip them onto the car quickly and easily and she won't get sus. Next week it gets it's 140k service and the mechanic is going to tell me I need a new muffler which "we" already know about but if the tailpipe section is on the way out too then it'll open the door for a 2 1/2 " system so I might have to make sure I'm the one to pick the car up and get the safety report : : .
Then there's the rear wing I recon it needs in charcoal or black maybe to offset the smartbar. She wants one of those air deflectors that help keep the dust off the back window anyway so it shouldn't be too hard to talk my way round that one. The slotted discs won't be too hard come time for new pads :evil_laug , especially if the pads get so warn that they score the disc, won't that be a shame, I'd have to get new discs.
The extractors might be a bit tricky at this stage though, but if the opportunity presents itself.................................

The little things are easy and don't require the car to be pulled apart on a hoist or over a pit and are relatively quick to do but how do you convince her that the shocks that were fitted to the rear when we bought the car 6 months ago are no good and we need the air riders. This of coarse would allow me to slip in the lowering blocks or perhaps SR springs if I can find some without her noticing too much but one hurdle at a time. Then there's the LSD but that could be harder than the extractors to do not to mention the edit, but hey, I like a challenge.

Sorry for rambling on but it got me thinking and made me wonder; What is the best bit of kit you managed to slip into your pride and joy without attracting any unwanted attention of your other half or having a good enough story for her to let you have whatever you wanted? My best so far was years ago I managed to do an entire engine change one afternoon in a HQ Kingswood and went from an old stock 253 to a very healthy 308 after some wheeling and dealing and when my partner of the time commented on the MUCH improved performance I just told her I'd fitted a 4 barrel carby and done the plugs and leads as well as a tune up. It's AMAZING what a good tune up will do :thebirds:

[RG]

Biggest thing I've slipped into mine is a stroker. After she dropped a piston it was just a matter of "yes honey it does need a new crank too" lol. Easiest will be the edit.

[302XLS]

lol, why is it the the significant other always holds us back from "progress"..... :

[JC]

You can get 18" rims this way. Ring up someone like bridgestone and get a quote on their most expensive 16" tyre - say around the $270 mark. 4 makes roughly $1100. You can get a 17" wheel & tyre package for around that, and 18s for around $1500 - find out what price the tyres are that are fitted on the package rims, and they'll be around the $200 mark. So you justify the extra expense now by sabing $$$ next time you need tyres.

Some of the justifications you have used above, I have also used, and believe it or not, a full 2.5" sports exhaust system is actually cheaper than just a replacement tailpipe section from Ford. With brakes, if you do the discs/pads yourself, then swapping to DBA slotteds is actually cheaper than getting discs machined and new pads fitted by a brake place. If you go RDAs, it's cheaper again.

Oh, and the rear wing on a wagon doesn't reduce the dust on the window by much at all, but then again, either do the actual dust deflectors.

[rayner22]

I got away with my exhaust for 3 days without the missus knowing, but then I didn't come home for those 3 days.......

[au2sw]

^^^^^^^hahahaha, does that really count though? my problem here is that i tell my missus everything that im doing to the car, it is her daily driver anyway, i just get it on weekends. the beauty of working in a mechanical workshop though is i can fit stuff up myself, and see how long it will take her to notice. usually when she drives it next but im yet to test this out, that will be when i lower it i'll let you know how that goes;)

[ronwest]

When I was 17 or so I'd driven up to Bris from Syd and stayed a couple of days with my married cousin. He and his wife didn't get on badly but I noticed at that time that he was very intolerant of her when he got home from work (bad day?) and criticised a bunch of stuff... dishes not done, floors not swept... whatever.
It developed into a rigorous argument and they ended up not speaking to each other.
What he didn't know (and she didn't get a chance to tell him) was that their youngster had been sick all day... throwing up etc etc and she was worn out looking after him.

Fast forward 10 years to when I got married. I was away a lot for the first few years of my married life and must admit that early on, at times, I was irritated because this or that hadn't been done. However, my recollection of my visit to my cousins prevented me saying much as I really didn't know what my wife had to contend with in my absence.

What evolved rather quickly was an arrangement with my wife that she would look after the domestic side of things (without interference from me) and I would do whatever it took to make ourselves financial viable. As long as there was enough money left over at the end of the week to continue to fund what I was up to, I had zero interest (in a bean counting sense) on what my wife spent.

Sooooo, as a result of those early decisions I can honestly state that we have never had an argument.... not one. We don't agree on everything but we can agree to disagree.

Therefore, I spend what I want on whatever (and so does my wife).

We're reasonably comfortable and reasonably mature so we usually discuss a new piece of furniture or renovations, lol, but she could care less what I spend on the car etc (mind you, she gets a new car every few years, lol).

Hmm, a bit of a ramble as well...