Something else: a Dacia!

[ValN84]

I'm Val, I live in Bucharest, Romania and I am a car freak!
My father is a car mechanic and I've been raised in a truck maintenance garage for most of my childhood. My favorite scent is oil and gasoline and my drug is tire smoke. I like everything that has wheels and/or goes fast, preferably as low to the ground as possible.
This is my car, a 2006 Dacia Logan 1.6 16v.
What's a Dacia, you might ask? Well, in a few words, Dacia is the Scion of Renault.
They make really cheap cars, mine was 10k euros, top of the line model with such "high end" features as: aircon and electric windows .
Well, I couldn't care less about those, I just wanted their best engine, in this case a "huge" 1.6 with a "monstrous" 105 bhp on tap! The car only weight 2580 pounds, so I guess it's enough for my first car.
I loved the car when I got it, it smelled like new, was pretty fast and had the suspension and wheel setup of an SUV, which is a good thing considering the sorry state of the local roads. Needles to say, 185/65 R15 on 6" wide ET -50 wheels and almost 7 inches of ground clearance is not what you would call "stance"... Just check the pic, it speaks for itself.

[ValN84]

I was into tuning but I had no idea what "stance" means back in 2006. I only knew that the car is way too high and that I wanted to make it lower before I do anything to the engine, so I bought a set of H&R springs. They were rated with a 45mm drop but the car dropped a healthy 50mm on the front and 60 mm on the back.
I was thrilled (see pic), the handling was vastly improved, even though I was still running stock wheels and shock absorbers.
It was then when my life changed forever, I found Speedhunters and from there Hella Flush and last but definitely first in my preferences, Stanceworks! I realized that making a car look awesome does not need bucketloads of graphics or F&F body kits...

[ValN84]

So I started digging through the internets to find teh cool. I found myself increasingly attracted to everything Japan puts out when it comes to cars. A bit disappointed with my initial car ( I could have bought an euro S14 with that money ), I decided not to give up on the Dacia and try to build something completely different and ahead of it's time for Romania.
The entire "tuning" scene here is full of riced out rides in the worst of ways. You'll find cars with huge body kits, tiny wheels and stock ground clearance. "I don't want this!", I said to myself, I want STANCE!
So, armed with the knowledge I searched for a set of wheels that suited my preferences: light, strong, japanese and awesome! I got Enkei RPF1s in 17x7 ET-43 and wrapped them in Toyo Proxes T1R in 205/40 R17 tires. Nice wheels, bad ET as it turned out, as Dacia used the Renault Clio platform for this car so the track is a lot narrower than the body. Damnit, I said, it looks like crap!

[ValN84]

So I had the "down" pretty much sorted I thought, it was time for the "out".
Got myself some Sparco 20mm spacers, extended bolts and blue nuts to keep it fresh.
The front is flush with the fenders, the rear... still needs more "out".

[ValN84]

Low isn't low enough, so I wanted more low. I found some nice coilovers by KW and FK, but they were a bit over my budget so I went ghetto for the next stage of lowness. So I cut the springs and reworked the stock shock absorbers to be stiffer. Another 1/2 inch of drop and now I can say I'm happy with the height. I could go lower, but I'd rather do that when I get some proper coilovers.
As for the rear fitment, I've ordered some custom SCC 35mm spacers and I should get them in a couple of weeks. That should get the rear sorted out so I can move to other pressing issues like the engine.
Well I hope I didn't bore you guys with my rather lengthy story and hope to get as much input from you as possible

[WhiteStripes]

Damn man, it's coming along. Gotta say I was kinda sad when I opened the thread and it wasn't a Sandero

[iliescu]

Logaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan woooo.

Saw one rolling on 10x10s in Constanta, it was fucking amazing.

[VR6_Dusman]

Damn man, it's coming along. Gotta say I was kinda sad when I opened the thread and it wasn't a Sandero

Same thing!

you really are a car freak

[ValN84]

I can say I got you there. No Sandero I'm afraid, those are not available with the 16v atm and are actually heavier than the Logan and have less boot space. Some might say it looks better, but I personally prefer the simplistic lines of the non-facelifted Logan.

[Dr.AK]

I never thought I'd see the day when somebody would modify an effin Logan.

You're on the right track for sure. Wheels are a bit too narrow for my tastes, though. A staggered setup with 8s in the front and 9s in the rear would do wonders for this car.

[ValN84]

Yup, pretty hard to find wide wheels in 4x100 PCD that are also light and decently priced, like the Enkeis.
I'm still pondering 16x8 RPF1 or maybe PF1s and more low as the next setup. Or go hardcore with 9s all around like one of my friends who's running 16x9 all around on his yellow (aka former taxi) Logan. Too bad he's not nearly low enough to make those wheels look good on the car.
There's a reason people don't go about modifying this. For once, the people buying these in Western Europe buy it because it's a very cheap family car so they don't really go about modding it. In Romania though, tight budgets and crappy roads keep people from dropping their cars too much and that's a shame
But look at me filling the pages with text like a madman. Keep shooting people, your input is very welcome.

[63ard]

wow a logan
welcome homie

[Brad Pitts]

europe has some awesome cars n some really funny ones. ur makin urs pretty awesome. i think some rpf1s wit concave would look sick. damn the curse of 4x100 havin weak offsets unless u go multipieice. keep up the good work so far

[zacman]

Wait this company is real? I thought it was something Top Gear made up!

Haha.. Looks good OP. The wheels are good!

[murdermitten]

sandero or not, it's still cool to see a dacia on here none the less!