Getting the Most From Your Engine Without Getting Your Hands Dirty

Performance chips, programmers and modules have the ability to boost your car or truck’s performance at a fraction of the cost of a major engine upgrade. With a performance chip, there is a much more efficient delivery of fuel to your engine at specified times in the course of driving. The only work requires replacement of the original chip, which involves removing the vehicle’s dash. Even the most unmechanically inclined person could generally do this, or a local mechanic could do this in a jiffy.

All vehicles come with a special computer chip that controls engine output, particularly in the area of fuel delivery. You can add extra horsepower and torque including wheel upsizing, fuel curves, air/fuel ratio, gear selectors and shift points. There are performance programmers for most fuel injected engines including import and domestic cars. Performance chip for trucks include regular and diesel fuel. Some of the most well-known manufacturers include Superchips, Bully Dog, and Edge.

Car Performance Modifications – change how it breathes!

There are many ways in which you can improve your car’s performance. These include electronic modifications, such as reprogramming or replacing the ECU (known as re-mapping and re-chipping) and mechanical ones, such as increasing the compression ratio by removing metal from the cylinder head.

One of the simplest ways of improving performance is changing the “breathing” of the engine. This is a very popular DIY modification and involves changing the engine induction (air intake) and exhaust. The induction is modified by replacing the air filter with one with less resistance to airflow. Air filters are designed to reduce noise as well as filtering the air, but by reducing the former of these air flow can be increased and performance, particularly at the high end of the rev range, can be improved. Of course, your car will be noisier.

To improve breathing at the exhaust end, you will need to replace the exhaust system and the most popular way to do that is to use a large-bore exhaust. This allows the gases to be removed efficiently. Getting rid of the exhaust gasses efficiently reduces the back pressure experience by the engine and consequently improves engine efficiency and brake horsepower (bhp).

A normal exhaust system has a silencer which causes the exhaust gases to pass through a number of baffles. This quietens the exhaust noise, but creates back pressure and slows down the removal of exhaust gases. By replacing this with a sports silencer (often called a straight-through silencer) which has no baffles, the back pressure is reduced considerably. The combination of sports silencer and large bore exhaust can add a considerable amount of power to a car, again mainly at the high end of the rev range.

A word of caution however; by changing the way your car breathes, you can considerably improve its performance, but there is a modern tendency for young men to fit their cars with the largest bore exhausts they can find. Although they might like the sound of those exhausts, they can actually reduce the car’s performance. If they are not matched to the engine’s capacity they will impede the flow of exhaust gases. When modifying a vehicle is it often best to do this on a used car to avoid cancelling out your warranty.

Cool Audi R8 Modifications

Showcasing cool modified Audi R8 sports cars from around the world.

Chrome Audi R8 Spyder
This cool car needs just the kind of flash personality to go with it - someone like Elton John, for example. Audi has created this chrome version of its R8 Spyder for the Elton John Aids Foundation, and it was a fitting example of glamour for the White Tie and Tiara ball event from the foundation. Apart from the fact that the model is pretty much the same as a standard R8 Spyder with a V10 engine, we get no other details. But then again, that mirror finish just about speaks for itself.

The Impact of Vehicle Modifications on Auto Insurance Prices

Modifications might make your vehicle look nice or even perform better, but they can also have a negative impact.

Car insurance companies act on the assumption that anyone who makes modifications to their vehicles is a “boy-racer” character who lacks driving skills and is inexperienced, making them more likely to have an accident and make a claim.

Car insurance discrimination
Whether or not discrimination in insurance is fair practice is something which has been debated for decades. However, a campaign by the Test-Achats consumer group in Belgium recently resulted in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling that from the 21st December 2012 it will be illegal for car insurance companies to discriminate on the grounds of gender.

Audi A4 Review

Luxury and attention to detail spring to mind when thinking about the Audi A4; it has undergone somewhat of a transformation over older models, gaining a more 'grown up' feel in the process. The handling is superb, giving the Audi A4 a very 'sure-footed' feel, which is sure to impress. Like the entry-level A3, there damping is excellent, which means that the A4 strikes a good balance when it comes to the quality of the ride that it delivers.

Modified Bumper Cars

These modified street bumper cars were created by California based builder Tom Wright. Using abandoned bumper cars from the Long Beach Pike amusement park, Tom Wright modified them to become bumper cars fit to drive on the road.


He replaced the Harley motors with 750cc Honda and Kawasaki boxes and redesigned them to pass city driving standards. He has completed eight crazy-looking street bumper cars with licenses to drive on the roads. Some of these bumper cars cars can hit 160mph!

Crazy Modded Cars

A collection of crazy modified cars from around the world featuring some mad paint jobs and car modifications.