Today, the Fast and Furious crowd has pushed a tremendous wave towards the popularity of the sport of “tuning” new and used cars to improve both their look and performance. This opens the possibility to drive a better looking and performing car as to what you originally could afford. But there is an art form and method to this madness. If you are not careful you can create an unreliable warranty disaster that will be the sight of everybody’s sore eyes (sore, because it looks so bad). But there is a method to this madness to guarantee satisfying results with whatever your intentions of the vehicle are:

Where many Folks go Wrong- Many amateur customizers go wrong today by installing gigantic aluminum wings with a humongous sized muffler on a sedan styled import right off the bat. This is similar to taking your pet ostrich out for a walk before it’s even hatched. Your just dragging around a rotten egg that is not going to impress anybody. Think seriously about your goals and the overall look you want to achieve before you start to haphazardly purchase sale items on the JC Whitney website.

Move from the Inside/Out- To really properly build a nice street machine you need to start from the ground up and the inside out. This does not mean that you have to do any crazy modifications that are going to harm your existing warranties, but you do have to give your car somewhat of an entire package. If you want to add such extreme parts as “whale tail” spoilers and an over sized exhaust, it is going to have to fit the rest of the cars personality.

Building on a Budget- Money of course is going to be a big obstacle, but if you do it right, you should be able to gradually build yourself that dream car on a budget and keep it looking sharp throughout each stage. This is my point with the aluminum wings and giant mufflers on stock import sedans. They just do not fit the vehicles stature when stock. With proper preparation and planning however, that wing and exhaust might set the car off and accentuate an already subtle sports appeal.

Tip: The best way to build on a budget is to do your own work. Many projects you will find to be fairly simple and sometimes quite enjoyable. The main parts of your automobile that should be left to a professional are engine internals, driveline gearing, and transmissions. The rest are fair game for the typical armchair mechanic.

Warranty Awareness- If you are going to be altering a vehicle with an existing warranty you may want to stick with moderate engine upgrades. The basic rule of thumb for most warranties is everything from the catalytic converter to the exhaust exit, and everything from the throttle body to the air filter is fair game. This opens you up to the selection of power adders known as “bolt on’s”. These include a cat-back exhaust, air intake system, larger diameter throttle body, and performance tune (chip), etc.

Performance Tuning vs. Warranty- Custom tuned software can really wake up the stock vehicle configuration, just make sure to research your tuner thoroughly before allowing them to re-tune your factory settings. A lot of damage can be done here from someone who does not know what they are doing. With the warranty, keep in mind that it will be difficult for a mechanic at your dealer to know if the program has been altered as long as you change it back to the stock setting before taking it in for service. This will allow the computer code to read no differently than if the vehicle’s battery had been disconnected or died at some point recently.

Performance Expectation- It is quite possible to pull out an extra fifty horsepower from such simple modifications, which is more than enough to embarrass the stock version of the exact same vehicle. So now that we have the engine running a little more like a performance car, this is the time to transform your plain, stock exterior to flaunt a little of its new found ponies under the hood.

The Total Exterior Package- If the paint job is in good condition, you have the option to accessorize with a body kit. This allows you to paint each individual body piece its current color and save you the cost of an entire paint job. If the entire vehicle needs paint, then you can look beyond “bolt-on” body kits and alter the cosmetic features of your vehicle through extensive bodywork, giving a more seamless, “non tacked-on” body contour. Such popular modification includes the ever popular wide body conversion.

Symmetry vs. Over Accentuation- I highly recommend painting your exterior performance body accessories the same color of your vehicle unless you plan on an eccentric multi-colored paint scheme. Decide how modified the vehicles overall design is going to be while you are in the planning stages. Some front end body kits look awesome on a “total package” modified vehicle, but look unbalanced on stock bodied vehicle.

Final Result- Keep in mind that a true professional does not just piece meal a vehicle together with cool parts here and there and tack them up for a final surprise outcome. They have an overall plan and budget in mind before they even start to fork out the cash. Without an overall goal and vision, you’re better off sticking with a pine tree air freshener, Tasmanian devil floor mat and a Bald Britney Spears Bobble Head to scare off the car bandits… two out of three of which I am fairly confident you can find at J.C. Whitney or your favorite Wal-Mart store!

With todays popularity of performance tuning, many vehicles out on the road today have at least a few custom modifications done to their ride to make it stand out. The easiest of these are an air intake system (cold air, ram, etc.), muffler swap, and the performance tune/chip. Beyond these simple “bolt-on’s” are a few moderate to hard projects. It is these ladder projects that are going to set your ride apart from the average enthusiast, such as the addition of a good set of headers… either shorty or long tube will do just fine!

What is the difference between long and short you ask?

Shorty’s will bolt up to your stock exhaust manifold without any altercation of the basic exhaust system. They are generally 50 state street legal and will offer medium sound and performance upgrades. This is your best bet for most newer smog/emission equipped vehicles.

Long tubes are just that… long, which means that they will need the catalytic converter relocated as well as parts of the stock exhaust. Occasionally they can give slight ground clearance problems on a lowered car, but they do offer the most sound, performance, and MPG gains over the shorty’s in most all cases.

Generally speaking, it is best to plan out your entire exhaust (and engine, for that matter) project before purchasing and installing any one component. The reason you do this is because depending on whether you get shorty’s or long tubes, your entire exhaust set-up may need to be altered. Also, if you plan on going turbo at some point in the future, you will be talking about a whole different exhaust header system.

Once you have your plan, you can either buy a bolt together kit through MAC, JBA, etc… or go to a shop, such as Meineke to request a custom exhaust set-up. Kits run from the $200’s to $1,000’s. To get the most for your money, eBay has sellers (e-world for example) that sell quality header kits at “knock-off” prices. Make sure to check their warranty and seller rating before placing a bid.

When taking bids for a shop to put the headers in, make sure to get a full account of what they are going to have to do to install the headers. This will be where your price can really elevate. In general headers can be installed in three hours or less for shorty’s on the typical vehicle for around $250 ($75 an hour labor-standard).

Some cars involve dropping the engine and removing major components that can raise the price into the $1,000 range. If the price of install prices you are receiving seem a bit high, take the time to make sure the price reflects the work that will be done. Some shops quote high without even knowing what work will be involved… they just assume the worst and pocket the excessive profit. Good for them… but bad for you!

What is in it for you once the headers are in?

Besides increased horsepower, gas mileage, and a deep exhaust tone… they look great in your engine bay, reduce temperatures under the hood (ceramic coated, “Jet Hot”), and can make the difference in missing an accident on the highway where a jolt of acceleration can put you in the clear.

Okay, so this last one might be a bit far fetched, but when you are faced with trying to talk your spouse into the extra expense… every little bit helps!

Tip: Chrome may look cool, but it can accelerate the breakdown of the metal composition of the headers and cause premature holes and leaks. Chrome is not highly recommended for most header applications.

We all feel as if we have purchased a lemon at one time or another. In fact most of us will own at least one car in our lifetime that will seem to give us trouble to no end. There have been many bad eggs over the many years that motor vehicles have been in our lives, but here are a few of the worst recalls ever documented:

1. The Ford Pinto

Around 1.5 million were recalled in 1978, for a little problem Ford was having with the car “exploding” in rear end collisions. It would seem that their bumperless design made them an easy target for gas tank eruption. To add salt to injury, while the vehicle was on fire, many of these Fords had a problem with the doors jamming, leaving the passengers in a virtual death trap with no way out of the vehicle. The saddest part is that Ford was actual aware of these problems, but pushed the car through to production so that they could get in on the Japanese small car market. Today, these cars make great conversation pieces and even collectors pieces, but you certainly wouldn’t want one as your daily driver. A total of 27 deaths by fire were reported before the Ford Pinto recall went into effect.

2. 1973-1987 GM Pickups with side saddle gas tank-

The chance of someone actually owning one of these is rather high in comparison to the Ford Pinto. These trucks have been responsible for close to 400 deaths according to The Center for Auto Safety . The problem with these side saddle models is the fuel tank is located on the outside of the frame, so in the unfortunate occurrence of a sideways collision, this GM pickup had a good chance of either exploding or bursting into flames. If you happen to own one of these, I wouldn’t think twice about bringing it down to your local GM dealer to see what they can do for you.

3. 1984 GM models: Regal, Century; El Camino, Caballero, Monte Carlo, Malibu, Cutlass, Le Mans, and Grand Prix-

I hate to pick on GM again, but in 1984, they ran into a problem with a series of their vehicles manufactured in their Buffalo plant. It seems that the axle assemblies they were using had a “slight” defect. I say slight, as in comparison to a vehicle exploding as the ladder two examples, the wheels merely falling off would seem rather tame in comparison. But add in the dangerous high speeds of highway driving and you indeed had a very dangerous situation on your hands.

4. 1995 Honda/Acura models: Civics, Accords, Preludes, Legends, Integras and NSX-

It is not only the domestics who have problems. The imports have had their fair share of dangerous issues, such as the 1995 Honda/Acura line. The seat belt mechanism was reported to crack and fail. To be specific, the “Push Here” button would crack and either fail to hold the passenger in securely, or lock up and trap the passenger in their seat. A total of 3.7 million vehicles were recalled and thankfully no further problems have been documented since.