10 Basic Performance Mods

My career as an automotive improvement expert began when I modified my first car. Since then, as a car enthusiast and published author, my obsession with the automobile has led me to enhance tons of vehicles both inside and out. That’s why I’m thrilled to be a part of a brand new series designed to help keep your car looking great and your engine running like new! I’m Chris Duke, and welcome to eHow’s Auto Center brought to you by Mobil1! Hey Chris, I’m looking to do some performance modifications to my car but really can’t decide on what to do or even where to start. Do you have any ideas on how I could tackle this? Thanks! -John Thanks for the question John. There are literally hundreds of things you can do to your vehicle as far as performance modifications go. Let’s see if we can get you started in the right direction with a list of my 10 basic performance modifications for your vehicle in no particular order. Number 1: Your motor is basically an air pump. So a good rule of thumb when starting out with performance mods is to help your car breathe. The more air and fuel in, the more power you can make. A cold air intake kit is a great place to start. There are many different aftermarket cold air kits you can use that can provide everything from just a performance air filter all the way up to a complete air box and inlet tube replacement. This is a great first step to take, and they’re super easy to install. Number 2: Now that you’ve got that cold air kit figured out, your next best bet would to be to replace the throttle body with a performance throttle body kit. Once again there are usually many to choose from. They will increase the inlet size of your throttle body allowing even more air to flow into the motor increasing the air fuel mixture before combustion. In turn this will give you a nice little horsepower increase. Like the cold air intake, a throttle body is typically an easy install. Number 3: Now that you have those two taken care of, a good item to tackle next would be to replace the headers. You’ve increased the air/fuel flow in, now you should increase the quality of the exhaust flow out. Performance headers will give you smoother, faster exhaust flow which helps with steady power gains. To install these guys is a little bit more involved than the first two, so you might need to have your local mechanic take care of this one for you, depending on your vehicle. Number 4: Over drive pulley kits, if available for your car, are a great way to add some power. By changing the pulley sizes accordingly, you can reduce the load on the engine accessories which in turn, will give some horsepower back to the engine instead of it being spent running accessories at the OEM rate. With the right tools, this is a fairly simple install. Number 5: A super charger or turbo charger. For anyone looking to add horsepower in a hurry, supercharging or turbocharging is a great way to go. Both use forced induction to increase airflow through the throttle body, which in turn significantly increases horsepower. Number 6: A custom computer tune. With todays OBD II cars (which are vehicles ’96 and newer), adding a custom tune to your vehicle is quick and painless. There are many different tuning kits to choose from and installing the tune usually just takes a few minutes. Just make sure that before you order it that the company providing the tune knows all of the modifications that have already been done to your car. That way the tune matches correctly and doesn’t cause any problems. This mod isn’t cheap, but it’s pretty darn easy to do because all you’ve got to do is plug it in, press some buttons, and hit the streets! Number 7: A cat back exhaust. If you’ve already done the headers, another great avenue to pursue would to be finish out the exhaust with either a H-Pipe kit and/or performance mufflers. Like I said earlier, the more air and fuel your engine can flow both in and out, the better your power is going to be. Also, performance mufflers will give you that nice deep rich sound all performance cars should have. Number 8: Brakes. Now you might not think brakes would be a performance modification, but in fact it is a very important one. It won’t do you much good to add more power to your car if you can’t stop it. There are many different types of aftermarket brake kits that can drastically help the braking performance on your car. Number 9: Tires. It won’t do you much good to add more power and braking to your car if you can’t apply that power to the road properly. Finding the right set of performance tires for your application is important and will go hand in hand with braking as well as our last tip. Be sure to check out our episode on choosing performance tires for more info. Number 10: Suspension. You’ve added your extra power, improved your braking, and now given it the grip needed to put that power to the ground. Adding performance suspension components is really the cherry on top! Installing some sub-frame connectors, performance control arms, and sway bars can greatly alter how your car behaves with all of the new power you’ve just given it. Not to mention it can give you some added bonuses when it comes to braking. Well John, I hope we’ve given you some great ideas for some performance modifications for your car. Many of which you can do by yourself in your garage. Never forget though, if you have any questions or think you may have trouble doing any of these yourself, always ask your mechanic for advice. I can never stress this enough. They are a great source of information, and your mechanic will know your car just as well if not better than you do already! Thanks for the question John! I hope this information makes it easier for you to decide what is best for your vehicle! For eHow’s Auto Center, I’m Chris Duke. Here’s to helping keep your car running like new!