CAR PERFORMANCE

The new Hemi cars, such as the Dodge charger, magnum, challenger, and Chrysler 300's can come with plenty of power for most of us. There are the few that can't get enough and there are also those that went for the cheaper smaller engine. This obviously doesn't make you less of a man or a woman it just means you weren't worried about the extra power when you bought it.... For most people, that changes over time though. You get used to what you have an want to feel a difference in the seat of your pants feel again, like when you first bought the car. Whether you went with the larger or the smaller engine you aren't stuck with what you drove off of the lot with. There are several things that can be done to give that hemi car that brand new feel again. The most common upgrades are a tuner, chip or programmer, an air intake, and an exhaust system. These parts are going to give a transition from the "I'm used to this car" feel, to the "this car feels new again" feel.

First we'll talk about what you can do from inside the hemi car to modify it. The tuners and programmers are installed through the computer port that is just below the steering wheel. They add about 20 horse power and usually about 1 to 2 miles per gallon to the fuel economy, just because of the improved engine efficiency. The hand held devices also give the ability to read and clear the check engine lights, saving a trip to the dealership and some time. They also make way for future upgrades with the ability to get custom programs from the handhelds manufacturers.
The second place to modify is under the hood by replacing the factory air box with a more efficient air intake system. The aftermarket systems have much larger filters and are able to suck a lot more air into the engine to create power, and make it run more efficiently. And the third place is under the car. Upgrading the exhaust will do a few things. The most noticeable will be the different sound. You'll end up with a more aggressive tone. The other thing is does is free up the exhaust flow. This will help the engine to run cooler. It also help the engine not have to work to push exhaust gasses away, because they are more free to flow through the pipes. This will also improve engine efficiency.

Why's doesn't the manufacturer do all of these upgrades automatically. Think about that question for a second. Think of the behind the seat DVD players that the aftermarket came up with that would strap on with velcro straps. Now you can see built in DVD players from the factory. Now think of the wheels and suspensions that the aftermarket came up with, and now take a look at some of your local dealerships, and you'll see that they are catching on to these things. The aftermarket is what makes the auto industry evolve. The car manufacturers then take what looks like it will be most profitable and then incorporate those things into their cars. The aftermarket industry will always take what they make and make it better.

Many Import Performance Tuners start out simply by finding the right information. If that's what you're looking for, you're in the right place.

Most imports are simply classified as being built overseas, however in the industry I work in, imports are defined as not only foreign vehicles, but also the sport compact vehicles of American manufacturers, such as the Dodge SRT4's, Chevy Cobalt and Pontiac Solstice.

Tuning for most people is trying to squeeze every available bit of horsepower from a vehicle, and for some of the less informed, this also means sacrifice engine longevity and reliability (what good is an extra 5whp when it breaks 45k miles sooner).

Import tuning is no different then the hot rod building of the old days. Small lightweight cars with big power plants stuffed into them. Getting the power/weight ratio as high as possible and still maintain reliability.

Import tuning's most basic adjustment hasn't changed. Fuel pressure. Simply increasing or decreasing fuel pressure at the rail has a dramatic effect on air/fuel ratios, as well as Short term and Long term fuel trims.

Modifying your fuel system to support modifications is extremely important. Most items like a S-AFC or a e-manage simply modify sensor values going into the computer to increase or decrease fuel injector duty. While this works in practice, if you're adding 10% across the board to richen a car up, leaving that at 0 and simply increasing fuel pressure is a much safer way to do things, and lets the computer work how it was originally intended.

But back to the fuel pressure. As the most basic and fundamental import tuning point on the car, it is important to get this right before any other adjustments are made. Reearch tells us how Fuel injector flow is based off of a fixed pressure value of a standard viscosity fluid. Most companies rate them differently, but the most used rating for the aftermarket is 43psi, while some vehicle builders test them much higher. The reason this is crucial is because the fuel pressure behind the fuel injector itself will raise it's basic output. A 450cc injector supplied at 37psi at the rail is putting out far less fuel then a 450cc injector supplied at 55psi at the rail.

After doing a few runs with your car, look at your complete air/fuel value for the extent of your test. If you've changed anything to increase the volumetric efficiency of the motor, the motor will be leaner (Air/fuel ratio is higher then before) then when you began. If there is a noticeable need overall in the ratio, then simple fuel pressure adjustments can fix that. At cruising speeds, the air/fuel should always be 14.7:1, an all-motor car under full load should be about 13.5:1, and a forced induction car under full load should aim for 11.2-11.9:1. The higher the number, the leaner (less fuel) the car is. To richen the car to make the the ideal points, increase fuel pressure, and if you need to lean the car out to lower the air/fuel ratio, decrease fuel pressure.

Some cars will not show a change, but need further tuning via the short term and long term fuel trims. Most vehicles these days will let these values go +/- 25%, but ideally the fuel pressure should be adjusted so that they are all +/- 5% so that the maps are open to the car if they're needed.

Run the car a few more times with an obd-2 datalogger on board. Look at the fuel trim values, and see where they are resting. If the vehicle is adding a lot of fuel trim (increasing the numbers) then adding a few more psi of fuel pressure (generally 1-2psi and recheck) can greatly reduce that number. Likewise, if you see it pulling fuel trim, decreasing the fuel pressure will off-set this. This is very important to allow the vehicle it's full range in making adjustments for varying conditions, such as weather, temperature and altitude.

To enjoy the added benefits of horsepower that he performance chips give to your car you should try replacing the existing programmable chips with new performance chips available in market under the Volvo brand if you own a Volvo car. You can always win a greater edge on performance when you unhook the old chip with new ECU tuned chips.
Volvo is one single brand that is well-known for safest cars in automotive industry. It is a Swedish brand which is famous and has customer rated reputation for its simply smart design which also gives a luxury look for your house when you park them in front of your house. Swedish designs incorporate a rich feel for the owners of the Volvo cars. Volvo is famous for manufacturing and releasing vehicles ranging from hardtop that are convertible to the SUVs models.
Volvo also has the special R line of cars and vehicles that have a distinctly impressive speed and performance. Engineers are widely involved by the company in testing the functioning of various Volvo chips designed separately for each model that it has brought into the market recently along with supporting those that it released few years ago as well. The performance achieved with the chip is up to the satisfaction of the Volvo car owner.
You will be happy to observe that the horse power and the figures measuring the torque at which your car runs vary from the old numbers with the installation of performance chip. The fuel economy is an added benefit along with engine life retained with these Volvo performance chips.

Rims and tires are important part of improving a car's appearance and performance. Various wheel manufacturers construct different styles of rims. Different styles of rim are available to enhance your cars performance and appearance.

The spinning wheels, chrome rims, and custom rims are the most popular types of custom wheels. The spinning rims continue to spin when the car is not moving for it is only attached to the tire. Because it is made of chrome material, chrome rims are considered as the elite type of rim. The custom or styled rims only enhances the car's appearance.

There are several factors to consider when shopping rims for your car. The size, material, durability, and style of the wheel must be regarded as important when purchasing rims. In doing so, you can find out the cheaper rims that will suit your car. Many think that low quality wheels are cheaper than high quality rims. However, there are available cheap wheels that provide excellent performance too.

There are numerous number of vendors that retail cheap rims for your car that offer great quality. These vendors offer free shipping services and great deals their customers. Some wheel vendors offer services such as custom fitting, mounting, and balancing of wheel to your automobile.

It is imperative to compare different vendor services when you decide to purchase cheap rims. You have three options to do this - visit the wheel outlets, search online vendors, and go to tire shops. You can save more money in purchasing wheels in outlet stores and tire shops because you have the power to negotiate the price.

Because rims increase your cars worth, it is essential to select the right custom wheels. Various designs of rims that can improve your cars' appearance and performance range in price.

In the air travel industry, airlines live and die by their operating costs, a large component of which is their fuel costs. That is why aircraft manufacturers have whole departments whose purpose in life is to track and reduce the weight of the airplanes, ounce by ounce and gram by gram. Auto performance enthusiasts can take a tip from aerospace engineers- by instituting a weight reduction program, you can get dramatic performance and power increases and save gas.

What other mod to your car can effect braking, cornering, acceleration and gas mileage, reduces wear on your engine, suspension and brakes, and doesn't void your warranty? Not many.

Here are a few ways to reduce your car's weight you may want to consider.

1) Remove all the broken parts you don't plan on fixing. For example, if have a broken power antenna motor or an old cassette stereo unit you never use- you can take them out.

2) Clean out your trunk. You might be surprised how much gas you're wasting if you haven't looked in your trunk in awhile. Your spouse or teenager (or you!) may have decided this was good place for long-term storage. It's not. Old phone books, folding lawn chairs, sandbags for winter traction, cases of dog food, we've seen it all. They belong in the garage or basement.

4) Carbon Fiber Panels instead of steel. They may be a little pricy, but are certainly a cost-effective replacement over time. Depending on your local vehicle code, you may also be able to replace your steel hood and trunk lid with carbon fiber ones. Major savings here.

5) Replace power seats with racing seats. Power seats can weigh in at up to 75 pounds each. Replacing them with lightweight fixed-back racing bucket seats that weigh ten pounds or less each will shave 150 pounds off your car.

Consumer Reports has tested the vehicles that it has purchased. And they are checking the range of expensive machines. And what they found out was that the Porsche 911 took earned the right to be called one of the best vehicles there is in the market. In fact, it topped the list of vehicles of Consumer Reports' list of high performance sports vehicles and cars.

David Champion is the senior director of the Auto Test Center of Consumer Reports. He even assesses the Porsche 911 by saying, "The 911 wowed us enough with its acceleration, handling, and braking for us to rate it our top sports car. The 911 is also easy to drive, but its much less expensive Boxster sibling performed almost as well."

The automotive magazine tested the Porsche 911 in all its Porsche car parts glory against other high class and high performance vehicles like the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and the Dodge Viper. Aside from these two, the Porsche 911 competed eleven other performance vehicles that are currently available in the market. The vehicles went through a series of tests so as to see who performed best and who topped all others as a luxury sports car.

You certainly would not believe the kind of prices these vehicles hold. The cheapest in the lot is the Lotus Elise that can be purchased in the market for $45,545 while the most expensive machine tested by the auto magazine was a Mercedes Benz SL550 vehicle that could cost you $105,855.

All these vehicles had to go through tests that would give Consumer Reports data on who should be declared the best among the lot. The vehicles had to go through public roads. They also were driven through the Consumer Report test track facility which is located in Connecticut. The vehicles also had been tried using various tests like one for high speed maneuvering as well as braking and cornering while driving at high speeds.

The criteria included various angles of checking an automobile. Aside from those mentioned, Consumer Reports also included areas like safety, acceleration, trunk space, comfort, and convenience.

The new Hemi cars, such as the Dodge charger, magnum, challenger, and Chrysler 300's can come with plenty of power for most of us. There are the few that can't get enough and there are also those that went for the cheaper smaller engine. This obviously doesn't make you less of a man or a woman it just means you weren't worried about the extra power when you bought it.... For most people, that changes over time though. You get used to what you have an want to feel a difference in the seat of your pants feel again, like when you first bought the car. Whether you went with the larger or the smaller engine you aren't stuck with what you drove off of the lot with. There are several things that can be done to give that hemi car that brand new feel again. The most common upgrades are a tuner, chip or programmer, an air intake, and an exhaust system. These parts are going to give a transition from the "I'm used to this car" feel, to the "this car feels new again" feel.

First we'll talk about what you can do from inside the hemi car to modify it. The tuners and programmers are installed through the computer port that is just below the steering wheel. They add about 20 horse power and usually about 1 to 2 miles per gallon to the fuel economy, just because of the improved engine efficiency. The hand held devices also give the ability to read and clear the check engine lights, saving a trip to the dealership and some time. They also make way for future upgrades with the ability to get custom programs from the handhelds manufacturers.

The second place to modify is under the hood by replacing the factory air box with a more efficient air intake system. The aftermarket systems have much larger filters and are able to suck a lot more air into the engine to create power, and make it run more efficiently. And the third place is under the car. Upgrading the exhaust will do a few things. The most noticeable will be the different sound. You'll end up with a more aggressive tone. The other thing is does is free up the exhaust flow. This will help the engine to run cooler. It also help the engine not have to work to push exhaust gasses away, because they are more free to flow through the pipes. This will also improve engine efficiency.

Why's doesn't the manufacturer do all of these upgrades automatically. Think about that question for a second. Think of the behind the seat DVD players that the aftermarket came up with that would strap on with velcro straps. Now you can see built in DVD players from the factory. Now think of the wheels and suspensions that the aftermarket came up with, and now take a look at some of your local dealerships, and you'll see that they are catching on to these things. The aftermarket is what makes the auto industry evolve. The car manufacturers then take what looks like it will be most profitable and then incorporate those things into their cars. The aftermarket industry will always take what they make and make it better.

Installing Air Intakes and Chips on the hemi cars can easily be done all by your self with simple tools. The tuners upload in under 10 minutes and the intake usually take about 25 minutes which isn't bad for getting years of extra power and efficiency. The hemi car exhausts can be installed at home as well but will require a little more skill than the Intake and Chip.

Car performance parts are designed specifically to improve the performance of your car's engine. Since they release the power of your car's engine, car performance parts are a must have for car enthusiasts. Car performance parts also help various parts of your car including but not limited to exhaust, spark plugs, power module, and intakes to perform optimally improving the overall performance. There is a wide range of car performance parts available in the market.

Another important consideration for buying car performance parts is whether to buy original equipment manufacturer parts or the aftermarket parts. As evident by the name, original equipment manufacturer parts are specially crafted for your car by the manufacturer. On the other hand, aftermarket parts are manufactured by companies other than your car's manufacturer. Despite the significant difference in price, experts suggest investing in original equipment manufacturer parts since the performance of aftermarket parts is inconsistent at best.

Three Types of Car Performance Parts

As mentioned above, there is a wide variety of car performance parts available in the market. However, they can be classified into three broad categories which are as follows;

• Brakes - As brakes perform a critical function, they can be termed as the most important part of a car after the engine. An upgraded brake system will allow you to have better control over your car even while driving at very high speed. Having said that, experts recommend (choosing and) buying an upgraded brakes system very carefully since wrongly chosen parts will detract from the performance of your car rather than improving it. For example, in a brakes system not suitable for your car can raise the operating temperature making it difficult, and in extreme cases impossible to slow down causing (possibly fatal) accidents.

• Suspension - Suspension system, another important part of the car's engine is also used for improving the overall performance. The most important benefit of upgrading your car's suspension system is that it allows you to take advantage of the tyre's contact patch which positively impacts suspension geometry, dampening, and rebound of your car increasing the limit and (steering) precision of your car by allowing you to push the brakes harder, and turn corners and gain speed faster. Apart from the above mentioned benefits, installing the correct upgraded suspension system will allow you more control over your car (specially) in dangerous situations such as while driving on slopes, slippery roads etc.

• Engine - As mentioned above, the engine is the single most important part of a car. There are many car performance parts available in the markets that allow you to improve the performance of your car's engine. Experts recommend tuning the engine's exhaust based on diameter, backpressure, crossovers, and header/manifold for optimal performance.