Car Hacks and Mods For Dummies

David Vespremi

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780764571428
• eBook ISBN: 9781118085400
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Automotive Transportation & Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

This is a must-have for anyone interested in achieving better performance through car modification! So you want to turn your Yugo into a Viper? Sorry--you need a certified magician. But if you want to turn your sedate sedan into a mean machine or your used car lot deal into a powerful, purring set of wheels, you've come to the right place. Car Hacks & Mods for Dummies will get you turbo-charged up about modifying your car and guide you smoothly through:

• Choosing a car to mod
• Considering warranties, legal, and safety issues
• Hacking the ECU (Engine Control Unit) to adjust performance-enhancing factors like fuel injection, firing the spark plugs, controlling the cooling fan, and more
• Replacing your ECU with a plug and play system such as the APEXi Power FC or the AEM EMS system
• Putting on the brakes (the faster you go, the faster you'll need to stop)
• Setting up your car for better handling and cornering

Written by David Vespremi, automotive expert, frequent guest on national car-related TV shows, track driving instructor and self-proclaimed modder, Car Hacks & Mods for Dummies gets you into the ECU and under the hood and gives you the keys to:

• Choosing new wheels, including everything from the basics to dubs and spinners
• Putting your car on a diet, because lighter means faster
• Basic power bolt-ons and more expensive power adders
• Installing roll bars and cages to enhance safety
• Adding aero add-ons, including front "chin" spoilers, real spoilers, side skirts, and canards
• Detailing, down to the best cleaners and waxes and cleaning under the hood
• Using OBD (on-board diagnostics) for troubleshooting
• Getting advice from general Internet sites and specific message boards and forums for your car's make or model, whether it's a Chevy pick-up or an Alfa Romeo roadster

Whether you want to compete at drag strips or on road courses or simply accelerate faster on an interstate ramp, if you want to improve your car's performance, Car Hacks & Mods for Dummies is just the boost you need.

Part I

Owning a Performance Car

In this part . . .

**IN a DROPCAP**

In this part, I explain the warranty and legal issues involved in modifying your car. This part also guides you through the considerations you need to make to decide whether modifying your car will get you the results that you’re after.

Chapter 1

Cool Car Basics

In This Chapter

Keeping mods legal

Keeping the warranty intact

Setting realistic expectations

Making your car cool

Planning it smart

By virtue of holding this book in your hands, it is clear that the concept of improving a car’s performance intrigues you. Perhaps a friend planted the idea of doing a little something to your car to make it look and/or perform better, and ever since, the idea has bounced around in your head from time to time. Perhaps your car is starting to feel a little worn and tired compared to the newer models you’re seeing on the road or in your neighbor’s driveway, and you’re wondering whether it’s worth the time and expense to try to improve upon what you already have. Of course, it could just be that you have noticed a lot more souped-up imports on the road and wonder why the whole country seems to have gone crazy over The Fast and the Furious.

Regardless of what brought you to this particular subject, this chapter will guide you through the core issues at the heart of car modification and allow you to plan ahead so that you will know what to expect going in — the good, the bad, and the ugly — and improve the odds that you’ll be satisfied with the changes you make to your car.

Keeping It Legal and Keeping the Warranty Intact

Two pervasive myths of hacking or modding your car are that

Modifying your car automatically cancels your warranty.

Modifying your car is illegal.

Just as these blanket statements cannot be relied on as gospel — after all, changing the windshield wiper blades can’t cause the transmission to break — neither can you assume that both the law and your warranty allow you to do whatever you want to your car.

The purpose of this section is not to provide a legal dissertation, but to offer an introduction to the regulatory bodies and commercial entities that have an interest in what you do to make your car different from the way it was when you drove it back from the dealership with that new-car smell still wafting through the cabin.

Federal regulations

Broadly speaking, two regulatory agencies oversee the automotive industry on a federal level:

EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)

DOT (Department of Transportation)

The regulatory power of the EPA and DOT is primarily concerned with setting and enforcing the regulations dealing with the type of safety and emission equipment that need to be present in cars in order for them to be sold in the United States. If you are the CEO of an automobile manufacturer or parts supplier, plan on looking closely at the guidelines set by these agencies.

As a private consumer, with few exceptions (like federal prohibitions against running leaded race gas on public roadways), you are unlikely to have direct contact with the federal government.

There is one instance in which the federal government takes a very active interest in your private vehicle, and this is where individuals either themselves, or through a broker, bring gray market cars into the U.S. for road use. A gray market car may be a model that was never officially sold in the U.S., but has become desirable enough to compel people to either skirt the law in order to bring them in, or to go through an expensive and time-consuming certification process involving crash testing and retrofitting emissions and safety equipment. The Porsche 959 and Nissan Skyline GT-R are examples of cars that were both so coveted by enthusiasts that companies and individuals certified some of these for legitimate gray market use. Other cars that have been available as variants outside of the U.S. (for example, high-spec and special performance editions) needed changes made to their equipment, such as glass, bumpers, turn signals, lighting, emissions equipment, and safety equipment, in order to be brought up to the same standards as their U.S. counterparts. If you are interested in either importing a gray market car or purchasing one that has already been brought in as a gray market import, have an attorney check to ensure that everything that needs to have been addressed to make the car legal for road use has been covered, including the accuracy of any and all documents submitted to both state and federal regulatory bodies. Fraud and perjury are serious crimes, and people have ended up with stiff fines and even jail time (and the cars were crushed) for gray market car deals gone bad.

Local regulations

As an individual, you are most likely to be concerned with regulatory agencies at the state and local level. While the federal government has many vehicle standards, when the car is on the road, the regulations are enforced almost exclusively by state or local government. Drivers in the U.S. encounter state-level involvement of vehicle registrations and/or safety inspections. Each state sets its own standards on how closely, and how often, they will scrutinize a car before issuing a license plate for the car or reviewing the vehicle’s registration. These regulations may be enforced differently depending on which county your car is registered in within the state. In California, for example, some counties require emissions testing every two years, while others require only that the vehicle pass emissions when it is first registered and do not require further testing, unless the car has been cited by law enforcement as a suspected polluter.

State regulatory agencies

Before embarking on your modification regimen, it can be helpful to familiarize yourself with your local vehicle code. As the old saying goes, forewarned is forearmed.

Motor vehicle code

The state regulatory agencies generally set forth their requirements in the motor vehicle code for each state. Many people are familiar with the VC initials followed by a series of numbers on the ticket for a traffic citation (for example, exceeding the posted speed limit). The same book of codes that dictates how fast you may drive on the highways of your state, or whether you can make a right turn against a red light, also lists requirements that vehicles must meet within that state’s jurisdiction. This includes everything from how low or high your car may sit, how loud the exhaust may be, to what type of lighting is or isn’t acceptable. Because driving on public roadways is “a privilege, not a right,” these are the concessions that you as a driver must agree to abide by in order to exercise your privilege to use your car on public roadways.

Before beginning any modifications to your car, including those seemingly noble and uncontroversial modifications designed to improve its safety, acquaint yourself with the vehicle code regulations in your state:

Your local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) or Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) can steer you toward listings of applicable codes.

Many public libraries keep current vehicle codes on file.

...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I : Owning a Performance Car
• Chapter 1: Cool Car Basics
• Chapter 2: Planning It Smart
• Part II : Safety
• Chapter 3: Balanced Performance
• Chapter 4: Safety Gear
• Part III : Rims and Rubber
• Chapter 5: Tires
• Chapter 6: Wheels
• Part IV : Stylin’
• Chapter 7: Fashion Is a Fickle Thing
• Chapter 8: Vanity? Performance? A Little of Both?
• Chapter 9: Detailing 101
• Part V : Slowing Down
• Chapter 10: Slowing Down
• Chapter 11: Basic Braking Bolt-Ons
• Part VI : Corner Carver
• Chapter 12: I Just Want to Hang (Onto the Road)
• Chapter 13: Basic Handling Bolt-Ons
• Chapter 14: Get on the Diet!
• Part VII : Let’s Go!
• Chapter 15: Basic Power Bolt-Ons
• Chapter 16: Building a Strong Foundation
• Chapter 17: Thinking of Adding Boost
• Chapter 18: Have Boost, Need More
• Part VIII : Faster Thinking
• Chapter 19: Scanning the Codes
• Chapter 20: What’s inside Your Car’s Brain
• Chapter 21: Reflashes and EPROM Swaps
• Chapter 22: Black Boxes
• Chapter 23: Integrated Piggybacks
• Chapter 24: Full Standalone ECUs
• Part IX : The Part of Tens
• Chapter 25: Ten Online Resources
• Chapter 26: Ten Car Modding Problems