Car Modifications

Minor modifications: the custom items that come under minor mods can be custom paint job, custom body wrap, car stickering, aftermarket front bumper, aftermarket rear bumper, interior changes, front splitters, rear air diffusers, side skirtings, aftermarket projecter lamps, aftermarket tail lights, spoiler, vented custom hood, side body vents, sound system etc

Some mods here are fake and just for good looks and some mods here are helping the car in performing well and providing good ride quality.

• Alloy wheels
• Vented hood
• Spoiler
• Side body vents
• Rear diffuser

Alloy wheels: Alloy wheels play a major role in a project car. Deciding which wheels to install is very important. Alloy wheels are something which not only looks good but also has some advantage. It helps in reducing the weight of the car. Lighter the wheels, lesser the weight of the car and because of less weight there will be better acceleration

Vented Hoods: Vented hood is a cool mod is very purposeful. Vents are made on the car hood so that colder air enter inside the engine bay that will help in cooling down the engine and also will help the air take to suck in colder and denser air

Spoiler: Spoiler enhances the look of the car but a correct spoiler should be installed orelse it ruins the car looks. The spoilers purpose is to create down-force and keep the car grounded at high speeds and avoid crash.

Side Body Vents: side body vents are the vents made on both sides of the body so that air can enter the rear body and can cool the rear part of the body as the exhaust system gets hot and can damage the body.

Rear air diffuser: Rear diffusers are meant for aerodynamics which help in cutting through the air which help in acceleration.

A stage 3 modification is regarded by most as a track day or motor sport modification. Like stage 2 mods they will also need other mods to support them but they are usually far from ideal for road use as we will explain. … A stage 3 race modified car will also need to be regularly overhauled and serviced.

Competition cam, Engine balancing, Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Sports gearbox, Suspension, race brakes.

Competition cams: Competition Camshafts simply means that tuners are able to increase the horsepower substantially by giving you more peak horsepower higher up the rev range than stock but you will notice the torque loss in the lower RPM than stock.

Performance cams increase the duration and timing of the valve openings during the engine stroke, increasing horsepower and making your car accelerate more quickly. … To install a new camshaft, you must expose the valve train by removing the valve cover and possibility the distributor.

Engine balancing: A very high-end race motor is usually balanced to ¼ ounce-inch, which is seen as the holy grail of balancing by enginebuilders. … Likewise, as rpm increases, the effect of ring drag, bearing friction, and cylinder pressure (until peak torque is reached) on an engine’s overallbalance increases as well.

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Internal engine upgrades: performance and internal engine upgrades
1)dual row timing chain upgrade. 2)THE ultimate timing chain kit. …
3)ARP cylinder head studs. 4)ARP head studs are the ultimate way to go when you want the best for your engine. …
5)arp connecting rod bolt kit. …
6)X-beam forged connecting rods. …
7)balance rotating assembly.

Sports gearbox: The 7-speed dual clutch transmission makes especially sporty driving performance possible: direct drive and lightning-fast gear changes without interrupting the shear force. The car “sits right on the gas”. It also achieves fuel economy better than that of a stock manual transmission, thanks to its excellent fuel efficiency.

• Capable of rpm of up to 9,000
• Gear change within a few hundredths of a second, below the level of human perception
• Two sub-transmissions: the first one transfers the propulsive power, and in the second one, the next gear is pre-selected
• Strategy-capable power take-up element is flexibly adjustable depending on the engine characteristics
• Various driving modes: manual, comfort, sport, supersports

Race suspension: Race suspension has two main roles. The first is to control the weight transfer of the car both laterally and longitudinally to improve cornering ability, while the second is to control the impacts from bumps or kerbs to maintain constant contact between the tyre and the road surface.

The end result of optimising both of these elements is an increase in grip which, ultimately, leads to better lap or stage times.

Race brakes: Racing braking system will run off an aftermarket pedal box with a brake pedal that operates two separate master cylinders. One handles the front brakes and the other operates the rear stoppers. This is so that you can alterbraking bias quickly and easily to get the braking feel you desire for a given circuit.

These stage 2 mods offer larger power gains than stage one but will usually require additional work or other parts if you want them to work reliably. Stage 2 mods consists of a larger turbo install, ECU Remap, supercharger kits.

Turbo: You increase airflow by getting more boost pressure into your engine – this is usually done with a bigger turbo. You increase efficiency by making your turbo “better at spooling” – this will usually be done with a higher-quality turbo, or one that is better-suited to your engine than the factory unit.

ECU Remap: A vehicle remap replaces default software on the ECU, overwriting it with new software which can be programmed to optimize the cars overall performance. This is known as vehicle remapping because the ECU is essentially a program that controls how the engine works.

Superchargers kits: A supercharger is an air compressor that increases the pressure or density of air supplied to an internal combustion engine. This gives each intake cycle of the engine more oxygen, letting it burn more fuel and do more work, thus increasing power.

A stage 1 modification can be added in isolation. This means that a true stage 1 modification part does not require any other engine modifications to get it to work. Stage 1 mods consists of intake system, engine headers and exhaust system

First comes the air filter. Replacement of the stock air filter with a performance air filter is very important. Now, there are 2 types of performance air filters: Short RAM and Cold Air Intake.

Short RAM is a type of performance air filter which goes in the stock air filter box itself but is not similar to stock air filter. Short RAM has better meshing which helps in better intake

Cold air intake is a type of performance air filter which is installed after removing the whole assembly of stock air filter along with the stock air filter box. Cold air intake is better than short RAM as short ram is placed above the engine. This results in suction of hot air. Cold air is a must for better performance as it is more dense and is Rich in oxygen so there is better combustion in the engine which results in increase in power. Cold air intake is placed away from the engine and it sucks in the colder air from the environment rather than sucking hotter air from the engine bay.

On the second number we have the engine hearders. Now the engine headers should be changed as the stock ones do not generate much power as they are more focused in eliminating the raw sound from the engine. Stock headers are basically thinner than custom headers.

Custom headers or basically race spec headers are more thicker than stock headers. Reason behind this is for better air flow through the exhaust system. Better air flow through exhaust system is very important if cold air intake is installed orelse the cold air intake won’t perform to it’s full potential. Another reason behind thicker pipes on custom headers is to have minimum loss of HP (horsepower).

In cars there is something known as HP (Horsepower) and WHP (Wheel Horsepower). They aren’t the same. HP is the power of the engine and WHP is the power delivered to the wheels. For example: a Mazda RX7 has power of 210 HP, but the power on the wheels is just 177 WHP. the 23 HP that is lost is due to thin piping in stock headers.

And on the third number comes the exhaust system. Exhaust system is the end part of engine headers. Exhaust systems are mainly installed for the raw and crisp sound which is not heard in stock cars. Exhaust systems don’t increase much of power. A stock muffler delete with a replacement of and end can will give that crisp sound. But if increase in performance is needed than a free flow exhaust system needs to be installed as in the free flow system, the air flow is straight without any interruption.

As an Architecture designs his/her project, A Car enthusiast also have to design his/her project. Planning what mods will be installed on the project for better performance, handling, braking etc keeping the capacity of the car in mind.

Some of the basic mods are replacement of stock air filter with a performance air filter, muffler delete and installing a performance end can for better exhaust note, custom headlamps and tail lamps, cosmetic changes etc.

There are 3 stages in the process of making a project car. They are: Stage 1 mods, Stage 2 mods, Stage 3 mods.

Selection of vehicle for the project car is one of the most important steps. Such a car should be selected which can perform well with the modifications that you have in your mind. Preferably the car to be selected should be the one which is already used alot as their engine has already been used and the Pistons can take the load of heavy modifications.

A new car is not recommended for a project car. It can be used but not preferred by Car enthusiasts as purchasing a new car and than turning it into a project car is not a good idea. As the most important reason is the warranty of the car will be voided. Yes, buying a new car and modifying it is alright but buying a new car and turning it into a project car is not alright. If car isn’t available than purchase a pre owned car.

Cars that are commonly modified in India are Honda Civic, Maruti Suzuki Swift, Volkswagen Polo, Suzuki Baleno by NEXA, Hyundai Grand i10, Hyundai i20, Ford Figo etc.

Car tuning is the modification of a car to optimise it for a different set of performance requirements from those it was originally designed to meet. Most commonly this is higher engine performance and dynamic handling characteristics but cars may also be altered to provide better fuel economy, or smoother response. Often, tuning is done at the expense of emissions performance, component reliability and occupant comfort.

As a culture has grown around modified cars the term tuning has grown to encompass the cosmetic and stylistic changes owners make to personalize their vehicles. These changes are sometimes made so extreme they are actually of detriment to the more traditional aspects of tuning. An example is the recent trend for extremely low cars with exaggerated wheel camber which combine to give low traction and poor handling dynamics.

Car tuning is related to auto racing, although many tuned cars do not compete in any form of sanctioned racing.

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