The Student Room Group

Modified Cars

Alright then lets see what everyone thinks makes for a great modified car.

Personally I think an RX-8 in white with nice wheels and a small drop looks amazing:



Also think that modified S2000s can look great:



Then there's the drift look which I think is awesome:



What does everyone else think then?

:frown: all negs for the modified cars...
(edited 12 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

This:

Modified saloons are great. More pics to come soon.

bella562.jpg
Low and Slow!
180574_10150424150295175_744665174_17773446_4038481_n.jpg

Also check this out.
http://vimeo.com/23887556
Reply 4
Original post by AgentSushi
Low and Slow!
180574_10150424150295175_744665174_17773446_4038481_n.jpg

Also check this out.
http://vimeo.com/23887556


Stephen Brooks makes great videos like this one (if you like low and slow VAG cars).
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 5
Depends what you call "modified".
Chucking some aftermarket wheels on, an air filter and a 'zorst isn't "modifying" that's just buggering about for kids that haven't really got a clue.

I modify cars quite often, but most of my mods are under the bonnet.
Spot the difference:



Original post by iwantcheese5
Stephen Brooks makes great videos like this one (if you like low and slow VAG cars).


He does, Love that vid too, a 356 outlaw has to be one of my dream cars.

This would be the one I'd have.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSDAMOe3wYY
Reply 7
Original post by JC.
Depends what you call "modified".
Chucking some aftermarket wheels on, an air filter and a 'zorst isn't "modifying" that's just buggering about for kids that haven't really got a clue.

I modify cars quite often, but most of my mods are under the bonnet.
Spot the difference:





There's nothing wrong with aftermarket wheels - they are a legitimate performance upgrade - and the same goes for an aftermarket exhaust and air filter. Most people can't afford to do massive modifications to their car, especially if its from the last 20 years.

Changing the wheels on a car can MASSIVELY change the handling characteristics of a car. The exhaust and air filter are needed if you want to later upgrade the engine more throughly and even on their own can get you 10-20 bhp on some cars, especially turbocharged cars.

Then there's the option of getting the car remapped which again on turbocharged car can get you brilliant performance gains for a relatively small investment.

In general it's good to see people taking enough of an interest in their car to make modifications and personalisations.

Personally the reason I haven't done any more than fit an aftermarket exhaust is because to do anything more drastic to the car would cost £2000++. Even getting the wheels I'd want would be £1000+...

Original post by AgentSushi
He does, Love that vid too, a 356 outlaw has to be one of my dream cars.

This would be the one I'd have.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSDAMOe3wYY


I'm not a massive fan of that car but I do respect the work that has gone into it. My tastes are much more centred around Japanese cars; probably because I grew up playing Gran Turismo... I know a lot of people don't rate them but I think the sound of the SR20DET being mashed against the limiter while screaming sideways is a beautiful thing, second only to the sound of the Japspeed V8 S15 being similarly mashed...
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by iwantcheese5
There's nothing wrong with aftermarket wheels - they are a legitimate performance upgrade - and the same goes for an aftermarket exhaust and air filter. Most people can't afford to do massive modifications to their car, especially if its from the last 20 years.

Changing the wheels on a car can MASSIVELY change the handling characteristics of a car. The exhaust and air filter are needed if you want to later upgrade the engine more throughly and even on their own can get you 10-20 bhp on some cars, especially turbocharged cars.

Then there's the option of getting the car remapped which again on turbocharged car can get you brilliant performance gains for a relatively small investment.

In general it's good to see people taking enough of an interest in their car to make modifications and personalisations.

Personally the reason I haven't done any more than fit an aftermarket exhaust is because to do anything more drastic to the car would cost £2000++. Even getting the wheels I'd want would be £1000+...


No, theres nothing wrong with a new set of wheels. I've got several sets for my car as and when the mood takes me.
A zorst and an air filter does not a modified car make. It's a start, but not a very big start.
Air filters are a bit of a con. A guy I know who manufactures performance parts for Subaru's did some testing on his own drag racing car which at that time was well over 500bhp, and ended up over 600. The tests were on a variety of panels and cones from several manufacturers, and conducted on the same car, same rolling road, and over two consecutive days, one quite cool and damp, the other slightly warmer and drier. Types tested included the OE paper style panel, wire gauze and cloth such as K&N and Green, and foam from Jetex and PiperX. The results showed a spread of just ±2bhp. Intake pressure and temperatures confirmed these findings with very little benefit being found for using any of the expensive aftermarket replacements. The only plausible justification drawn was a financial gain if you intend to keep the car a while, and by using a 'lifetime' item you may eventually save a few quid over the serviceable OE item.
A little less scientific was his method of checking filtration, whereby he placed each filter in a clean tin and deposited the same handful of dirt from his vacuum cleaner on them, then placed it on top of an engine on tickover. Visually he recorded that the OE item appeared to filter the best, letting no large particles through, and negligible amounts of very fine dust. The gauze filters were almost as good, but the foam filters were awful letting lots of larger particles through.

Exhausts can indeed make more of an advantage, especially to a turbo-charged car. The faster and free-er the gas flows, the faster the turbo will spin, increasing boost pressure, and speed of spool-up. However, it's not always as simple as that as modern exhausts have a lot of obstacles. Catalytic converters can spoil the party greatly, so getting rid of them is always a good idea, apart from when you need to MOT the car or are stopped for a VOSA check which could cause legal issues for road use. Sports cats which flow free-er are good here, and often cars have several cats when one is enough. My own Impreza had 3, but one decent sports cat would still have seen it pass an MOT. I had a package on mine that removed the mid section cat, and if I had kept it I planned to remove the up-pipe pre-cat, and replace the down-pipe cat with a sports variant. The ECU can adjust a little to cope with this, but a remap would be required to maximise the potential of such a mod. But it goes even further than that, as the amount of boost the car would be able to achieve from that would see me overwhelm the fuel pump and injectors, forcing more mods and expense to make sure I both got the maximum, AND that the engine ran properly. Running lean on a Subaru can cause fatal engine damage. It's also highly likely that after all that that you will be nearing the boost limits of the turbo, so that starts the whole mod/paying process all over again.
On non-turbo cars the benefits are much lower, and in truth, most people buy them to get a sexy chrome tailpipe and some extra farty noises. Reducing back pressure on ordinary, low powered engines will liberate very little performance, and may cause issues with valve movement too. Car companies plough millions into setting their cars up for a mix of reliability, economy and performance; aftermarket exhaust makers do not, and unless you know a little about cars then again, you could be wasting money.

Wheels can indeed make a difference, but again, you must do your homework. Generally, people buy alloys for cosmetic reasons, no performance. There can be some benefit to the usually wider tyre providing more grip, and lower profile reducing sidewall flex to give a shaper feel. People often go too far though, with stupidly wide tyres which become more prone to aquaplaning in the wet, far outstrip the grip requirements of the car, and can ruin the driving feel. Skinny profiles can remove the feel of grip where a driver senses nearing the limits, so if/when they do run out of grip/talent, it is sudden and unrecoverable.
Alloys are also often no lighter than their steel counterparts. As steel is an extremely strong metal, it doesn't take much to give the structural integrity required for the job in hand, whereas alloy is lighter than steel, but also not as strong, so more has to be used to achieve the structural integrity of the wheel. Different alloys are lighter (magnesium especially), but with that comes even more expense. Flow-forming reduces oxygen content of the alloy making it stronger, so less can be used and weight reduced, but again, cost is a factor. OZ's Ultra/Super Leggera range were a decent flow formed wheel at a reasonable price. I fitted some to one car and they did indeed improve both handling and performance. Performance comes from the engine needing less of its power to rotate the wheel, leaving more to actually accelerate the car along. Think of a bicycle wheel which weighs almost nothing and is easy to spin, compared to a heavy car wheel which takes a lot of force to get moving. Similarly, the handling benefit comes from the springs and dampers having to work less to recover from movement. Imagine holding a bucket full of water at arms length and moving it up and down. Your arms are damping the movement and recovering the position, but with all the weight of the water it is hard and slow to do. Now pour the water away and raise/lower the bucket again. With almost no weight it is easy.
I like to see modified cars that don't look modified like this Mini:
Mini R1 Project car.jpg
Underneath is a Yamaha R1 Engine and goes pretty damn quick but you wouldn't know it.

I also like to see different modified Mini's like this:
4608217187_742ea004f6.jpg
Wide arches, deep dish 13 inch wheels and a de-seamed look, not a fan of an all de-seamed look but cool none the less.

I also like the 60's classic racing/rallying look on a Mini:
69_Morris_Mini_Cooper_MK2_km-06-cinci-04.jpg
iMAGE 400 43911-1.jpg

And I also like the classic/vintage Mini look with a mixture of both new and old like this:
MiniRedandBlackMk1Bonnet.jpg
Must admit, I prefer a 'sleeper'. I'm not interested in showing off in McD's car park, or impressing a load of teenagers. I'd rather have a set of decent coilovers, ARB's, some bracing and quality tyres that no-one would ever see, but makes the car awesome to drive. Same with power, as long as the car can take it. Silly power in a FWD hatchback doesn't interest me in the slightest, but give me AWD or RWD and a chassis that can handle it and I'm there. Don't need loud zorsts or visual bling like body kits, just ability.
shelby-gt500-1.jpg

Peugeot 406 Taxi ( Marseille ) 1.jpg
Reply 13
Original post by Walter Ego
Air filters are a bit of a con. A guy I know who manufactures performance parts for Subaru's did some testing on his own drag racing car which at that time was well over 500bhp, and ended up over 600. The tests were on a variety of panels and cones from several manufacturers, and conducted on the same car, same rolling road, and over two consecutive days, one quite cool and damp, the other slightly warmer and drier. Types tested included the OE paper style panel, wire gauze and cloth such as K&N and Green, and foam from Jetex and PiperX. The results showed a spread of just ±2bhp. Intake pressure and temperatures confirmed these findings with very little benefit being found for using any of the expensive aftermarket replacements. The only plausible justification drawn was a financial gain if you intend to keep the car a while, and by using a 'lifetime' item you may eventually save a few quid over the serviceable OE item.
A little less scientific was his method of checking filtration, whereby he placed each filter in a clean tin and deposited the same handful of dirt from his vacuum cleaner on them, then placed it on top of an engine on tickover. Visually he recorded that the OE item appeared to filter the best, letting no large particles through, and negligible amounts of very fine dust. The gauze filters were almost as good, but the foam filters were awful letting lots of larger particles through.


What about proper cold air intakes rather than just replacing the panel filter?

Original post by Walter Ego
Exhausts can indeed make more of an advantage, especially to a turbo-charged car. The faster and free-er the gas flows, the faster the turbo will spin, increasing boost pressure, and speed of spool-up. However, it's not always as simple as that as modern exhausts have a lot of obstacles. Catalytic converters can spoil the party greatly, so getting rid of them is always a good idea, apart from when you need to MOT the car or are stopped for a VOSA check which could cause legal issues for road use. Sports cats which flow free-er are good here, and often cars have several cats when one is enough. My own Impreza had 3, but one decent sports cat would still have seen it pass an MOT. I had a package on mine that removed the mid section cat, and if I had kept it I planned to remove the up-pipe pre-cat, and replace the down-pipe cat with a sports variant. The ECU can adjust a little to cope with this, but a remap would be required to maximise the potential of such a mod. But it goes even further than that, as the amount of boost the car would be able to achieve from that would see me overwhelm the fuel pump and injectors, forcing more mods and expense to make sure I both got the maximum, AND that the engine ran properly. Running lean on a Subaru can cause fatal engine damage. It's also highly likely that after all that that you will be nearing the boost limits of the turbo, so that starts the whole mod/paying process all over again.
On non-turbo cars the benefits are much lower, and in truth, most people buy them to get a sexy chrome tailpipe and some extra farty noises. Reducing back pressure on ordinary, low powered engines will liberate very little performance, and may cause issues with valve movement too. Car companies plough millions into setting their cars up for a mix of reliability, economy and performance; aftermarket exhaust makers do not, and unless you know a little about cars then again, you could be wasting money.


I know it's not the most scientific example but in a copy of Redline magazine they did a test to see if an exhaust can make any meaningful change to performance and they found it did for a Honda Accord Type-R which should have already had a fairly good exhaust system. I think the change in power was something like 10-20bhp as well as making the mid-range performance much better. Admittedly this was a properly done exhaust where they tried to smooth out as many of the bends as possible etc. rather than just being an ebay special.

Original post by Walter Ego
Wheels can indeed make a difference, but again, you must do your homework. Generally, people buy alloys for cosmetic reasons, no performance. There can be some benefit to the usually wider tyre providing more grip, and lower profile reducing sidewall flex to give a shaper feel. People often go too far though, with stupidly wide tyres which become more prone to aquaplaning in the wet, far outstrip the grip requirements of the car, and can ruin the driving feel. Skinny profiles can remove the feel of grip where a driver senses nearing the limits, so if/when they do run out of grip/talent, it is sudden and unrecoverable.
Alloys are also often no lighter than their steel counterparts. As steel is an extremely strong metal, it doesn't take much to give the structural integrity required for the job in hand, whereas alloy is lighter than steel, but also not as strong, so more has to be used to achieve the structural integrity of the wheel. Different alloys are lighter (magnesium especially), but with that comes even more expense. Flow-forming reduces oxygen content of the alloy making it stronger, so less can be used and weight reduced, but again, cost is a factor. OZ's Ultra/Super Leggera range were a decent flow formed wheel at a reasonable price. I fitted some to one car and they did indeed improve both handling and performance. Performance comes from the engine needing less of its power to rotate the wheel, leaving more to actually accelerate the car along. Think of a bicycle wheel which weighs almost nothing and is easy to spin, compared to a heavy car wheel which takes a lot of force to get moving. Similarly, the handling benefit comes from the springs and dampers having to work less to recover from movement. Imagine holding a bucket full of water at arms length and moving it up and down. Your arms are damping the movement and recovering the position, but with all the weight of the water it is hard and slow to do. Now pour the water away and raise/lower the bucket again. With almost no weight it is easy.


Have you ever picked up a set of steel wheels? They are ridiculously heavy compared to a good set of alloy wheels...not just OZ ones etc. There's also the advantage of reducing the unsprung weight which means the suspension can react to bumps faster and keep the tyre in contact with the road for more of the time.

I agree with you about reducing sidewall flew but you need to balance that against the increased mass of a larger diameter wheel; I think I read somewhere that there isn't much point going above 18" as you can already fit huge brakes inside 18" wheels.
Reply 14
I love the sleeper/slightly ratty look. I'd much rather plow my money into engine/transmission/brakes/suspension than bodywork and cosmetics. I quite like the Jap street drift movement in terms of looks as the cars are driven right on the edge so often have the odd bump or scrape and as a result not so much money is spent on looks:


That said, my favourite kind of car is British classic. Something like heavily tweaked Spitfire or Morris Minor. I've seen a Mog with serious modifications to slot a V8 under the bonnet, get a Sierra gearbox in the middle, and an Escort Cosworth rear axle out back with the front suspension from something like an MGB. A ride in that would be pretty awesome. Believe it or not, this Morris Minor has precisely those modifications (a slight hint being the giant tach in the middle of the dash):
That's how I roll:

Spoiler



I'm kidding by the way. I like big rims, but too big looks ridiculous. The cars in the videos are freaking ugly.
Will go pretty much anywhere and can serve as a temporary home. :biggrin:

Reply 17
Although the NSX is a beautiful car stock it can look amazing with modifications (I think):




Reply 18
I'm loving the picture of the Amuse GT1 S2000! My favourite body kit.

I can assure you J.C. there is A LOT going on underneath that bonnet of the S2k, to the tune of $100,000...
Reply 19
The Amuse GT1 is a brilliant piece of kit...even if my judgements are solely based on playing Gran Turismo...

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