How To Modify Your Car | The Ultimate Beginners Guide

In this episode of Mighty Car Mods, we'll show you how to

modify

your

car. Welcome to another episode of mighty carmods, so you just got

your

hands on your first car or you've borrowed your mom's car and you're ready to make some modifications in this video we'll go over everything you need to know to start

modify

ing your own car now why would you modify a car? Well most cars are made at a certain price from the factory and there are only so many things they come with and the fact is that you can make your car faster and better or just customize it because you want to make it yours so let's dive into it. the powerful car modifications

guide

on how to modify your car, some people argue that cars are already perfectly fine from the factory and therefore should not be changed at all, but it is important to remember that cars and their performance are often limited by factors such as emissions, marketing, noise, warranty, service intervals and price.

When these factors combine, they can compromise a car's performance. performance and that's where modifying your car can unlock some potential, even if it's at the expense of warranty and service costs. By modifying your car you can unlock some of the inherent engineering potential, learn how your car works, and start making your car represent your idea. of what makes it yours, some cars are already awesome from the factory and yours may or may not be, but you can definitely improve your car, so in this video we will see the complete process for

beginners

on how to modify your car and the first thing it needs knowing is how to do a basic service and an oil change so that's the first step so today we're going to work on this brz that we just bought second hand every time we buy. second hand car here at mighty car mods the first thing we do is give it a service, this means checking all the fluids and changing the oil, so that's our first job now.

You should have already checked the oil when you bought the car or before. I bought the car, you should have had it checked by now, but changing the oil is super simple, easy to learn, especially on this engine with the oil filters right there, so no matter what it looks like, we'll change it anyway, you can check. The car manual or this little sticker to see when the oil was last changed. This one here says it was repaired by Subaru, but you can never be sure what's there or what's in the book is accurate, so when you take your car first.

The thing to do is change the oil, always the first step is to jack up the car and make sure it is secure on some jack stands. We are starting with an oil change for this basic task, you will need oil, a filter, a plug washer, and an oil. The removal tool arguments for oil weights on the internet are endless and can vary depending on your car's climate and use, so do some research and make an informed decision about what's best for you and your type of car. driving if you are in Australia. You can find out what type of oils and fluids you need for your car by going to reggio at oil.com so you can type in your region.

Here we have subaru vrz and then it will list all the different oils and fluids that are out there. suitable for your car open the oil cap so the oil can come out easily, then get under the car with some gloves and a drain pan and open the drain plug, make sure the oil is not too hot, but if it is warm it will drain more easily. remove the oil filter, clean the area with a rag and then install your new filter until it is hand tight, remove the old sun plug washer, replace it with a new one and then you can reinstall the sump plug, then Fill the engine again with the specified filter. amount of oil check the dipstick and remember that once you start your car, check again and refill as necessary, clean the oil filler cap and that's it, remember to write down the date and mileage of when you performed the service, since It is easy.

Forgetting to label the oil filter is one way or you can use a service tag like this. An often overlooked part of the service is the element that filters the air entering your car. These are really easy to change and if you have an older car. Definitely take a look, it may not have been changed in decades, the car has many other fluids, gearbox oil, differential, coolant, power steering fluid, brake fluid, many of these things can be checked , it is not necessary to replace them as frequently. you make the oil, always check the factory manual to know what the service intervals are and if you're asking more of the car doing things like that on track days you're going to have to shorten those intervals, coolant is a pretty big job.

To change it, you can test it by using coolant test strips, which is a really cool thing. Make sure the car is cold. Never do this with a hot car, it will explode and I will have a very, very bad time. Basically, just grab your coolant strip. and you submerge it the same way you test a pool or a fish tank, you submerge it in there and after a few seconds, make sure there is no excess in there and after a few seconds this will tell you exactly the condition of your coolant. Don't forget to check the status of all the other fluids in your car.

Consult the manual. It's also a good idea to check the condition of your spark plugs and replace them if necessary. As part of our service, we are replacing the battery because it is nearby. At the end of its life, first remove the negative strap, then the positive one, then remove the battery tie and take out the battery from the car when you buy a new battery, check the code on the battery to help you find the right one, make sure that the terminals are correct and on newer cars you may need to reprogram the ECU for the new battery once it is attached put the positive strap on and then the negative terminal and that's it, the battery in the oil is ready, the filter is ready and all the fluids have been checked and next it's time to talk about the air filter.

Now you can replace it with a factory replacement, but we're going to upgrade it, so we'll talk more about that when we get to modifying it, so now let's get into our First performance mod, people, we're talking about wheels and tires, when it comes to the performance of your car, the number one modification to make is better tires and upgrading your wheels, now better tires is not just about acceleration, it is also about better cornering speed and will also help you with braking, now that Factory wheels are often heavy, they don't look as good, particularly in this case of the BRZ, and getting an aftermarket wheel will potentially save you weight and give you a much better, more aggressive trade-off to make.

If your car looks great, you can also get better tires for your factory wheels, but in our case, getting a slightly larger wheel means it opens up more options for tire sizes, which can mean more grip and more performance. Wheels can and do transform the look of your car, a lot of what makes a wheel cool is rarity and fashion, but there are a few boxes you should try to check before you get too excited and is getting the wheels to fit the bolt pattern. Wheel width and offset are the most important factors you should do first.

Do some research on what tire and wheel combinations best fit your car model; There may be more than one ideal size and this comes back to how much you're willing to compromise: incorrect wheel fit means scrubbing or wheel alignment, which means your car may handle worse. That with the original thin wheels, more rubber can mean more grip and traction. There are limits to this too. Always buy wheels that tell you the width and offset. This is something you can measure with a ruler if it doesn't appear on the box of new ones. Some on the internet have made finding the right wheels much easier than before, we found some we liked online that have the most aggressive look that you can fit with the widest rim without having to cut into your car to prevent them from rubbing the wheels. wheels.

I have chosen some weds sa10rs for the brz. These are Japanese lightweight performance wheels. Now Words have been making wheels since the 1960s originally as a supplier to Nissan and they have a concave type design but they also have plenty of room in the rear. for when we upgrade the brakes at some point down the line, these are 18 inch wheels, so we'll go from 17 to 18 and this will allow us to put on much wider tires, which is the next modification we're going to make. For discussion, we decided to do some of our own tire testing between a stock tire on a professionally configured coilover suspension kit versus a stock car with a street-legal performance tire.

We used two identical Toyota 86s for testing and the result was the tires alone. They were much faster than the suspension setup, this was demonstrated again when we ran our yaris around a race track with better tyres, we shaved five seconds off our lap time to get an equivalent decrease in lap time with replacement parts. performance in our yaris, we had to make a complete change. big block engine conversion, which required much more work and took much longer. The short version is that tires will be the best performance modification for your car. In this case, we have a Michelin Pilot Sport Four, it's 245 35 18.

It will fit those wheels very well, it has very deep grooves which are for driving in wet weather, it also has a silica compound that repels water, which is useful, and the belt inside is actually a hybrid of nylon and aramid, which is like aramid. a military and space exploration grade synthetic fiber that is really strong, found in bulletproof vests and all sorts of things, so they will work very well on our wheels and give us excellent grip unless you have some pretty specialized tools in your home. You will need to have a specialist install your tires.

The tires are fanned over the wheels using a mounting machine and then rapidly inflated, which seats the tire bead on the rim. A wheel balancing machine can spin the wheel at speed and from This calculates where weights need to be added so that the wheels are perfectly balanced. You will notice the effect of this, especially at high speed, and with the tires installed on the wheels, we can bring them back and put them on the car with your wheels and tires. Now is a very good time to inspect your brakes and they look good. Some people have given advice on how to put racing pads in a street car, but it doesn't make much sense because those types of pads are only really effective when they reach the temperatures you would expect on a race track and can cause your street car to squeak and They are actually not as effective as an original system.

Now, later on, you will definitely be able to upgrade your pickups. calibrate your rotors and it is certainly something that with many of our cars that we have done very quickly we have changed the entire system, it is definitely something that you can consider, but for now we will stick with the original system because we also have to remember that a lot of the Stopping power comes not only from the brakes, but also from the tires, and since we are upgrading to a more performance-oriented tire for this project, it will be all we will need when we build cars that are considerably faster than the original, Like our Golf R Mark 7 which runs on low 11 it was really important to upgrade the entire brake system including the braided lines, if you are going to turbocharge your car, supercharge it or change the engine don't skimp on your brakes.

Okay, that looks a lot better, now we only have one problem and that is that we are seriously failing the shoe test. Oh bad, but the ride looks great, yes the color looks good, yes we need some black wheel nuts, yes there are a lot more tires underneath. that's crazy hot 30k plus massive tires okay let's fix this it's time to talk suspension the next thing most people want to do with the car is lower it to make it look more choppy now I can think of four ways you can lower your car, the first one has a coil spring setup, the second uses lowered springs, the third uses an angle grinder and the fourth just removes the suspension completely, as you can see that wasn't very comfortable today, we're just going for a moderate drop keeping it really simple so we're putting in some lowered springs these are some eibach springs they sent us for the brz should give us a pretty reasonable drop all the way up we'll use the factory shocks let's install them there's aThere are a variety of good aftermarket springs available, and while installing them is a little more involved than just a basic service, it's rewarding in both looks and handling if you do it right.

Some suspension designs are simpler than others, but in our coil strut suspension setup we need to compress the factory springs to remove the top of the strut, then we can put in our new springs, compress them and reinstall the top of the strut and put everything back in the car. Compressed springs can be dangerous, so at the very least you will need a set of springs. Compressors alternatively remove the suspension, take it to a shop, have them change the springs and then put it all back together yourself. We will need to align the wheels next, since we are removing the bolts that affect the overall geometry of the wheels and tires.

Relating to the road here is the factory shock while it's out, it's a good idea to check it. You can do this by pushing it down and making sure it comes back. A telltale sign that your shocks are erect is if there is any type of fluid leak. of them that tells you that the internal seal is broken, it is not too expensive to replace these kyb, like a factory replacement, one that can work directly and that fits our new springs, so these are good to reuse, which gives us save a little. of money if at this stage you want to look for further handling improvements, it's a good time to consider using adjustable coil springs.

They look similar to our factory setup, but you can customize the ride height and spring rebound rates and many other factors to fine-tune your car's handling, possibly other suspension components such as bushings and bushings should also be considered. anti-roll bars, before jumping straight to coil-over suspension to further improve how well your car grips the road; There is often a trade-off with noise or vibration stiffness being more prominent, so choose carefully when reinstalling the suspension. Take note of the arrows or indicators of which direction the shock absorber should point. Sometimes they only fit correctly in one direction and you may not notice until the car is back on the ground.

I have gone with an adjustable suspension, I expect it will take a few tries to get it right as you will need to lift the car back up, adjust things and lower it back down with the springs lowered on the factory shocks, we will still have a compliant suspension. Drives on the street but a lower center of gravity reduces body roll and a much better stance with about an inch drop all the way through which looks amazing, a really great drop and still you can go up to the tickets and more. speed bumps and the real question is, oh I don't fit in anymore, I mean I'm sure I could get it in there but nothing good happens from doing that, that's awesome, okay the suspension is done, now we move on to the shots and the air filters.

So the next thing we need to talk about is how to get air into the engine, so we're talking about high performance air intakes and filters. This is one of the easiest modifications you can make to almost any vehicle, although it is also one of the most controversial because manufacturers make them all. kind of claims about how much power you can make with your car, the problem is that many cars already come with a cold air intake from the factory and people remove it and install their own hot air intake, hot air usually makes you go faster slow, so I don't want to do that, so we've done some testing to get our own results.

We have done numerous tests over the years with cold air intake capsule filters and reduced performance filters in search of power. We have tested several cars on dynos. and the results are not so promising with a naturally aspirated car, we lost power with a cheap pod filter and an expensive pod filter, with a turbocharged car, we made no gains with an expensive pod filter nor with an expensive panel filter , despite the appearances made by the manufacturers. They really care about performance and how well the car runs, a lot of engineers spend their lives chasing every last horsepower.

This entry has been designed correctly. It receives cold air from the front. It is away from the heat of the engine compartment and is a nice large size. air filter element there and then this curve that goes back to the engine intake, but everyone loves a little intake noise so we're just doing a drop performance filter, do we get a horsepower, do we get five horsepower, that is? It's an argument for the internet, but it will give the car a little extra intake sound, which sounds good, so this is an apexi air filter. We bought it from Japan and are going to put it in another common mod here.

It's an aftermarket intake system, they can be very expensive but sometimes they work and sometimes they don't so do some research for your type of car, unless you have a really restrictive intake it seems like the most important thing here is make sure I have a clean filter, this one is clean, it's on your JDM, that's great, so now let's move on to the exhaust system. Next up on your modification to-do list will be the exhaust, not just for any performance you can. to unlock but also for a visual benefit over the factory system and of course the noises, the decisions would have been made at the factory, balancing the cost of emissions, it looks like noise, all this kind of stuff, let's push it in the direction we want.

It's performance, so we're going to install an aftermarket exhaust system. Exhaust systems are always a hot debate. Profits can be made, but the car often has to be tuned for this. We tried a bunch of muffler setups and got the most power with a potato in a pipe. A piece of pipe, yes a potato in a pipe, there are many options when it comes to aftermarket exhausts for your car and it can be a very topic. controversial, so google it and take a look. Ultrax sent us this cat-back system, it is cost effective. It should be easy to install, so let's stick it into the car's exhaust systems, which can unlock big power gains, especially on cars that have factory restrictive systems.

You can do something as simple as changing a rear muffler, which can slightly improve flow when shifting. Removing everything from the back of the engine will give you the biggest gains. The sky is the limit when choosing what material and what size system you want, especially with a car like this with so many parts available, we have chosen a catback system like the The headers and the cat are some of the most expensive parts to replace and a small benefit in performance is a nice bonus along with a more exciting sound when driving. If you don't take into account the flow characteristics of your aftermarket exhaust, one of the performance benefits could be that it will be much lighter than your factory system.

Spraying the exhaust brackets with wd-40 makes it much easier to remove the old and new exhaust. This is a ruby ​​ratchet wrench. I love this tool. There are some situations where it really comes into play. on its own we don't have a lot of room to fit a wrench or socket wrench something with a motorized headlight which is awesome because you can just throw it right onto the bolt press the button and go when you're installing your exhaust tips you can use a flat edge like a can to make sure you get the exact angle with your bumper so our exhaust is on a really simple installation, bolt on up, listen time is pretty quiet, probably keeps it legal in most countries. because there is still a resonator there, but that's already done, now it's time to move on to the body kit and aerodynamics, it's not really an arrow, but you already have wheels, tires, exhaust and intake, and your cars are well maintained, so the next step is time to look at the body kit now, there are so many options from factory made options by the manufacturer to things that look like robot vomit that you can buy on ebay.

Lip kits are really easy to install, you see them on many different cars from Euros. from American cars to Japanese cars and it should be a fairly easy installation if you don't want to do this, you can even do it yourself with garden edging. We have a whole video on that, so Martin, let's start with that, man, that's cool! The look of a body kit when installed usually depends on how good the hardware supplied is. Some kits take a lot of work to fit correctly, while some bolt on perfectly. Always check that your kit comes with everything you need and you don't need more.

Customization Unless you want to go that route, it is possible to paint this particular version, but the polished plastic will suit our blue and black theme very well, as this kit uses mostly factory mounting points, which is also great because it's completely reversible the lip kit is on and the brz is starting to look radical now aesthetics are a very personal thing what someone else likes you might not have it and vice versa it's your car do it how you want so this one It's the time you want to start walking around your car to see what works for you and what doesn't right now some people want to paint their mirror housings some people want to do vinyl some people want to make decals some people want to make dyes but you really just want to walk and go, is there anything? for you that doesn't work now for me on this car the taillights i think look like crap later on the brz they actually replaced them and made them look a little redder and a little less than it looks which is terrible, the other thing is This reverse light here is too bright, so I want to turn it off a little bit, so that's what I'm going to do, but take a full walk around your car and see what works, what doesn't work .

I do not really like. lights on the back of this car and it looks like Subaru probably didn't like them either because in the newer models they updated them, luckily there are a lot of options available so I'll change them and we can keep driving faster. get lost with the taillights ready. I'm also changing this light on the bottom of the bumper bar. I'm putting one that is blacked out so it looks a little more perfect in the back of the car. the lights are on I have removed all the excess wire I'm just going to put a cable tie around it we now sell our own power card cable ties if you want to grab some once it's in the back of the car. the lights are on and the back of the car looks great now we're going to look at something that was absolutely huge in the '90s and '00s and that's the sound system, the last thing we're looking at in our beginner series. is, of course, in-car entertainment 10 or 20 years ago, during the auto show period, this was absolutely huge.

There were people with xboxes and playstations and stuff in the car these days, most people just want a really good stereo and some good speakers. The stuff that comes from the factory today is already pretty good, but sometimes the head units are built again at a cost or a little simpler, nowadays you can upgrade them really cheaply and easily and often the speakers that are there were already in good condition. It's crazy if you're starting from scratch, there are so many possibilities as to how far you can go with your car stereo and you can do it for cheap.

We made this whole ghetto system with a CD-ROM and a subwoofer for 50 bucks, but I hope you can't go that far if you need to change the speakers and head unit depending on your car. You may also want to consider adding some soundproofing. This does a great job of treating the interior of your car to make it quieter. and a better acoustic environment for your sick epic songs, just remember that this adds weight, so if you're trying to make a lightweight track car, this probably isn't the mod for you. I'm going to upgrade the head unit on the brz because the one that was there was a little old school.

The previous owner had this iPod here with one of those old school chargers. I really want to install Carplay and get it set up, so that's what we're going to do. Additionally, many manufacturers have moved towards entertainment systems that only fit that particular model of car and do not fit standard single or dual head units. Fortunately, the aftermarket has come to the rescue here and you can purchase complete dash replacement kits. that allow you to upgrade your stereo to the latest and greatest, this meanswhich can run CarPlay Android Auto and other modern systems and also have the flexibility to add additional speakers, amplifiers, subs and all that crazy stuff.

It is also possible to purchase prefabricated wiring kits. which will simply connect quickly and easily although this is one of the best starting points for learning how car electronics work so don't be afraid to break out the soldering iron if necessary with everything done make sure your insurance company Cover your Mods, all our cars are insured with Shannon Insurance and can increase your coverage if you add spare parts. Well don't worry I will add it to your policy and with that Mighty Car Mods brz stage one is complete so our stage one beginner brzed mod is ready now we are getting the cat to stand out now if you have lowered your car at home, something really simple and easy you can do, we made a video about these little stands here basically it means if your car is too low and you can't get a jack under it, it's just three pieces of wood, screw them together, glue them together a little bit of glue there and then when you lower the car the jack won't get stuck, it's currently too low. with the lip and our lowering springs to get the jack out, that should fix it, that's it, I'm super excited to see how you feel martin, I want to see it in your guts, I also want to see it down, it looks epic and That was a huge day, so you can do all this.

Get a partner to lend you a hand. It's about a work day, so from this point on, it's really the limit, depending on the type of car you have, you might be able to do it. Get a tune, you might want to be able to turbo charge it, swap it out, but that's a really good base for our first mods and it looks incredibly awesome. We need to go and get a wheel alignment now too yeah because we have separated that front suspension it has camber, caster and toe adjustments and we have different size tires so that's a really good idea okay make sure that still turn well when going down.

Yeah, okay, I'll do it back and we're there. Ready people, we're done, we were going for a really clean tram look and I'm excited with how it turned out. If you're getting into modified cars, this is a solid foundation to start with, but from here it's really up to you how. How far you want to go and what you want to do, hopefully, the most important thing is that you can take pride in learning how to work on your own car and how the car makes you feel when you drive it, regardless of what you do. parts that you decide to put on your particular car, the process we have followed with this car is more or less the same, you can choose different wheels, different tail lights, different interior parts, stereos, body kits, all that.

Now this is a great start and most of these mods represent the way most people modify their cars when they're starting out, but you don't need to follow this exactly like we did and you certainly don't need to follow those videos which tells you the three main modifications you have to do your thing, make your car your own, certainly, in Japan, everyone loves to make their car as unique as Ultimately, you may be the one who has to drive the car every day and be proud of what you have done. A car like this is a great basis for further development and you can also do all sorts of things to make it faster.

Engine changes. Super turbo kits. By charging it, you can start it, you can do all kinds of matte things and once you've learned about your car and you've learned how to repair it, you can really hone in on exactly what you want to do to your car. you want to turn it into a drift car that needs its own type of modifications, a street car, a drag car, a racing car, a track car, but this is a very good base to start with, it is meant to be a Comfortable and drivable car on a daily basis. car that can do some occasional track days, what you don't want to do is compromise your car to turn it into a track car that you use one day a year and the other 364 days of the year, it feels terrible, so we look forward to this video.

It was helpful for you, we hope you enjoyed this beginner's

guide

to mighty carmods and now martin it's time to go on a cruise we will test our crazy new mods and align the wheels thanks for staying tuned everyone.