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When it comes to modifying your car, there are plenty of options. The car modification industry is growing rapidly, substantially boosting the economy. Add to that, it can seriously enhance the power and the driving experience, so it’s no wonder car mods are increasingly popular. However, there are a few things you need to be aware of before pimping your ride; namely, car modification laws.

Exhausts

Exhausts are one of the more popular mods, with plenty of petrolheads updating their exhaust systems. However, be aware of the car exhaust laws before you go ahead. Big-bore exhausts are not legal on UK roads due to the excessive noise and emissions, particularly as the UK government are clamping down on the CO2 emissions.

Most brand-new exhaust systems are effective at increasing the engine performance, but just remember those car exhaust laws. If you do want to go loud but live in an urban area, we recommend putting exhaust silencers in place if you do upgrade your exhaust.

Engine tuning

Torque and power are only proportional at the same point in the rev range. For any given engine, the quoted torque and power outputs are peak values, ie the highest torque value and the highest power value regardless of RPM. 

I have annotated a dyno graph of a 1.7 CRDi below, just as an example.

The blue solid line is the torque curve with the Bluespark box fitted, the blue dashed line is the power curve with the Bluespark box fitted.

The red solid and dashed lines are stock torque and power respectively.

The green circle highlights the point of peak power, and the orange circle highlights the point of peak torque:
 

I could (if I wished) make a file that would give identical gains to the above prior to 2500RPM, tailing off to zero gains (matching back to the red lines) by 3000RPM. That would give the same peak torque gain and zero peak power gain. 

Conversely I could make a file that was exactly as the stock (red dotted) plot is, with a gradual increase from 3000RPM