BLOG: Musings Of A Modding Maniac

Stop going over budget on project cars!

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July 7, 2007

Stop going over budget on project cars!

How many of you would agree that what we say and what we do are two completely different things? I�ve come to a point in this game that I can tell right away if people are going to go overbudget or even before they start building-up a project car. With all the strategies I�ve taught that you can save money by doing a little work yourself has it�s limits and I�m going to lay them down right now before it�s too late�

I�ve watched tons of enthusaists try to save money by buying a car that needs parts or work and end up not hundreds but thousands and thousands of dollars over! Think that�s bad? How about watching someone spend an entire year working on building up a car from the frame up then giving up out of frustration?

I advise that the average every day enthusaist that wants to save money to buy a project car that needs some work. But try sticking to cars that already come with engines to avoid electrical and compatibility problems that usually come with every engine swap (even if it�s a direct fit or not)

Don�t be going to the extent where you are cutting out rusted chucks from the frame rebuilding a car when it would cost you less time and money to just buy a fully running car from forums or any classified section. Stick to cars that need body work since body work is easy to do and quick to get the supplies�. just takes time.

So how far do you plan to go back fixing things before it comes too much time for the intention to save money? In the end it might cost you more in professional labor to fix all the stuff like electrical you can�t figure out. Or it might cost you more to buy all the parts that are hard to find on forums.

Buy cars off forums semi modified, fix them up and save thousands. If the car is clean and the wiring isn�t mickey moused, why build it up yourself? Go find a custom street car with little mods and buy it at a fraction of cost, you don�t need to install anything. Even an aftermarket exhaust that already comes on the project car is a great time and cost saver.

Remember that saying that goes �built not bought?� I think they got it wrong� it should have been �Bought AND built!�

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July 6, 2007

How To Tell If Your Body Kit Is Rice

I was debating recently with some guys what kind of body kits are ricey and which are clean. Just another topic that just always come up like horsepower-cock fights�

I really had no way of measuring the �riceness� of an aftermarket body kit, to gauge whether or not it would be make a car look worse than the factory pieces. It�s really something you couldn�t explain, you just had to have the eye for it yourself or saw faces going sour upon looking.

I gathered a bunch of body kit pictures available for my GSX and tried to find some way to divide the �ricey� from the �clean� body kits. I noticed an interesting pattern�

A common rule you�ve probably heard of is that if a front kit looks similar to the factory bumper, it�s considered to be in the �clean category.� But there are alot of body kits out there that look very clean on some cars that are a complete different design from the factory look� so this doesn�t always apply to every car.

If you are still debating or in the market for a body kit for your car and want a quick way to filter the clean from the obscenes use this: �Imagine a car symetrically split in half, rate every aftermarket hole/vent from 0.0 to 1.0 depending on it�s size; eg. 0.1 for small fog-light openings and 1.0 for the bumper mouth. Factory vents/holes get a 0.0″

Here is a quick break-down for my GSX�s current body kit VS a full Invader body kit:

My Current Custom Body Kit Setup

Front (0.1) + (1.0) + (0.5) + (0.3) = 1.9
Side (0.5) = 0.5
Rear = 0.0

Rice Ratio = 2.4

�-

Invader Full Body Kit Setup

Front (0.3) + (0.5) + (1.0) = 1.8
Side (0.5) = 0.5
Rear (0.3) + (0.8) + (0.3) + (0.4) = 1.8

Rice Ratio = 4.1

Test it out on your ride if you have a body kit to get your rice ratio. If it�s too high, consider replacing your front or back kit with a lip kit extension. Or if you can, use JDM or higher model factory side skirts and other mouldings if there are any. Like using the Japanese 180SX side skirts on the American 240SX model.
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January 4, 2007

Mileage Don't Mean Jack All

Mileage on a car isn�t as important as you have been brought up to think. Most people are concerned about mileage when buying their car. In fact most people who are out in the market to buy a car will pay more money for a car simply because of lower mileage.

What�s even worse is that mileage roll-backs is a common illegal practice by both dealerships and private sellers� and if the price is right, digital odometers too. While it�s a good idea to look into the dash to see if there are any screw driver marks or scratches, if done carefully, mileage can be rolled back without any sign of tampering.

It�s more important that you check the history and how many previous owners the car had. If a car was driven hard with little mileage, all it means is that the car has had more wear and tear. Mileage is only an indicator or a forecast of how much wear and tear has been counted on the car/engine. That�s all you should see it as. One of our family�s 1991 Accord has 157,000km original mileages and the tranny is already starting to go!

When you are hunting around for a project car, test drive a variety of cars from high to low mileage so you can get a feel to what feels like a strong running car. Since every car is different, you should do this for every type of make and model car you are considering. This will ensure that you�ll truly pick the healthiest running engine you can with the cars you are looking at. Mileage? It don�t mean jack all!
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January 4, 2007

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

You think a guy that wrote a book on avoiding traffic tickets would be immune to them right? Well, I may know a lot about reducing your chances of avoiding a ticket or beating them if it ever gets to that� but this weekend I got a ticket for having no front plates.

I was with a buddy of mine in downtown Vancouver, just cruising looking to get a bite to eat when we came to a road block in the middle of bumper to bumper traffic on Robson St. When I saw the squad cars, I straightened up, turned down the music and pulled out my license and registration.

They were pulling a bunch of cars to the side of the road. Actually there was another Eclipse pulled over getting a ticket as well� maybe because it had a body kit? Who knows. It�s obvious that if your ride is dropped to the ground and you�re not rolling on stock steelies, right away that puts on on an officers bad side.

I spoke to the cop and answered a bunch of questions. He then started walking around my car trying to obviously look for something he can bug me about. Seems he was disapointed that he couldn�t find anything else on me besides the plates. Sure I put it in the corner window instead of the bumper because I haven�t yet drilled holes into the bumper but still it wasn�t good enough for �the law.�

Of course I took the ticket and was full co-operative, but this weekend can you guess where I�m going?

That�s right, the motor vehicle branch to dispute a ticket! Chances are he won�t even show for such a measly little ticket, it�s mostly the speeding ones they will go after and even those they sometimes don�t show.

We enthusaists got it worse than any other drivers out there, no matter how you look, say or act. If you got a bad-ass ride floating a few inches above the ground, the 5-0 ain�t gonna give you an easy go!

Of course they have good reason to treat us the way they do. Many crashes and fatalities, not to mention the street-racing epidemic� Let�s face it, we�re all guilty until proven innocent.

So it�s best to keep under the radar� or go and get �the radar.� Take the roads less travelled by and make sure you invest in a good radar detector. I sure know I need one.

Keep it on the low everyone. We all got stories about being pulled over, feel free to share them here by adding your comments below.

Stay Tuned.
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January 3, 2007

So Much BS I Had To Turn On The Wipers!

I tell ya� I couldn�t help it! Somebody had to become the �car guy� to look up to for advice, widsom and knowledge. But you know what? I think this whole �operation� might be backfiring on me!

I mean, I don�t mind at all sharing a few bits and pieces of what I had to learn �the hard way� even though a little deep down I feel ripped-off despite the measly $37 bucks we charge to order our Custom Car Secrets Revealed program, that guarantees you saving thousands of dollars and headaches hooking up your ride. I laugh when I think of it! But if I charged what this program can save you, you might have to just sell your car to afford it�s true value!

So now that I�m done �venting,� let�s get to the real story�

I�ve been pulled left, right, up and down to help people with anything having to do with four-wheels. My �private� cell phone is constantly ringing from people asking me questions �what should I do?� that I don�t even know� but I�m a nice guy:)

These two couples heard that I was the guy to talk to for buying and selling cars so they wanted me go check out a car for them and give them the �okay�� on a Saturday. It was 1991 Nissan 240SX that they had found posted on sale on forums.

Let�s fast-forward right to the time I was standing in the driveway ready to inspect the car and aggressively interogate the seller�

Before moving to the car, I wanted to hear the story of the owner so I could take his �story� and see if it�s flush with what the car told me. He opened with the famous line, �I�d love to keep it but �.� actually, he used that line not only in the opening but about 5 times in the middle of our visit and just incase I didn�t hear it, about 3 times just before we left!

His story was that the car was bought from Ontario and driven to B.C. and thus, does have some rust. Since then, the car was barely used. He says he�s willing to sell it but (another famous line) �was in no hurry.�

After he was done his schpeal, I started checking out the car.

Now I�m not going to copy-paste my �how to buy a used-car� mini-course, you can get that for opting-in to our mini-course midway down the page at our main website. But since this was a �snow car� being from Ontario, rust was definitely going to be something I had to carefully inspect.

Strangly, the car looked great for a factory paintjob when I walked around. The car had almost no exposed rust. I checked in all the wheel wells and sure enough there was enough rust to start peeling pieces off! I opened the trunk and pulled out the cover. I took out the spare tire and saw tons of rust. I was starting to think that maybe the frame was rusting and the car wouldn�t be driveable (which would confirm his story.)

I pulled out a piece of cardboard from the side of the drive-way and started to climb underneath the car. I almost threw up when I saw the complete under body of the front driver seat was gone� with a big rust hole the size of a canyon! In fact, the driver seat was only being held up by 3 bolts since the 4th was hanging free underneath the car. The seat rocked back and forth like a uneven table leg!

The seller got defensive and started telling me that he was told that that the car needs a bracket to fix the problem. The truth is that this car could not be saved. Rust is like a cancer, it continues to spread and once it does it�s literally unstoppable. The car�s body would have to be completely cut out and re welded with new metal. Even an expensive job like that wouldn�t stop the rust.

The seller continued to say that he wished he could restore it but he didn�t have the time. He said that the car was like a �mini Corvette� and that he loves it blah blah blah� there was so much BS coming from his mouth I had to turn on the wipers� but even if I did for a joke, I couldn�t because there was no battery in the car!

Anyway, I got up, whispered the �truth� in my friend�s ear then said bye and �I�ll be in touch� to the seller.

Despite the fact that this 35 year old guy was trying to sell as a rust-on-wheels, he was pretty nice guy! I�d probably go have a beer with him, who knows? But even the nicest people will tell you whatever they need to tell you to get rid of a car. BS can come from anyone�s mouth, no matter how honest they might seem. It�s up to you to point it out.

Remember, I�d love to hear your comments so please leave them below!

Stay Tuned.
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January 1, 2007

Electrical Can Be A Bitch

Engine swapping is becoming more and more popular in the tuning industry. If you�ve ever done one yourself, you probably know that it�s not always as easy as it seems.
Disconnecting and taking out your current engine and putting in place a different one is simple. But it�s the electrical that baffles even the most experienced enthusiasts.

A couple friends of mine recently finished a SR20 Silva engine swap into a 1991 Nissan 240SX. After the swap was complete, the car had some strange problems.

Let�s see if you can guess what it was�

The car idled and revved beautifully. But when the car was in gear and rolling, and the more gas was pressed, the more the car choked! Also when you press the brake, the car also started to choke�

Turned out after a whole day of pulling hair that all that was causing the problem was a bad grounded wire!

If you ever plan to do an engine swap and you aren�t knowledgable with electrical, it might be a better solution to fork out the money to pay a shop. Or if you can�t find anyone in your area that is qualified for the job, maybe you shouldn�t go through a full engine swap. Take it from me, electrical can be a bitch!

What about you? If you�ve got a story or any experiences to share, please leave your comments below.

Stay Tuned.
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September 4, 2006

Why Do Body Shops Take Forever?

Ever wonder why shops take an entire month to finish your paintjob? While you�re driving around in your beater and thinking about how much labor you�re going to be paying each day, the shop isn�t really working on your car!

Most body shops will work with around 6 or more cars at the same time. Plus in between jobs, they will get a customer that needs a quick fix that only takes a couple hours. Of course because it�s quick cash, the shop will put your car on hold and finish that small job before returning back to your car.

After your car has been prepped and primed, many shops like to wait for the primer to swell down so they don�t have to sand as much since the primer isnt� as thick. All these reasons add to result of shops taking forever to paint your car. Let�s look at the facts for a minute:

It takes 1 day to wet sand the car and possibly another day to wet sand the spots they missed. After that, it�s bondo time fixing the cracks and dents. Then you should be ready to spray the primer which takes a day. Then one day to spray the paint.

You can get your car done alot faster if you prep the car yourself since 50% of the process and 80% of the time is all taken up with sanding. You can also pocket hunreds if not thousands of dollars prepping a car as well since those are the hours you are paying labor for!

Remeber also that the quality of your sanding is a big factor in the quality of your paintjob. Even the best painter in the world won�t be able to do a good job if a car isn�t sanded and prepped good, so don�t take the process lightly.

Please leave your comments below as I�d love to hear you thoughts.

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July 23, 2006

Hollywood Is Pushing Their Luck

Today I had the urge to watch some street action. I looked for of course the Fast & The Furious DVD but couldn�t find it. So instead I poped �2 Fast 2 Furious� in as a 2nd choice. I was kinda choked I couldn�t find the first one since I liked it better than the 2nd�

As the movie went, I started realizing how far Hollywood pushes their luck with the stunts and events that took place in that movie. The begining of the movie with the 4 car street-race between the Skyline, Supra, S2000 and Rx7 was pretty cool (even though real street-races are 1-on-1 not 1-on-1-on-1-on-1�

Then when Ludacris said he �had a surprise� by raising the bridge at the finish line, that just annoyed me how Hollywood pushed things to the �James Bond Stunt� level. If you saw a bridge raising infont of you, would you put the pedal to the metal (oh and hit the spray)? Hell no! The only realistic part of that scene was the spanish guy in the RX-7 saying �Oh hell no!� when he gave up the race.

Imagine the damage you�d inflict on your ride flying off a jump that high. Man it just makes me bit my fingers when I picture what it be like� my suspension would be toast probably would shoot through my towers! My wheels would snap like twigs and my body kit would probably break off in 4 directions! On top of that my whole exhaust underneath would be punctured and cracked all over (if not being in my rear-view mirror)

That�s the realism!

Even though some parts of these movies are entertaining to see, it be nicer if maybe they didn�t push their luck too far. Hollywood should know there is a limit to what views like to see when it comes to �believeable stunts.� I hope they do better with the 3rd one comming up otherwise they�re gonna be more unsatisfied car fanatics like myself.

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July 23, 2006

My Friends Think I�m Crazy

I�ve recently made some massive updates to the Custom Car Secrets Revealed program and I wanted you to be the first to know.

But that�s not all�

I�ve also released 3 FREE Chapters of the cutting-edge material! All my friends in the industry think I�m crazy for giving this priceless info away, but I thought I�d put my money where my mouth is and show you that this program is for real�

So hurry over to http://www.undergroundtuner.com/carsecrets/giveaway.html and grab your copy to see what all the fuss is about!

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August 21, 2006

Shine Some Light On Your Choices

The first step in getting a custom paintjob for your ride is choosing which of the millions of colors you want to go with. I�ll leave it up to you to figure out what will suit your ride but what I found was that alot of people say not to choose paint colors from a paint chip book.

Most places that sell paint actually have real paint pasted on the paper and that�s what you need to find out first before going on to the next step. The floresent lighting inside the building changes the true color of the paint and that�s why you will need to ask if you can take the book outside in the sun light. This is where you will see accurately what a paint color will look like before you buy a pint and run test samples. Pints still cost money!

So the next time you know someone who�s going through the process of choosing a paint color for their car, help them shine some light on their choices. Do you know someone who�s ever painted their car a color they chose out of a book then found out that the final results were disapointing or inaccurate?

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August 21, 2006

Keep The Pipes Clean To Flow

Today I was listening to all the challenges my friend had building up his Nissan 240SX with the S420 engine swap. It had me thinking back when I first got my car and I was going through all the challenges myself.

The greatest and most successful racers on earth have all had their challenges. It�s a must for anyone who wants to rise to greatness or success (which ever you define your success as for your you and your ride)

The difference between the pros and amateurs is that the pros face obstacles but it�s just another �line� on the to-do list. Amateurs run into a problem and quickly get frustrated and of course with that mindset, can�t solve problems. Cars will always give you their headaches, especially when you are modifying them past factory specifications.

This slight difference in thought, greatly affects how you will be dealing with your challenges and problems. Only to a clear open mind can solutions flow to. Check yourself next time your facing a problem with your ride.

I�m open to hear any comments you have on this �hokey-sounding� but brutally true post that came to though today. What are your 2 cents on this?

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August 16, 2006

Know When To Turn Down A Deal

I was given a lead that I could pick up a 1995 Skyline GTR V-spec in Canada for super cheap. Just to give you an idea how �gcheap,�h I could have bought this car for about $5000 CAD, when it�fs clearly worth at least $25,000 USD.

The story was that this car was caught being illegally imported into Canada at the ship yard docks. The officials had two choices, either crush this beautiful AWD twin-turbo machine or sell it off for �hsomething.�h Here was the catch though, the car couldn�ft stay in Canada and it wouldn�ft be allowed to cross the US border. However, I could have cut the car in half and sold all the parts off Ebay and made a killing! So, if the deal was for real, many asked why didn�ft I buy it?

As an experienced buyer for cars and parts, you have to know when to step back away from your emotions and look at the facts. Pro enthusiasts buy from the facts of a sale while immature enthusiasts buy things because they �gfeel�h it�fs a good buy. This doesn�ft mean that pro buyers have emotional attachtment to what they are eyeing. This means that they put facts before their emotions.

The facts were, even though this car could have been a great investment and I would have at least doubled my money for selling parts, it would have been such a hassle finding the resources to cut the car down and strip it for parts (not to mention monitoring Ebay and shipping out parts to buyers)

I came across people telling me about loopholes I could take but being unsure of it, I didn�ft want to buy the car only to get it confiscated again by the law. I wasn�ft sure how to keep the car and it would have been a big headache cutting and stripping it down in the US while I was in Canada. For these reasons, I turned down the deal.

Opportunities come and go and many people jump to quick on opportunities not fully considering the facts, which leads to trouble down the road. In the game, deals are abundant and really, never ending. Parts and cars can be found every single day that passes if you know where to find them!

What do you think about this post? Should I have bought the car and risked $5000? I�fd love to hear any comments you may have!

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August 8, 2006

Interference Is Just Called That For A Reason

When I�fm not working on stuff for Underground Tuner, I am out there on the market just like everyone else hunting down cars and parts for myself and other people�c and I just closed one of my best savings % yet�c

I got a custom fiberglass box build for the 95-99 Eclipse trunk with an almost new chrome 15�� Crossfire subwoofer. The box alone would cost at least $1000 to make and the sub is worth brand new $350, I picked up this whole deal for $150 CAD! Long story short, I cashed out on a unbelieveable deal.

To save myself $200 bucks, when it comes to installing sound systems, I�fll either do it with a friend or by myself over the weekend. Just a couple of tips for you if you plan to install a sound system yourself (which is almost guaranteed if you�fre into cars), run your RCA and remote wires through the center and your power wires along the side. This way they won�ft be causing any sound interference.

Interference is called just that for a reason. It will have a very minor affect on the sound quality, but like weight reduction, every little bit helps to make the �gwhole�h noticeable. Remember this when you�fre ripping your car apart and drilling through the firewall next time you want to save yourself a couple hundred bucks.

If you have any other tips or comments to share about your audio setups, please go right ahead and post them here!

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August 2, 2006

My Best Deal Yet, 90% Off Retail!

I just recently closed my best deal I've ever had in the past 7 years being involved in forums. Check out this custom fit for a 95-99 Eclipse only, Fiberglass box with barely used 15" Crossfire sub! Here the story on how I ended up paying only $150 for a $1,200 worth item like this...

I found a guy who was buying auction cars from the US and was fixing them to resell into Canada. One of the cars he had was a 1995 Eclipse GSX which came with this custom fiberglass box and sub (as a bonus) plus a whole bunch of other mods worth about $4,000 total...

He just didn't care how much he'd get for it so he posted it up on forums and within a few hours 3 people were rushing to his place out of town to buy it for $150 bucks (as he listed)

I drove like a maniac to his house and beat everyone to the deal and now here she is, lying in my GSX :)

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July 30, 2006

Beat Your Patience & Your Competition!

Since I founded UndergroundTuner.com, I've been getting bombarded with emails from enthusiasts asking the same questions over and over and over AND over again.

Most of my questions are either about helping them find parts for a lower price but the rest are questions about swaps or conversions. Everything from engine swaps to
automatic into 5-speed conversions�c and I give these eager �gmad scientists�h the same answer:

Every single car is different and has different kinds of possible conversions and swaps you can do. There is no �gone�h step-by-step guide for conversions and swaps because it's something you need to research fully for each and every single car.

Sure you can convert your automatic car into a 5-speed but there is just too many things that can go wrong. It's not surprisng that you'd run into electrical problems that you didn't expect. There are some problems you can create by replacing parts on your car with parts from another car, that are just not fixable, believe me!

Some enthusiasts are forced to go through heavy conversions and swaps because they've already put too much into their car to sell it and buy another car. This is why you should plan out exactly what you want for your car and what options are available for modifications, swaps and conversions etc. before you start dumping money into your ride.

However, if you do chose to undergo a major conversion on your ride, I'll give you one piece of advice many (including myself) have learned the hard way.

Get all your parts from the same car (and I'm not talking about the same make or model) get it all from the same frame by buying a hit or parts car. That way all you need to do is put �gthis�h into �gthat�h knowing that everything should work to spec once it's done. You will also save yourself the headache of trying to hunt down or buy the parts you need 1 by 1.

Bottom line:

Plan it out 7 times, do it once�c. Get everything if possible from one source instead of spreading yourself out. Your �gmonster garage�h campaigns will finish better and faster than your rivals and your patience!

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July 28, 2006

I should have ate that raspberry struddle when i had the chance!

There was a brand new package with 3 fruit struddles wrapped with scran-covers. Even though the struddles looked good, it didn�ft come with a fancy brand name or anything, so i thought it would be too sweet or just not sweet enough�c or maybe worse not be crusty like a struddle should be! So what did I do? I decided to think it over and maybe eat it the next time I walked past it.

I walked past those struddles 3 times and still didn�ft act to grab the one I had my eye on�c the raspberry one! It sure looked good but for some reason I was hestitating to eat it. Maybe because I uncontiously wanted to save it? I have no clue still!

So yes back to my crazy story�c today I wandered around the house looking for a midnight snack. Yes, a struddle would sure hit the spot�c a raspberry one! But to my disapointment, someone already ate the raspberry one! All that was left was the outcast apple one, I should have ate that raspberry struddle when I had the chance! I didn�ft want to end up with nothing so I finally decided to grab it (two struddles gone later.)

What�fs worse it that boy that apple struddle was the best one I had never tasted -that�fs not an exageration either�c I�fm literally haunted by the thought, �gif the apple one was that good, image how good the raspberry one was! Heck I should opened the fricking package and took a bite before I decided to to eat it! What a drag�c

Then it hit me. I realized why some people don�ft order our program right away even with the solid unquestionable guarantee we have! It looks good�c seems good but in their minds there�fs that little voice that says �gdon�ft try it, it�fs probably going to be a disapointment or not up to my expectations.�h

The funny thing is that everytime I slip a couple pages to random guys or let them have a �gfree peak�h per se, they all have the same reaction as the last�c they were are all surprised and impressed how actually good the material is. They didn�ft expect it to be �gthis�h good, is something I hear quite often.

It�fs funny how a frickin struddle brought me this epiphany but hey, sometimes you can find answers to your questions in the most wierdest places when you least expect it!

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July 24, 2006

Welcome To The Underground Tuner Blog!

Welcome to my blog page. Incase you are wondering what a �gblog�h is it�fs short for web-log. Here you�fll find some great tips working on your car, performance tips, finance tips and just some writing of me going trigger happy on the keyboard.

Stick around and enjoy my page and be careful�c you might learn something new ;)
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