Who wants a safe car, anyway?

Perfect Balance

Perfect Balance

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P_Balance
Today at work, we had a car come in for a "Check engine light on" diagnosis.

Other than the fact that it had 9 Codes for various things, these are some of the other "modifications" it had done to it to turn it into a super lightweight jdm tyte race car!


Lets starts off with the car itself. A Hyundai XG350, the perfect sleeper beast! (sorry for the cell phone quality pics)

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First of all, just to be safe, this is an obvious part:
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An APC fire extinguisher!

Who cares that it's empty, as the Guage here shows.(although you probably cannot read it) As long as it's there!
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Sleeper mod #1: Home made racing slicks, they look just like normal tires, no one will ever suspect anything. (it's also raining hard here today)
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Sleeper mod #2: Hidden to the average person until the centercaps are removed, the super JDM 4 lug conversion. Plenty of cars have only 4 lugs, so removing one one this car shouldn't cause any problems, yet the unsprung weight reduction advantage is great.
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Sleeper mod #3: More weight reduction! Removing those large subframe bolts really sheds some weight. (the missing bolt held the subframe to the car, and the bolt next to it holds the lower control arm to the subframe. I should also mention that there is supposed to be somewhat of a reinforcement plate there too, but it was missing. The other side still had it, but the bolts were crossthreaded and only halfway in.)
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Sleeper mod #4: EVEN MORE WEIGHT REDUCTION!!! Have you ever thought to yourself, "Wow, those metal clips holding the O2 sensor connectors really are weighing this car down"? Well, good news, you don't really need them! The wires do rub on the axle a bit now, but replacing sensors will be cheap when you start winning all those races since the car is so light.
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This next one isn't really a weight reduction mod, but it can be helpful for doing modifications on the fly. No need to mess with sockets and wrenches anymore, simply pull off the bungy cord and cut the zip ties on the other side and you're good to go. Also, you can simply take off the bumper for more airflow and again, reduced weight.
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So, the next time you see a Hyundai XG350 and you want to race it, be careful. It may be a lightweight monster under it's family sedan exterior.
 
Oh dear. Reminds me of that Eclipse or whatever it was that some Spanish guy comprehensively ruined. I'm not suggesting that a Hyundai XG isn't ruined to start with, but at least they aren't deathtraps.
 
Perfect Balance
Sleeper mod #2: Hidden to the average person until the centercaps are removed, the super JDM 4 lug conversion. Plenty of cars have only 4 lugs, so removing one one this car shouldn't cause any problems, yet the unsprung weight reduction advantage is great.
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That has gotta be worth at least a 10th to 60. Going along those lines, one could save even more weight by removing all of the lugs. The centercaps will hold the wheel on.
 
Toronado
That has gotta be worth at least a 10th to 60. Going along those lines, one could save even more weight by removing all of the lugs. The centercaps will hold the wheel on.
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Don't forget the washers add more weight also.
 
Thank you for ruining my appetite. :sick: cars like that should be removed from the road as traffic security risk..
 
1211081357gc8.jpg


I've driven home on worse.






:lol:

I was at the tire shop the other day... (damn, should have taken a pic) replacing two of my Advan Neovas, since I'd worn a section bald from rubbing on the fender on one overloaded trip (improper rim offset + lowering springs = fail... I finally replaced the rims).

There was a guy there with a tire that didn't just have cord showing through... the cord was shredded... with wires sticking out in the air. Now many of us use these tires for drag-racing, and light tread makes for better grip... but dayumn...
 
Being from Bristol, Va myself was the car tagged in Va and if so how did it get an inspection sticker (or was one removed from another car) or did you check. For people not knowing what an inspection sticker is it's where the car is checked to see if it's in drivable state. Just looked at first picture and yes car is taggeds in Va and does have an inspection sticker.
 
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opelgt1969
Being from Bristol, Va myself was the car tagged in Va and if so how did it get an inspection sticker (or was one removed from another car) or did you check. For people not knowing what an inspection sticker is it's where the car is checked to see if it's in drivable state. Just looked at first picture and yes car is taggeds in Va and does have an inspection sticker.
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In which case, all this has happened in less than a year since the car was last inspected.


Makes it even worse now.
 
So do you think the O2 sensor's wire clip was destroyed by the owner or is that something that could come undone thanks to Hyundai's awesome quality? I say that because my check engine light's been on and I think the O2 sensor could be the source. I need to crawl under there and check it out.

When I went to replace the OEM headlight bulbs, the metal prongs separated from the bulb and got stuck in the fixture. I wouldn't be surprised at that O2 sensor separating naturally as well. Still, that is just sad.
 
Ah, reminds me of my days at Lexus and Honda. Many a drywall screw was used to hold up a body panel, and old guys would occasionally jury-rig some interesting repairs to get a car into the shop after a trip across a median strip.

Many missing lug nuts would frighten me (outside shops must have hired personnel with only four digits), and some people had alignments that could only be performed with left-handed wrenches and metric screwdrivers...

Typically, the Audi crowd was better at tuning jobs, since they'd farm out the work, or we did it in-house.
 
Omnis
So do you think the O2 sensor's wire clip was destroyed by the owner or is that something that could come undone thanks to Hyundai's awesome quality?
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No, he had pulled it off during his "exhaust repair" as you might see in one of the pics.
 
Don't you guys have an annual mandatory check up, like the M.O.T., for cars in the US or something?
 
Dennisch
Don't you guys have an annual mandatory check up, like the M.O.T., for cars in the US or something?
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Not in general, but the state of Virginia in particular does happen to have a regular inspection requirement.
 
I like the part about the fire extinguisher the most. That means that the driver got into that car every day, looked at the empty needle, and then said "Yup, that's good," and drove off.
 
I see tires like that in Phoenix all the time. I also see way too many chunks of tire and skid marks all over the freeways. People never learn.
 

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