There are very good deals to be had on Cars and Parts on eBay. There are also just as many VERY bad deals, the good news is just a little education on the Subject will help you ALOT. First, I'm going to make a list of parts you can buy for your car where You REALLY need to research these parts to find out which ones work and which ones are junk, here is a short-list of parts where if the price is too good to be true, it is. SO, find out which brands are the best.
1.Anything made of Carbon Fiber. Nothing looks worse than really cheap carbon fiber. I have a 1998 Supra Twin Turbo 6spd that I shipped off to Texas from Florida so PowerHouseRacing could build my car, when I got it back, everything with the drivetrain was finished, I purchased a carbon Fiber hood from the most popular CF hood maker, Then, I saw a Seibon Carbon Fiber hood on another Supra, in this case do your homework, but, in my opinion Seibon does carbon fiber the best.
2. Air Intakes-That cool looking Generic short ram intake with a generic K&N Filter, they may get you a few more HP, but, these intakes do not filter the air very good at all, this can destroy your engine, especially in a dusty Climate.
3. Exhaust Systems- Always buy aftermarket exhausts that have a CARB E.O. #, CARB stands for California Air & Resources Board. Usually it says something like CARB E.O. # *********** 50 state Legal. Recently, I got an aftermarket exhaust violation, however, since it was a TRD (Toyota Racing Development) and it came with the CARB #, when it got to court the violation was dismissed completely. If i had the document on me, I wouldn't have gotten ticketed in the first place.
4. Cars- I've seen some very good deals on cars on Ebay, I even purchased one before, but, ALWAYS run the VIN number to see if it has a rebuilt title or any outstanding liens. This is one area where you need to do alot of checking up. Hopefully they live close enough that you can see the car before buying, if not, get as many pictures as possible, Also, get seller to have picture taken of him/herself with the car and a Notary Public in the picture, then have the seller make a statement regarding the sale to the Notary and then have it Notarized and sent to you.
5. Body kits- There are more bad body kits than good, this is an area where you REALLY need to do your homework. Also, make sure that when you buy the Body kit you have enough money left to have it installed and your entire car painted.
6. If you see something where the auctions ending in a couple minutes and it looks like a good deal but you don't have time to research it, unless you can afford to lose that money, don't buy it. Because your Gambling.
7.Turbochargers/Superchargers- never buy a turbo or supercharger by themselves because you think the price is good, The only reason to purchase a turbo alone like this is because that's what you were specifically looking for, the reason is the turbo isn't half of what is needed to turbocharge a car. You need the entire kit, not just the turbo, not to mention, Turbo kits save you money.
8. Learn everything you can about your car, how it works, how you want it to work and what that involves. The better your understanding you have of your car and the parts that make it work, the much better the chance you have of making your car into exactly what you want.
I hope this helps,
John
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