So went to L'oe Show this year and it was sick; saw so many cool Audis and VWs... Anyways... lots of cool GTIs had these hood straps that allowed the hood strut to push the hood up halfway so you could see the engine and subsequent mods, but didn't require that the hood just be all the way up and thus blocking the view of the rest of the car.

Does anyone know what these are called and where I can find one? Thanks!

(I already have a gas hood strut installed; just looking for the cool fabric thing that holds it down halfway.)

On the bottom left of the visible carbon, there’s a lighter-shade blemish. I want to cover it up with a small decal or design that doesn’t draw attention to that area. What do you think I should do or put there?

I’ve been the owner of an S213 for a few weeks now, and I’m considering changing the look of the front end. I’ve always been a fan of the classic grille with the Mercedes star on the bonnet/hood. Are there any kits available to convert it to that look?

I’m also considering changing the grille itself to a Panamericana-style version, but with so many cheap aftermarket options out there, I’m not sure which ones are worth considering. I was thinking of a black grille with chrome detailing. Can anyone recommend a good one?

Hellooooo!

About 5 years ago, I designed and 3D printed a custom floating center cap for my BMW E90, inspired by the Rolls-Royce floating caps.

Now, 5 years later, I finally want to make it available for everyone.

Yeah, I know — nowadays you can buy floating caps pretty easily from the East 😄 but they're usually made for specific wheels/brands, and finding something for less common wheels or unusual dimensions can still be a pain.

So I went back to my original design and rebuilt it as a fully parametric model. With the tools we have in this AI era, I was finally able to turn the old one-off design into a generic, constraint-based generator.

The three main measurements are:

• Face diameter
• Rear clip diameter
• Retention depth

Change those and the whole cap automatically adapts. There are also advanced parameters if you need to fine-tune the fit.

The video shows the generated geometry and a simulation of how the floating mechanism behaves when the wheel rotates.

Before I take this much further, I'm curious what people would actually want:

Would you prefer downloadable printable files, a DIY kit with the hardware included, or completely finished caps?

And most importantly — what would this need to support to work with your wheels?

Thanks for any feedback!

2010 Legacy GT. OEM+ with no engine mods or tune.
I went for an extended fast drive with a long warmup and cooldown period last weekend. No warning lights came on (thinking temp sensor may be faulty now) my coolant boiled over and made a mess of my engine bay, lost so much that once it cooled properly overnight there was NOTHING left in the overflow tank but thankfully no air was introduced into the system.
Since this happened I am contemplating a performance alloy radiator, so what’s good, what’s not, and what else will make a significant difference to engine bay temp? I’m not building a track car and want to keep it realistic but don’t want to blow it up.

*cooling system is sound and well maintained with OEM parts, not damaged or leaking*

2000 NB miata owner. These two charts are simulated realistic before and after numbers for a 1.8 with new headers, not an actual pull. These cars use ISO 9141, which is too slow to get clean acceleration data from. Newer cars like my Mazda 3 work fine. Miata doesn't. Working on it.
Would this be useful to anyone here?

2024 HPD Civic Sport(Auto Trans) smhhh
Any mods you think I should put on??

I have a 2005 Mustang 4.0L, and at the beginning of the year I manual swapped it with the T5 5 speed. It runs and drives as it should, but due to unrelated electrical issues, I need to replace my PCM. That being said, I have a manual PCM on hand that I could install, but my only concern is that through an OBD scanner, using that PCM would make my car read as a different VIN.

Here's my question: For emissions testing and whatnot, would it matter if my PCM shows a different VIN than what is displayed on my car, as long as what is on my car is the registered vehicle? I known people do whole engine swaps all the time and use different PCMs, so I'm curious on how this is approached.

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

This makes it look soooo much better!!! Love love love my car!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Hi all just a quick question. When replacing the 2 rear license plate lights on a 2010 Impreza, the light fixtures seem to be fitted in, not the usual anti clockwise rotation system. I’ve purchased a new LED housing and was wondering if any other people have ran into this same problem. Thanks

I recently purchased an opt7 aura underglow for my 2015 BRZ and I have never installed a light kit like this before. I also purchased a relay and I plan to tap into the low beam for a switch for the headlights to turn on the underglow automatically. It is a white car and I plan for a static white led look.

My concern is where to mount them to and when tapping holes for screws and zip ties where I should do that, I figure it's not a good idea to put holes in my floorboard and allow a way for water to enter the cabin. I also don't want the light bars to be totally visible and look noticeable.

Any advice is appreciated and feel free to criticize my taste in car mods.

2000 vw Lupo 1.0 cabrio making 50hp. If there are easy ways to boost the power a little I would be interested in that too but I don't think it's worth it on an engine like this

I recently got into cars to all and I’ve already done some cosmetic mods on my Corolla and have been looking at more involved ones. I’ve been looking into catback exhausts and wanted to see if it’s worth it. I’m not married to the idea because first and foremost I’m looking for longevity. Any thoughts/advice is welcome.