Do-It-Yourself High Performance Car Mods

Dealing with Dealerships, Laws, and Other Pesky Issues

Modifying a street car involves several legal issues. The first is whether installing the mods is actually street legal. This can involve several different federal, state, and local laws. The federal government sets minimum emissions standards, but enforcing emissions laws is normally in the hands of the states. The only federal laws a typical enthusiast is likely to deal with directly are the laws regulating lights and catalytic converters.

State emissions laws may be enforced in different ways. If you are not in a heavily populated area, they may not enforce emissions laws at all in your area. Some simply check to make sure that a catalytic converter is still there in the exhaust and go ...