by Al Shield

Created on: June 18, 2009   Last Updated: June 20, 2009

If words and phrases such as; wastegate, Gilmer belt system, or six way coilovers with camber adjustment have your local mechanic reaching for a dictionary, (or worse a language translator to try to understand you) it's a fair bet where you go to have your oil changed is not a good shopping mart for high performance car parts.

However, whether your driving weapon of choice has a race pedigree, or was initially designed to haul pizzas from shop to door front, there are plenty of places to go to in order to add more go to the whoa.

Before you fire up your soon-to-be upgraded weapon of road destruction to spend more than a third world country's national debt in fuel to pick up the parts you've lusted over, use the keys to the Internet first to save you time, travel expenses and possibly money.

Most, if not all, high performance auto parts stores have a website complete with catalogs, recommendations for your model car, credit card facilities and even a delivery service. Of course, it does pay to shop around so don't accept the first price you find as gospel. Google and other search engines are your friend in this instance and there's a lot of fun to be had drooling over the other parts you find in your search.

Ebay can occasionally be a treasure trove of high performance goodness but be wary of dodgy sellers and possible knock off products listed and labeled as the real thing. If it seems to be too good of a bargain, it's probably a fake and the last thing you need is that part breaking down and causing nothing but grief in your engine bay. Read up on the sellers reputation and if there's any doubt, don't bid.

Yahoo auctions Japan is also very handy if you're looking for parts for Japanese cars. Of course, the translation that your browser provides will be severely lacking in proper English so it will help if you speak Japanese, or find someone who does. The safest bet is to go through someone like a parts importer who uses Yahoo actions daily and can help with delivery and service. There will be additional costs involved, but you'd rather have your parts arrive than not, surely?

Finally scour the online forums for owners of the same model who are getting rid of some of their go fast parts. There's a forum for just about every make, or model under the sun and they're good places for high performance bargains (usually cheaper than wreckers too).

With anything high performance and mechanical, it's imperative that you do your homework before purchase. Sure

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