Black on a truck of this nature just looks sinister! - Photo by Mario James

This is the final of a two-part series on pimping your ride without robbing a bank. Last week's article focused on bling rims on a budget.

So you've added bling to your spinning stock, slammed the body on top of those wheels (not so low you can't turn left or right, or make it out of your driveway!) and are ready for the next step in your total car makeover on the cheap.

The biggest (and most expensive) improvement you can make to your car's interior is its entertainment system. Now the first wallet-saving measure is to ignore the stores and scour The Gleaner's classifieds for used equipment. Of course, eBay is real good for this: do a search on 'head unit' and you can window-shop for hours (dreaming is half the fun!)

Patience is what you need here. Look for a brand-name unit that an owner is cutting cheap because he wants to upgrade. Try to stay within the same manufacturer for your in-car entertainment, as it is likely they will be compatible and have the necessary hardware to hook everything up!Stay away from the real el cheapo stuff when buying audio equipment. You ears will thank you for it! Boss, Kenwood, Sony, JBL, Kicker, Sherwood and Hifonics are all excellent brands. This list is by no means exhaustive, but don't stray too far from it.

Last, and by no means least, is your paint job. Now if you want to pile on the bucks here, you can certainly go overboard with pigment. Step on down to Automotive Art, say the magic words (Glasurit) and prepare to kiss $200K goodbye. I dunno 'bout you, but for me that's a real hard thing to do! Half to three quarters of that cost is labour, and although when the pros do it they end up with a shine that will make an orbit ad look dull, I can't afford it.

Doing it yourself (and that goes for most of the tips in this series) means that I learn something that I can market. The Paint Shop does seminars every now and then and they are quite comprehensive. The tools you need to paint are not that expensive either. If you look around, a small compressor can be had for under 20,000 bucks, and a low-pressure gravity feed HVLP gun goes out the door for about $12,000. After that you need paint, know-how, filters, mixing sticks, sandpaper and elbow grease. It can be done. Plan your build around that seminar and you should be set!

Mellow out your ride's bark with a set of aftermarket pipes and ... mission accomplished!

Transforming your ride from mediocre to marvellous doesn't need to be a bank-busting affair. If you do it yourself, you can save some of that long green to do something else, and still have that auto with your signature style that people will hear before they see, that the kids will idolise and the opposite sex patronise. Build it right, you add equity. Peacocks have feathers. Guys have thunder by Bose. Nature calls!

mario.james@gleanerjm.com

Dr Parris Lyew-Ayee, director of the Mona Geo-Informatics Institute, gives People's National Party Chairman Bobby Pickersgill a crash course in operating the Garmin GPS device on Thursday. You can improve the navigation potential of your vehicle with this device for a shade above 30 grand.- Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

An example of perfect stance. The car hunkers down over the wheels, giving it that much-sought-after racy look.