A high performance exhaust system is one of the easiest and most cost effective modifications you can make to your car. Not only is a high performance exhaust system very effective and affordable, it is also fairy easy to install. These days, due to the rising cost of gas, the subject of gas mileage is on just about every driver’s mind. A high performance exhaust system will help increase mileage too.If it seems too good to be true that a single modification such as an exhaust system would give so many benefits, it is most definitely not. Even better is that so many of the benefits of a well designed performance exhaust system, such as better performance and gas mileage, are usually mutually exclusive. Not the case here, though. Why are so many advantages to be had by simply installing an exhaust system?It all comes down to the compromises made by the auto manufacturers. They have to balance many things when designing a vehicle; cost, weight, noise, performance, gas mileage, and a myriad of other things such as supplier relationships. In short, they can’t give you the best exhaust system available because it would raise the price of the vehicle too much. In addition, they have to abide by EPA noise restrictions and build a vehicle for the broadest number of car buyers. That alone requires compromise. The car, or any of its parts, simply can’t be perfect in every respect, for every car buyer.Once it’s your car, on the other hand, you’re free to make any improvements you see fit. If a nice, low rumble doesn’t bother you, a performance exhaust could be just the answer you’re looking for. Like may performance enhancing modifications, the quality of available systems run the gamut from truly pathetic to finely engineered works of automotive art. Where on the spectrum you want to be is determined by your requirements and budget.Keep in mind that to properly design exhaust system requires specialized knowledge, equipment and experience. If the system is improperly designed, chances are it will make more noise, but no more power or gas mileage. In fact, due to the high level of factory engineered systems these days, you may even hurt your cars’ performance with a poorly designed exhaust.Because they are relatively inexpensive, offer decent performance gains, and is easy to install, most people opt for a system that comprises only the system from the rear of the catalytic converter to the exhaust tip. This is known as a “cat back” system. More performance can be had by installing a complete system from the exhaust manifold to the tip, however. You can even install a high performance catalytic converter to maximize performance and fuel economy.There are some features you should look for when selecting an aftermarket exhaust system. The first is the type of material it’s made of. Any of the better systems will be either coated steel or stainless steel. The standard stainless steel alloy for a high quality exhaust system is T-304, steel alloyed with about 10% nickel and 20% chromium for strength and corrosion resistance.
You may also find exhaust components made from T-409 stainless. While this is a good material, it doesn’t have the strength or corrosion resistance of T-304, so it will exhibit discoloration over time and won’t last as long as a system fabricated from T-304. T-304 is harder to work with and more expensive to procure, so be prepared to pay a premium to buy a system made from it. As with many things in life, if you want high quality, be aware it costs more.If you are after the finest quality exhaust system, you may find it’s made from T-316L stainless. This has even lower carbon content than T-304, and is used extensively in marine exhaust products, due to its superior corrosion resistance. The absolute best stainless steel material for an exhaust system is T-321 stainless, steel alloyed with the wonder metal titanium. As you might expect, T-321 is extremely expensive, and fairly rare in street exhaust systems, although common in race units, such as IRL and F-1. You’ll also find T-321 used in aircraft construction, where the margin for error is small indeed. If you’re after a price no object exhaust system, you can have one custom fabricated from Inconel 625, a nickel alloy used in construction of the X-15 rocket research plane. No, unless you’re driving a Ferrari, you probably can’t afford it.Another advantage of stainless steel as an exhaust material is that it conducts heat less readily than does mild steel. This serves as a thermal barrier, keeping exhaust heat inside the exhaust tubes. If you are investing in headers or exhaust manifolds made form stainless, the benefit of the lower thermal conductivity will be better exhaust velocity. The higher velocity will give better scavenging, so you’ll get more complete exhaust flow out of your cylinders. This means more efficient engine operation, increased power and better gas mileage.If you’re not prepared to pony up for a stainless exhaust system, you can find fine products made from varieties of coated steel, such as aluminized steel or ceramic coated steel. These have some of the properties of stainless, such as corrosion resistance, or, in the case of ceramic coated products, low thermal conductivity.The next thing to look for in a high performance exhaust is mandrel bending. Mandrel bending ensures the tubes are bent without reducing the diameter, and thus adding restriction. This restriction will hurt exhaust flow, power and efficiency. With mandrel bending, there is actually a piece of tooling (the mandrel) placed inside the tube as it is being bent to prevent the exhaust tube from being reduced in interior diameter. While the best method of forming bends in exhaust tubing, it is quite expensive, and most low priced systems don’t use this method. The performance of the finished system will suffer, however. Some estimates are that for a system with 5 bends, mandrel bending reduces exhaust backpressure by about 30%.A new high performance exhaust system is one of the fastest, most cost effective performance enhancements you can make to your vehicle. In addition, you’ll reduce weight, save gas, increase longevity, make it look better, and oh, that sound!

If you want to build a complete business website solution in the shortest time possible, you need a set of tools to streamline the development process. Take the drudgery out of business website development with a content management system. Now you can effectively compete with the big boys without breaking the bank.What Are Content Management Systems?For those that may be unaware of the term, content management systems are web development tools that allow non-programmers to set up and maintain a professional web presence within a user interface that often provides the features of a word processor. Such a system makes it easy to add content at any time without the need to hire a programmer to do the job for you.Content management systems (CMS) have been around for many years. Many such systems are open source packages, meaning you may download and install them on your web host servers free of charge. Many packages, such as Joomla, WordPress, and DotNetNuke, are excellent systems with a growing list of features. These systems are great for individuals and business professionals looking for web development solutions that are simple to build and maintain.Basic Content Management SystemsFor individuals on a limited budget or without much knowledge of setting up websites, WordPress is probably the way to go. WordPress allows you to quickly set up a website with a web log (blog) format that may be extended with a variety of available plug-ins. The blog format is great for anyone wishing to get online quickly to promote themselves or their business. The additional plug-ins provide an array of features. These allow you to monetize your site with contextual advertisements (ex: Google AdSense), quickly and easily add audio and video, increase traffic to your site through social bookmarking, generate sitemaps, and more.Systems such as Joomla and DotNetNuke require a bit more work to set up and maintain, but they provide many additional features that are well worth the effort. These systems can be used to create complete membership sites to develop a community portal for your customers. The e-commerce capabilities provided through various plug-ins allow you to accept payment for products and services sold from your website. You may also charge a monthly or annual fee for access to your membership site. There are plug-ins and third party tools that integrate into these content management systems to provide this functionality.Premium Content Management System for Online BusinessFor those wishing to take their online business presence to the next level, there is a new tool that has just been introduced. It is called CMS Infusion, and it is being proclaimed a revolutionary web development tool for marketing on the internet. This system includes an array of powerful features:
Create Multiple Levels Of Membership – up to 20 levels deep.
Create Alternate Billing Levels In Seconds (ex: free, one-time, recurring, etc.)
Full automation of membership upgrades
Manage All Member Information Quickly And Easily
Manually Add, search, edit, and delete members (even block specific domains)
Fully Automate & Schedule Data Backups (download member database or subsections)
Run on Complete Autopilot – Automate Registration, Password, Welcome Messages
Complete Control of Mailing Lists
Send or Schedule Email Broadcasts
In addition to these standard features, there are numerous plug-ins available to enhance the basic system. You can manage secure delivery of digital downloads. This feature is often made available as a premium service (read – extra fee) of online shopping cart system. To make it better, it allows full product URL’s to improve search engine optimization. If you would like to feature one of your available products on your landing page, you can do this quickly and easily with another available plug-in.Other plug-ins include complete multi-tier affiliate and joint venture partner management systems. The affiliate system includes everything you would expect in a professional package. The joint venture module provides hands-off management of joint ventures between members. As with many other features, this may be set up as a paid or free service.To analyze the click-through rates of your various promotions, you can implement a professional link-tracking system through another available plug-in. This is essential for implementing and monitoring your affiliate promotions. See, at a glance, the raw and unique click rates for each of your promotions.There are many additional features included in the base system. Add audio and video to your site with the multimedia plug-in. You can effectively manage your site content with the included article and content management system. This module allows you to add unlimited content categories, set access privileges to content, and to allow users to submit their own content. You can even set the system to automatically integrate Google AdSense into the submitted content. This one module provides some very powerful features for building a content-based site.One very interesting plug-in is the Member2Member module. The power of this module is easy to miss, but it is extremely valuable to your site’s membership. This plug-in allows you to manage a variety of offerings between members of your website. Offerings may include specials and discounts available only to other members, pre-launches of new product offerings, and more. This is an excellent way to provide the ability for your membership to grow their mailing lists. It is definitely a feature that you could promote to your potential subscribers.The Future of Online Business Development – Content Management SystemsNo matter what system you ultimately choose, you will find that content management systems can reduce the cost of developing and maintaining a professional web presence. It is clear that the future of web development lies firmly in the realm content management systems. The power of the tools provided in these systems cannot be denied. The playing field has essentially been leveled for even the smallest of operations. Choose your system, and begin building your online business today.

Staking Plan methodology can be adapted to any form of betting or investment, for example, stock market investments, casino table games, etc. where the advantages of staking can be transferred effectively, provided the correct type of plan is applied. A Staking Plan may increase profitability by 10 to 30 %.Normal betting, as carried out by the majority of people, involves either placing a randomly selected bet amount on any event, according to ‘gut feel’. There are no criteria applied to the amount of the bet. If the same bet amount is used for every event, this is called ‘flat betting’ or ‘level stakes’, where each bet has exactly the same weighting. There is no adjustment of the bet amount according to the odds being offered, the effect of previous results, the amount available for staking or the effectiveness of the system that is being used.Definition of a Staking PlanA Staking Plan is a pre-determined methodology of money management that, when applied to the process of betting or investing, promotes steady overall growth through maximised returns. It ensures that the process will continue by ensuring that funds do not run out, due to the application of protection measures against losses. This is done by assuming that future results will be similar or related to past events, though this fact can never be guaranteed.The first basis of a Staking Plan is that a separate betting fund or ‘bank’ is used from which to stake and to which the winnings are added. This means that bets are never placed randomly without being accounted for to the bank amount, and there is a certain amount of limitation of liability in managing the money in this way, rather than betting out of everyday funds. The concept of having a bank and protecting it is fundamental to Staking Plans and applies the first stage of protection.The Staking Plan is applied to a system of selection, which may use any criteria to select the next bet. It is important to note that a Staking Plan will never select a next bet for the user; it will merely indicate the bet amount.As a priority, the Betting System used must be assessed in terms of its relative success and also to estimate the worst-case scenario for a losing sequence, ie. the maximum number of consecutive or near-consecutive losses. This eventuality must be allowed for in selecting the bank start amount and in the type of staking plan used.How to rate a Betting SystemA Betting System is rated on ‘flat betting’ or at ‘level stakes’, ie. its performance is tested when a consistent bet is placed every time and this allows comparison of systems. Furthermore, points can be applied when assessing a system’s success. Points gained by a Betting System are then a factor of the bet amount and the amount of funds held, and can provide a common level for rating, not related to currency.An example of the application of points to a system might be taking 1 point as 2 % of a bank. With the bank amount of 2 500, 1 point will be 50.Note: Staking Plan calculations must allow for commission amounts which may be payable on wins if an exchange is used for betting.The most common Betting System rating is its Strike Rate. This is a measure of the relative success of the system, ie. the percentage of wins out of total bets. The higher the average odds, the lower the strike rate can be. When multiplied by the average odds, a Performance Ratio is obtained for a Betting System.For a Staking Plan to work, a Betting System must be either successful, ie. having an overall positive result, or marginal, ie. it does not substantially gain or lose money, with the bank balance remaining around zero. A Staking Plan cannot make a successful Betting System out of an unsuccessful one, though some Staking Plans will assist in making a marginal system profitable. This does not mean that the use of a marginal system should be encouraged. The more successful the Betting System, the better the Staking Plan will be able to assist in protection of the bank and in magnifying growth.Benefits of using a Staking PlanUse of a Staking Plan can prevent many of the common mistakes in betting. A Staking Plan immediately gives discipline to staking. It establishes a bank amount and imposes rules to every bet made. This prevents betting due to emotional reactions, positive or negative. It records every activity to provide a means of checking and cross-referencing a system. Bets are limited to the amount stipulated by the Staking Plan, which prevents wild or impulse betting.A Staking Plan is the key to winning by protecting the bank from the risk that it is exposed to by betting, and encourages slow but steady growth rather than a ‘get rich quick’ mentality.Bookmakers want a bettor to chase losses with blind hope, often counting on luck, and this is what will happen without the use of a disciplined Staking Plan. The most dangerous time is often at the end of the day when it is tempting to try to recover all the day’s losses in one action. A Staking Plan continues from day to day, so there is no ‘last race’ and this will not happen.A Staking Plan brings about slow growth through planning and encourages serious betting and sustained profits. The rule of “don’t ever bet more than you can afford to lose” is ensured by the use of a Staking Plan.Features of a Staking PlanA Staking Plan will:1) maximize ROI2) protect the bank3) indicate the next bet amount4) prevent level stakes or flat betting5) reduce and limit exposure6) assist in making profits from betting7) maximise the benefits of wins, minimise the effect of losses8) maintain the lowest exposure when recouping after a losing run9) position the bettor to gain maximum benefit from a good win10) act on the effect of each bet, rather than overall performance or emotion11) turn a marginal system into a profitable system12) magnify profits in a profitable system13) minimise losses during a long losing run14) allow the bank to grow slowly and safely15) control staking to build profits over time16) record the results of every bet17) balance to the bank18) impose rules for money management19) provide an exact bank balance at all times20) enable the bettor to know their exact position21) monitor and record each bet of a system22) provides a full record of transactions for checking and recording purposes23) give control over betting and provide a plan to which to bet24) help prevent betting blindly or on impulseA Staking Plan will not:1) indicate what to bet on2) turn a losing system into a profitable one3) predict or guarantee profits4) make a ‘quick buck’ but promote a slow, safe growth processTypes of Staking PlanA Staking Plan relates the next bet amount to some aspect of the previous events, so a Staking Plan calculation might be related to the current bank amount or the odds offered. Alternatively, it can be calculated according to the relative success of previous bets or geared to recover lost amounts. The best Staking Plans are a combination of several of these methods.A. Target Based or “Loss Recovery” Staking PlansThis type of Staking Plan involves setting an aim or target to be achieved. Once it has been reached, a new target is set. This means that bets are calculated towards the target amount over a period of time and the Staking Plan is designed to reach this amount regardless of results along the way. For a successful system this can mean steady growth of the bank as targets are set over time and profit is grown slowly.Progressive staking plans follow this idea, but they must be used with caution, for example doubling up after a losing bet can quickly lead to large losses. Some ‘Point Chasing’ Staking Plans, which use a target based/loss recovery system, include the Martingale Staking Plan and the high risk Directors Staking Plan.The danger with this type of system is that if bet amounts are designed to recover losses, the target increases with every loss and a long losing run may exhaust the bank.B. Bank Based Staking PlansThese Staking Plans calculate the bet amount based on a percentage of the bank available for staking, ie. they run proportionally to bank amount. These are called Percentage or Bank Staking Plans and involve variable staking, sometimes for example as a fixed % of the bank. Examples include Rolling Bank and Square Root Staking Plans.It must be noted that these methods do not take directly into account the performance of the system they are applied to, only indirectly, by means of the bank movements, though they are safer methods to use as the bet amounts are regulated by the selected bank percentage.C. Increase SystemsThese Staking Plans are directly related to wins and losses ie. to the Strike Rate of the Betting System to which they are applied. Examples include the Fibbonacci, Stepper/Master, Pocket and Percentage Profit Staking Plans.The application of direct feedback means that these methods are the most responsive to the flow of events; however, this also means that they may not allow maximum benefit from a winning streak.D. Combined PlansThere are many Staking Plans that combine variations of above plans, for example the Kelly Criteria Staking Plan uses a formula to calculate the next bet based on the strike rate and average odds for the system and then applies a bank percentage to obtain the bet amount. Winfactor Select Staking Plan uses a percentage of the bank according to the success of the system in a similar way.What to look for in a Staking PlanA good Staking Plan must recoup successfully after long losing runs whilst maintaining minimum exposure. Since every event presents a new situation, it should calculate a new next bet amount according to the revised bank position after each event.When lay betting, it should be noted that a Laying Staking Plan must ensure that the bet amount is indirectly proportional to the odds value, ie. the higher the odds, the lower the bet value to a fixed risk amount according to points. Many Laying Staking Plans do not recalculate the bank amount after each event, losing profit potential.Staking Plan softwareGood Staking Plan software should allow easy input of results and give a quick, clear indication of the next bet amount. It may be useful to see the exact calculations of how this amount is obtained, but it is essential to be able to view information on the exact status ie. current bank balance and performance indicators for recent events. It must allow for the application of commissions where necessary.Ideally, the Plan software should include the facility to test systems at flat betting. With an easy method of input of past results, it should provide as an output the necessary relevant parameters for system assessment and comparison, ie. the strike rate, performance ratio, etc. as well as a summary of the total amount that would have been bet and the return that would be achieved. This enables full ‘paper testing’ of systems.SummaryEvery race is a different equation so a bet should never be placed without knowing the outcome of the previous event and good Staking Plan software should quickly calculate and display the next bet amount.Suggested Staking Plan Software incorporating the best methods mentioned above can be found at