diff --git a/lib/oauth.js b/lib/oauth.js
index 0890f6a..7150d3f 100644
--- a/lib/oauth.js
+++ b/lib/oauth.js
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ exports.OAuth.prototype._createClient= function( port, hostname, sshEnabled, cre
   return http.createClient(port, hostname, sshEnabled, credentials);
 }
 
-exports.OAuth.prototype._performSecureRequest= function( oauth_token, oauth_token_secret, method, url, extra_params, post_body, post_content_type,  callback ) {
+exports.OAuth.prototype._prepareParameters= function( oauth_token, oauth_token_secret, method, url, extra_params ) {
   var oauthParameters= {
       "oauth_timestamp":        this._getTimestamp(),
       "oauth_nonce":            this._getNonce(this._nonceSize),
@@ -186,13 +186,7 @@ exports.OAuth.prototype._performSecureRequest= function( oauth_token, oauth_toke
          oauthParameters[key]= extra_params[key];
     }
   }
-  if( !post_content_type ) {
-    post_content_type= "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
-  }
-
   var parsedUrl= URL.parse( url, false );
-  if( parsedUrl.protocol == "http:" && !parsedUrl.port ) parsedUrl.port= 80;
-  if( parsedUrl.protocol == "https:" && !parsedUrl.port ) parsedUrl.port= 443;
 
   if( parsedUrl.query ) {
    var extraParameters= querystring.parse(parsedUrl.query);
@@ -204,13 +198,18 @@ exports.OAuth.prototype._performSecureRequest= function( oauth_token, oauth_toke
   var sig= this._getSignature( method,  url,  this._normaliseRequestParams(oauthParameters), oauth_token_secret);
   var orderedParameters= this._sortRequestParams( oauthParameters );
   orderedParameters[orderedParameters.length]= ["oauth_signature", sig];
-  
-  var query=""; 
-  for( var i= 0 ; i < orderedParameters.length; i++) {
-    query+= this._encodeData(orderedParameters[i][0])+"="+ this._encodeData(orderedParameters[i][1]) + "&";
-  }
-  query= query.substring(0, query.length-1);
+  return orderedParameters;
+}
 
+exports.OAuth.prototype._performSecureRequest= function( oauth_token, oauth_token_secret, method, url, extra_params, post_body, post_content_type,  callback ) {
+  var orderedParameters= this._prepareParameters(oauth_token, oauth_token_secret, method, url, extra_params);
+
+  if( !post_content_type ) {
+    post_content_type= "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
+  }
+  var parsedUrl= URL.parse( url, false );
+  if( parsedUrl.protocol == "http:" && !parsedUrl.port ) parsedUrl.port= 80;
+  if( parsedUrl.protocol == "https:" && !parsedUrl.port ) parsedUrl.port= 443;
 
   var oauthProvider;
   if( parsedUrl.protocol == "https:" ) {
@@ -352,35 +351,13 @@ exports.OAuth.prototype.getOAuthRequestToken= function(extraParams, callback) {
 }
 
 exports.OAuth.prototype.signUrl= function(url, oauth_token, oauth_token_secret, method) {
-  var collectedParameters= {
-      "oauth_timestamp":        this._getTimestamp(),
-      "oauth_nonce":            this._getNonce(this._nonceSize),
-      "oauth_version":          this._version,
-      "oauth_signature_method": this._signatureMethod,
-      "oauth_consumer_key":     this._consumerKey
-  };
 
-  if( oauth_token ) {
-    collectedParameters["oauth_token"]= oauth_token;
-  }
   if( method === undefined ) {
     var method= "GET";
   }
 
+  var orderedParameters= this._prepareParameters(oauth_token, oauth_token_secret, method, url, {});
   var parsedUrl= URL.parse( url, false );
-  if( parsedUrl.protocol == "http:" && !parsedUrl.port ) parsedUrl.port= 80;
-  if( parsedUrl.protocol == "https:" && !parsedUrl.port ) parsedUrl.port= 443;
-
-  if( parsedUrl.query ) {
-   var queryParams= querystring.parse(parsedUrl.query);
-   for(var key in queryParams ) {
-     collectedParameters[key]= queryParams[key];
-   }
-  }
-
-  var sig= this._getSignature( method,  url,  this._normaliseRequestParams(collectedParameters), oauth_token_secret);
-  var orderedParameters= this._sortRequestParams( collectedParameters );
-  orderedParameters[orderedParameters.length]= ["oauth_signature", sig];
 
   var query=""; 
   for( var i= 0 ; i < orderedParameters.length; i++) {
@@ -390,7 +367,3 @@ exports.OAuth.prototype.signUrl= function(url, oauth_token, oauth_token_secret,
  
   return parsedUrl.protocol + "//"+ parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname + "?" + query;
 };
-
-
-
-