5 Ways to Increase Horsepower
For as long as automobiles have existed, engineers have always been looking for ways to push the limits of performance. Fuel economy, maneuverability, handling, and most important to any self-respecting car enthusiast, horsepower.
Many enthusiasts have pushed the limits of all kinds of vehicles to see if increasing the horsepower of their car’s engine will allow them to go faster than before. Below are the 5 best ways to improve the performance of most vehicles.
1) Cold Air Inlets
Cold air intakes are one of the easiest mods you can make to your car’s engine. Think of it like a Saturday morning. Using a specially designed intake pipe assembly, the engine air filter is relocated through the cold air intake to a position in the engine bay that not only provides ample space around the filter, but also allows for a place for cool air.
Cold air is denser than hot air, so more air can be delivered to the engine. The cold air intake not only provides the engine with cooler, denser air, but also features a high-performance air filter. These air filters have a larger filtering surface area, in some cases up to four times the size of the factory filter.
This means that the air filter not only passes more air, but also has a higher filtering performance than the OEM filter.
2) Exhaust Mods
A wide variety of exhaust mods are made to improve the performance of a car’s engine. High-flow cat-back exhausts, high-flow catalytic converters, and long tube headers are just a few of the options. An added risk is omitting silencers, resonators, and even straight piping. Exhaust modifications all accomplish the same thing, just in different ways.
Exhaust mods increase exhaust flow, allowing the engine to breathe better. This happens with our exhaust system.
By modifying the exhaust system to allow better flow, the engine can push air out of the exhaust system with as little restriction as possible, improving engine efficiency and performance. The biggest side effect is a louder exhaust (whether this is a good or bad thing depends on who you ask).
3) Performance Chip
Most engines today are controlled by an Electronic Control Module, or what we call an ECM. Now, fuel timing and amount of fuel, A/F ratio, ignition timing, and valve timing are all controlled by the ECM. For engineers to achieve this, they must compromise elsewhere, usually engine performance. ECM programmers and performance chip engineers have taken all of this out of the equation.
They focus solely on engine performance. Engineers can improve a vehicle’s engine performance by simply modifying the software, changing fuel, ignition timing, and valve timing.
Please note that performance chips and other tunings that change the default programming of a vehicle’s ECM often void the vehicle manufacturer’s warranty. Do your research before choosing this route.
4) Interior Mods
All of the products listed so far have been hassle-free, easy bolt-on products. When enthusiasts are really looking for a major performance upgrade, they look inside the engine. An engine is essentially an air pump. This means that the more volume you can move in your engine during the intake, compression, power, and exhaust strokes, the better your car’s engine will perform.
You can improve your vehicle’s engine performance by drilling holes in the engine, changing the camshaft, or replacing the cylinder head with a specially developed high-performance cylinder head.
This is not a job that every car enthusiast can do or has the tools to do, so you may need to find an engine repair shop that will do it for you.
5) Lightweighting
Reducing the weight of your vehicle may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about increasing engine power, but it can be one of the least expensive ways to feel like you have more horsepower.
There are lots of specific numbers and it depends on the power-to-weight ratio of your vehicle, but you can assume it’s roughly every 10 to 15 pounds of increase. You can improve your vehicle’s performance by reducing its weight.
You can increase your car’s power-to-weight ratio by using lighter wheels and eliminating unnecessary weight in the trunk.
There are many ways to improve your car’s performance, depending on your budget and driving style. The methods listed above usually give you the most bang for your buck.