The majority of cars manufactured for consumer sales are built around several factors that limit the factory horsepower. These factors include, reducing the total price of automobiles, meeting all emission standards, and providing consumers with dependable cars that will provide maximum life. While the automobile manufacturers are doing a fantastic job of providing dependable, safe, ozone friendly cars to their consumers, they are forced to reduce available horsepower on their factory engines. This article explains the best ways to get what the manufacturers can’t provide and to achieve the maximum horsepower from your engine.
The first thing to look at if you want that extra horsepower is to see if you have the possibility of replacing your computer chip. If you’re not sure about this, first consult with any performance shop or performance parts dealer to see if your car is a candidate for this upgrade. My advice to you next, if you choose to purchase a chip for your automobile, is to do your homework and find a credible company to buy it from. There are companies who try to take advantage of people in this situation. I have known people to get ripped off and spend way too much for a chip and have seen chips not live up to the hype the company promised. Remember your goal here is to increase horsepower, not get ripped off. Just be careful and protect yourself by doing some research.
In order to achieve your goal of more horsepower your engine needs your help with a few things. First thing is the engine can’t function without air. The higher the air/fuel mixture in the cylinders the higher your horsepower is going to be. Your goal is to get the air in and out of your engine as quickly as possible. The cheapest and most efficient way to do this is to purchase the air filter that provides the most air flow to your engine.
Another thing to consider when examining your airflow is backpressure. Backpressure can kill any chance of maximum horsepower and eludes many people as the source of their problem when troubleshooting a horsepower issue. I have personally seen the effects of an exhaust system that was too small for an engine. It was unbelievable how much horsepower the vehicle lost just for that one problem. Free flowing is your ultimate goal here. Bigger tail pipes and high performance exhaust systems that eliminate back pressure are usually the best routes to take to fix these problems. Do your best to buy quality products from quality companies here as well. If your budget won’t allow this, your best action is to save, and not waste what you have on the cheap stuff. I’ve never seen a satisfied person who has done this. The saying you get what you pay for is true in almost every circumstance especially when dealing with car parts.
The next thing I would look at to increase horsepower is the intercooler. As I have stated earlier in this article, all engines require air. The best air you can possibility get to your engine is cool, clean air. Of course the quality air filter you purchased for your engine takes care of the clean part so now we need to focus on getting cool air to your cylinders. The best and most efficient way to do this is to install an intercooler. The intercooler cools the compressed air before it reaches your cylinders. During combustion the cool air will expand more than hotter air thus creating more horsepower. Anytime you compress something, which is what your turbo chargers and super chargers are designed to do, you will have an increase in heat. Your turbo/super chargers compress the intake air to force more air into your cylinder. The intercooler cools this air before it arrives for combustion creating more horsepower.
One way to increase your horsepower on a carbureted engine is to buy the best carburetor you can afford. The brand you buy will make a difference. With my experience on purchasing carburetors for my own vehicles you can’t go too wrong with a Holley performance carburetor for most applications. Of course one of the other things an engine needs in order to function is fuel. The carburetor you have needs to provide the maximum air/fuel mixture to your engine. Along these lines you can also gain some horsepower by purchasing quality fuel. The highest octane your car can handle should be the octane you have in the tank. It makes a difference believe it or not.
The last thing I would like to discuss in order to get your desired horsepower increase is to replace your heads. Most stock engines have one exhaust and one intake valve. Remember I said earlier that an important goal in increasing horsepower revolves around getting air in and out of your engine as quickly, and efficiently as possible. Replacing your heads with new heads that contain more valves with drastically increase your horsepower. Also an option for the older cars is to actually bore your cylinders out to make them bigger. The bigger the cylinder the bigger the horsepower. Research cost effectiveness on this first though, because you may come out cheaper taking alternative routes to get your desired horsepower. If this is an option for you, it is not a bad idea to get a credible machine shop to do your work for you. You don’t want to ruin your engine by making the mistake of boring it yourself, unless you are confident that you can do it right.
These are common ways to increase your horsepower on your stock engine. Remember to always protect yourself by ordering your parts from credible parts suppliers, and by doing extensive research on what you desire to see the options you have to get you there. Good luck, be safe, and take care of your engines.