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How
to Make More Horsepower - Part I
Several
months back, we talked briefly about ways to make
more horsepower. Over the next few months we will
discuss in more detail how to make more horsepower.
These ideas will be cheap to expensive, but should
give you a good idea on how to make more power.
Some ideas work better when combined with other
ideas and we will help point those out.
This
first article will discuss how to put more air
into your vehicle. Think of an engine as a big
air pump. It sucks air in and then pumps it back
out. This is the basic principle behind our first
idea, getting more air into the engine.
We
start by looking at the start of the process.
Air is sucked into the engine through a filter
and air box. Replacing the filter with a higher
flowing filter from companies like K&N will
allow more air to be brought into the engine.
You
can then take that a step further by replacing
the factory air box. The factory air box was designed
to be quiet which creates a restriction in air
flow. There are several replacement air boxes
on the market. The key to look for in an air box
is one that allows the engine to breathe cool
air from outside the engine compartment. Cooler
air will produce more horsepower. Most replacement
air boxes will come with a free flowing air filter.
Another
alternative to the above is replacing the factory
hood with a ram-air or induction hood. This allows
cooler outside air to be forced into the engine,
plus you get the added cool factor from the looks.
These
next few options are more expensive but will produce
the most horsepower. Turbo charging and supercharging
have been around for several decades. A turbocharger
works by using the car exhaust to spine a turbine
which compresses outside air and forces it into
the engine. Since a turbo charger uses exhaust
gases there no drain on the engine. The biggest
disadvantage is turbo lag. Turbo lag is the time
that it takes for the turbo charger to spin up
before providing enough boost to the engine.
Supercharging
is one of the best ways to add good horsepower
to an engine. A supercharger runs off the engine
and is always producing boost. There is no turbo
lag since it is a direct drive unit. The newest
superchargers can be hidden under the hood to
produce a sleeper look. Superchargers work the
same way as turbo chargers by compressing incoming
air and pushing it into the engine. Supercharger
manufacturers, such as Vortec, have produced complete
bolt-on kits for many vehicles.
The
next item to look at is the throttle body or similar
item for fuel-injected vehicles or the carburetor
for older vehicles. A bigger throttle body or
carburetor will allow more air into the engine.
Most are rated by the CFM or cubic feet per minute
rating. The higher the number, the more it will
flow.
Last
item is the intake manifold. A performance intake
manifold will outflow your stock manifold. Depending
on your vehicle, there will be several to choose
from. The best way to pick one is to talk to the
manufacturer or vendor to find out what the optimum
RPM range of the manifold. You then want to pick
one that will be in the RPM range that your vehicle
will operate in most of the time.
Well
that’s it for this month. Check in next
month as we talk about how to get the exhaust
system opened up. If you have any questions or
comments, please send them to sales@kmwperformance.com.
You can also check us out online at www.kmwperformance.com.
Vincent Wright
sales@kmwperformance.com
http://www.kmwperformance.com
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