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Electric Fans: - We Americans Love Our Cars
Electric Fans: - We Americans Love Our Cars
By the time that I regrettably sold the car it had a custom built 454 in
it. It would almost get the front tires off the ground from a dead start
and would do 0-60 in 5.6 seconds.
Since I obviously don’t know what kind of car you are about to beef up,
I am going to keep the items in this list as generic as possible. If your
car is still under factory warranty, you will need to ask the car
manufacturer if any of these items will void your warranty.
8. Air Induction
Your engine pulls in air and mixes it with fuel. This mixture is burned
and produces horsepower. So if you can increase the amount of cool
dense air that your engine is able to pull in, you will produce more
power. The fact is that most cars are manufactured with the air it pulls
in limited for various reasons. There are several companies out there
that make aftermarket air induction systems to bolt directly on to your
car in an afternoon. K&N is the leader in this field. A couple of hundred
bucks, a few simple tools and a Saturday afternoon and K&N will
guarantee extra horsepower for your car. In most cases your fuel
economy will increase as well, making this an aftermarket item that
pays for itself.
7. Carburetors
If you are working with an older car, chances are that you have a
carburetor. This is a device that mixes the air and gasoline into a vapor
to be burned inside the engine. All newer cars will have some form of
fuel injection, but if you do have a carburetor on your car, this is one of
the easiest ways to increase your horsepower. If you have a 2 barrel
carburetor, you should upgrade to a 4 barrel carburetor. There are a lot
of carburetor manufacturers out there that build the performance parts
you need to make your car faster. Most notably in America would me
Edelbrock and Holley. To upgrade your carburetor from 2 to 4 barrel
will also require you to install a new intake manifold. Doing all of this
will cost a few bucks, but the difference will be very noticeable.
6. Fuel Injection
If you have an older engine that is carbureted, and a few bucks that
you can afford to invest into making your car faster, converting to fuel
injection may be for you. Edelbrock and Holley both offer bolt on multi
port injection systems for most American engines. Because these
systems are electronic and not mechanical like a carburetor, they are
more precise. They will offer your engine more horsepower and better
fuel economy. As the items in this list get more complicated, the cost
of the upgrades also increases. Your ability to increase the speed of
your car is usually only limited to the amount of money you are able to
spend on your car.
5. Performance Chips
If you are trying to increase the performance of a newer car (‘90’s and
up) You are most likely dealing with a car that was built with electronic
fuel injection.
These chip upgrades are very versatile with their applications. You can
buy a preprogrammed chip or you can buy a chip and a programmer
device that will allow you to modify the performance chips yourself.
You can achieve better fuel mileage, better towing capabilities, better
horsepower and of course better speed either off the starting line or in
the top end.
4. Exhaust System
While most of the suggestions in this list are dealing with getting more
air and fuel into your engine, another way to increase performance is
by looking at ways to improve getting the exhaust out of your engine
more efficiently. Removing your mufflers and adding glass packs will
make your car a lot louder, but generally won’t offer any real
performance. For most cars the exhaust system is choked down right
at the engine itself in the stock exhaust manifolds.
While you may have 2 tailpipes at the back of your car, in most cases
your exhaust is choked down to 1 catalytic converter then split back to
2 exhaust pipes towards the back of the car. For truly improved
performance you will want true dual exhaust all the way back.
There are laws governing the removal of catalytic converts and the
amount of noise you are allowed to produce. So when converting your
choked down car into a true dual exhaust system, check your local
laws regarding noise and catalytic converters. The converters are very
expensive, so if you have to have them and you want 2 of them, it is
going to cost a few bucks.
3. Turbochargers
While turbo chargers are stock equipment on almost all diesel engines,
most people are not aware that you can install an aftermarket turbo
charger on your gasoline engine for a great increase in performance.
Essentially how a turbo charger works is, it uses the exhaust gasses to
spin an impellor which builds a positive pressure of fresh air and forces
that air into the intake to mix with the fuel. This upgrade is an
expensive one. The turbo charger itself will cost around $1000.00 and
to install it, you will have to modify both the air intake system and the
exhaust system of your car.
There are companies that produce aftermarket turbo chargers for just
about any car on the road today. If you have the cash, you can have a
turbo charged car.
2. Nitrous Oxide
The principal is very simple. If you add Nitrous Oxide to your air and
fuel the mixture becomes considerably more explosive and therefore
greatly increases horsepower.
There are many different systems. You can have a dose of nitrous
dumped into your air intake, or for the person who really wants a
punch there are also systems that inject from multiple points directly
into your intake manifold. You are limited only by how much money
you are willing to spend.
A couple of things that you will want to consider before adding a
nitrous system to your car is that too much nitrous will blow your
engine apart. Depending on the type of engine you are running you
need to be very careful with the amounts of time that nitrous is
injected into your engine.
The laws governing the use of nitrous oxide vary from state to state. In
many cases it is legal to have nitrous oxide in your car but not legal to
use nitrous. So check your local laws and regulations before you fork
out the cash for this upgrade to improve the speed of your car.
1. Superchargers
You will see giant superchargers sticking out of the top of drag racers
and very beefed up classic muscle cars. There is nothing more
impressive looking that you can do to your car than have one of these
monsters poking out of the hood of your car.
They are complex. These amazing devices don’t just come out of a box
and bolt right on to the top of your engine. There are a lot of
modifications that you will have to do to the engine to get them
operational, not to mention you will have to cut a hole in the hood of
your car.
There are legal issues as well. When I was considering adding one of
these to my 1969 Chevelle in Wyoming I found out that it was illegal. It
turned out that they were grandfathered in for use on ’68 or older cars.
So be sure to check your local laws regarding superchargers. You may
be able to install a smaller version in your area