What if I told you that you can gain 5 horsepower this weekend, for
less than $100? Or, what if I told you that you could gain 5 horsepower
this weekend, for less than $20?
I bet you'd be interested eh?
Well,
the good news is, I'm going to tell you how to gain 5 horsepower this
weekend for $0-15 spent. Sound too good to be true? Well, read on!
1)
Increase the H2O ratio in your coolant - if it weren't for corrosion
and freezing concerns, automotive makers would use pure water. Water
cools much better than coolant any day of the week, and a cooler engine
is a better performer.
Instead of half and half, try 40/60. DO NOT
use pure water, As this may cause premature corrosion and that can be
no fun at all to clean up. You may also try water wetter to further
enhance this effect.
2) Index your spark plugs - this is an age
old trick that is good for about 1 extra pony. The idea here is to "aim"
the open end of the spark plug terminal (the gap) towards the intake
side of the head. In order to accomplish this, simply mark on the plug a
small line to indicate where this gap is, and install the plug as
normal.
Try to line up the line with the intake side as best as
you can. It may require buying 2 sets of spark plugs in order to do
this, but hopefully you'll be able to do this the first time. Be careful
with aluminum heads not to over tighten, as that could lead to a costly
repair.
3) Relocate IAT Sensor - This is a very simple
modification that will work on a great deal of fuel injected vehicles.
The IAT sensor ("Intake Air Temperature") tells the computer how hot or
cold the incoming air is. The computer will then adjust the amount of
fuel being injected, as well as make minor adjustments to timing based
on that reading.
The problem is that in many vehicles, the IAT
sensor is located in the intake manifold, near the cylinder head.
Therefore the air that the IAT sensor "reads" is much hotter than the
air, say, in the intake arm. The idea with this mod, is to relocate the
sensor to the intake arm. Use JB Weld or similar to patch up the old
port for the sensor.
This will cause the computer to believe that
incoming air is slightly cooler, causing it to inject more fuel and
advance the timing a tad.
4) Synthetic Oil - This is guaranteed to
pick up 1-2 horsepower, as multiple dynos over the years have proved
this fact. Simply by switching to a true synthetic oil this weekend you
can reduce the friction in your engine, improving efficiency, and
therefore going faster.
5) Insulate Fuel Lines - When your fuel
lines travel through the engine bay they heat up. However, cooler fuel
produces more power for more reasons than just cooling down the intake
charge--although that certainly helps things! So, to improve power
output, simply purchase some refrigerator/air conditioning insulation
and wrap the fuel lines with the insulation. While you're at it, you may
wish to go ahead and do this to the intake arm as well for even more
power.
Gain 5 Horsepower This Weekend, For Practically Nothing
Posted by CB Blogger
Blog, Updated at: 11:25 AM
