ALT-4 How to Increase Horsepower
Modifying a vehicle to create more power can not only be challenging it can be a great deal of fun. With a little bit of knowledge and money you can turn even the slowest of cars into a horsepower beast that could blow past any vehicle out of the factory. The feeling of accomplishment from each positive modification only fuels performance junkies further and the feeling is addictive. It is no surprise that this desire for speed only spreads from one friend to the next, generation to generation. Each person trying to outdo the other. It has gone from being just a hobby to an obsession. It is all about making the most out of your car and churning out every little bit of horsepower.
Improving horsepower isn't as simple as many people make it out to be. The improvement of horsepower takes a little bit of planning, and lot of research in order to find the products that will best benefit your particular vehicle. There isn't a single approach that is going to work on every vehicle, but I will detail the items that will help in producing the greatest possible horsepower :
Super/Turbo charge - This of course is an obvious item, but not realistic. Most people will not be able to afford to add Turbo or a Super to their vehicle. The reason being, the cost is generally $4K-$8K, depending upon the type of vehicle, and the demand for that particular part. For many vehicles that are generally modified currently, this just isn't practical as it makes up a large portion of the actual cost of the vehicle. For myself, I own a $12,000 Cobalt, and a $18,000 Mazda 6. While I love my cars, to add a system such as this, it would cost a substantial amount of money, without raising the resale value of my vehicle by much.
Lightweight flywheel - This improvement can make a HUGE improvement on your power. When you reduce the overall weight of the working parts within your vehicle, those major parts are capable of working more efficiently, meaning more power for your car. This is also a relatively inexpensive modification that can be done to most cars and see a huge improvement.
Lightweight Pulleys - Again, by replacing the heavy factory internals for lightweight versions you are giving your vehicle substantial improvements in efficiency and thus a whole lot more power overall.
Cold Air Intake/Short Ram Intake - While this is probably the most popular of all installations for vehicles and one of the easiest, it really doesn't produce as much power as many people think. The reason being, most vehicles just don't have the capability of forcing enough cold air into these system in the first place. Those vehicles with vented hoods are the only ones that can realistically take advantage of this type of setup to the fullest. However, this is still a great installation to have and will improve efficiency.
Fuel rails/fuel regulators - While this doesn't really improve horsepower, they can improve fuel efficiency. Far too often engines are starved for fuel under high performance conditions. This means that they just aren't able to produce their peak power, because they aren't able to get enough fuel. By getting a better regulator and fuel rail you are able to push more fuel into the system when needed, while having a much lighter unit.
Headers - Headers are a great way to make your vehicle sound super throaty and powerful, especially when you install a catback exhaust setup along with it. The headers should be substantially lighter than factory and have much more efficient piping, allowing for a more efficient system.
Catback Exhaust - This is a great means of producing a much more quality sound, but really doesn't do a lot for horsepower. The main function that the catback does is allows for more efficient release of exhaust, which allows the rest of the parts to function more effectively. This has obvious benefits throughout your vehicle.
Other modifications that can be done in order to add power to your vehicle, but not necessarily horsepower, would be improvements to the overall weight of the vehicle. This will also improve your vehicle's gas mileage as well.
- Remove the spare tire, jack, and all accessories. While this isn't always the most practical thing to do, if you are driving in town and would just call someone to fix your vehicle anyway, then the improvement is worth it, especially on smaller cars where each pound is very noticeable.
- Remove back seat. This doesn't work for most people, however the back seat weighs quite a bit and just by removing it you could be removing several hundred pounds of weight.
- Remove air conditioner/heater. Many people can't function without these items, but if you are living in the south and have no issues with leaving your windows down for air, then removing these will remove another few hundred pounds.
- Remove air bags. Believe it or not air bags weight quite a bit and their removal can save you a lot on weight.
- Remove center console - Many center consoles have a pretty decent amount of weight, depending upon your vehicle. Mine weighs only 6 pounds, whereas others weigh upwards of 30.
- Remove radio and components - If you are serious about making your vehicle fast, then you have to do it somehow.
- Get bigger tires, lighter rims - Factory rims weigh A LOT, replace those, add bigger tires and your vehicle won't have to work as hard to spin your wheels, meaning a lot more torque and better utilization of the current power that you have.
- Remove headliner - Sure it's ugly, but effective.
- Replace Seats - Replace your front seats with lightweight racing seats. These seats generally weight upwards of a hundred pounds less than factory seats. The fewer gadgets you include, the better.
- Replace fan, radiator - Get lightweight products and you should be able to drop quite a bit of weight.
- Replace Hood, Fenders, and Trunk - You can easily find carbon fiber pieces for all these areas of your vehicle that are generally substantially lighter and will give your vehicle a much sportier look.
- Replace body - They now sell body kits for vehicles that will make your vehicle look much more aggressive, but are made completely out of carbon fiber. This will create a huge weight reduction.
By doing many of the things above, you could drop several seconds off of your 1/4 mile times. While many of the weight reduction suggestions aren't the most practical for general use, they just show the different ways that you can create additional power without a lot of effort or money. Sometimes weight reduction is more important than adding more parts to your vehicle.
