How can I get more Horsepower?

Piston engines work by using fuel, air, and a spark to create an explosion inside the engine block. The bigger the explosion, inside the block, the more power your vehicle will put out. There are several ways to create a bigger explosion and get more power. You could force air into the engine with a Turbocharger or Supercharger. You could freeze or make the incoming air colder with a Nitrous System. The denser the air, the bigger the explosion.

When forcing more air into your engine, you must accommodate with more fuel. Bigger fuel injectors with a higher rate. Complete fuel system with a higher fuel flow. Some racers use Multiple Spark Ignition systems as well. With added pressure to your engine, you will need to upgrade your internal parts to withstand the beating that you will giving them.

Turbochargers are the most common and the most effective way of getting more horsepower. The term "boost" is used in reference to the amount of air pressure the turbo is forcing into the engine. The more boost, the more pressure, and the more power your engine will have. The only issure with Turbos are that they lag. They usually don't get going or "spool" until 3000 RPM or later. Whereas a Supercharger or a Nitrous system will have no lag. A supercharger is very very similar to that of a turbo. They can put out about 15 Pounds of pressure or "boost". Whereas a Turbo can put out more than 50 pounds of pressure. Superchargers run of the engine, thus draining the engines power to create more power.

Nitrous systems are the cheapest and quickest way to achieve horsepower. The only problem is that they are the most risky. By risky i mean that they will blow your engine very quickly if you don't know what you're doing. There are several types of Nitrous injection systems: dry, wet, and direct. Dry is only Nitrous injection and is the least affective and the cheapest. Wet is Nitrous and additional fuel injection (this method is the most common). And then theres direct port which is inject directly into each intake port on the engine. Nitrous freezes the incoming air thus creating a bigger explosion in the engine. Bigger explosion = more power, and equals more strain on your engine. It causes the engine parts to work harder than their limits. A safe amount of horsepower addition with a Nitrous System would probly be 50-70 for a stock vehicle (4 cylinder).

Engines are controlled/monitored by a computer. The computer has a harness that connects to various sensors, relays, switches, and regulators on the motor. You can tweak these computers to dump more fuel into the engine. You can trick them into thinking that the air coming in is colder, thus making them dump more fuel. There are several so-called "tricks" that can be done to improve your vehicles performance.

Now you know some key factors in achieving more horsepower.

My father and I own a performance shop in Orlando, FL. We have been in business since 2003. We supply all types of performance parts such as turbo, nitrous, suspension, clutches, exhaust, intake, internals, and more!! You can check us out at www.ortizspeedshop.com which is our online store.

David Martinez http://www.ortizspeedshop.com/

About the Author

Online Store Editor/ Owner of www.OrtizSpeedShop.com