How to Increase Performance on Vehicles

by Contributing WriterUpdated June 12, 2017

The Vehicles. Clean air is very important to your engine. Engines run on fuel and air. Air filters remove dirt and particles from the air so nothing can damage the engine. When the air filter gets clogged with dirt and appears black, gas mileage suffers and you might notice your Vehicles not having as much power. There are several other things that affect the performance of an engine such as the type of gasoline used, the climate where you are driving and regular maintenance.

Under The Hood:

 How to Increase Performance on Jeep 2.5L

Open the hood of your Jeep.

Remove the negative battery cable from the battery, loosening the retaining nut with a wrench. Pull the cable from the battery and place it so that it cannot come in contact with the battery.

Locate the ECM inside the engine compartment on the firewall. The large wiring harness from the sensors on the engine plug into the ECM.

Remove the connector at the ECM by pressing both release clips on the connector. Gently pull the connector from the ECM with your hand.

Plug the male end of the performance chip into the ECM. Ensure that the chip is connected tightly, listening for the release clips to engage. Plug the wiring harness of the vehicle into the opposite end of the performance chip. Once again, confirm that the connection is tight by listening for the release clips to engage.

Reattach the negative battery cable to the battery post on the battery. Tighten the nut with a wrench.

Items you will need

  • Wrench set

 How to Increase Performance in a Dodge Ram 4.7

Change your air filter at least once per year and possibly more often depending on your driving conditions. Also consider upgrading to a K&N air filter. These filters are washable and designed to increase horsepower and engine torque. These filters have a million-mile warranty.

Install a cold air intake. This device allows more cold air to get to the engine, creating more oxygen for engine combustion. The colder air allows every drop of gasoline to burn more efficiently. K&N sells cold air intakes that also offer the one-million mile warranty.

Add a supercharger to the engine. A supercharger is an air compressor that forces oxygenated air into the engine. Roots and Twin Screw are two types of superchargers that are both very popular.

Buy gasoline that has a higher octane rating. This will most likely be the "premium" gasoline at your local station. Higher octane fuels might help increase engine performance when using a supercharger because they resist combustion better than the lower octane fuels.

 How Do I Increase Performance on a F22B1 VTEC Engine?

Remove the stock camshafts and replace them with aftermarket units. The B1's VTEC system doesn't use the "real" standard cam and race cam combo of older systems; it uses a small cam for standard running and an even smaller cam for emissions and fuel economy. To extract the most from your F-series, you'll need a cam capable of putting it in the 7,000 rpm range.

Unbolt the head and install a set of chrome-moly studs in place of the factory bolts. The factory bolts aren't rated to withstand the huge cylinder pressures you'll experience with nitrous. They might hold up for a little while, but eventually the head will lift and you'll blow a gasket. This can be disastrous indeed given the F22's open-deck configuration.

Remove the factory intake manifold, drill it and modify it to accept bungs for a direct-port nitrous system. If you don't have the fabrication skills or equipment necessary to weld bungs to the intake, send your manifold out to someone who does. The ideal location is about two inches ahead of the fuel injectors in the intake runners.

Reinstall the manifold and screw a set of wet-flow nitrous injectors into the bungs. You could go with a dry-flow system that relies on the engine's stock fuel-management system and injectors to modulate fuel delivery, but even a small hit of nitrous will put you close to maxing out the injectors. That aside, the stock fuel management system will cut fuel when you reach the rev limiter, which will cause your engine to run lean under nitrous and go boom.

Connect your nitrous lines and solenoids as directed by your nitrous kit's instructions, but connect the fuel supply line to a supplemental propane tank instead of the stock fuel system. Propane has an octane of about 110, and will help to absorb heat during the combustion event. This makes propane injection a far safer choice for an open-deck block like the F22 than even the highest-octane gasoline.

Screw in a 25-percent larger fuel supply jet for the propane. Propane contains less energy than gasoline per gallon -- about 91,600 British Thermal Units compared to gasoline's 125,000 BTU. Attempting to run gas jets with propane will lean out your nitrous system, causing the stock computer to inject extra gasoline to compensate. On the plus side, this extra fuel combined with the propane's inherent cooling ability means that you'll see a roughly 25 percent gain in power using the same-sized nitrous jets.

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