If you want a little more excitement in your daily commute or just wish your vehicle was more powerful, don’t fret about expensive and labor-intensive custom modifications or engine swaps. Bolt-on engine upgrades can help improve the feel and power delivery of your everyday ride, but only if purchased wisely and installed professionally.
At Tint World®, we’re horsepower freaks and do everything we can to squeeze ever last pony from our engines safely and reliably. While it’s a tall order, decades of experience with aftermarket performance parts has taught us what works and what doesn’t.
Here are our five favorite bolt-on power adders:
- Cold Air Intake: There’s a lot of debate as to whether or not these provide horsepower increases, but numerous comparison tests indicate they can benefit your vehicle. K&N Filters frequently dyno tests their systems to prove the power potential, with some gains as a high as nearly 18 horsepower. The trick is ensuring these intakes are true “cold air” systems and are not taking in the engine’s hot ambient air instead.
- Exhaust: Aftermarket exhausts can help increase the flow and decrease air restrictions to your engine – thus increasing power. Sizing is what’s most important because if you go with an exhaust system that’s too large for your engine, you can hurt your power delivery. Because the exhaust is designed to remove power-sapping hot air, the larger the piping, the faster this gas can cool off, making it harder for your engine to push out the denser air. It’s important to match the exhaust size appropriately with your engine.
- Headers: Headers replace your engine’s factory exhaust manifold to improve the exhaust flow out of the engine. Headers will reduce the restrictive manifold backpressure to improve power delivery, responsiveness and the growl of your engine.
- Throttle body: When you hit the gas, your throttle body opens to allow air into your engine. Because an engine is essentially a large air pump, the more air that can come into your engine, the more power it can make. Larger aftermarket throttle bodies can help boost the power delivery of your car and are relatively easy to install.
- Programmers: For modern fuel injected engines, the factory computer is tuned for maximum efficiency and reliability. A variety of aftermarket programmers tap into your factory ECU to alter the fuel, air, spark and throttle position parameters to maximize the power output of factory components.
With these five bolt-on parts in mind, you can transform your car with new-found and cost-effective power. To find out more, contact your local Tint World® today and have our experts help pick out and install the perfect bolt-on parts for your ride.
