Power Boost for Cars

Preamble
Many people, mostly youngsters with their fathers’ deep pockets, often ask me how to soup-up their cars - more to show off and impress the girls at large rather than participate in an amateur Rally.

There are several aspects and consequences to this - topmost being annulment of one’s OE Warranty if in force and even if not, invalidation of the Insurance cover for having carried out ‘un-authorised modifications’. In other words, if one were to be involved in an accident resulting in substantial 3rd party claims, such as a loss of life, you’ll be on your own w/o any Insurance!

So let’s have a look at some of the common options available:

A - The Simplest and the Cheapest
For an average motoring enthusiast who is not interested in ‘drag-racing’ kind of events, replacement of ’stock/paper’ Air Filters with ‘K&N Free-Flow’ type is the most cost effective bet.

These basically come in 2-varieties - one which is a straight replacement of your OE type Paper Filter that one can DIY it into the place. This can easily yield +5% performance/FE. The other one comes with its own ‘adaptor’ and it isn’t so much of a DIY and costs 20-25% more, promising another + 2.5 % or so. For further insights into the subject, please surf their following URL -

http://www.methodsonline.com

B - Exhaust Headers
The next but not so simple thing to do is to install custom-built ‘exhaust headers’ AND ‘free-flow’ tail-enders. These for most 4-cyl stock cars can be had for about Rs: 10k or so. The EH’s start with one pipe for each cyl at the exhaust manifold and after a ‘calculated’ length, depending upon the CC of the engine, they merge into 2 and then into 1.

Sometimes, this can create problems for the proper working of the ‘O2 sensor’ of Mpfi’s that has to be relocated, from its OE location bang next to the OE exhaust manifold, to down the line to where all headers unite into one. By which time, the exhaust gases have cooled down a bit and may thus lead the OE/O2 Sensor loosing some of its sting. This in turn can upset/enrich the A/F ratio via the ECU as it’d then ’see’ the engine as running colder than what it actually is - making the FC and CO levels go up for good.

Further, in the process, there’s no room left for the OE fitted/under-chassis Catcon and it has to be dispensed with - which itself costs ~ 12k+. With EU-IV norms round the corner, your otherwise EU-II/III compliant Car will fail PUCC’s with this arrangement as the CO Norms for all road worthy cars then stand to come down from the present 3/1.5% to 0.5% max!

C - Upgrading a Stock Car Engine
Upgrading of a stock Car engine/performance involves the following:

1. ‘Blue-Print’ the Engine.
2. Shave off/lighten the Flywheel as much as possible.
3. Increase its Compression Ratio by ’shaving’ the Cylinder Head suitably and advance ‘Ignition-Timing’ to as much as it can take with 93 Octane ULP.
4. Upgrade Spark Plugs/Performance Air Filters/Cooling System to match.
5. Polish and ‘Tune’ its Air Intake including installation of a ‘Performance’ Air Intake System - to increase its ‘Volumetric Efficiency’ as far as it’d go.
6. Put in a ‘high-lift’/Performance Camshaft and alter ‘valve-timing’ to suit.
7. Put in Free flow/Performance Exhaust ‘Headers’.
8. Re-map the ECU - a Specialised Job.
9. Alter the ‘Final Drive’ Ratio to suit.
10. Put Alloy Wheels/Tyres to suit.
11. ‘Front and Rear-end’ suspension stiffening would be required too - by any one of the various means available.
12. Super or Turbo-Charge the Engine. This one is a lot more complex an issue and we’ll talk about it in one of our next issues.

All these are highly specialised skills and not every other Garage’s cup of tea. A good ‘Pro’ job can set you back by as much as Rs. 30k for the above 1-11 alone, if not more! Besides, such mods should not be attempted while a Car is still under its OE Warranty - for obvious reasons. As to where to get it done, one will have to seek out Garages which prepare Rally Cars. One such is in NCR/Noida and can be reached by surfing http://www.performanceauto.in.