Power Improvement Tips
Exhaust System
From the start, you can get a extractor manifold. Preferbly mendral bent ones because it's smoother inside for the air to travel. There are 2 types of extractor in the market. 4-2-1 or 4-1. Let's see what's the difference between both. 4-2-1 tends to give better and smoother acceleration and higher top speed and 4-1 give really good acceleration but top speed degrades. Both extractor release more heat to the engine compartment compared to factory fitted ones. A real disadvantage for open pod filters.
Next to the mid part. Nowadays, most car comes with catalytic converters. What is the function of catalytic converters? Well, this thing is made of fine platinum based netting and when the burnt fumes goes thru it, it will turn it to red hot and those uncomplete burnt fuel will then be re-burnt when passing thru the red-hot netting before coming out and this is good for the environment. As I mentioned just now, it's made of fine netting and fine netting tends to have higher restriction for air to go thru. To have better acceleration, you need lower restiction exhaust system, so this catalytic converters is the culprit that lowered your car's output (power). You can always replace this with after market parts such as MARCO Turbo-Swirl where I am using now. I get smoother acceleration and better power!
Lastly, the rear muffler. Factory fitter mufflers again, tends to have higher restiction because it muffles the noise to make it quieter. Again, change it to a sports type and you get smoother acceleration. Sports type has the direct out design which allows air to come out faster.
Many ppl asked me about the size of piping they should use for their exhaust system for optimum perforamnce but I can't really tell you the best size for your car. As what I know, smaller cc. cars need smaller piping. If they use bigger pipes, the will be loss of preassure and again, contributes to power loss. This applies also for bigger cc. cars and turbo cars.
Intake System
The concept of having better acceleration and more power is to minimise the restiction of output (which is the exhaust system) and also not forgetting the input. What is the input for the engine? Air and fuel to burn. We are more concern of the air intake bacause there's not much issue for fuel feed. Factory fitter air cleaner has higher restriction because again, noise control. You'll be surprise how noisy the intake will be if we remove the original air filter.
Solution to get least restriction on intake is to get a open pod type of air filter. This filter design have bigger fins area for the intake to suck in air. The material used are mostly sponge type where again, allows more air to go thru compared to paper type (original). But using a open pod filter, we will have tendency of power loss because it sucks in hot air from the engine compartment. To over come this problem, we need a cold air intake. Pls refer to my DIY Cold Air Intake page for further explanation on this matter.
Ignition System
Change to a larger diameter ignition cables and use high performance plugs. With this, you will defitnetly get better acceleration and also lower fuel consumption. Why? Because better ignition system gives healthier spark & more complete & powerful explotion. Powerful explotion gives better output. Why? Urgh... no need for me to explain more I guessed. But why factory fitted ones not good enough? Well, to save cost, they use cheaper and higher resistant cables whereby power delivered from distributor caps to plugs is lessen. And for plugs, it's the same logic.
Handling
Never done much survey on this but defitnetly, I will update this page when I get more facts about it.
Driving Tips
0 to 100km/h sprint!
There's nothing much I can advise on this issue. The only thing I can say is to try and try and try. Practice make perfect. So you gain more and more experience on this when you try it. I've tried this thing many times and yes, it will harm your engine if u keep on doing the century sprint. Revving the engine at high RPM and release clutch for the sprint is enough to shorten the lifespan of your engine and clutch system but to obtain the best time for your car's acceleration, you ought to do so, rite? Check out the points I did to get the best time for my sprint :
1) Rev the engine between 3500rpm to 4200rpm
2) Pull the handbrakes to keep the car stationery because both feet are one clutch & accelerator.
3) Release the clutch and floor the acceleator but bear in mind, keep minimum wheelspin. Wheelspin might look cool but it actually delays your time.
4) On first gear, keep the RPM high till redline before shifting to 2nd gear. Again, limit the wheelspin if it occurs.
5) Do the above until it touches 100km/h and record the time.
6) Preferbly trying this in the morning because of cooler air around. Cooler air means better power.
7) Drive alone, do not have any passenger in it. More weight contributes slower acceleration. Keep car as light as possible.
8) Tyres should be inflated with the correct preassure.
You will get different time each time you test the sprint. Just record the best time you get and also, don't try this more than 4 times in a row because it will burn the clutch system. I might not be expert on this. I just wanna share on my personal experience and opinion about this century sprint. If you have better tips, pls do let me know. Happy sprinting!!
More To Come
I will update this page soon to put in more stuffs about how to increase the performace of your car but in the meantime, this is what I am able to put in. Need more time to do research on this... urgh.. :)
