* Change your computer chip -- sometimes, but certainly not always, you can change a car's performance by changing the ROM chip in the engine control unit (ECU). You usually buy these chips from aftermarket performance dealers. It is valuable to read an independent review of the chip you are contemplating, because some chips are all hype and no performance.

* Let air come in more easily - As a piston moves down in the intake stroke, air resistance can rob power from the engine. Some newer cars are using polished intake manifolds to eliminate air resistance there. Bigger air filters and reduced intake piping can also improve air flow.

* Let exhaust exit more easily - If air resistance or back-pressure makes it hard for exhaust to exit a cylinder, it robs the engine of power. If the exhaust pipe is too small or the muffler has a lot of air resistance then this can cause back-pressure. High-performance exhaust systems use headers, big tail pipes and free-flowing mufflers to eliminate back-pressure in the exhaust system.

* Change the heads and cams -- Many stock engines have one intake valve and one exhaust valve. Buying a new head that has four valves per cylinder will dramatically improve airflow in and out of the engine and this can improve power. Using performance cams can also make a big difference.

* Stuff more into each cylinder - If you can cram more air (and therefore fuel) into a cylinder of a given size, you can get more power from the cylinder (in the same way that you would by increasing the size of the cylinder). Turbo chargers and super chargers pressurize the incoming air to effectively cram more air into a cylinder. Many manufacturers make aftermarket turbos and super chargers for many different cars.

* Cool the incoming air - Compressing air raises its temperature. You would like to have the coolest air possible in the cylinder because the hotter the air is the less it will expand when combustion takes place. Therefore many turbo charged and super charged cars have an intercooler. An intercooler is a special radiator through which the compressed air passes to cool it off before it enters the cylinder.

* Make everything lighter - Lightweight parts help the engine perform better. Each time a piston changes direction it uses up energy to stop the travel in one direction and start it in another. The lighter the piston, the less energy it takes. Lighter parts also allow the engine to rev faster, giving it more horsepower.

* Increase the compression ratio - Higher compression ratios produce more power, up to a point. The more you compress the air/fuel mixture, however, the more likely it is to spontaneously burst into flame (prior to the spark plug igniting it). Higher octane gasolines prevent this sort of early combustion. That is why high-performance cars generally need high octane gasoline - their engines are using higher compression ratios to get more power.

* Increase displacement - More displacement means more power because you can burn more gas during each revolution of the engine. You can increase displacement by making the cylinders bigger.

As soon as you start to try increasing displacement, you might consider the economics of buying a new high-performance engine and trying to fit it into your car -- it may be easier and cheaper!

good read, will answer alot of newbi questions

i learned something new today

Nicely Done

ME TOO

Thnxs added to my knowledge. Didn't know any of those things

vin diesel recommends NOS

one point with exhaust systems/headers.

diffrent tuning methods require diffrent modifications. too little back pressure in a non turbo car will make you loose power. a low pressured system will provide more uptop power while sacficing down low. choosing the right exhaust for your car can mean the diffrence in it going well or reducing power and just adding noise. length tuned extractors are a must for any n/a motor thats aiming for some power. the extractor design actualy pulls the exhaust gases frm the cylinders by creating low presure from the pulse of the previous cylinder.

turbo aplications are diffrent. from my understanding the bigger the better, keeping the presure as low as possible allows for the turbo to spin faster giving more responce and more power from the slightly increased boost.

good read, geting into the modding scene and helps allot

its not power related, but you can decrease the total weight of the car to increase acceleration ability, and agility.

lightweight flywheel (if manual) to rev faster, but lose low end torque normally.

Can also use the old Cryogenics system on N/A and turbo cars to cool the intake charge by up to 35% compared to average temp. The colder the air, the more there is to enter the cylinders (being denser of course).

Change the final drive ratio, high ratio for increased acceleration, low ratio for increased top speed.

Put a bottle of eucalyptus scented oil into one tank of petrol to make the exhaust smell like methanol, for all the wankers out there!

me three

nice mate, will help the young ones haha

good tips.
thanks

Well, yes and no. The same rules apply, but the size of the pipes is just a lot larger and it's for different reasons - if you use pipe that is too big, the air will cool down and become more dense, therefore requiring more energy to move it out of the exhaust.

Ahhhh thanks heaps helps out fair bit:p

another way to increase displacement is stroker kits, they reduce th size of the piston stroke up and down therefore increasing the engine speed (rpm). more rpm more power (theoretically).

^^^ stroker kits increase stroke not width of bore making the engine more of a stump grinder unless theres some sort of new hit that replaces your liners with out compromising cooling and provides you with a short stroke crank and wider pistons.

Very nice, now I can start doing shit to my car myself.

wtf??