Performance Upgrades Worth Looking Into
Performance upgrades are an easy way to enhance your car’s performance while turning your ride into something perfectly suited to your tastes. And we’re not talking a shiny new set of rims, but a horsepower difference that’ll get your adrenalin pumping.
Foreign Affairs Motorsport is the place to be if you’re serious about upgrading your ride.
Getting Started
You might think that the only people who upgrade their cars are actual car enthusiasts. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. The best way to get started on finding the right upgrade for your car is to explore your options.
We’ve compiled a list of the top performance upgrades worth looking into. For an affordable price, the best mods can have you zooming down I-95 in a ride like no other.
Cold Air Intake
It’s easy science. The more air you have the more horsepower you get. This is why there are performance air filters, and why their increased flow rate makes your engine garner more power. As you drive, the engine bay gets warm. A cold air intake works by sucking cooler and denser air (from outside) into your engine.
There is only so much an air filter can do. So, give it a little help by switching the factory intake for cold air intake. The denser air going into your engine results in a higher velocity. To top it off, cold air intakes are quick to install and use. On the plus side, the results are instantly noticeable, typically showing a 5-10hp gain after installation.
Race Car Breaks
We know, putting the words “race car” next to anything makes it sound exciting. Performance brake kits are a great way to enhance your car’s performance and give it that strong pedal feel. You shouldn’t have to spend $15,000 on quality breaks. The aftermarket supplies high-end parts at a more affordable price.
So, what’s in a performance brake kit? In a typical kit, you’ll find pads, upgraded rotors, hardware for installation and shims. Quality street pads deliver reliable performance and don’t suffer from wear after repeated stops. Of course, the higher the quality the more you’ll have to spend. But you should see a difference in performance even with the most affordable kits.
Performance Camshafts
Camshafts use lobes that push up on the valves in an engine in order to open them as the camshaft spins. This is an important process that can have a large impact on your engine’s performance. Cam lobes determine what gets in and out of a combustion chamber. This is done by opening and closing both the intake and exhaust valves. The smallest change can result in up to 30 more in horsepower in an engine. That’s something worth looking into.
Better yet, match your camshafts upgrade with intake and exhaust mods for a horsepower increase of over 100. These upgrades surprise many since the kits they come with are very affordable.
ECU Tuning
A tune is a perfect way to maximize your car’s power potential.
An Engine Control Unit (ECU) system is like a “one size fits all” engine. The ECU works by analyzing the various engine seriously and using the data to calculate the most efficient burn.
This is an easy fix. An ECU tune is done by removing the engine chip and replacing it with a new one. That’s it. For the most modern rides, it’s even easier to retune through the vehicle’s OBDII diagnostic port. In this scenario, a tuner is connected to the port and modifications are selected via the tuner.
Forced Induction
The single best way to improve your engine’s power output is to install a supercharger or turbocharger. If adding over 200 hp sounds nice, you might want to read on.
In a turbocharger, the turbine spins a compressor that pushes air at high pressure and speed into the engine. With an increased amount of fuel, the air ignites resulting in more horsepower.
Superchargers work similarly to turbochargers. The main difference is superchargers use a belt-driven compressor. Also, superchargers give a power boost early in the RPM range, while turbos generally require a longer build-up. Either way, you can’t go wrong with adding a supercharger kit or turbo kit to your performance mod.
For more info on how you can customize your car, give us a call. We’ll be more than happy to set you up with the ride of a lifetime.