So i looked at the Cool Can Fuel Chiller by SMAX at its $269.00!!!!!! seems like alot of money for something i've seen people use bags of ice for! this got me thinking about cheap (or free) horsepower/speed tricks for under $50.00 that can be done on the fly. would love to hear what anyone has done or seen done to run faster!
my dad told stories about dipping the air cleaner in thinner before a race shake it out and put it on. I never tryed it. Cool cans can be made out of a old coffie can copper or rubber tubeing you might have 10.00 in it or so.
I made a cool can with coffe can method. that was back in the 70's when copper wasn't so stinkin expensive. It did seem to help even with no ice.
Anyway you can keep the incoming air cool. That seems to be the easiest. An old snorkel style air cleaner with a dryer hose getting air from out side the engine compartment.
hot rod did a story once, they took a boat of a pontiac and systematically removed weight to see just how quick they could go with only dropping weight. Or you can spend 49.95 on the turbinator. Guaranteed 40% increase! Stickers make you go FAST!
It was a Cadillac in 1987.... http://www.hotrod.com/eventcoverage/hrdp_0401_1970_cadillac_coupe_de_ville_drag_weight/index.html
If you pop-rivet a two foot high wing onto the trunk of your '89 Hyundai, it will make it go twice as fast and give it that cool "shopping cart" look.
Get a set of those double bladed wipers, preferably in a color that doesn't match your car. Those things cure a TON of drag inducing turbulence.
An oil change, a car wash and wax, lay off the *****ies and cheeseburgers, properly inflating your tires, clean and regap your plugs, tweak your A/F based on the weather, I'm sure the list is endless.
The thing is, that racing fuel makes most cars run slower. Try it at the track. The higher the octane, the slower you go. UNLESS, your engine actually needs the higher octane / slow burn to be able to have proper ignition timing because of high compression etc.. Most street cars will turn better quarter mile times with 87 octane then 114 octane. But race fuel does smell great, and the smell is worth a slower car. Have Fun Wil www.sakowskimotors.com
Caddy-Hack! That brings back some memories!! As I recall, the fuel pump or something ****ped out near the end and they wanted to take it to fix it and come back and the track owner said forget it, I'll never be crazy enough to let you bring that back here, something like that? Or maybe it was another car. Regardless, that was a cool story.
Remove every bit of weight you can- throw out the back seat, spare tire, jack, carpets, A/C parts, door panels, visors, heater if you can survive it, tell your p***engers to wait outside, or follow in another car. Cool air intake- cut off the skinny snorkel, attach a dryer vent hose (maybe TWO huge snorkels) and run the hose to a cool dense air source- such as behind the grill or in a fenderwell. CLEAN YOUR PLUGS! Time the ignition by ear. Most shop manuals simply repeat the factory conservative timing and tune specs. It's a good starting point, but you CAN make improvements on many engines. On some it can be worth quite a bit. If you have a tire choice (stuff laying around), you can pick the smaller diam tires that are still fairly wide. That can effectively lower the overall gear ratio ("effective" ratio) for a quicker launch. Run a slightly cooler thermostat. A higher temp "smog" thermostat believe it or not, will actually lower HP a bit. 170 is good. 180 MIGHT be ok. 190 is too hot. Make sure the engine is at operating temp, not in need of a warmup, but not too hot either. Keep the intake manifold cool. Find a way to either direct cool air over to it, or put some sort of heat barrier under it. Usually blocking the heat riser p***age that runs thru the center of the intake manifold gives you a few horses due to a cooler manifold. Remove and throw away any heat riser valve in the exhaust p***ages (usually in the pipe at the ex manifold exit on older engines) Often a distributor "curve kit" can give you some extra oomph by getting the advance to come in earlier. Sometimes not.. SIDE-GAPPING THE PLUGS. Hey, I'm giving away some of my secrets! Sparks love to jump from sharp edges. Take the spark from the usual hidden location and force it out in the open. Take a pair of diagonal-cutters and clip back the ground electrode back a little bit. Make the spark jump slightly sideways from the sharp edge of the center electrode to the sharp edge of the snipped-shorter ground electrode. With a crisp spark out in the open, you get a few extra HP and a much lower percentage of misfires. (there; you have just saved the 5 or 6.00-per-plug price of those goofy split-fire plugs) Regularly check your plug wires with an ohm meter and keep your plugs CLEAN! Keep your plug wires separated as best you can. Do not bundle them together. FIX YOUR DISTRIBUTOR!! Put a timing light on the timing marks. Rev lightly. Steady speed. Idle again. Keep your eye on the marks. Does the light or the mark appear to wiggle a little or not stay steady? You want to see those marks stay rock steady at whatever speed you stay at. If they wiggle or shimmy or wander even a little bit, you need to toss out that sloppy distributor and get one with less slop inside. The improvements can be HUGE. The problem is very common, very wasteful, and 90% of the time it is never even noticed. I'm tired of typing. I may add to the list sometime later. Maybe I shouldn't give away all my secrets in case I am up against one of you at the strip someday....
How could you bring that up and not mention the little sets of three stick on chrome vents that all of the "performance enthusiasts" have been installing lately? I think it's their secret weapon to kill big blocks with four bangers! Watch out!
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