Need help increasning horsepower - Page 2 - CarForum.net - Car Forums, Automotive News and Community

cluffenstein · 11-30-2011, 07:19 PM

My responses are in bold

Quote:

Originally Posted by elemein

Air filters do indeed do something. They filter the air. Now, if you have a 100% clean air filter, then dropping a K&N in wont do much justice, but, K&Ns are reusable, so it'll cut out the costs of buying new air filters all the time + keep the filter cleaner longer as the filter is made of a different material than just the normal paper ones that most people buy to replace their dirty air filters (or atleast, SHOULD replace) . Also, there isnt really any specifics to it, it is'nt "one size fits all" since there are many different shapes of air filters, but just take your car to AutoZone or take a picture of the current intake, and go buy an air filter that is the same shape and size, or get the AutoZone worker to identify it for you. It should'nt be too difficult.

a K&N Filter will add 1-2HP and a tiny bit to your Fuel Economy. The Stock Focus Airbox is highly restrictive. A full intake setup (like from Fswerks) allows it to suck in more cold air than the stock airbox, you'll get a 6HP and 6 ft/lb of torque increase for $199.

For spark plugs, there is no particular brand I reccomend. Spark plugs are spark plugs. I reccomend getting a set of spark plugs that are "high heat" grade; they emit a more efficient and hotter spark, more thoroughly burning all fuel. Also, iridium, steel-plated, platinum, titanium, and all those materials that brands market their spark plugs over are not better than one another. Iridium can burn just as hot as Platinum, and so does Titanium and all those other wish-wash. It's the durability of all the spark plugs. Steel-plated plugs dont generally last as long as iridium. Also, if you NEED a brand, then I do reccomend MSD Ignition. They'll run just as hot as other manufacturers with the same material's as others, but they're renowned, have good customer support, have pretty decent prices, as well as sell their ignition kits in sets (coils, wires, plugs) so you dont have to mix-and-match all the ignition parts.

NGK Iridium are the recommended focus ones according to the site I linked (focaljet). I had no problem running mine.

I'm with cluffenstein on the underdrive pulley issue. It does increase horsepower and torque, but at the cost of "underdriving" all your accesories. This includes alternator, air conditioner, compressor, power steering, water pump, and all the other little bits and bobs your car's engine runs. If you get one improperly installed, poorly designed, or wrongly order, then an underdriven alternator could be DEADLY to your battery, and it could mess up lots of other stuff. Not really worth it for a car modifying newbie to screw up his first car with.

I'm also with cluffenstein on the ECU reflash or retune. As I said; you can make your motor behave however you want if you reflash it or tune it. If you dont plan on reflashing or tuning, you should atleast get the equipment needed to read your engine maps and such if you want to get into cars. It'll really help you better understand your car.

I don't recommend doing a self tune if your new. I kind of want Twisted to chime in with how much work he had to tune his goat properly. You can easily screw your tune up, and if you forgot to make a backup, or it gets corrupted (It can happen) you're beyond SOL.

Also, you dont need a brand new throttle body if you're going to get it. A used one will be fine. It's literally just a mechanical piece of metal that a metal wire attachs to in order to open it. As long as its clean and not rusting; thats fine. It'll save on money.

He wants a larger Throttle body. Which really is only good if you have an aftermarket intake and a tune. Without a tune your car will run too rich, and a stock intake it will run too lean.

Again, may we get a budget?

It'll really help.

Sayshell · 11-30-2011, 07:52 PM

dam I might have got bad spark plugs then. I already bought them. I am looking to spend around 200-300$ tops, but its not written in stone, like if you can convince me that its worth spending 1000$ then I will, but right now I want easy tricks to increase power without much money. So for the spark plugs I got Champion Iradium I think Federal Mogul is the company that makes it but it might be Champion. I just asked the guy at Canadian tire which were good and he said these, but I guess I shouldn't have done that. As for installing them its safe to do my self right? Just unplug, unscrew, put in the new ones, torque to about the same pressure, and keep it clean right? I am a bit iffy about the k&n filter now, do you think it will increase power/fuel at all? Seems to be mixed opinions.

So for the full air intake, how does that work? Doesn't it need that scoop in the hood? Will I need a new hood as well?

KSIMP88 · 11-30-2011, 08:14 PM

You are talking minimal gains that aren't really cost effective. Just wanna say it.

cluffenstein · 11-30-2011, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sayshell

dam I might have got bad spark plugs then. I already bought them. I am looking to spend around 200-300$ tops, but its not written in stone, like if you can convince me that its worth spending 1000$ then I will, but right now I want easy tricks to increase power without much money. So for the spark plugs I got Champion Iradium I think Federal Mogul is the company that makes it but it might be Champion. I just asked the guy at Canadian tire which were good and he said these, but I guess I shouldn't have done that. As for installing them its safe to do my self right? Just unplug, unscrew, put in the new ones, torque to about the same pressure, and keep it clean right? I am a bit iffy about the k&n filter now, do you think it will increase power/fuel at all? Seems to be mixed opinions.

So for the full air intake, how does that work? Doesn't it need that scoop in the hood? Will I need a new hood as well?

90% of scoops are useless unless you have an intake designed to use it. And no. If you get one from FSWerks, it will mount just fine with no modifications needed. (Their the only big name that does GOOD focus parts, which is why I keep saying the name over and over again).

A filter itself is kinda useless, you won't feel the difference.

Spark plugs are safe to do yourself, all you need is a spark plug socket of the correct size, an extension, and a ratchet. You need to pick up some dialectric grease for the plug boot, and there's another one for the threads of the spark plug (anti-seze) so the plug doesn't weld itself into the head. and what you said is pretty much spot on.

elemein · 11-30-2011, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sayshell

dam I might have got bad spark plugs then. I already bought them. I am looking to spend around 200-300$ tops, but its not written in stone, like if you can convince me that its worth spending 1000$ then I will, but right now I want easy tricks to increase power without much money. So for the spark plugs I got Champion Iradium I think Federal Mogul is the company that makes it but it might be Champion. I just asked the guy at Canadian tire which were good and he said these, but I guess I shouldn't have done that. As for installing them its safe to do my self right? Just unplug, unscrew, put in the new ones, torque to about the same pressure, and keep it clean right? I am a bit iffy about the k&n filter now, do you think it will increase power/fuel at all? Seems to be mixed opinions.

So for the full air intake, how does that work? Doesn't it need that scoop in the hood? Will I need a new hood as well?

The Champion Plugs can be fine. Just read us the specs if you dont mind (they should be labelled somewhere. Either the voltage, level of heat, etc. Some specs some place). Any plug is better than a dirty stock plug from the factory to be honest.

No, there is no fixed thoughts on the K&N Air Filter, there are mixed thoughts on its effectiveness, but there is a general consensus that it will help you, just a mixed consensus on how much it'll help you. Either way, it'll help in both fuel economy and power, just not a lot

Also yes, it is safe to do it yourself (spark plug installation). Dont forget to unplug the wires too though, (you should've bought new ones though; your ignition system is only as strong as it's weakest link. But the new plugs are not useless without new wires, they just wont be as full potential as they could) and theres some other stuff to do, but I am not gonna detail it all in writing, so googling a tutorial or searching on Youtube should be more than fine.

Also no, the "hood" thing you're thiking of is a hood scoop. 90% of hood scoops you see out on the road lead nowhere and are purely aesthetic. The other 10% are for function, they are NOT for the intake to get air from, it is actually to get air rushing into the intercooler that you'd have if you had a turbocharger or supercharger installed. Installing a new intake, you have three popular routes, either Short Ram Intake, a higher-flow intake manifold from your stock location, or a Cold Air Intake. They all have their benefits and shortcomings, but basicly;

Short Ram Pros: More power on inital throttle, very aggressive sound, lower weight due to smaller physical measurements

Short Ram Cons: Sucks in hot air close to the engine, and hot air is bad for power. Filter gets dirty quicker

Stock-Location High Intake Manifold Pros: About the same response, temperature, and location as the stock box. Just better response in higher RPMs due to the ability to take in more air at one time.

Stock-Location High Intake Manifold Cons: It's heavier. Bigger physical dimensions. Can be more expensive than Short Ram

Cold Air Intake Pros: Ideal location for power as it gets air from below the engine and lower to the ground (cold air descends), which is good for power.

Cold Air Intake Cons: Heaviest. Most expensive.

And also, cluffenstein is right, you should tune the ECU after every set of upgrades. Preferably by a mechanic.

Also, I'm pretty sure those are the pros and cons of all the intake types, though dont quote me on them, a lot of people would argue with that, though it is a widely argumented topic.

Edit: Maybe he should just do the transmission reworking or weight reduction. They're both less complicated and cheaper than a low cost power upgrade. It's hard to get 15 HP out of a Ford Focus engine with as few units as possible for a low budget. It hard to do it with any four-cylinder as the upgrades you make will either be minimal, or overshoot 15 HP by far.

cluffenstein · 12-01-2011, 12:07 AM

As to the K&N Vs Entire intake. I've had both in my focus (granted the intake stayed in only a night) and the intake had a marked performance increase (according to my butt dyno) over the filter, but that's given... I hope...

Here's the two easiest things you can do for a 10+ Hp increase

20 HP
$460 Header (with flex pipe and extension (necessary)
$450 Exhaust (Stealth)
+ $81 for shipping
= 990.29 (Actual cost)

This will make your focus INSANELY loud.. Like This loud

2009 Focus FSWerks 4-1 Race header, 2.5" Flex, and Race exhaust - YouTube

Or the easier way:

12ish HP

$379 Tune
$200 Intake
+17.20 shipping
= 596.20 (actual cost)

elemein · 12-01-2011, 12:20 AM

Obviously the intake will have more performance than the filter. The filter is just a part of the intake after all. But saying it's useless is just plain wrong. It wont be a night and day difference, but it's not useless. I just threw it in there because it's quite cheap, helps gas mileage, and is reusable which is nice over the paper air filters.

Also. Please choose route 2 with some weight reduction. Taking out sound deadening can really add up to quite a bit of weight. Just giving the car a good clean overall from bottom to top with a vacuum and polish and throwing out every last bit of unnecessary crap and throw off a few kg in total. Changing your seats with lightweight seats can help a bit. Everything adds up.

Please dont do route 1. It's more expensive and the loud sound is so ricer. Which is bad.

KSIMP88 · 12-01-2011, 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSIMP88

You are talking minimal gains that aren't really cost effective. Just wanna say it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cluffenstein

Here's the two easiest things you can do for a 10+ Hp increase

20 HP
$460 Header (with flex pipe and extension (necessary)
$450 Exhaust (Stealth)
+ $81 for shipping
= [$]990.29 (Actual cost) [Dunno where the .29 came from, lol]

Or the easier way:

12ish HP

$379 Tune
$200 Intake
+17.20 shipping
= [$]596.20 (actual cost)

...

And watching that Video is painful. I need to put up a video of my Volvo

cluffenstein · 12-01-2011, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSIMP88

...

And watching that Video is painful. I need to put up a video of my Volvo

It's the only video I could find with a quick search that had both the header and exhaust.

Yes it's loud, yes it's a cop magnet, but oh well.

The final cost (according to the fswerks shopping cart was 990.29).

For the focus at least, there are no cheap WORTHWHILE upgrades. Honestly, just go stuff a turbo in it and call it a day.

cluffenstein · 12-01-2011, 12:44 AM

Oh and elemein, There's not a whole lot of sound deadening in a focus. At least not that I saw when I worked on mine.

And seats are about 750-800 a pair (sometimes each) plus 150 for each rail. That's really not a worthwhile upgrade, and at least in IL their illegal. (Something about the seatbelt)

11-30-2011, 07:52 PM	#12
Sayshell Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 47 Rep: 10	dam I might have got bad spark plugs then. I already bought them. I am looking to spend around 200-300$ tops, but its not written in stone, like if you can convince me that its worth spending 1000$ then I will, but right now I want easy tricks to increase power without much money. So for the spark plugs I got Champion Iradium I think Federal Mogul is the company that makes it but it might be Champion. I just asked the guy at Canadian tire which were good and he said these, but I guess I shouldn't have done that. As for installing them its safe to do my self right? Just unplug, unscrew, put in the new ones, torque to about the same pressure, and keep it clean right? I am a bit iffy about the k&n filter now, do you think it will increase power/fuel at all? Seems to be mixed opinions. So for the full air intake, how does that work? Doesn't it need that scoop in the hood? Will I need a new hood as well? Last edited by Sayshell; 11-30-2011 at 07:59 PM.

11-30-2011, 08:14 PM	#13
KSIMP88 Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Dallas, OR Posts: 2,930 Rep: 39	You are talking minimal gains that aren't really cost effective. Just wanna say it. __________________ 2001 Tahoe LT Autoride w/ third seat +25hp K&N air filter +50hp Custom Radio +15hp Soon to buy: Exhaust +50hp Lowering kit (2") +30hp

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Need help increasning horsepower

12-01-2011, 12:20 AM	#17
elemein Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Posts: 385 Rep: 19	Obviously the intake will have more performance than the filter. The filter is just a part of the intake after all. But saying it's useless is just plain wrong. It wont be a night and day difference, but it's not useless. I just threw it in there because it's quite cheap, helps gas mileage, and is reusable which is nice over the paper air filters. Also. Please choose route 2 with some weight reduction. Taking out sound deadening can really add up to quite a bit of weight. Just giving the car a good clean overall from bottom to top with a vacuum and polish and throwing out every last bit of unnecessary crap and throw off a few kg in total. Changing your seats with lightweight seats can help a bit. Everything adds up. Please dont do route 1. It's more expensive and the loud sound is so ricer. Which is bad.