It is always desirable to get the best possible result with least money. And since bettering engine performance cheaply is simple and easy to do, it is also efficient. Professional tuning of mechanical and electronic parts require engineering skills and experience, so leave it to pros. but there are a few compartments in your car which can be easily modified and lead to good results in proportion to the work you put in!. Improving Engine Breath, is literally the most accessible way to add a few more horsepower and having the engine work better and more smoothly, which eventually can lead to better fuel consumption. Given the gas price these days, a slight save on gas means a big save on your money!
The trick is to provide more air for the engine and have it as cold as possible, because cold air results in better explosion in cylinder and that means more power. and the more air is sucked into the engine the more power it can produce, of course it varies from engine to engine, with different ECU settings, compression ratios, etc. You can test how better your car works this way by simply removing your air filter cover (and the filter itself) and have a go in it! performance aside, the car makes much more sportier noise too!. But everybody knows without a filter the engine will die within a week, and that’s why there are aftermarket performance filters known as cone air filters or sport filters. They help the engine to suck in more fresh air because of their shape and of course because they have no covers and can be located somewhere in engine bay closer to the zones with more fresh air, like behind the front grille. You might now ask why car makers do not put this thing on their cars themselves and enjoy the better performance! Well, they make the car for the whole market so they make it in the most standard form to suit it’s place, that’s why we call them standard, and that’s why aftermarket exist! You know all cone air filters make sporty loud noise, specially in high revs, and when it’s nice to enthusiasts, it can be a headache for others!
A $25 “made in China” cone air filter do the same thing that a $100 original “K&N;” does,but the advantage with more expensive filters is that they are made of better materials so they do the filtering better, and they last longer and need to be cleaned less often. Some of them also cool down the air by using a special oil integrated into filter paper. Installation is also very easy. All you have to do is to remove the standard filter and put the cone in there! but as mentioned earlier the best result meets when cold air is provided for the engine, so we try to fabricate it where there is more air. Places like behind the headlights, behind radiator grille and so on. or you can put it in the standard place and then bring the air to it by pipes.
The effect of cone air filters is not dramatic! but they Worth the money. You get better acceleration, sportier noise and better MPG. When you get demanded performance with less throttle load, it means that less fuel is gone!! More experienced petrol heads can also enjoy additional toys like home made superchargers! I’ll publish that later on…!
