How You Can Increase Horsepower and Torque?

If there’s one thing we can never have too much of, its horsepower and torque in our trucks! There are plenty of ways to increase horsepower and torque and some of them, you might not have thought about. Here are the most effective ways we’ve found to boost your truck’s power.

1.     Clean House to Increase Horsepower

This trick isn’t going to actually give your engine more power but it does allow your engine to use the power it has more efficiently. Each pound of cargo you add to the truck is another pound your engine has to carry. The EPA says that by adding 100 pounds of cargo, you decrease the engine’s efficiency by up to two percent. Go through your truck and see if there is anything lying around that needs to come out. Maybe you don’t need all those tools every day or that extra bag of sand in your bed. For every item you can remove, you free up your engine to focus on giving you more power.

2.     Perform a Tune-Up on the Engine

Your truck’s maintenance is important to extend the life and keep all the systems running at optimal levels. Tuning up the engine isn’t going to actually increase horsepower but when your truck is suffering, so is your oomph it once had. For example, if your air or fuel filters are clogged, you could be starving your engine of what it needs to run properly. This is an inexpensive problem to correct so why wait to get it done. An oil change is also an important part of maintaining your engine. Consider using a synthetic oil for a slight boost in responsiveness.

3.     Install a Turbo Kit or Supercharger

Big trucks love turbochargers. That’s because they are fuel efficient and they take your waste heat from the exhaust to boost the air intake pressure. A turbo kit will help your engine become more responsive. You will find turbocharger kits that increase your truck up to an additional 200-horsepower. The downside is that they aren’t low-cost. Some kits can cost a few thousand dollars. A supercharger offers a few advantages over the turbocharger. First, there is no delay between the throttle application and the boost of intake pressure. They also tend to be more reliable than a turbo. You can opt for a factory-designed supercharger or use an after-market universal supercharger instead.  

4.     Install a Cold-Air Intake

Another low-cost way to add power to your engine is by installing a cold-air intake. The stock airbox on your truck is restrictive and was meant to reduce the noise of your engine. If engine noise doesn’t bother you, then it’s time to remove this. Cooler air is denser so there is more oxygen in the cooler air which means that you can burn more fuel. You could be looking at an increase of six to eleven horsepower and improved throttle responsiveness as a result of installing a cold-air intake.

5.     Install an Aftermarket Exhaust System

An aftermarket exhaust system is a quick way to gain additional horsepower. Factory mufflers are created to be quiet above everything else. Simply replacing this quiet muffler with an after-market muffler gives you an increase in power and a nice robust sound as well. You could gain as much as 20 horsepower with this little trick. Then, you might even want to consider replacing the factory exhaust manifold with after-market headers to grab some more power.

6.     Buy an Engine Tuner

Your truck’s engine wasn’t designed to generate its maximum horsepower. In fact, the manufacturer set it up to shift smoothly and offer you good fuel efficiency first. They also wanted to make it as quiet as possible. By reprogramming the truck, you could see a big change in your horsepower. The downside to this step is that the handheld tuners can cost over $400. While they are easy to use and can make quite a bit of difference, you are going to have to invest in premium gas for your truck. We recommend you consider this option after the others have been completed.

Conclusion

As you can see, it isn’t hard to take steps to increase horsepower and torque in your truck’s engine. You can take the truck you love and make it even better. While you are in the process of making upgrades to your truck, it might also be time to check out how Durabak bed liners can help you. We offer superior protection for the truck you love, so give us a call today.