Cheap way to improve hp - Page 3

just get a cold air intake and if you have the money do headers and full exhaust will be the best bang for your buck otherwise get it tuned

if you decide to go c.a.i. do the whole thing if you search you can find a bigger bore throttle body then use a throttle body spacer then a full c.a.i like was said before k&n or injen then when you go exhaust its a little costly but find a good engine machinist and get your exhaust port matched to some shorty headers followed by a full exhaust with high flow catalatyic converters those both will give you good perfomance to bring the beast alive and then when you've rubbed enough cash together get a programmer that will tune it all together nicely if that is not enough to sooth your hp needs then of course doing a v-8 swap would be the more practical choice in adding more power whether you do a 305,350 or there is a sweet conversion kit out to do a ls motor swap which if you do the ls swap its 500+ hp outta the box but then you will need a programmer to tune it all together but the kit to do it has all the piggy backs for your wiring harness so you can plug the motor in and go but the kit also has the v-8 motor mounts and i believe it either bolts directly to the tranni or it comes with a tranni adapter kit but hey if thats what you want then go to the trucks website from the speed channel they did it on a s-series under 10,000 bucks but then they also did wheels lowering it painting it and a whole bunch of other stuff.

oops

quote:

ORIGINAL: EuroGoldLS

cut a hole? NEVER. I just unclipped the fender housing and run the 3'' duct between the rubber and the frame and sealed it with another peice of rubber that was cut to fita nd it clips into the holes that are already there.

Euro, do you happen to have any pix of this?  I have an AirAid in mine, but I don't have a heat shield.  I was thinking of building my own. I saw another poster's how-to, but I'm curious about other ideas.

Raph

quote:

ORIGINAL: TheBrettster

quote:

ORIGINAL: drperry

It takes a lot of work, but you CAN put a 454 into an S-series vehicle...

Oh yeah no prob weekend project . Its true i've seen it done.

they actually did that on i think horsepower tv or something, it look like a simple weekend project, i forget howmuch motor was i think 2000-5000

bu ti was wonderin i saw a tranny cooling kit at vip, i could eaily find a place to put the small raditor and fan, but was wondering if it would do anything, power wise


wow i didnt read that long post, i didn think it was gonna be that much, i gues sill take aloan and get my friends m3 for 17,000 instead, why waste 10k on that motor (in my case anyways) when i could get a stupidly fast car for about 10k more and just have a load payment of like 200 a month instead? lol

check ebay.com for:
memcal chip usually on the cheap side around 150 bucks and adds about 8% hp gaim which is like 15 with these engines oh and they can improve gas mileage i picked up and extra 3 mpg's

u can usually get a zr2 c.a.i. for bout 25 bucks and it only takes a little finese to get it to fit any model blazer

bigger throttle bodies run about 75-120 bucks depending on size

and buyin brodix heads on ebay later for 150-500 bucks wouldnt be a bad idea to port and polish and if ur a beginner i would let a professional handle this cuz if not matched to the intake manifold properly it may be a power loss instead of a power gain

also a single plane intake wouldnt be a bad idea prolly around 100 -200 bucks

also havents really looked on ebay to much for these but also not bad ideas

roller rockers
headers
bigger injectors if u tbi if u have a cpi then stay away from injector/injectors unless u want to give up your first born(im almost serious)
aem fuel pressure regulators
high flow fuel pump
and if u just wanna go fast quicker try a b&m shift kit if u got a 700r4 tranny 40-70 bucks should get it if u got a 4l60e u might be looking at a little higher price
and if u dont like a/c your condenser can be easily converted to an oil cooler (this keeps engine a little cooler allows motor to make more power)
also e-fans arent a bad idea and both taurus and intrepid fans and also its better to use to small fans over one bigger fan moves more air faster aund u no longer have a huge fan to turn so also another hp gain


i hope this was helpful.....oh and watch the seller's feedback % stay away from low percents
and i would check craigslist.com sumtimes i find good deals for under 100 bucks
 

i dont really see how an e-fan helps that much though...   its gets its power from the batt which comes from the alt which comes from the engine. the stock fan gets its power straight from the engine.   it still has to get power from somewhere
 
 
other than that, all good ideas although i havent ever heard anything about that chip before
 

Lots of the suggestions above by mustangblazerking do not apply to the CPI and newer SCFI motors.  The older carb'd and TBI motors are a lot easier to use a lot of these suggestions on. 

Heads will always help and should be accompanied by a cam, exhaust, and associated items to take full advantage.  There are a few aftermarket cams for the 4.3L engine that can be used for a decent bump in HP, but not a lot of people can handle a cam swap on their own.

E-fans may be an upgrade from an early engine driven fan, but the modern fans only use power when radiator temps warrant it.  On a cold startup with a properly working fan clutch, you can actually stop the fan with your hand at idle.  Its not until the thermo-clutch sees higher temperatures that it locks up and pulls air through the radiator.  When unlocked, it is using next to nothing for engine power.

you could do what im doing for 260 getting a dual ezxhaust and hopefully about 10-20 hp, or you clould do what ricers do BIG MO FO sticker, (each adds up to 10 HP!!!!).....

i wouldnt expect to get 20hp from an exhaust upgrade. 10 might even be a little high. maybe if that includes a larger y-pipe and headers (i doubt it)

what did i say that doesnt apply to CPI
also efans should increase power sum when cuz the mechanical fan when it kicks in does take about 5-10hp to run
efans shouldnt even draw enough of the alternator to waste more than 1hp if the alternator is working properly it should be capable of being full-fielded and still not takin ne more than 1-2 hp away from the engine. When i was at school we put a 02 supercharged mustang running 5lbs of boost on the dyno ran 393hp at 5200 rpms 436ft lbs at 4900 rpms we then fullfielded the alternator during the second run with a micro vat and the reads were 391hp at 5200rpms 436ftlbs at 4900rpms and the alternator when full fielded is around 114 amps the alternator is rated at 110amps and a set of efans should only draw 5-15 amps depending

I cut off the metal pie shaped plate on the throttle body/ intake blade. I read a lot of debate about doing it before hand but decided to go for it. It was a free mod and it lets quite a bit more air into the throttle body with the throttle open.  Over 8,000mi and no problems.

quote:

ORIGINAL: mustangblazerking

what did i say that doesnt apply to CPI

I'll start with this.  Single plane manifold...  Does not apply to anything CPI or later with out a TON of other modifications unless you just go carb'd which isn't an option for a lot of people.  Neither does larger injectors for those that are wondering.  The CPI and SCFI injection setups do not have any aftermarket alternatives.  Fuel pressure regulators are non-existent for the CPI and SCFI setups either without completely revamping the setups.  Upgrading the fuel pump will require an upgraded FPR as the only thing you'll get from a hi-po fuel pump is higher pressure and flow.  Higher flow without the possibility of higher flowing injectors does nothing.  Higher pressure is the only way you would be able to get more fuel through the injectors, hence the need for a higher rated fuel pressure regulator.

The SCFI motors already come with roller lifters/rockers.  Not roller tipped which may gain you a few tenths in the HP department, but is it worth the $$$ for that?  Again, you would want to be exceeding the limits of the stock rockers...  If you said a higher ratio rocker, I would agree.

quote:

ORIGINAL: mustangblazerking

also efans should increase power sum when cuz the mechanical fan when it kicks in does take about 5-10hp to run
efans shouldnt even draw enough of the alternator to waste more than 1hp if the alternator is working properly it should be capable of being full-fielded and still not takin ne more than 1-2 hp away from the engine. When i was at school we put a 02 supercharged mustang running 5lbs of boost on the dyno ran 393hp at 5200 rpms 436ft lbs at 4900 rpms we then fullfielded the alternator during the second run with a micro vat and the reads were 391hp at 5200rpms 436ftlbs at 4900rpms and the alternator when full fielded is around 114 amps the alternator is rated at 110amps and a set of efans should only draw 5-15 amps depending

I'm sorry, but two dyno runs don't give good enough accuracy to prove a point.  A 2hp difference can be seen from run to run with no changes.  I have seen as much as 10HP difference between runs on an engine dyno with all other conditions unchanged.  Dyno's are good for tuning and getting rough baselines and such, but to be used in this manner, their tolerance is far to wide for two runs to yeild a definitive "this accessory draws 'x' HP" result.  Now if you had stated that 5 runs were averaged with the alternator at full field and 5 runs with the alternator unhooked and the results were "blah", it would be a much more accurate statement.

Air flow is air flow and heat disipation is directly proportional to air flow in a heat exchanger (aka radiator).  By saying that a fan will only draw 1-2HP while a mechanical fan at full lock draws a bit more (5-10HP is excessive, more probable 2-3HP) may be true, but a mechanical fan while drawing more HP when engaged will unlock, reducing parasitic loss while the efan will still need to be cooling.  I do not know what the factory fan setup flows in CFM, but a comparable electric setup will require equal power from the electric motor driving it.  Even more when you have to convert shaft HP to electricity and back to shaft HP.  Now there are efficiency gains in the design of the fan blades themselves, but the '96+ fan design is quite efficient.  Again, the older setups benefit more from a more efficient fan blade design, but on the newer motors, other than being a conversation piece and another mod to check off the list, in terms of effectiveness in a true HP to the wheels sense, you are better off spending the $$$ on a cam or headers on these motors.  If you've already done those, have at it.

With that said, there are some cases where an efan will be beneficial due to the problems associat

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$   = hp

You can get a chip, cai or throttle body spacer these are the cheapest the chip is about 30 the spacer is about 50 and the cai is about 40 on ebay each one says it will ad 10-15 hp by its self while all will help increase gas milage the computer i bought corrects the factory a/f ratios while the spacer will help the air and fuel mix more completely which increases effienciency which the cai will also improve. also ebay has conversion kits to go to electric fans or the ud pullys each of these free up power from your engine.

A TB spacer isn't really going to do anything on a port fuel injected engine... TBI or carbed, yes, but not much, other than add that annoyingly painful whistle/hissing noise...
 
The stock engine fan is capable of 4300+ CFM. No e-fan can match that, that I know of.
Like Kyle said, e-fans are only going to make a noticable difference on older engines, or someone who's got a seized clutch fan...
Other than that, the only real advantage to the e-fan is it warms up a little faster, since the stock fan always turns a little bit at idle.... It stops moving as soon as you get up to speeds.
 
 
The throttle deflector EGR gas issue is only for people who have an EGR... Apparently I don't... I've got the AIR injection setup, so I could do it to mine with no real issues... Though, people have noted that sometimes it idles a little higher as well...
 
 
A bigger throttle body is kind of a waste of money on the 4.3L... Same thing as a bigger MAF... They're the same as what goes on the 5.7L V8. The only difference is the V8 has a smaller throttle deflector.

i have a throttle body spacer on my 03 blazer and a k&n cai. the spacer alone has absolutely no noticable difference. the cai alone has a little more pep and that puffing sound when you tap the throttle. together there is the most difference. mine is by trans-dapt, bought from summit racing. trans-dapt has 2 or 3 for the blazer, one is SUPPOSED to increase, low-end torque and the other a little bit of both. i have the "torque curve" and one of their main advertisement points is that it doesnt whistle, which they're correct. i did notice a slight gain in toque when all was said and done. i also have the dynomax superturbo catback system which definitely free up some ponies as well as adding a nice sound. if u want a mildly louder and deeper tone i suggest the dynomax. i bought mine on amazon for 150 or so. over summer i plan to remove the muff and add a dump along with either a super 44 or a spintech.