Hmm... Approx. 10hp from $13.32

Well, I tore my car up and did the UGLY conversion on it today.

1. Took the A/C unit out. Unbolted the rotating assembly from the block, removed the belt, removed all the hosing and A/C fan.

--- -30lbs, +4hp, $.00


2. Re-routed the coolant lines from my throttle-body and intake manifold, so no hot coolant even touches my intake system at all!

--- 0lbs, +3hp, $.00


3. Bought some fiber-glass house insulation and aluminum-tape. Wrapped my header and AEM CAI to reduce heat through the intake system, and to keep engine temperatures down from radiant heat from the header.

--- +1lb, $3hp, 13.32


If you don't give a rats-ass what other people think about your car and you want to make some extremely cost-effective horsepower... DO THAT!! I'll have more cheap ways to make horsepower, including porting your throttle body, port-n-polish on the head, and a custom test-pipe.

Cool... looks like you had a busy day. I don't think I've met you yet... maybe I'll see you around.

Those are some great suggestions, I am still debating taking out my A/C, how hard would you rate it?

One thing I would be concerned about it the wrapping of your header, I have read in several places that yes indeed it does help with your horse power because it causes the gasses in the exhaust to be hotter then normal thus creating a vacuum effect and dispelling exhaust faster. The problem I have read about is because the metal was made to and meant to breath that by wrapping them the life is significantly reduced. I have heard of people racing with wrapped headers and at the end of every race they just throw them away because of the damage done to them.

Anyway here is a link to a site that recommends why not to do it, if you’re interested.

click here (http://www.centuryperformance.com/heatwraps.htm)


P.S. I was really close to wrapping my header myself till my brother told me not too, I then checked into it and found the above infomation.

Interesting article boomer. Makes sense I suppose. Whats the melting point of stainless steel? And would a header wrap cause an increase in temperture that much? I don't know all the facts so I can't accept/reject that claim.

Read the whole artical, its quite long and goes very indepth.

Here is an excerpt from the artical.

"when the header is not allowed to cool so as to dissipate those extreme temperatures that the wrap is controlling, you have now developed a heat absorption that compares to thermal friction which will will continue to gain in temperature beyond the normal exhaust gas temperatures (EGT's). This is the same as with most any insulation.

Try this experiment ... launder a load of bath towels and then dry them. Immediately pull them out of the dryer and just toss them in a snug pile on your bed. Now leave them there for a day and then open them. You will find that there is still a considerable amount of heat left in the center towels. This heat, even though the outer towels and bed are normal room temperature have been able to contain their heat. This is a simple thermal insulation test, but with your headers you have an internal heat supply coming from the engine. The heat on the outside portion of the header material is trapped between the warp and the header and will continue to fatigue the header. This build of heat is amplified by the wrap. Towels do not need to breathe, header material does.
"



I am not trying to say that I know everything and you should listen to me, I just want to make sure you understand that this could damage your header. I would hate to hear you had to replace it because of the wrap in a couple of months. Headers are expensive.

Actually Boomer you are correct. There is a VERY minimal gain from wrapping your headers and the long term effect can cause damage. Yes most race engines do have wrap but think about it...most of those are trailer queens, not daily drivers that are consantly going through heat changes and other aspects provided by mother nature.

what about indexing washers? i read in an article somewhere that aligning all of your spark plugs in the same direction will yield considerable hp when compared to money spent on it. now if i could just remember where i read that article....
i think jacobs electornics makes the index washers

Originally posted by jOYRiDe
what about indexing washers? i read in an article somewhere that aligning all of your spark plugs in the same direction will yield considerable hp when compared to money spent on it. now if i could just remember where i read that article....
i think jacobs electornics makes the index washers


indexing your plugs do help, but it's not a considerable amount unless your combustion chambers themselves are optimised. you'll see less than 1 hp gain.

as for header wrap, leave it for the dummies. get it coated by JetHot, which will keep the internal temps higher for proper pulsing of the exhaust, while allowing it to cool properly after shutdown. also consider a heatshield to prevent heatsoaking, instead of wrapping.

I've heard that about the header-wrap also. My friend that helped me wrap my header is a chemical engineer, he said there should be no problem... I don't know, I'm still debating on it.

As far as re-routing the Throttle-Body and Intake Manifold coolant lines, DEFINITELY do that... cold-starts aren't a problem, and my Skunk2 Intake manifold doesn't get above 60 degrees under the hood... its pretty amazing! My intake is also wrapped in fiber-glass... thats definitely gonna stay on there.

Can you show some pictures on how you rerouted them? also did you run into any problems removing your A/C?
Isnt there a problem with air going thought the side of the front end without the A/C fan and not enough going though the radiator now?
That was a concern i had in removing the A/C fan.

Again thanks for the sugestions.

Nice suggestions. However, not that I don't believe you but could you post some dyno results please. I mean 10 hp is alot.:smoker2:

He forgot to add removing the power steering help a lot to. When I removed my A/C and my P/S I noticed a big gain and it is also puts less stress on the motor have to turn 2 more motors for the P/S and A/C next thing I bought which is on it's way is a Unorthodox Race Pully that only pushes the Alt. This new pulley weighs 9.9 Ounces

taking out the a/c is a piece of cake. im only 16(was 15 at the time) when i took mine out.

Hey All. I took the header-wrap and intake-wrap off my car today... I couldn't stand the smell of burning insulation anymore! The engine doesn't stay as cool without it, but at least my engine bay isn't ugly anymore :D

As far as the other two mods, they are definitely worth it.

As far as the dyno, I don't think it was 10hp, but possibly 5hp. It was a friend that was like "You'll get 10hp from this!" I don't feel 10hp, I feel about 5. And I'm not going to waste $75 to see what $13 did for me.

Pictures for re-routing the coolant lines? Negative. Just look at your manifold. There is a sensor that bolts to the back of it, and below the sensor, there are two coolant lines. Connect the two lines and make sure they don't touch your intake manifold. And underneith your throttle-body, there are two more coolant lines. Pull them off your throttle-body and connect them together. It's pretty much a no-brainer operation if you look into it.

And yes, the A/C is really easy to take out. I'm low on coolant and I don't have a heat problem at all... I did 135 down the freeway and 115 back up the hill of the freeway and my needle didn't budge. Cooling won't be a problem, although I'm going to eventually install an Integra radiator.