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How To Make Your Car Faster For Free?

ByMatsumoto Naoki-December 12, 2022

If you feel a bit fed up with the current speed of your vehicle and want it to be faster and more robust in terms of speed and performance, let’s follow our guide on how to make your car faster for free right below.

Your car has been operating at the same speed for a good number of years. New Year’s Eve is about to approach, and we think you can now upgrade your car in a new and fun way by modifying it, maybe only one or two parts are good enough.

One of the most-queried modification types for drivers with experience is speed. For many years, car speeds may always lay in drivers’ minds, especially for some who appreciate performance and riding feeling on the highway or clear roads. Therefore, speed modification has been thriving and taking advantage in the market among the top preferable projects for car upgrading.

Benefits of Having A Car Speed Upgraded

Sticking with a model for too long with the same speed over and over can make some super-dynamic drivers feel unhappy. Ultimately, every driver may want to get where they’re going as quickly as possible. But did you know that there are some benefits to making your car go faster?

For one thing, a faster car can save you time significantly. It can help you to be more on time if you’re constantly struggling with being late for everything because your car has thought to reach its limit speed. Moreover, fastening can also help you save money on gas. The faster your car goes, the less fuel it will use.

Finally, it can also make driving more fun. There’s nothing quite like speeding down the highway with the wind in your hair.

If you’re looking for a little extra excitement in your life, making your car go faster is a great way to get it. (Photo: 99Vehicles Origins)

 

How To Make Your Car Faster For Free

After scrolling through some benefits of a faster car’s speed, you may now be sure than ever that this may be your one-and-only upgrading method.

While every car model has a specific way to be modified and a suitable method to act at its best, there are some speed upgrades that you can look into and apply for all lines for improved performance and speed of your vehicle. Like most car owners, you may wonder where to start to save the most fee and earn the ideal project in terms of efficiency and durability.

Luckily, if you are still confused, the internet experts are available 24/7 for support, and so are we. With that said, we will now provide you with some of the best and most economical (or even free) methods to increase your car speed and hope you will find good insight.

How to make your car faster for free may be the most wondering when the changing due is ringing in your head. Speed upgrades or car modifications, in general, will often cost you some money, not always for free. We want to remind you that the high-qualified speed modifications you want to execute will be very different from the regular ones with just tire or brake adjustments.

However, there are always simple and charged-free methods to speed up your car to opt for, as follows.

  • Regularly inspect your tire pressure and properly check if they are all inflated to the optimal level. The properly-inflated car tire will support your driving experience with both aerodynamics and traction.
  • Make sure your engine is tuned. If your car engine is well-tuned, your car will operate more efficiently and create less unpleasant drag.
  • If you have a car with a manual transmission, remember to shift its gears, at the optimal time every often. But before doing so, you should take note and try to find the most suitable time for the change. Because shifting gears too early or too late can lead to declined engine and speed performance, even worse than you think.
  • Always keep your car clean. A dirty vehicle can create drag very fast and negatively affect gas mileage.
  • Make your car lighter. It is probably the easiest and most obvious way to speed up your vehicle. Reducing the overall weight in the car will help you get more speed without changing much about it. For example, the 100-pound weight saving will make your vehicle accelerate a tiny bit quicker and will put less strain on the brakes and tires. The motors will then work more efficiently and controlling it will be easier too!

Aside from these free ways to make your car faster, you can consider the below methods for more economical modification.

>> See more: 6 Bad Car Modifications That Won’t Make A Car Faster

Changing your wheel

Changing your wheel is always a good way. Consider the suitable car wheels size and the best tire type for the season and replace it with the old ones to see if your car can be faster.

Wheel changing is a good free way to make your car faster. (Photo: GoGet)

Modify exhaust pipe

Car exhaust is also an effective way to increase car speed. Because when charging a lot leads to a lot of discharge, and when discharging a lot, the charging capacity will increase. Car exhaust pipes help exhaust gasses from the engine escape easier and faster. At this time, the engine does not have to spend as much energy to push the exhaust out as usual. With that traits, your car can go faster, and its engine can work more efficiently.

There are many ways to modify a car exhaust. The most common one is the “hook” of the exhaust pipe, replacing each part of the original exhaust system and adding a turbocharger or supercharger.

Modify the air intake system

The car engine is responsible for igniting a mixture of fuel and air (oxygen) to create work, helping the car move. The more fuel and air you put in, the more power the engine produces. However, the mixture of fuel and air must be in the proper ratio. If the intake of air exceeds the ratio, there will be fuel poverty. On the contrary, if the fuel intake is too high, it will be rich in fuel, causing the fuel to burn and be discharged.

Increasing the power of a car, people think that just making the engine burn more fuel is enough. But the fact is that increasing the fuel injection is not difficult. The most complicated thing is how to increase the amount of air intake.

With a naturally aspirated engine, the air intake amount is always limited. Therefore, when adjusting the car’s capacity, people will often intervene to upgrade the first air intake system. When increasing the amount of oxygen entering the combustion chamber, the problem of fuel increasing is quite simple.

There are many methods to improve the intake air system, such as:

Change the air filter

Changing the air filter is the simplest and cheapest way to increase the car’s speed. If the original air filter is usually only made of paper, the custom air filter is made of oil-absorbent cotton. This type of air filter can remove dirt better, giving cleaner air. The cleaning period is up to 20,000 – 30,000 km, while the paper air filter is only about 5,000 km. The service life is also tens of times higher than that of a paper air filter of only 10,000 km.

Changing the car air filter is the simplest and cheapest way to increase speed and horsepower for a car. (Photo: Reliable Automotive)

In particular, the air filter helps to bring in more air, increasing oxygen in the combustion chamber. According to experts, changing the old dirty car air filter can increase by 1 – 5 horsepower or more speed depending on each vehicle.

The modified air filter does not require any additional mode, so you only need to replace the old one. The air filter also does not make the car more fuel efficient. On the contrary, it also improves the sensitivity of the accelerator pedal compared to conventional filters. When the engine rpm is below 2,000 rpm, the car runs smoothly. If you step on the gas pedal and press the rpm to increase, the sound of the machine sounds more powerful, not dry and forced like a paper air filter.

Modify cold air intake

Ram-air is one of the most popular automotive speed/power tuning methods today. Accordingly, the capacity can be increased from 5 to 30 horsepower, and the speed also rises significantly.

When you modify ram-air, the intake air passage will be redesigned to take advantage of the air pressure created when the vehicle is in motion. This act is to increase the static air pressure inside the intake manifold. Thanks to that, it is possible to bring a larger airflow into the cylinder combustion chamber, increasing engine power.

In a word, ram-air will increase the diameter of the intake manifold to reduce the intake air velocity. As the speed decreases, the dynamic pressure decreases, and the static pressure increases. Air carries oxygen required for combustion to take place. The more oxygen loaded, the more abundant the combustion mixture will be, and the faster the car will be.

There are two ways of ram-air: Cold Air Intake and Short Ram Intake.

Cold Air Intake (CAI) is a type of air intake designed to take cold air from outside the engine compartment through the lower bumper. Outside cold air has the advantage of being denser (air density). Thanks to that, the combustion process inside the engine is more optimized, and the piston thrust increases.

However, the Cold Air Intake cannot be installed in the original car air filter system. Therefore, it is necessary to redesign the pipe from the air intake to the engine. Most manufacturers only sell air intakes, and the pipes must be installed separately. Regarding the pipe material, professional tuning companies often prefer metal pipes for better air circulation (due to the smooth surface) and higher durability.

The CAI pipe is quite large and has many bends, so it takes up a lot of space in the engine compartment. Therefore, it is not suitable for small or compact cars because when installed, it will easily cause the opposite effect, not increasing but reducing engine power and car speed, as the engine has to work a lot to suck air.

CAI also has another weakness: its low placement at the bottom bumper. With low-rise cars like sedans or hatchbacks, the risk of sucking water into the engine when running on flooded roads is very high and extremely dangerous.

Modify short ram intake

Short Ram Intake (SRI) is a type of air intake for short intakes. Like CAI, when using SRI, the intake manifold must be redesigned. However, SRI only needs a large and short intake tube, so it takes up less space than CAI.

The mounting position of the SRI is at the top, just below the bonnet. So you don’t have to worry about your car getting hit by water when running on flooded roads. However, SRI produces more noise than CAI. Similar to CAI, the SRI short loader isn’t suitable for small motor vehicles. Because the engines of these vehicles will not generate enough pressure to suck the “huge” amount of air that SRI provides.

Modify the pulley

Pulley is an engine belt used to drive other auxiliary systems such as vehicle generators, car air conditioners, cooling water pumps, and power steering. Modifying the pulley is not a direct way to increase the car’s speed. However, because the rotary motor must pull the pulley to rotate, replacing a superior pulley will help reduce the engine’s power consumption. The engine power after being transmitted to the pulleys, and passing through the transmission system (gearbox, drive bridge) to the wheel has been reduced by 15-20%.

The pulley modification helps to reduce the speed and power consumption of the engine. (Photo: ChrisFix)

There are two types of degree pulleys. The first type is a pulley that uses lighter materials than the original zin pulley according to the car. The second type is a pulley with a smaller diameter. As well as being lighter in weight, the smaller diameter results in less work-intensive engines. The price of the pulley ranges from 2 to 10 million VND/set.

When the pulley needs to be noted, the vehicle’s parameters have been carefully calculated by the manufacturer. Therefore, if changing any parameter, it is easy to affect the related parts. The pulley is driven by the engine crankshaft. Changing the weight or size of the pulley can cause the crankshaft to be unbalanced, even broken.

Not only the crankshaft but also the auxiliary systems are susceptible. Pulleys of auxiliary systems may no longer rotate at the speed initially set by the manufacturer. This leads to the generator malfunction causing weak electricity, a weak water pump not providing enough cooling water causing the engine to overheat, and a weakened air conditioning system.

Of course, these parameters are not always too standard. The manufacturer will usually deduct the deviation within the allowable range, but do not be too subjective.

Modify the torque damper

A torque damper is a shock absorber that connects the engine to the chassis. Adding more torque damper will help the engine accelerate faster and better. As for the car without shock absorbers, the damper is more definitive but not as smooth.

This is also the disadvantage of torque dampers. The shock absorber will make the car vibrate more, especially when the engine rpm is low. And for manual transmission cars, it will be a bit difficult to enter the clutch.

Modify ECU

ECU (Electronic Control Unit) is the central electronic control system, responsible for controlling, intervening, and correcting almost all systems to ensure that the vehicle operates at optimal capacity and safety.

If you have modified the car engine, and upgraded hardware such as turbochargers, NOS, etc., it is also necessary to upgrade the ECU software to create synchronization. Car ECU tuning will help the car increase horsepower, and save more fuel. It is also possible to break the maximum speed limit that the automaker has previously set. This action is similar to rooting a smartphone.

Car ECU level helps the car increase speed, save more fuel. (Photo: Torque)

There are many ways to customize ECU for cars:

  • Factory reset ECU – Reputable tuners can reflash/copy new maps, and adjust fuel and air mix ratios to better suit operating conditions and newly installed hardware.
  • Replace the new ECU chip (standalone).
  • Connect the new ECU chip in series with the original ECU (piggyback).

Note that when buying ECU chips, you should be careful because there are many poor-quality products on the market, especially cheap chips. It is best to buy genuine chips from big brands.

Replace clutch and flywheel

The clutch and flywheel are two parts located between the engine and the gearbox, keeping the task of synchronizing the speed between the engine and the gearbox. When calculating clutch and flywheel design, it is common for car manufacturers to prioritize smoothness and comfort. Therefore, the increase in engine power will lead to the clutch and flywheel being overwhelmed. So if you have a car engine, you also need to upgrade both the clutch and the flywheel.

Clamping force is the term for the limitation of friction. If the clutch clamping force is 150 hp, then the engine power should be below this (less than 150 hp). In case the engine power exceeds 150 horsepower, the clutch will slip. When this clutch and flywheel rub against each other, both parts wear faster, and the car does not maximize the acceleration as expected.

Modifying the clutch is divided into several stages:

  • Level 0: Using slightly better materials than the original, just replacing the car’s zin clutch.
  • Level 1: The friction limit is better than level 0. Suitable for cars with a few basic items. The feel of the clutch is similar to level 0.
  • Level 2: High friction limit. Suitable for medium bikes. The feel of the clutch is heavier and more difficult to control. The clutch travel is short, so it is still fast in gear and can run in the city.
  • Level 3: Maximum friction limit. Exclusively for racing cars. Very difficult to control and cannot be used when running normally in the street.

The flywheel connects directly to the engine crankshaft and transmits the engine’s power to the transmission through friction with the clutch. The lightweight flywheel differs from the original flywheel in better and lighter materials.

Since the motor rotates the flywheel, the lighter the flywheel, the smaller the inertia force, and the less power the engine will consume. As a result, the car accelerates faster in low gears like 1 or 2 and decelerates faster in high gears like 4 or 5. However, the light flywheel also more or less affects the balance and vibration when running at high speed.

Wrapping Up On How To Make Your Car Faster For Free

We hope that after scrolling through the article, you will find some good insight on how to make your car faster for free and apply it to your project. Speeding up the vehicle can bring you a lot of new joy and change your driving experience, refreshing your everyday ride on the same old road. Good luck with your speed modification, and we will see you again for more helpful modified notices and car maintenance tips.

Matsumoto Naoki is senior car blogger at Car From Japan. Having background in mechanical engineering, he has a unique perspective on a lot of new car innovations. Prior to Car From Japan, Matsumoto was Mechanical Design Engineer at Yajima Plant, Subaru Corporation. His articles provide detailed DIY instructions and how-tos to help you get your new car on the road. If you want to save money and feel more confident when working on your cars, you should not ignore Matsumoto’s sharing posts. He presents driving tips and tricks for everyone through easy-following steps and mechanically but friendly writing.

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