Do-It-Yourself High Performance Car Mods

CHAPTER 6Ultimate Horsepower

Turbocharging, Supercharging, and Nitrous Oxide

When working with a naturally aspirated, or “all motor,” engine like the ones we talked about in the last chapter, the goal is to help the engine draw in as much air by itself as possible. For those not satisfied with the power an engine can make like that, the next logical step is to add mods that actively push even more air into the engine. The extra air allows the engine to burn more fuel and produce both more torque and more horsepower at every RPM. Since this approach forces air into the engine, it is known as forced induction. Some also call forced induction devices “power adders.” Forced induction usually falls into three basic categories: turbocharging, supercharging, ...