Do-It-Yourself High Performance Car Mods

CHAPTER 7Engine Tuning

Adjusting the Engine Components and Controls for Best Performance

Sometimes, choosing and installing the right engine mods is only half the effort needed to make your car go faster. The rest of the effort lies with tuning your engine, adjusting it to add just the right amount of fuel and fire the spark plugs at precisely the right moment. Some mods do not require very much tuning. If you have added some basic intake and exhaust mods to a fuel-injected engine, the engine control unit (ECU) may simply be able to detect that the engine is pulling in more air and adjust to compensate. More complicated mods may confuse the computer. If your engine uses a carburetor and mechanical spark controls, even small changes like adding ...