Performance & Tuning Parts

Engine tuning or engine building is the adjustment, modification or design of internal combustion engines to yield more performance, either in terms of power output or economy. It is a popular pastime with amateur mechanics or "gearheads" and "petrolheads". more...

Home
Automobilia
Car Accessories
Car Manuals & Literature
Car Parts
Car Tuning & Styling
Exterior Styling
Interior Styling
Lights & Lighting...
Other Car Tuning
Performance & Tuning Parts
Air Filters & Induction Kits
Brake Components
Chips
Engine Tuning Parts
Exhaust Components
Injection & Fuel Systems
Other Performance Parts
Suspension Components
Tachometers
Car Wheels, Tyres & Trims
Cars
Cherished Numbers
Classic Car Parts
Classic Cars
Commercial Vehicles
In-Car Entertainment & GPS
Motorcycle Clothing &...
Motorcycle Parts &...
Motorcycles & Scooters

It has a long history, almost as long as the development of the car in general, originating with the development of early racing cars, and later, with the post-war hot-rod movement.

Tuning can describe a wide variety of adjustments and modifications, from the routine adjustment of the carburetor and ignition system to significant engine modifications. On older engines, setting the idling speed, mixture, carburetor balance, spark plug and distributor point gaps and ignition timing were both regular tasks on all engines and the final but essential steps in setting up a racing engine. On modern engines some or all of these tasks are automated.

At the other end of the scale, performance tuning of an engine can involve revisiting some of the design decisions taken at quite an early stage in the development of the engine.

Performance tuning

Performance tuning focusses on the tuning of an engine for motor sport, although many cars built by hobbyists never compete but are rather built for display at motor shows or the simple pleasure of owning and driving such a car. In this context (and depending on the particular event), the power output, torque and responsiveness of the engine are of premium importance, but reliability and economy are also relevant. To win, a car must complete the event. This means the engine must be strong enough to do so, often far stronger than the production design on which it is based, and also that the vehicle must carry sufficient fuel. The weight of this fuel will affect the overall performance of the car, so fuel economy is a competitive advantage.

This also means that the performance tuning of an engine should take place in the context of the development of the overall vehicle. In particular, transmission, suspension and brakes must match the performance of the engine, otherwise the car will be unreliable, uncompetitive, and perhaps extremely dangerous.

In most cases, people are interested in increasing the power output of an engine. Many well tried and tested techniques have been devised to achieve this, but essentially all operate to increase the rate (and to a lesser extent efficiency) of combustion in a given engine. This is achieved by putting more fuel/air mixture into the engine, using a fuel with higher energy content, burning it more rapidly, and getting rid of the waste products more rapidly - this increases volumetric efficiency. The specific ways this is done include:

Increasing the engine displacement. This can be done by "boring" - increasing the diameter of the cylinders and pistons, or by "stroking" - using a crankshaft with a longer stroke (in combination with pistons of shorter compression height, to maintain the original compression ratio), or both.;

Read more at Wikipedia.org