Karmageddon

I'm just wondering if there are some inexpensive ways to get a few more ponies out of the 5.2L engine.

If this has been visited before I could not find it searching here.

Cleman Simpson

A cold air intake system with K and N filter and a low restriction muffler such as a flowmaster setup, and some higher performance fuel injectors and spark plugs. I would have to say though that I put K and N filter setup on my Indian motorcycle and found grit in the carburetor throat on the first oil change afterward. I threw the Kand N filter in the trash and changed to a stock Harley filter.

edit to add: There are some relatively inexpensive add on engine computer control units which supposedly add up to a 30% boost in horsepower and torque with no other modifications but I have not tried any of them. I know a couple of guys who destroyed the cumins diesels in their ram trucks using chip kits.

Edit again to add: Before my wife nagged me into trading my 2011 wrangler in for a Cherokee soccer mom latitude I had planned on adding a supercharger kit to the pretty anemic v-6 engine it came with. these supercharger kits are available from most of the off road parts suppliers and the one I was going to get was around 500 dollars. It just bolts to the front of the engine along with everything else the serpentine belt drives and looks to be a pretty simple installation. Nitrous oxide kits are around the same price but with a supercharger you don't have to fool with getting fresh bottles and the power is there from the second you hit the throttle. I have run turbocharger setups on several of my hot rods in years past but will never d it again as they are expensive and tend to destroy your engine when they come unglued, which is a pretty frequent occurrence.

dave1123

I would like to add that most factory induction filter systems ARE cold-air systems because they take air from in front of the radiator, NOT heated underhood air. Also, flow bench tests prove the ordinary flat pad filters flow over 4 times what the engine demands even at wide open throttle. Don't mess with a good thing. 2 things increase power, cramming more air into the motor or getting it out faster. Multi-port injectors create a finer fuel droplet making for a cleaner burn. When you start increasing the compression ratio or using a high performance camshaft, then the computer needs a totally different performance profile.

Cleman Simpson

Dave is exactly right about the camshaft and compression upgrades, which is why I didn't go there at all. Back in the day the first thing to do to a motor was stuff a high lift long duration cam and a set of high compression pistons in it with a set of headers, aluminum high rise intake with a bigger holley and either a four speed manual or stall convertor equipped shift kitted auto tranny. A new set of advance weights and dual points in the distributor and a high energy coil was about all you could do to the ignition system.

Having done all this you could jump a 250 horse engine to 500 or more horsepower. and still run pump gas. As Dave pointed out those days are long gone since computers have taken over control of the engine. Most modern engines don't even have a hole to stick a distributor in if you wanted to go old school and any modifications to the cam and compression are most likely going to require a racing ecm which is completely programmable, and a laptop and software to do the programming. that opens a whole new can of worms that your average backyard mechanic is not going to be able to deal with and it is going to cost a boat load of money to accomplish.

dave1123

YES! Today you open a website and order a crate engine that comes with it's own controller! It's taken all the fun out of hotrodding! And cost big bucks! The old small block Chevy was designed on a 300 hp platform and you could bump it up to 500 hp and get it to stay together. Today's LS platform was designed with 600 hp in mind.

To high end of this is Koenigsegg, who has taken the F1 powerplant and made it street driveable with a 1 million pricetag!

Karmageddon

What I was kind of wondering about is what if any injectors I could swap in to gain a few ponies. I know I could put in a throttle body spacer in to gain a little bit. Other than that I am at a loss.... No I am not ripping into the engine to put a cam in it or up the compression.

As far as exhaust I already eliminated the muffler but still have to keep the cat. on it.

Cleman Simpson

Four hole injectors are probably going to be your best bet to gain a few horses while still keeping good reliability for a daily driver. I would also get some heat blanket and insulate the air intake system while I was at it. The colder you can keep the incoming air the more power the engine is going to make. The cooler air will probably give you more power increase than the injectors will. Sometimes you can find a junked out turbo car at the wrecking yard and strip off the intercooler which will really get that air feed cooled down.

Weight of the vehicle is another easy way to get more power. In my old Challenger I took out the rear and passenger seat, the spare tire, jack, and excess gasoline when I was drag racing it. Just these simple steps can shave hundreds of lbs. off a vehicle and make a big difference in how quick she trots out a quarter mile. I never channeled out the frame on mine but a lot of guys did to get even more weight reduction, along with fiberglass body panels and aluminum wheels. Venting your engine compartment to get rid of more engine heat will also help some. A larger bore throttle body will flow more air into the engine and may gain you some power also.

edit to add: If you are working on a tight budget the biggest gain in neck popping ability would be to simply gear that baby down. Put in some 4:11 or 4:10 gears.

dave1123

YES! 4.10's and an LSD! Are we talking 2wd? 'cause smaller, wider tires will help also. 4.10's will give you 6 grand at the end of the quarter in 3rd gear. She'll fall on her face in 4th.

Moco

Do you want to spend $600 in injectors to gain 1.5 hp on a 20 year old truck? This truck wasnt made for performance and anything short of a supercharger, turbo, head & intake porting, and ECM tuning is not going to give you any real gains. All those things I listed above are going to cost mucho $$$$ and only get you marginal gains because again, this isnt a performance motor in a performance platform.

If you must throw money trying to chase horsepower - look into headers, pull your cats (should be the most noticeable), and see if they make underdrive pulleys for your engine. Higher raito gears and a shift kit for the tranny might get you more oomph and drop a 1/20 or 1/10 of a second off your 0-60.

Cleman Simpson

The thing about gear ratios is that the weaker the engine the more the ET will improve as compared to a high performance engine which doesn't need as much mechanical advantage to get off the line quickly.

That is pretty much the point I was trying to make about changing the rear end gear ratios. If you are not willing or able to make some pretty major modifications to your engine then the low cost modifications altogether are maybe going to get you another fifteen to twenty horses. That is not going to make much difference at all in your quarter mile ET. On the other hand I have seen old Camaros, Mustangs, etc. knock over a full second off their ET with no modifications at all to the engine and only a simple gear change from 3:73 to 4:10 or 4:11.

Most of that gain comes in the hole shot, getting that car from a dead stop into its power band in just a few feet and keeping it there throughout the gear shifts. The downside is you will sacrifice top end speed and gas mileage, and your engine will be running at higher rpm at highway speeds.. Small displacement low compression engines really thrive on gear ratio swaps due to their extreme shortage of torque.

If there is a hot rod shop in your area you could look into having your existing ECM reprogrammed with a better performance profile and get a pretty big increase in horsepower and torque. Afteer Harley went to computer controlled ignition and throttle body injection on the twin cam motors you would find engine tuners set up at every major bike rally. I had my 2007 heritage softail reprogrammed and picked up a dyno tested twenty horses. On a motorcycle engine. think about that for a minute. The vehicle manufacturers have to meet EPA mandated smog and mileage mandates, and they want to make sure the engines hold together until the warranty is up no matter how you drive them. They often shave off up to 30% or more of the actual available horsepower via a detune of the motor to meet these mandates. The advantage of having a shop do the tune over a chip kit you install yourself is that they can dyno test and customize the tune to get maximum performance out of your specific vehicle and the intended use of it be it off roading or drag racing.

wheelerboy12

a stock drop in K&N is best, and cheapest, factory intake is better then the cone filter and shield IMO specially if you 4wheel. that cone filter intake acts like a straw.
Throttle body spacer is also a waste imo, makes more noise is all, get a modified stock throttle body, real gains.

4 hole injectors
180 degree T stat
e fan
1.7 roller rockers
hughs performance modified stock throttle body
Good full header back exhaust
maybe a cam shaft
if you have a 98 superchips makes a tuner that works


theres a few more things you could do

another route you could go is boost it. a few pounds of boost on a healthy motor shouldnt cause any issues, and theres plenty to gain.

Turbo X_J

Why?
Do you just want to burn more fuel and break stuff? If you can't afford to mod it, how will you be able to afford to fix it?
BTW, converter with no muffler no only sounds bad, it's not good for the engine.

dave1123

Oh NO! A mature attitude! LOL!

Turbo X_J

^
Just like the old saying:
"Doesn't matter how fast it goes if you can't get it stopped" lolz.

Cleman Simpson

Don't listen to that, soup that rig up and destroy some tires. It's good for the soul.