What is the best way to increase horsepower and torque?

Question

What would be the best cheap and easy way to gain horsepower and torque. I have a 1998 Chevy C1500 4.3 V6 pickup and I would like more horsepower. If you know a good way just tell me, I will be the judge if it is to much for my wallet.

Answer 1

Cheapest ways
A good synthetic oil, Irridium plugs, well shielded leads, cold air induction (not just a pod in the engine bay sucking in hot air), Extractors (headers for you yankees) high flow catalytic convertor, x-pipe for dual exhaust system, flow through mufflers. (K&N filters are a rather overrated) High octane petrol. Weight stripping. Good tyres.

More expensive:
NA mods like cams, headwork (heads cc'd, flow tested shaved etc), adjustable ECU, higher compression pistons,
Block boring (if can be done) stroke adjusted.

Very expensive:
Turbo or supercharger kits, less expensive for low boost, higher boost will require modifications to the engine, ECU, fuel systems, exhaust systems and air intake to be reliable.

Answer 2

Cheap and easy?

It does not exist.

There will be many claims advertised about huge benefits to be had for reasonable prices, but all of them are lies.

For immediate gains, and very little cost, you can set up the engine to its best specifications, clean up both the air flow and the fuel system, starting at the tank. Several companies make good fuel system cleaner/conditioners and a set of spark plugs is a good investment anyway.

Look at an after-market air cleaner, such as K and N, for a more efficient air flow, and also an improved oil filter.

For your engine you might find a throttle-body spacer that will be inexpensive, but may add a small boost of a few horsepower as it improves the fuel/air mixture flow.


After that, you are spending heavier cash, and unless you get the right combination of equipment and have it installed AND set up correctly then you may get little or no real benefit, but still shorten the life of your engine.

The ONLY quick way is to spend lots of money.

Answer 3

How To Increase Torque

Answer 4

The 4.3 is basically a 350 less 2 rear cyls. hence, responds well to same mods as other small blk. Chevys. 1st increase airflow on induction side, ie. K&N, cold air induction, intake manifold. 2nd improve exhaust flow. Headers, cat backs, &/or freer flowing mufflers. 3rd good ignition system such as MSD 6AL 4th aftermarket computer programs avg. 12-20hp increase. (v8) 5th a good RV cam will offer both improved power and economy. Concentrate on torque figures, as that's what you'll feel from behind the wheel. Check out Comp Cams hyd. roller choices. Good luck

Answer 5

The obvious answer is more air flow = more fuel intake = more power and torque. You have many choices to achieve these. Remeber you'll need to do so and still stay smog legal. Computer chips and fresh air flow systems as mentioned prior might be your only and cheapest solution. You might check a local junk yard GMC cyclones had 4.3 w/ 200 h.p. also check some Chevy hot rod mags they have plenty of tricks in 'em... good luck.

Answer 6

Torque is primarily a factor of displacement, so not much you can do there...

Horsepower is primarily a matter of engine BREATHING first of all...before adding fuel, you need to provide the best breathing (and exhaust) possible.

You can bolt on this and that and get small gains, but if you want serious horsepower, you'll need to turbocharge for openers or plunk in a V8.

Answer 7

Any improvement in air intake and direct flow in the exhaust.
Also, if your vehicle has a computer module, there are after market modules that essentially fool the computer past the settings of the manufacturer. But some modules are actually illegal or damage your computer, so be very careful in selecting one that will work legally and reliably.

I'm sure with a Google search you can find a host of aftermarket products for your make and model.

These are very basic and cost effective methods short of going with a bigger engine.

Answer 8

Put on some aftermarket exhaust ie Flowmaster, Magnaflow, ect. and put in a K&N air filter will help out a little bit. New headers would also help but that will cost you a little bit more. thats about it for doing it cheap. You want real horse power then put on a turbo kit or a supercharger.

Answer 9

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No, more power usually shifts the maximum efficiency higher in the RPM range. So in other words a higher HP engine(all other things being equal) will be less efficient at lower RPM.

Answer 10

To be honest, that engine is kinda small for a C/K ie "big" Chevy truck, was alot better in the S10. What I am going to suggest you may or may not like. I suggest bailing on the 4.3 altogether and build up a mild 350 (5.7) engine for it, unless you want to go gonzo and put a big block in it.