Replacing Common Car Parts Yourself

New to Towing? How to Help Your Vehicle Take the Strain

by Roy Bradley

Have you recently purchased a caravan so that you can take your family on some much-needed holiday breaks? If so, you may have adjusted your vehicle by mounting a towing kit, fitted all the connections and made sure that everything is perfectly safe. However, before you depart on a marathon trip across the country, you might need to give a helping hand to your tow vehicle, especially if the caravan is rather on the large side. Do you think that you can generate enough power for the job or do you need to upgrade a certain component?

Growing Your Turbo

Many vehicles these days are equipped with a turbocharger as a standard item, and it's quite possible that yours is, as well. After all, these components are chosen by the vehicle manufacturer because they can help to increase horsepower quite efficiently, even with a relatively small engine installed. Yet they are not designed to set the world on fire and have certain limitations. You may find that you need a lot more power when towing your caravan, especially when it comes to overtaking.

Planning Modifications

Even the humblest of engines can be modified to improve performance, boost horsepower and impact efficiency by remapping or make an adjustment to the ECU. You can also make a big difference by upgrading your turbocharger, which will then work in concert with a remapped engine.

Upgrading

As you may know, engine output is a direct result of the amount of fuel burned within the combustion chambers. As there is only so much capacity within these chambers, you can increase the amount of fuel that enters if you compress the all-important air and this is where a turbocharger comes into its own. However, when a stock turbo reaches the limit of its power, it may start to wear out and the temperature of the air will increase. In turn, this can cause performance degradation and long-term damage in some cases.

Calculating Your Needs

You will need to determine just how much power you want before you can choose the right type of turbocharger. To do this, figure out how much of a performance increase you need as this will dictate how much air you will need within the chambers. In turn, you will then be able to pick a turbo that is capable of moving that volume.

Making the Right Decision

Of course, this will require some careful calculation, but you can always ask your component supplier for help before you buy. Reach out to companies like Denco Diesel & Turbo for more information.

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