From big bore intake stacks, and manifolds, to super sized six inch bore exhaust pipes, getting diesel power doesn’t get any easier. We want to explain to you how any person with a few simple tools can go out in the garage, or in the front yard, pop open the hood to their diesel powered engine, and begin cranking up the horsepower. Letting an engine breath is a great way to free up some ponies that were restricted at the factory, but you have to make sure that they are emissions legal in your state before you make these modifications. Not being able to pass a smog test means you can’t register your vehicle in some states, but in my personal location in Florida, we don’t have any emissions laws, and people run around with exhausts taken completely off of cars all the time. The reasons manufacturers restrict the diesel engine power is because of these very emissions tests, and because the laws are so strict on new car manufacturers, the producers of these vehicles absolutely have to ensure they meet every states codes. This means putting on restrictions that your state may not require.

If you are wanting to begin freeing up some diesel power that has been cut off back at the factory, then you want to begin by looking at the way your engines intake it set up. If there is a restrictive air box surrounding the air filter, then you are probably going to be able to get a couple of ponies out from under the hood. All you will have to do is purchase an after market air filter that is open, and then remove the air box assembly and save it for a later date, in case you want to sell the truck. This one mod will help the engine breath in a lot easier.

As for breathing out the used exhaust fumes, your diesel powered engine is going to need some bigger exhaust pipes. In most states, there aren’t a lot of requirements on the size of the pipes you can use, but manufacturers still restrict it because of different states emissions laws regarding diesel powered engines. If the pipes are 2 inch or even 3 inch sized pipes, you can probably increase them to 4 inches, or even larger if you are using a fuel map programmer type of unit.

If you are trying to get more diesel power from your large truck or diesel engine, then you have probably already looked around for modifications that you can perform in order to make more diesel power. In order for you to really make the most of your engine, you have to first understand how the systems work together in order to produce horsepower that turns the rear wheels. Torque really turns the real wheels, horsepower keeps them moving, but that is a topic for another day. It is a really simple principal actually, and that is because air and fuel mixed together cause an explosion, containing this explosion inside of a small cylinder helps to spin a shaft, which in turn spins the wheels. All of this happens hundreds of times in the blink of an eye. You can use software to change the settings around, to adjust how much air and fuel the engine is getting at any given amount of time, but for those of you that aren’t that advanced, we have to recommend using an automatic diesel power programmer. These little units are extremely handy for changing around your fuel map settings on the fly. They are so easy to use, even my spouse can use it, and she doesn’t care anything about vehicles.

The first way to build more diesel power is to let the engine breath a bit, and open up its airways. By installing a larger intake, and bigger bore exhaust pipes, sometimes over 4 inches in diameter, you are going to allow the engine to breath in, as well as push out the exhaust fumes a lot easier, and this in turn converts to more horsepower and torque. Once you have modified these two parts of the truck, you are just about done messing with the smaller bolt on stuff, that will give you a quick boost in horses.

The last part that I talked about was the computer programming diesel power unit. These little gadgets let you push a few buttons to change what type of horsepower and torque rations you want, on the fly. If you are towing and need more torque, there is a setting for that. Driving through town, and need better gas mileage, there is a setting for that. It doesn’t matter what your requirements are, having a diesel power programmer will help you adjust the engines fuel map to whatever suits you best at the time.