So currently im stuck at 7500 feet while i go to school. no biggy car runs fine. but i noticed when i go home for breaks ( about 3000 feet) my car has TONS more power. why is this and is there a way i can keep it like this. i like this extra bit of power cause i can climb hills a bit better while on the highway and also pass better. plus its just a little more fun to rip around town. anyways. thanks for any help its apreciated.
Air pressure at a higher altitude is lower. The higher above sea-level you get the lower it becomes. During the WWII piston-driven war planes overcame this by using an adjustable-boost supercharger to increase the amount of air that entered the engine. The higher they went, the higher the relative boost numbers they needed to run. This allowed them to fly at higher altitudes than before without it. It was later found that turbocharging was far more effective at overcoming the reduced air pressure at high altitudes only without the engine operator's attendance to the boost controls & without needing to draw from the crank to spin it (Re: Free Energy). Jet engines (which themselves are like turbos in operation) overcome the problem naturally, with the only limits on height being internal tolerances & total available thrust to use against the weight of the craft it is in. Heck, ledgendary USAF test pilot once pushed a jet to the edge of the atmosphere angled straight-up before it ran out of air to compress. So my advice, get a turbo!
Go beyond the "bolt-on".
only thing with that is. i guess i should have mentioned. the power eventually balances out and the car responds like it was at 7500 feet again. plus turbo or supercharging is not really an option cause i have a 96 OHV so theres no good fuel upgrade.
No good fuel upgrades?! Haven't you heard of the top-feed conversions that people on this board are working on? As for your problem, seek-out a MAP sensor that doubles as a barometric sensor. You might need one from a different app than what you have but as long as it interchanges physically use it! That's all for now!
Go beyond the "bolt-on".
i know about the top feed. its something i really want to do. BUT its way past my abilities and nobody where i live would know where to even begin. i could also use saturn injectors but i have to do some PCM work wich i dont trust myself to do. and can you give me more details on this map sensor your talking about.
Okay... I've thought about it further And have come to a few conclusions:
The system is just readjusting to the altitude change when it comes down from higher-up. I think you may already have the type of MAP sensor I'm talkin' about so that may be disregarded.
Your car powered by a 2.2L I-4, right? You drive a 4-dr Cavy so it won't be a suprise to me if it is. If so you've gotten yourself in a bit of a jam in that your engine, truth be told, isn't that powerful in the first place. The LN2 (Your engine) was sadly designed to be a high-efficiency workhorse, nothing more. It was widely used by GM in many smaller FWD cars & RWD '94-up S-10-based pickups and SUVs. In fact my truck has one, and despite the 4.10 gears in the axle (factory) it can't get around that it's a 3200lbs truck being moved by a 120hp 130ft-lb torque engine. Cavys don't seem to have it much better from what I gather, and even though there is supposedly a GM build guide for the internal tu-tu hot parts are mostly far, few and usually installer fitted or fabbed. Your choices seem limited to what you can bolt-on, so you might as well go that route as far as you can. Search here for tips and links and you'll find what you need. As for the PCM reprogram, go to a shop that does work with a HP Tuner. They set it all right, but get the parts on first for best results and to keep from needing to make returns to the shop for retunes.
Go beyond the "bolt-on".
