Actuator Technology Center

Are you a tuner? A true tuner that isor, are you a rice boy? Yeah, you know what I mean. Serious tuners bring out the power in their cars while rice boys slap on every imaginable part to make their car look like a racer when in fact they are not. So, what does it take to bring out the power in your engine? Not a whole lot! Let’s examine some helpful performance enhancing parts for your vehicle to give it a truly tuned edge.

Sorry for the pejorative term. Enhancing one’s car is a very personal thing and no everyone’s tastes vary. Still, some enhancements add little to the car’s value and can, in fact, take away from its performance. So, here are a few things you can do to add some zap to your engine:

Go Green — Yep. Environmentally sound air filters are where it’s at. For between 40 and 65 bucks you can get the last air filter your car will ever need. Reusable, green air filters like those made by K&N bring out the performance in your car. Made of cotton gauze material, performance air filters increase acceleration and power as it provides excellent filtration. You’ll never have to buy another air filter again!

Chips ‘n Tuners — Get the most out of your engine’s performance by swapping out the power chip that came with your car for one that is truly enhanced. Jet Chips can go a long way to tune your car while a Hypertech tuner can do the same thing. With the latter product, you simply plug the device into your car’s under dash diagnostic connector and follow the instructions on the unit to raise performance. Later, if you want, you can detune your car quickly. Both products are street legal in all fifty U.S. states and will not void new car warranties.

Cold Air Intake — Installing this product will allow your engine to “eat” the air that it wants to eat. Cold air is thicker and denser and just what your engine needs to perform optimally. Install a cold air intake and your car will be “tuned” to accelerate and perform with much more freedom. You’ll like the improvement in looks too as cold air intakes are a real “stand out” in any car’s engine bay. Oh, yeah, get a load of its cool intake sound too!

Amazing Exhaust Systems — A crowd favorite are some of the performance exhaust systems on the market. Borla, for one, offers cat-back exhaust systems and headers made of aircraft durable A-304 stainless steel. This product will help free up your engine’s performance resulting in horsepower gains from 5-15%! Yeah, you’ll have a real edge on the road now! Check out the cool exhaust sound too.

Best of all, all four products I mentioned not only give your car more power, but they will help to increase fuel mileage. That’s right a poorly performing engine actually acts as a drain on fuel economy, so you are actually helping to jack up fuel mileage by installing parts that really can make a difference!

Copyright 2006 - Matt Keegan is The Auto Writer covering topics from replacement auto parts to accessories to protect your vehicle. To find quality K&N products or a cold air intake and K&N air filter products shop with the Auto Parts Warehouse today!

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Because there are several air filter manufacturers on the market, it is helpful to be able to sort through the different manufacturers and products. The brief manufacturer/product profiles below are intended to help consumers do just that.

Honeywell
Honeywell dates back to 1885, and produces thermostats, air cleaners, humidifiers, and more. They offer four types of air filters: Replacement Media filters, HEPA air cleaners, Media Air Cleaners, and Electronic air cleaners. All these filters has advanced technology and meet American Lung Association Health House guidelines. Honeywell’s Whole-House HEPA Air Cleaner provides a powerful, three-stage filtration process to deliver the cleanest air. The three-stage filter system includes activated carbon, pre-filter and HEPA filter. These filters contain an AIRWATCH indicator, which reminds when to change filter, and come with a one-year warranty. The Honeywell’s Electronic Air Filter destroys almost 98% of pollutants and comes with a 5 year-warranty. Honeywell also offers two types of Media air filters: Furnace Mount Air cleaners and Return Grille air cleaners.

K&N
Unlike traditional disposable filters, for over 30 years K&N has been manufacturing air filters designed to achieve high, virtually unrestricted air flow and long engine life. K&N offers Replacement air filters that fit exactly into the standard OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) motorcycle air box, Universal air filters for racing vehicles, and more. There are almost 1000 shapes/styles of Universal air filters, each of which come under a one-year warranty. They have high flow cotton media who, providing greater performance and protection from infectants and pollutants. Replacement air filters have a million mile limited warranty. These filters also increase horsepower and acceleration of the vehicle along with filtration.

Air Bear
Trion Air Bear offers Furnace filters, Replacement filters and Media cleaners. Air Bear provides both whole house air cleaners and portable air cleaners, which facilitate cost efficient air filtration. Three sizes are available with three different dimensions 3×6x15, 5×20x25 and 20×20x5. The cost of Air Bear filter ranges from $100 to $170 depending upon the size and dimensions of the filter.

Hunter Air Filters
Hunter manufactures two distinct lines of air filters called the QuietFlow line and their so-called popular HEPAtech line of air purifiers. The HEPAtech filters use a combination of cleaning technologies, with a charcoal filter to remove odors in the house. Charcoal filters must be replaced regularly. The QuietFlow air filters are based on HEPA filters, which also need to be replaced regularly, at least once a year, for effective filtration. The cost of these two types of filters ranges from $15 to $90.

Oreck
The US-based Oreck offers a powerful Oreck XL Professional Air Purifier, which completely regenerates the air in a 30′x 30′ room every hour by capturing and destroying bacteria, pet dander, household dust and allergens. This filter traps 95% of airborne particles, some as minute as one thousand times smaller than a single hair. The light in the filter indicates when the filter needs cleaning. There is five-stage purification process in the Oreck XL Professional Air Purifier, which makes it more powerful than HEPA filter in air filtration. The five-stage system contains a pre-filter, positive charging wires, a collector, charcoal odor absorbers and an air-revitalizer, which say goodbye to all dust mites, and airborne allergens.

Air Filters Info provides detailed information on home, car, electronic, and HEPA air filters, as well as air conditioner filters and air filter manufacturers. Air Filters Info is the sister site of Air Purifiers Web.

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We all want to do everything we can to ensure that the air we breathe in our homes and office environments is clean and healthy. Luckily, there are now dozens of consumer products now on the market that work to filter air and reduce the presence of indoor pollutants. These air cleaners may be purchased as portable units that fit easily you’re your living space, or in the form of in-duct systems to be installed as part of your HVAC system (the industry abbreviation for your heating, ventilation and air conditioning system).

With such different types and so many products available for us to choose from, how to decide which is best? Let’s take a look at the basic categories of air filtering devices and what each group offers:

HEPA Filters

HEPA stands for “high efficiency particulate air,” and a HEPA filter is basically a sieve that collects offensive particles so they won’t circulate in the air. HEPA filters are highly effective, trapping nearly one hundred percent (99.97%) of pollutants down to a size of .3 microns (to give you a sense of scale, a human hair is about 70 microns in diameter).

These filters are so good at cleaning air that they are often considered the most efficient of all filtration units. But don’t rush out to buy one yet-there are a few important factors to consider. HEPA filters need to be replaced frequently, which makes sense when you consider that they function by trapping contaminants. Depending on the cost of filters and the frequency with which you need to change your particular model, this can be an expensive choice. Moreover, HEPA filters are good at cleaning the air within small spaces, but they are not a home-wide solution. Of course you could place a filter in each room, but this may not be practical.

Still, if you want a great bang for your buck, HEPA filters are a terrific choice and very, very effective. Just keep the above considerations in mind when choosing one (or several) portable filter units for your home.

Pleated Filters

These may also be called “media” filters. They are similar to HEPA filters but are pleated, or folded, with the result that they are substantially less effective. A pleated filter will trap as little as half the particles as a HEPA filter, but it will do well with containing larger particles. So, for example, if your main problem is dust, this may be a good choice for you.

Electrostatic/Electronic Cleaners

Whereas HEPA filters physically block and remove pollutants, requiring replacement of filters, electrostatic or electronic cleaners work in a slightly different way. These units contain electronically charged plates that impart an ionic charge to floating air particles, causing them to be attracted to the plates (remember high school science class?) and forced through what is known as foam pre-filter.

You won’t have replace the plates contained in these units, but you will have to wash them periodically to clean them of debris and buildup. If you don’t, you run the risk of the particles getting re-re-released into the air. A clean and well-maintained unit will keep down the amount of dust, mold, and bacteria in your home environment.

Cleaners with Activated Carbon

Filter and electrostatic cleaners grab offending particles from the air, but a different technology is needed in order to rid your living space of odors and invisible chemical contaminants. That’s where carbon comes into the picture-some air cleaners are sold with mats of activated carbon, which pulls these teeny molecules out of the air to keep it squeaky clean. Note that many electronic filters do contain carbon filters.

Charcoal Filters

A charcoal filter, or any air cleaning device that contains a charcoal filter, can be very useful if you battle unwanted odors in your home environment. This is because charcoal is a porous substance with a great capacity for trapping gases with offensive smells. Charcoal, when used in a filter, may be treated with chemicals in order to enhance its ability to eliminate odors from the air.

Hybrid Filters

Simply put, hybrid filters are filters that are combinations of multiple types of air filters. For example, a popular type of hybrid filters involves both an electronic charge, as described above, as well as a pleated fabric to capture and collect particles in the air. This can be a good all-around solution to your clean air concerns, but just be sure to keep the filter itself clean, otherwise it won’t function properly.

In making your decision, choose based on the amount of space you wish to treat, as well as your largest areas of concern. For example, if you smoke or live in a place where the air has been exposed to smoke, you may wish to use a filter that removes odor as well as particles. If dust is your main concern, then a pleated filter may do the job for you. Whatever you choose, you will be well on the way to a healthier and happier home environment!

For the shocking truth of how filthy indoor air can get, please visit our indoor pollution and home air filter purifier site.

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