[postie]

Ok, I keep reading and deciding on first mods. Some will be do-it-myself, some will be shop.

What is the "horsepower/torque" correlation? Where is horsepower located? Yes, at the rear wheels is good...but what does that mean? WHERE do we want to make horsepower increases and WHY?

This also must take into consideration how one mod might affect another mod, right? If we add something to enhance horsepower, we might lose torque. If we add torque, we have improvement at high or low rpm's, etc. How does it all come together?

If I can understand this concept, I will better be able to choose mods in an order to enhance my system as I go, rather than live with a few mods, and not such great performance, until I can do better.

What must be kept in balance and why?

If there is somewhere for me to read about this issue, send me there...I lurk around the articles, but know I certainly haven't found them all. Better yet...someone just explain horsepower/torque/high-end/low-end correlations!!!!! I know it may depend on whether a person wants to run at the race track or on the side-roads...but I need to get a general understanding.

Thanks

[Roadhawg]

Well my best correlation is:

Horsepower = Money

More Horsepower = More Money

As you increase Horsepower you find the weakest item in your drive train, which equals more money.

[Onemanzu]

all right ima give you a foundation for others to build on...

Torque - this is the amount of raw power that your engine can put out... torque is always their... and on our cars pretty constant throught out the RPM range...

Now horse power... thats more of the power that you can feel... say when you step on the gas and it starts going then around 3k rpm you start to feel alot of pull ... thats your horse power and its calulated by some equation that is calculated from your torque...

These are easest to measure from your drive wheels that is what a dyno does... (some one might be able to explain more about that)

These are all related in a way between the amount of air and fuel that goes in and out of your engine... the more air and fuel you put in the more you have to let out... thats why you would lose torque or horse power at any point... and thats why when you upgrade the exhaust you lose a bit of low end torque... kinda...

If you want to mod your engine and keep it at a nice easy balance you will have to take it step by step... put air and fuel in let exhaust out... once you do that upgrade the cam and increase it more their...

hopefully others will be able to elabirate on what i have said... and help you more

[Cricket]

Alright horsepower is the amount of power that is made from your engine. There is a loss of horesepower from your engine to the wheels. Torque is the physical force of using your horsepower. Thus why more horsepower means more torque. Yes, either or could be loss in the process of building more up, but mainly more hp means more tq. That is extremely brief.

[Onemanzu]

oh i forgot to mention ... horse power can be found anywhere from the crank back... thats why some people (including manufactures) say at the fly or flywheel...

im not sure what the % loss from the crank to the wheels is

[Cricket]

depends on tranny

[postie]

It's getting clearer

So, what gives better performance at higher rpm's and what gives better performance at lower rpm's...mod wise?

Also, for example...I mentioned my truck going to the shop...one problem noticed right off by the shop guy was "too much air" and "running to lean" (truck is also older Ford).

So, with our cars...if we get too much air (such as a large diameter exhaust flow) with cai...which pushes a great deal of air throughout the system, and we lose torque or hp, spacers can take up the slack...why is that? And, if we do some of the simple mods which increase air flow, we still have stock fuel flow (at least until we can afford to increase that). So, the results are???

[Onemanzu]

... what they ment buy running lean is that their wasn't enough fuel getting to the engine to match the amount of air that was going in...

For our car... the computer will readjust... a tiny bit... to match the amount of air that is going in... the stock injectors that are in the sixer are good for about 200-225 horse power easily...

[kerry]

see if this helps... a lil technical but some good answers

http://vettenet.org/torquehp.html

[Hate-a-Saurus]

Horsepower is located in your flux capaciter.

[postie]

WHAT A WONDERFUL ARTICLE...thanks, and thanks again. I think I lost sight of the whole gear issue when I bought the automatic!!! For example, back to my truck...obviously, I change gears when I need to...I can "hear" and "feel" when to do that...I can even pay attention to mph or rpm's to do so. With the auto, we just go, hardly noticing what is actually going on.

Of course, truck is an v8 and car is a v6, but judging by the article, one could probably keep up with the other for at least a few feet...lol Then the difference shows as the truck would pull away and say bye-bye.

I did notice on the v6 stang, that if you keep your foot in the gas pedal a little, we don't find the last gear until after 70+ mph (didn't notice rpm's). I've NEVER driven the car hard and only had it as far as 120 mph once on the freeway...a corvette lady apparently wanted to play and my car was brand new...we stayed together for a few seconds, but before I knew it, the vette was in the next town and I was wondering where it went...LOL I felt a slight breeze...LOL

So, we need to make our hp/torque increase as equally as we can as we go, and once we reach a certain point, make sure we have enough fuel flowing to keep up (any one know what point that would be?). Does this sound reasonable?

Back to my very basic first mods: cai/filter, LT cat full exhaust, 4:10 gears and T-Lok. What are these mods going to do for my car, balance-wise (with hp/torque)? High rpm/low rpm performance? Obviously, from the article, I should be able to stomp on it and find everyone hanging on to the back seat....but within a few seconds, I'm probably back to about stock, right?

Not that there is anywhere around my town to check that out...lol There was a VERY, VERY bad street racing accident in my town...mustang and viper. One "racer", the stang, hit two girls in the rear, starting an awful fire. One girl died, the other severely burned. Both were high-school beauty and prom queens and the racers are now in court facing murder charges. Needless to say, people are driving very quietly around here as this is a very controversial issue in my town.

I'll keep re-reading the article...it will help me match up my parts appropriately as I go

[kerry]

yea its really good

[oldernewbie]

Interesting stuff....and a great thread.

[PaperCross]

Good thread..just wondering...if you drop a CAI...dont you have to tune up with a some handheld device like SCT or Diablosport or something like that to adjust for the increased air flow? or is this done automatically by the computer?...and is that what a mass airflow sensor is for? I read in this thread that the computer adjusts automatically...but i read somewhere else that it has to be calibrated manually...thus my confusion

[turp]

Originally Posted by PaperCross Good thread..just wondering...if you drop a CAI...dont you have to tune up with a some handheld device like SCT or Diablosport or something like that to adjust for the increased air flow? or is this done automatically by the computer?...and is that what a mass airflow sensor is for? I read in this thread that the computer adjusts automatically...but i read somewhere else that it has to be calibrated manually...thus my confusion

With the S197's I have heard that the computers are very finnicky and will need a tune with even the smallest mod but I have also heard of people putting on CAI and the computer doing fine.

[itschristorres8]

its located in the horses legs

[ManThatStangs]

right behind ur macktospractor by the dividgulator output conbunction

[itschristorres8]

^slap him

[ManThatStangs]

haha.. calm down kids.. eat your veggies

[itschristorres8]

no comment....on the gay cmment