HP vs Torque!?!

[Frankthetank]

I know this is gonna sound like a retarded beginners question.....
But what is the difference between Horsepower and torque?

I understand torque, that it is the power to push ur car off the line, and its what gets you down the track.....

But what is the point of horsepower?

[2000pontiac6]

I always thought more torque = better off the line and hp like kept you going or something not exactly sure

[Tyler_LS1]

im not an expert at this, but find out what RPM your TQ drops off at.. and next time you go out and race your car, shift at that RPM and i bet you Quarter time will drop ALOT. genrally the faster your motor turns over then the more HP you have, TQ is just getting it to Turn over. its gives a nice lowend for driving on the street, but when your drag racing your mostly way up in the power band after the TQ drops off, idk if i expressed this the way i wanted to but hopefully this helps:)

2000pontiac6 is right about take off from the line ( if you take off from a lower RPM) you may get a better launch if you launch from you max TQ's RPM. ( considering you have the drive train to handle it)

[cailey37]

I know this is gonna sound like a retarded beginners question.....
But what is the difference between Horsepower and torque?

I understand torque, that it is the power to push ur car off the line, and its what gets you down the track.....

But what is the point of horsepower?

Torque is what you feel when you stab the throttle and plants you in your seat.......HP will translate into your MPH........

[Ed Blown Vert]

Torque is how quick you get to the line. HP is how fast you get to the line.

[Frankthetank]

lol what u mean ed....
do u mean hp is the speed ur at when u get to the line?

[Pythias]

I think of it as horsepower is just another name for topend or high end torque. Horsepower is what keeps you going after your torque has mostly dropped off. For example my friend has a stock 94 Mustang Gt 5 speed. He raced an Acura RSX the other day, from a dig in my friend would WASTE him, because he has much more torque than the RSX, however from a 70mph roll he lost by half a car becaue the RSX has more horsepower and revs higher. Hope this helped some.

[chevyguy8413]

Ok in physical terms , think of torque as the force produced (how intense the combustion cycle is) and horsepower is the accumulative effect of these cycles as RPM increases. Torque is frequently thought to be a function of displacement, when, in fact, other factors weigh heavily, as well....they all relate to air flow into the engine/cylinder filling. Horsepower is an indication of how high on the RPM curve the torque values are being maintained. Torque is measured; horsepowr is calculated from the torque and rpm by the following: BHP = (RPM x Torque)/5252

[tonyjnjz]

wow those mustangs are slower than i thought.........my 03 rsx-s didnt have shit up top.....was stock besides an ingen intake

[Frankthetank]

ok....im sorry i don tknow if im being dumb or not....but can u simplify the horsepower equation for me a little.....lol i feel like a tard

[Pythias]

wow those mustangs are slower than i thought.........my 03 rsx-s didnt have shit up top.....was stock besides an ingen intake

Well maybe the kid had mods? I dunno. Also my friend had stock 302 gears, 30 in 1st 60 in second 90 in third and so on, so that was a factor.

[Raoul-Duke]

wow those mustangs are slower than i thought.........my 03 rsx-s didnt have shit up top.....was stock besides an ingen intake

didn't have shit up top??!!...hmm my buddy had a 03 rsx s type with..cai, header, exhaust, i-vtec, and hondata controler er some crap like that...dude that car wasss sickkk top end...i mean sick to where i mean hanging with my buds m6 ls1 with a lid from a 30 mph roll....that thing would rev to near 9k....but once my buds ls1 hit third he slowly pulled away....however from a dig it was garbage

[BlackLT1Z28]

HP=(torquexRPM)/5252

Torque is a measure of twist and is the amount of work an engine can do.
Horsepower is derived from torque (as from equation) and is a measure of how fast an engine can do that work.
If you look at a dyno sheet, you'll notice that at 5252 RPM's, horsepower and torque are equal to each other.
But having a high horsepower engine isn't neccesarily better than a high torque engine. And this is where gear ratios come in. Torque is multiplied by the gear ratios, but horsepower is not. Horsepower is a function of RPM, so when the gear ratio changes (shifting) the RPM's change also.
This is why high torque engines and high revving high horsepower engines can perform similarily on the streets.
Sure, making a crap-load of torque at a very high RPM would yield high horsepower output, but making huge amounts of torque at a high RPM as opposed to a low RPM are two different things. Making torque at a lower RPM is more useful than a higher one. But this is how cams increase engine performance. Cams can move the torque band of an engine by increasing the fill-rates of an engine to a higher RPM. Since torque is the amount of work that can be done, and the most power comes from large fill-rates of a cylinder, filling that cylinder more effieciently at a higher RPM can yield more power, but a loss of torque and power down low.
Sorry for the long post. Let's put it this way.
Torque is for burnouts and horsepower is for moving down the track.

[Frankthetank]

hmmm that explained allot!....lol allot still a little over my head though.

I was always told that HP sells cars and torque wins races though

Also are u saying with smaller gears (higher number) ur torque is gonna increase?

[BlackLT1Z28]

hmmm that explained allot!....lol allot still a little over my head though.

I was always told that HP sells cars and torque wins races though

Also are u saying with smaller gears (higher number) ur torque is gonna increase?

Yep. Why do you think people upgrade their rear-end gear ratios.
Say someone has an engine putting out 300 lb/ft of torque, and had a 3:1 first gear and a 2.73 final drive. Their output at the wheels in first would be a total of 2457 lb/ft (300x3x2.73). But now, they decide to install 4.10's. Their new output would be 3690 lb/ft (300x3x4.10). That's an increase of 1233 lb/ft of torque!
That's why cars with lower gears launch so much harder and have the advantage from a dig.

[chevyguy8413]

HP=(torquexRPM)/5252

Torque is a measure of twist and is the amount of work an engine can do.
Horsepower is derived from torque (as from equation) and is a measure of how fast an engine can do that work.
If you look at a dyno sheet, you'll notice that at 5252 RPM's, horsepower and torque are equal to each other.
But having a high horsepower engine isn't neccesarily better than a high torque engine. And this is where gear ratios come in. Torque is multiplied by the gear ratios, but horsepower is not. Horsepower is a function of RPM, so when the gear ratio changes (shifting) the RPM's change also.
This is why high torque engines and high revving high horsepower engines can perform similarily on the streets.
Sure, making a crap-load of torque at a very high RPM would yield high horsepower output, but making huge amounts of torque at a high RPM as opposed to a low RPM are two different things. Making torque at a lower RPM is more useful than a higher one. But this is how cams increase engine performance. Cams can move the torque band of an engine by increasing the fill-rates of an engine to a higher RPM. Since torque is the amount of work that can be done, and the most power comes from large fill-rates of a cylinder, filling that cylinder more effieciently at a higher RPM can yield more power, but a loss of torque and power down low.
Sorry for the long post. Let's put it this way.
Torque is for burnouts and horsepower is for moving down the track.

whew...that's a "brainful" of info thanx ..u really kno howto say it

[smokin_ls1]

Torque feels fast. Horsepower is fast.

[BlackLT1Z28]

whew...that's a "brainful" of info thanx ..u really kno howto say it

No problem. Eh, just some shit I've picked up over the few years that I've been into cars. Ask me what torque is 3 years ago, I would have stared at you with a blank look on my face. When you're really curious about something, you'll find a way to understand it and make good use out of it. For some reason, I really understand a lot of the underlying mechanics of these amazing machines. I couldn't build one to save my life, but I can tell you how it works (for the most part).

[shady milkman]

No problem. Eh, just some shit I've picked up over the few years that I've been into cars. Ask me what torque is 3 years ago, I would have stared at you with a blank look on my face. When you're really curious about something, you'll find a way to understand it and make good use out of it. For some reason, I really understand a lot of the underlying mechanics of these amazing machines. I couldn't build one to save my life, but I can tell you how it works (for the most part).

:yup: me too..we are a amazing breed :P not really gear heads but damn close.

[BlackLT1Z28]

Yeah, but I would love to have to opportunity to tear down an engine and put it back together. With enough time, I think I could do it. MY friend and I might tear some old ass 4 banger out of some junkyard car and tear into that first, just to see how everything goes. God, I love engines.

[Y2KPewterSS]

Some excellent info posted in this thread. One theory I have always heard and used that I didn't see mentioned was that your 60' time is an indicator of your Torque and your MPH in the 1320 is an indicator of your HP.

[Pythias]

Some excellent info posted in this thread. One theory I have always heard and used that I didn't see mentioned was that your 60' time is an indicator of your Torque and your MPH in the 1320 is an indicator of your HP.

But 60" vary so much depending on traction, unless you are very consistent.

[chevyguy8413]

I know this is gonna sound like a retarded beginners question.....
But what is the difference between Horsepower and torque?

I understand torque, that it is the power to push ur car off the line, and its what gets you down the track.....

But what is the point of horsepower?

When accelerating, the engine is out of its maximum torque range, but the longer the torque curve "hangs in there" ...i.e. horsepower...the better the acceleration. horsepower is actually a term of convenience linking the force produced by the engine (torque) ,and the rpm at which it is observed,
by the formula horsepower = observed torque (at any particular rpm) times the rpm at which it is observed..all divided by the constant 5252....
(rpm x torque)/5252

The point is, in acceleration, its necessary to rev the engine higher than its torque curve sweet spot...so upper rpm range torque (i.e. HP) is needed to achieve good acceleration.

[chevyguy8413]

But 60" vary so much depending on traction, unless you are very consistent.

60' is really about the launch...chassis tires etc..and is used to set up the chassis
trap speed is totally about horsepower....and varies very little regardless of the 60'...it is used by tuners to assess the performance...run to run etc..as with air/fuel ratio, ignition timing etc

[Frankthetank]

is it always divided by 5252 or is that just on ls1's?

What about big blocks that dont rev that high?

[stevegrizzle]

Ok in physical terms , think of torque as the force produced (how intense the combustion cycle is) and horsepower is the accumulative effect of these cycles as RPM increases. Torque is frequently thought to be a function of displacement, when, in fact, other factors weigh heavily, as well....they all relate to air flow into the engine/cylinder filling. Horsepower is an indication of how high on the RPM curve the torque values are being maintained. Torque is measured; horsepowr is calculated from the torque and rpm by the following: BHP = (RPM x Torque)/5252

thanks for explaining it first......i didnt want to have to write the book

[shady milkman]

is it always divided by 5252 or is that just on ls1's?

What about big blocks that dont rev that high?

no every engine i believe

[Phlash_riot]

tourque is how much you can do HP is how fast you can do it.... if oyu have 1000ft/lbs of tourque and 10 hp you can haul a couple semis down the road but you won't do it very fast....

Or if you have say a Honda S2000 with almost double the HP vers the tourque you can't pull as much but you can do a little very fast.

My .02 but They go hand in hand with each other in the grand scheme of things. and like building an engine you have to balance every thing out for your car as a whole.

[BlackLT1Z28]

is it always divided by 5252 or is that just on ls1's?

What about big blocks that dont rev that high?

Yes, ALL engines (well car engines) are rated using the constant 5252. I don't remember exactly how that term came to be, but it has something to do with assumed travel, crank swing, and piston inertia that all engines inverably have. I won't get into that. But it's a constant based on the physics of a 4 stroke engine.

As for the second question, big block don't rev that high because of the amount of torque they can produce. Torquey pushrod engines are limited to their lower rev limit because of physics and their characteristics. That's why OHC engines have the ability to rev so much higher, but they don't make as much torque (power) down low.

And this will be a life-long debate, which is better, high-revving OHC motors or the lower revving monster torque engines? Both have trade-offs. But the thing that us GM pushrod guys enjoy is the fact that we DON'T have to rev so high to achieve max power. Why rev all the way to 9,000+ RPM's when we only have to get to 6,200 RPM's to reach maximum horsepower?

But torque and horsepower are essentially used to measure the same thing; go-juice.

[chevyguy8413]

Some excellent info posted in this thread. One theory I have always heard and used that I didn't see mentioned was that your 60' time is an indicator of your Torque and your MPH in the 1320 is an indicator of your HP.

I think you are right on...cuz torque is what overcomes inertia and (together with chassis setup..tires etc) will be reflected in the 60'; horsepower is very closely calculated from the trap speed and weight using tables and charts. Trap speed will vary minimally regardless of the "quality" of launch and of course and is also dependent on the vehicle's Cd.

[chevyguy8413]

HOw bout the LT4 upgrades are they worth the trouble or are aftermarket sources better for the $$??

[djvaly]

with 2.73, 3.23 vs 3.73 or 4.10 gears one accelerates faster, with a stall converter one has more torque because of the torque multiplier effect. they usually lock up at 45mph.

[shady milkman]

with 2.73, 3.23 vs 3.73 or 4.10 gears one accelerates faster, with a stall converter one has more torque because of the torque multiplier effect. they usually lock up at 45mph.

i know with tc and gears it gets nasty at launches :D:love: :yup:

[djvaly]

true dat.

[BlackLT1Z28]

HOw bout the LT4 upgrades are they worth the trouble or are aftermarket sources better for the $$??

I wouldn't get the LT4 package. You can get better gains with the same amount of money going other ways. The LT4 kit is ok in that all the parts all work well together, but you can find other stuff out there that can outflow and outperform the LT4. From what I'm told, it is a decent daily driver setup with a nice kick in the pants, but there are other options. And good luck trying to get some of those parts new, GM doesn't make the LT4 intake manifold anymore, probably the heads too.

[BlackLT1Z28]

i know with tc and gears it gets nasty at launches :D:love: :yup:

All about the torque.

[chevyguy8413]

I wouldn't get the LT4 package. You can get better gains with the same amount of money going other ways. The LT4 kit is ok in that all the parts all work well together, but you can find other stuff out there that can outflow and outperform the LT4. From what I'm told, it is a decent daily driver setup with a nice kick in the pants, but there are other options. And good luck trying to get some of those parts new, GM doesn't make the LT4 intake manifold anymore, probably the heads too.

thank you for the heads-up...i remember seeing some comparison dyno runs LT1 vs LT4, but from what you say, now there are better 'avenues to power'...thanks again

[chevyguy8413]

with 2.73, 3.23 vs 3.73 or 4.10 gears one accelerates faster, with a stall converter one has more torque because of the torque multiplier effect. they usually lock up at 45mph.

man from your stats, my LT must really be anemic...mabe
230 rwhp or so?? any of u run yours stock on chassis dyno??

[BlackLT1Z28]

man from your stats, my LT must really be anemic...mabe
230 rwhp or so?? any of u run yours stock on chassis dyno??

That's because he is running a newer LS1.

[djvaly]

LS1 engines put out 345-350 to flywheel (285-295rwhp) depending on year. GM under rated TA LS1 engines so our good vette friends can keep buying, but in reality the same engine as C5, different application..

[chevyguy8413]

All about the torque.

What he said....steeper gears multiply torque (spin tires on pavement) but do not change h orsepower. Sometimes it is thought horsepower changes but the performance improvements ...."dig off the line" are all about torque multiplication and 1/4 mile improvements benefit from the engine's spending more time in its power band....are still derivative of the tractive effort which is a function of torque.

[BlackLT1Z28]

People drive torque but buy horsepower.

[Hot Black Trans-Am]

The simple way.

Low end = torque
high end = horsepower

If you want to feel the difference drive an S2000 that has no torque, but some good horse power then drive a diesel truck that has lots of torque and not much horse power compared to torque. You'll get the idea and know why it's good to have it balanced.

[BlackLT1Z28]

That's because of the formula:
hp=(torquexRPM)/5252
The higher the RPM's, the more power you'll generate, even if torque values stay constant or dwindle. Increase the RPM's, increase output.

[Krazy351w]

The simple way.

Low end = torque
high end = horsepower

If you want to feel the difference drive an S2000 that has no torque, but some good horse power then drive a diesel truck that has lots of torque and not much horse power compared to torque. You'll get the idea and know why it's good to have it balanced.

i know what u mean about that comparison. i had an 89 f150 with the inline 300 and someone had put one hell of a low rear end in it and put the fuckin tranny outa a diesel in it. i swear i could out pull a f350 or gmc 3500 but i could only go like 45mph tops cuz of the rear end. those inline 300's had like 150 hp but torque out the ass

[BlackLT1Z28]

Trucks have loads of low-end-torque, because truck, in general, are used for towing, not top end racing.

[Chris Arnold]

I'm an engineer and a physics major. I'm going to try to seperate what's wrong from what's right for those who are trying to learn. I suck at explanations and teaching. So, I'll leave that to others unless someone feels like arguing about it, but here are some notable posts:

This is about the best explanation that can be given in such a short post, excellent!:
Ok in physical terms , think of torque as the force produced (how intense the combustion cycle is) and horsepower is the accumulative effect of these cycles as RPM increases. Torque is frequently thought to be a function of displacement, when, in fact, other factors weigh heavily, as well....they all relate to air flow into the engine/cylinder filling. Horsepower is an indication of how high on the RPM curve the torque values are being maintained. Torque is measured; horsepowr is calculated from the torque and rpm by the following: BHP = (RPM x Torque)/5252


This explanation is really terrible and some of the things stated are almost completely backwards. Ignore pretty much everything in it except the first 3 lines:
HP=(torquexRPM)/5252

Torque is a measure of twist and is the amount of work an engine can do.
Horsepower is derived from torque (as from equation) and is a measure of how fast an engine can do that work.
If you look at a dyno sheet, you'll notice that at 5252 RPM's, horsepower and torque are equal to each other.
But having a high horsepower engine isn't neccesarily better than a high torque engine. And this is where gear ratios come in. Torque is multiplied by the gear ratios, but horsepower is not. Horsepower is a function of RPM, so when the gear ratio changes (shifting) the RPM's change also.
This is why high torque engines and high revving high horsepower engines can perform similarily on the streets.
Sure, making a crap-load of torque at a very high RPM would yield high horsepower output, but making huge amounts of torque at a high RPM as opposed to a low RPM are two different things. Making torque at a lower RPM is more useful than a higher one. But this is how cams increase engine performance. Cams can move the torque band of an engine by increasing the fill-rates of an engine to a higher RPM. Since torque is the amount of work that can be done, and the most power comes from large fill-rates of a cylinder, filling that cylinder more effieciently at a higher RPM can yield more power, but a loss of torque and power down low.
Sorry for the long post. Let's put it this way.
Torque is for burnouts and horsepower is for moving down the track.

The following post brings up an interesting point, but the author is wrong. HP is the determining factor. The most force that can be created at the rear wheels will always be at the engine's peak horsepower if geared correctly. So peak acceleration or towing ability of each engine would be exactly the same regardless if one were 600hp/1200 ft-lbs engine or a 600hp/300ft-lbs engine. The thing is, towing motors usually make more low-end torque, because towing at a low rpm is more engine friendly than towing at 10,000 rpm for example.
tourque is how much you can do HP is how fast you can do it.... if oyu have 1000ft/lbs of tourque and 10 hp you can haul a couple semis down the road but you won't do it very fast....

Or if you have say a Honda S2000 with almost double the HP vers the tourque you can't pull as much but you can do a little very fast.

My .02 but They go hand in hand with each other in the grand scheme of things. and like building an engine you have to balance every thing out for your car as a whole.

This is another poorly researched post. I'm sorry to pick on you, but you're putting out a lot of bad info. I didn't even realize you were the same guy I wrote badly of before until I already replied to this post. The constant 1/5252 is not exclusive to any car or even to the internal combustion engine. It is just a constant used to get from TQ to HP. You could use the same formula on a steam boat wheel, or a windmill, or a vacuum cleaner, electric motor, etc... Revability of engines has nothing to do with the amount of torque produced. Pushrod engines are at an inherent disadvantage to overhead cam engines. If you go with a solid roller camshaft, that disadvantage is negated and there is no reason a big block (internally balanced) couldn't run the same rpm that any other car could. Why rev higher with your LS1? B/c your max hp would be proportionately higher, and your ability to accelerate would also be higher. Yes, ALL engines (well car engines) are rated using the constant 5252. I don't remember exactly how that term came to be, but it has something to do with assumed travel, crank swing, and piston inertia that all engines inverably have. I won't get into that. But it's a constant based on the physics of a 4 stroke engine.

As for the second question, big block don't rev that high because of the amount of torque they can produce. Torquey pushrod engines are limited to their lower rev limit because of physics and their characteristics. That's why OHC engines have the ability to rev so much higher, but they don't make as much torque (power) down low.

And this will be a life-long debate, which is better, high-revving OHC motors or the lower revving monster torque engines? Both have trade-offs. But the thing that us GM pushrod guys enjoy is the fact that we DON'T have to rev so high to achieve max power. Why rev all the way to 9,000+ RPM's when we only have to get to 6,200 RPM's to reach maximum horsepower?

But torque and horsepower are essentially used to measure the same thing; go-juice.

This is a good point (whew, I agree with you):That's because of the formula:
hp=(torquexRPM)/5252
The higher the RPM's, the more power you'll generate, even if torque values stay constant or dwindle. Increase the RPM's, increase output.

[djvaly]

I'm an engineer and a physics major. I'm going to try to seperate what's wrong from what's right for those who are trying to learn. I suck at explanations and teaching. So, I'll leave that to others unless someone feels like arguing about it, but here are some notable posts:

This is about the best explanation that can be given in such a short post, excellent!:



This explanation is really terrible and some of the things stated are almost completely backwards. Ignore pretty much everything in it except the first 3 lines:


The following post brings up an interesting point, but the author is wrong. HP is the determining factor. The most force that can be created at the rear wheels will always be at the engine's peak horsepower if geared correctly. So peak acceleration or towing ability of each engine would be exactly the same regardless if one were 600hp/1200 ft-lbs engine or a 600hp/300ft-lbs engine. The thing is, towing motors usually make more low-end torque, because towing at a low rpm is more engine friendly than towing at 10,000 rpm for example.


This is another poorly researched post. I'm sorry to pick on you, but you're putting out a lot of bad info. I didn't even realize you were the same guy I wrote badly of before until I already replied to this post. The constant 1/5252 is not exclusive to any car or even to the internal combustion engine. It is just a constant used to get from TQ to HP. You could use the same formula on a steam boat wheel, or a windmill, or a vacuum cleaner, electric motor, etc... Revability of engines has nothing to do with the amount of torque produced. Pushrod engines are at an inherent disadvantage to overhead cam engines. If you go with a solid roller camshaft, that disadvantage is negated and there is no reason a big block (internally balanced) couldn't run the same rpm that any other car could. Why rev higher with your LS1? B/c your max hp would be proportionately higher, and your ability to accelerate would also be higher.

This is a good point (whew, I agree with you):
I graduated engineering school 6 yrs ago.. I agree with most of the above explanations.. they seem very reasonable..

[Chris Arnold]

I'm confused... are you agreeing or disagreeing with me?

[djvaly]

I'm confused... are you agreeing or disagreeing with me?
agreeing, that's why most of them comments are good some get ambiguous but for the most part they are ok.

[Phlash_riot]

So what are the losses for a higher RPM car? Do you get anything lost in the fact that the piston has to go one way(combustion phase) then stop then go in the opposite direction?

I would THINK that you would lose more HP the higher yo go because the amount of up and downs is a loss in power.. it takes power to start and stop those pistons hence why a rotary engine has so much HP for such a smaller displacement......

[BlackLT1Z28]

Ok,
I understand why you disagreed with some of the things I said, because I didn't explain myself fully or just didn't type what I meant.
But some of my other things are fact and shouldn't be included with some of my other neglected statements.
Torque is multiplied by the gear ratios.
At 5252 RPM's, torque and horsepower values are equal.
An increase in VE (volumetric efficiency), hence, an increase in fill rates, will produce more torque, because more work can be done by the engine.
I never said that the constant 1/5252 was JUST for internal combustion engines, I just didn't know if it could be applied to other engines, therefore I just put in parenthesis (well, car engines) to define the fact that I was relating to car engines.
And I never said that big blocks couldn't rev higher. They just don't need to. If they did, they would run out of cam real quick and output numbers would drop off. By design, cams only have one RPM value that will yield maximum power. That's why high-end cams don't produce lots of low-end torque and why low-end torque cams run flat in the upper RPM ranges.

[djvaly]

Ok,
I understand why you disagreed with some of the things I said, because I didn't explain myself fully or just didn't type what I meant.
But some of my other things are fact and shouldn't be included with some of my other neglected statements.
Torque is multiplied by the gear ratios.
At 5252 RPM's, torque and horsepower values are equal.
An increase in VE (volumetric efficiency), hence, an increase in fill rates, will produce more torque, because more work can be done by the engine.
I never said that the constant 1/5252 was JUST for internal combustion engines, I just didn't know if it could be applied to other engines, therefore I just put in parenthesis (well, car engines) to define the fact that I was relating to car engines.
And I never said that big blocks couldn't rev higher. They just don't need to. If they did, they would run out of cam real quick and output numbers would drop off. By design, cams only have one RPM value that will yield maximum power. That's why high-end cams don't produce lots of low-end torque and why low-end torque cams run flat in the upper RPM ranges.

I understand what u mean, I agree

[BlackLT1Z28]

I just didn't want all of my posts to be considered crap because there is good information in there.
But I do understand how some of that other stuff can be construed as being misinformation. I'm not the best of putting all my thoughts organized on paper to be understood by all. I'm not saying everything I said was correct or right, but it just didn't come out right.

[djvaly]

no problem here chief. we're here to learn from one another, shoot there's some days when I hit a bottle and come in here buzzed. and I forget what a "piston" is ;).. neah. j/k hey no worries, we learn from each other.

[Chris Arnold]

I just didn't want all of my posts to be considered crap because there is good information in there.
But I do understand how some of that other stuff can be construed as being misinformation. I'm not the best of putting all my thoughts organized on paper to be understood by all. I'm not saying everything I said was correct or right, but it just didn't come out right.

All of it and you are a total waste of... j/k... No worries man. I didn't mean to attack you personally. I'm just trying to keep the information straight.

Chris

[mahoney1]

check these out!

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question622.htm

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/horsepower.htm

[Hot Black Trans-Am]

I just didn't want all of my posts to be considered crap because there is good information in there.
But I do understand how some of that other stuff can be construed as being misinformation. I'm not the best of putting all my thoughts organized on paper to be understood by all. I'm not saying everything I said was correct or right, but it just didn't come out right.

I have this problem often... :ughlaugh:

[Krazy351w]

SO what are we talking about again :sillyme:

[BlackLT1Z28]

All of it and you are a total waste of... j/k... No worries man. I didn't mean to attack you personally. I'm just trying to keep the information straight.

Chris

Oh no, its cool. I'm not offended or anything, just wanted to clarify that some of it wasn't total crap, but the 'filler' was. :brick:

[BlackLT1Z28]

SO what are we talking about again :sillyme:

The definition/relationship/physics/difference/uses of horsepower and torque.

[djvaly]

this thread has been explained in overkill, time to close.. ;)

[shady milkman]

:lock:

[Krazy351w]

:lock:

hey man ur lock has a defect or something cuz everytime it locks it automatically unlocks again :)

[djvaly]

:yup: thread is closing 3 2 1.... uhh?

[Krazy351w]

:ughlaugh:

[shady milkman]

hey man ur lock has a defect or something cuz everytime it locks it automatically unlocks again :)

:lol: yea must be a diebold lock or something..i hear diebold products always seem to be defective

[Frankthetank]

lol nah its a Ford lock :D

[shady milkman]

lol nah its a Ford lock :D

:lmao:

[djvaly]

it is a Cobra lock... it don't work ;)

[Krazy351w]

even better its one of them cheap loks u get outa the quarter machines :nana:

[Frankthetank]

even better its one of those cheap things u get out of a honda dealership :D

[got-a-ls1]

oops, didnr see how old this was, lol anyways:


horsepower sells cars. torque wins races.

An engine only makes torque, thats all you feel, thats all the accelerates the car. All you really need to know about an engine is its torque curve. The higher you can make torque in the RPM's, the more advantage you can make of gearing. (this is horsepower, a calculation).

Lets say you have a engine that makes 400 ft lbs of torque @2500 RPM's peak. Now lets say you have another engine that makes 200 ft lbs of torque @5000 RPM's. The first engine makes twice as much torque but it does it at a really low RPM. If you take advantage of gearing they can both to the same amount of work, or horsepower. The engine that revs twice as high can be geared down 2:1 to the first motor. After the advantage of gearing it now to will be making 400 ft lbs of torque at the "wheels" like the other motor.

So whats that mean... Think of the old TPI motors. Torque up the ass but they ran out of breath way to soon meaning you had to trade torque for speed, or upshift. Everytime you upshift you lose mechanical advantage of the gearing. Race a TPI vs a LS1 and assume for a second they had the same peak torque. The LS1 is obviously higher but still lets assume.

They both take off at the same speed pulling just as hard as each other. The TPI starts to run out of breath but more importantly it runs out of torque. The TPI has lost torque to the wheels because he had to shift and now he isnt pulling as hard. The LS1 is still pulling hard as fuck in first gear when the TPI shifts. The LS1 can take advantage of the mechanical advantage longer then the TPI so it will be faster. This will continue in each gear.

Optimally you want a motor that will make torque down low, in the middle and for as long as possible in the RPM range. The more torque you can make higher in the RPMs, the better off you will be.

Sometimes you cant just have your cake and eat it too. You have to chose where you want to make you torque.This is why most head cam cars you see dont have too much low end torque compared to their highend torque. Making more torque in the higher RPM's is simply faster.