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Engine modifications to automatic cars - Why?

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BlahBlahYouToo said:
How often do you see like a 1992 auto honda civic hatch back with boost gauges on the A-pillar or a cold air intake?

Why do people do this and try to make their automatics faster? If I drove an automatic car, I would not want to look like a poser in case anyone sees that I tried to mod an autotragic.

Why not just save your money and buy a manual right off the bat?
You get more power to the wheels and less weight to improve performance and handling.
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The MKV and MKVI GTI gets from 0-60 faster with a DSG than the manual transmission.
 
Elfear said:
Really OP? Like someone else mentioned, the auto cars are actually the faster ones at the dragstrip once you start putting some power to the ground. I've seen lots of cars that originally came with a manual transmission switch to an auto because the manual was too weak and was less consistent.

My personal opinion is that manuals are more fun to drive, but why on earth wouldn't you want to mod a car just because it has an auto?
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BBYT is constantly trolling on ATOT, just ignore everything he says.
 
Same question can be apply to almost everything in life.

As for OP original question is why not?
Toyota produced an Australia-only supercharged TRD Aurion between 2007 and 2009. Tuned by Toyota Racing Development (TRD), this performance variant was at its release claimed to be the world's most powerful front-wheel drive car.

Aurion = Camry

Aurion V6 3.5L supercharged, 323 HP @ 296 ft-lb

Camry V6 3.5L, 268 HP @ 248 ft-lb
 
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i must be one of them tards the OP is talking about cuz my 87 Grand National has a boost gauge on the a-pillar AND its an automatic. yeah, no manual option on these cars. oh and the factory digital boost gauge only goes to 13psi. when im running 24psi boost at the track i like to know that and see whats going on. and power braking the car to spool the turbo makes for nice launches. but hey, i must fail at life cuz i drive this crappy auto with a boost gauge.
 
who would ever be dumb enough to mod a grand national???

slushbox POS's.......

we never shoulda put that build auto in my buddys regal T type that runs mid 11's
 
BlahBlahYouToo said:
How often do you see like a 1992 auto honda civic hatch back with boost gauges on the A-pillar or a cold air intake?

Why do people do this and try to make their automatics faster? If I drove an automatic car, I would not want to look like a poser in case anyone sees that I tried to mod an autotragic.

Why not just save your money and buy a manual right off the bat?
You get more power to the wheels and less weight to improve performance and handling.
Click to expand...

Except automatics are faster.

Zing.
 
driving my friends f150 with pretty much every bolt on HP accessory and a shift kit kind of freaks me out. its weird seeing that tach hit 6k rpms and getting launched into orbit when it shifts into 2nd gear.
 
anyone know how to improve speed and performance of my nissan pulsar n14? its an automatic, i know that and dont need the why??? are trying to speed up an auto, but im just getting into fixing and moding cars so just a few handy hints and tips will very helpful. thanks


jdm187... Please start your own thread... (very old thread)

AT Moderator
Bartman39
 
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hanoverphist said:
driving my friends f150 with pretty much every bolt on HP accessory and a shift kit kind of freaks me out. its weird seeing that tach hit 6k rpms and getting launched into orbit when it shifts into 2nd gear.
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What does he have? My stock 5.0 will spin from launch and chirp on the 1-2 shift and pulls like a freight train from 2500-5000. Of course it's not super quick, but it's damn fun, and I can't wait to throw some bolt-ons at it one day. I don't let the failmatic shift itself though. I put it into manual which allows you to run to redline before shifting, and only forces downshifts. It also seems to lock the torque converter up sooner, too.
 
jdm187 said:
anyone know how to improve speed and performance of my nissan pulsar n14? its an automatic, i know that and dont need the why??? are trying to speed up an auto, but im just getting into fixing and moding cars so just a few handy hints and tips will very helpful. thanks
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depends how much money you want to spend, but you can do a SR20DET engine swap in that car probably. That car was never sold in the US so you may not get much help here...
 
Just FYI, people look to be replying to comments made many years ago.

That said, adding power to AT is generally less useful because it's only used at full throttle. Whereas with a manual you can full throttle anywhere in the range, with AT the transmission will just kick down which isn't necessarily what you want.
 
agent00f said:
Just FYI, people look to be replying to comments made many years ago.

That said, adding power to AT is generally less useful because it's only used at full throttle. Whereas with a manual you can full throttle anywhere in the range, with AT the transmission will just kick down which isn't necessarily what you want.
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They have these fancy automatics that let you select your gear now. 😱 I know right.
 
agent00f said:
Just FYI, people look to be replying to comments made many years ago.

That said, adding power to AT is generally less useful because it's only used at full throttle. Whereas with a manual you can full throttle anywhere in the range, with AT the transmission will just kick down which isn't necessarily what you want.
Click to expand...

That makes no sense. Add power to an AT and you get to each gear faster at (~any) throttle point. Downshift and you make use of the higher RPMs, like one would with a manual.

The main difference is some of us have outgrown the fun factor of manually shifting gears and would rather not, are fine with the car doing it for us when it's a public road instead of a race track.

The one positive thing I find in a passenger (non-towing) vehicle manual tranny is the driver is less likely to be using a free hand to text while driving. Well, lower repair costs too except it's been many years since I had an auto tranny failure so my repair costs have been averaging down towards $0.
 
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Midwayman said:
They have these fancy automatics that let you select your gear now. 😱 I know right.
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There are DCT's which are alright, but even most autos with manual select have inconsistent shifts, don't hold gear, etc. I've test many of them, and they rarely seem to work right for whatever reason, which I suspect is fundamental to the converter/planetary-clutch design.

mindless1 said:
That makes no sense. Add power to an AT and you get to each gear faster at (~any) throttle point. Downshift and you make use of the higher RPMs, like one would with a manual.

The main difference is some of us have outgrown the fun factor of manually shifting gears and would rather not, are fine with the car doing it for us when it's a public road instead of a race track.

The one positive thing I find in a passenger (non-towing) vehicle manual tranny is the driver is less likely to be using a free hand to text while driving. Well, lower repair costs too except it's been many years since I had an auto tranny failure so my repair costs have been averaging down towards $0.
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Consider the way the throttle correlates to power. When you have 10% more power, that really mean you only need to be at, say 45% throttle instead of 50% for the same oomph. But that difference is only really relevant at the top of the scale, when you can't get past 100% on the original car, whereas 100% on the upgraded one corresponds to 110% on the original.

Now consider how manuals are used vs autos. At least the way I drive and I suspect many mt drivers: use high throttle and short shift at moderate rpms. That means you use the range where the difference is relevant quite often, whereas if you did that in an auto it would downshift.

When you do downshift you get more power, but that's not really the point, since if you're short shifting as usually, you're not really trying to go as fast as possible.
 
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