It's all about horespower, but i want torque!

[rootaxs]

So the question is, how exactly can you increase torque on a vehicle via bolt-on modifications?

I know everyone always wants more horsepower, but i want more torque. Especially in the low end.

No sense in getting a Cold Air Intake if i have to sacrifice a few pounds of torque in the <3000 rpm range. (I know you gain a few pounds in the high end of the rpm scale but what good is that in day-day traffic?)

Any help is gladly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[PG]

We need more info! What vehicle, engine, etc. Also, what is your budget.
Anything can go fast, you just need to be willing to spend enough to make it happen.

 

[snakesnfrogs]

you could advance your timing

 

[lupin]

bolt on?? best way to get torque is

1. increase disp. which is not bolt on.
2. turbo, can be a &quot;bolt on&quot;, but it's really quite complicated to be considered &quot;bolt on&quot;.
3. supercharger. I don't think these work as well as turbos, but.. simpler, closer to &quot;bolt on&quot; I guess.

you can try NOS to get more torque, although not permanent.

or try cams or cam gears to shift your powerband in the lower rpm.

 

[Viper GTS]

3. supercharger. I don't think these work as well as turbos, but.. simpler, closer to &quot;bolt on&quot; I guess.

The only difference is that a supercharger is belt driven as opposed to exhaust driven. They don't have the lag that turbos do, but they also aren't run off otherwise wasted power.

Viper GTS

 

[khc200]

the redneck way: redline every gear before you switch gear.

 

[PG]

An axle ratio change would make your vehicle much snappier from a dead stop, but it isn't really feasible on most cars. You can really only get new ring and pinion sets for some cars, not all.
If you tell us what you drive, we can help more.

 

[bigd480]

click on torque converters...

 

[bigd480]

also, what kind of car?

 

[rootaxs]

Sorry about that. I have a Civic EX, 1.6L (127HP, 94WHP@Dyno / 107lb/ft.). It's a sleeper so before anyone starts saying i'm a ricer i urge you to keep it to yourself.

I did consider a turbo (a small greddy, the lag isn't even noticeable) but it's too expensive at $3000 for the turbo w/ IC.

I also considered the Supercharger (Jackson Racing) as i can get it installed by the Honda dealership i got my car from which comes with 2 year/100,000 warranty but it's also quite pricey at $2500.

As for NOS, i wanted it but as mentioned it isn't permanent and i want a more permanent solution.

My budget is around $2000 or less if preferable. Engine swaps - if it can give me the most bang for the buck may be considered inspite of the price but i'd like to keep that as a last resort given i only have 19,000 miles on my car (2 yrs old)

 

[lupin]

<< The only difference is that a supercharger is belt driven as opposed to exhaust driven. They don't have the lag that turbos do, but they also aren't run off otherwise wasted power. >>



dont' want to argue here.. but I guess my point is, I've seen a lot of supercharger &amp; turbo application, and turbo seems to give higher HP peak. again, it's irrelevant to his case, but that's why I said it doesn't work as well as turbos.

also, installation of a supercharger is a lot simpler due to the fact that it's belt driven.

PG: totally forgot about gearing. I guess final ratio can be the poor man's supercharger.

 

[LordMaul]

STICKERS BABY!!

They'll fix ANYTHING!

 

[GasX]

get new pulleys

very cheap HP

 

[ratkil]

I have a 460 cu in Lincoln motor that I can't seem to sell that you could stick in there, would give you about 5X the torque you have now..........course the front end of your car will scrape on the ground, but sacrifices must always be made......

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Cold air induction shouldn't hurt at any RPM, but the difference between torque bolt ons and HP bolt ons aren't hugely different. A turbo is a high end, blower low end. Heads, exhaust, cam, torque converter, valves, intake, all are available in torquer and twister packages.

Typically torquer setups have longer intake runners of smaller diameter where as twister setups tend to have short fat intake runners. An example of this is in Chevy big blocks, the low revving truck motors are usually oval port, but the rodded out drag racing ones are almost always square port.

Most torquer setups have been built with durability as a formost concern because thier typical use is in trucks where towing and heavy loads are common and the engine is more often stressed for extended periods of time (ie: A 6000Lb truck towing a 35&quot; 9000lB travel trailer@70MPH for 12 hours vs. flinging a 3500Lb car for 12 seconds)

 

[lupin]

of course you can always &quot;bolt on&quot; another engine in the trunk. that should add some torque.

more balanced handling too.

 

[jonMEGA]

Ign. system, Cat back system.

 

[geno]

Well you're gonna be increasing your HP and Torque with any bolt on. I'd say go for a turbo kit (save up a little more), you can't go wrong there. Your torque curve will be more enjoyable (you'll feel a better pull @ lower RPMs) and you'll have plenty of high end power as well.

But if you're dead set against that - look into having the head ported/polished, and a new cam can make drastic differences in the torque curve.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I'd advise against the turbo and in favor of the blower. the turbo needs exhaust to get power, which takes RPM. The blower being belt driven, can make power from idle and up, it'll just cut your top end a tad bit due to parasitic drag.

 

[RaoulDuke]

you're hopeless. You don't have enough money for anything you could do to that car to give it any balls. Civics are meant for driving from point A to point B in an economical fashion. If they were meant to go fast, well then they would something different. If you want to go fast, get another car.

 

[Pacfanweb]

You cannot increase torque without a corresponding increase in horsepower. They are directly linked. If you want to increase torque at say, 3000rpms, then you'll have to increase horsepower at that same rpm.
Now how you go about doing it is another story.

Nitrous is the easiest and cheapest to get big gains, IF there is a kit available for your car.

 

[TuffGuy]

it's a 1.6l civic...

the only thing that you can do to give you more torque is to do an engine transplant.

 

[Soybomb]

<< It's a sleeper >>

No thats asleep, not a sleeper Seriously blowing it is the best way, if you can't shell out the cash, you don't get the power.

 

[OS]

ugh, a non si civic. You got a ways to go to get more power and it's not going to be cheap/easy power. Lay out like 5k and get an integra swap. That's definitely going to be more power now w/o the need to tweak/massage things and gives you a better engine to work up from later. Plus it'd probably be less troublesome/more reliable than adding in a turbo/supercharger.

 

[Emulex]

the problem lies in the fact that the 1.6 is so under-square-bore.

A turbo is a good choice, blowers rob lots of torque. When i took my supercharger off my vw and put a turbo on, i lost of low end grunt, but gained 40 ft/lbs of torque up high. The drag of most superchargers is lot!

It's hard to say, turbo's are much better at higher rpm's, superchargers are better at low rpm's and generally make too much heat up and drag on your motor. supercharger drag will eventually destroy your motor rod bearings since its equivalent to two or 3 air conditioners in power drag. thats certainly something to consider. I've had to replace my rod bearings at 85K miles because the rod bolts stretched and the top of the rod bearings wore thin and rattled around. This would have eventually destroyed the crank..