Agree. Did I say any different? I was using words like "strength" and "power" to describe that 'force upon a lever' in 'car guy' terms that keep it simple... In a vain attempt to avoid a big arguement over physics. An engine with more "twisting" force is stronger, therefore torque is a measure of strength. You couldn't be more wrong about what you think you disagree with. Now since HP is a measure of how fast a weight can be lifted by that force upon a lever... sounds like accelleration to me! Torque is how strong your engine is. HP is how fast it can use that strength. It's in very simple car guy language, but the premise is solid. I was talking N/A of course. Very true. I put a stock 351 in front of a set of 4.11s... It was terrible. The car drove like a dumptruck. The gears would last about 20 feet before needing to shift to the next gear. The car could have pulled a stump, but it was a slug. Horrible to drive. Dave
a power adder. I prefer: High horsepower + high torque = FAST acceleration to a FAST top speed. It just don't happen at 2000 rpm though. High Boost setting: 15psi 556.5 hp at 5250 685.8 ft lbs at 4000 This is Blown76's torque monster. See how high the hp is also? But since it's blown, this is like an extreme example of a "built for torque" motor, pack that charge in! Intake velocity at lower rpms does the same thing on an N/A motor, just to a much smaller degree. And so much smaller a degree that you aren't going to get this switch of higher torque lbs. than hp. (maybe you COULD actually do it but I imagine the motor would be ueless by the time you got it to do it) Anyway, in this case we're actually talking the top torque number, not where the curve is in the rpm range. Now someone can make the claim that 500 lbs. peaking at 2500 is going to be more "streetable" and more fun to drive(I disagree, but realize I'm a minority) Just trying to illustrate "how much" vs "where" as related to driving preferences. And I dropped it to 500 because moving the torque curve down in the rev range would probably cause a big drop in torque and hp peak numbers also.
Saying 'torque is power' is way off because it's definitely not power! It's force. There's a big difference. Horsepower is power, or energy. HP is king! Torque feels better. But HP defines how fast a car can accelerate and it's top speed. Because Torque, like someone said, doesn't really do anything. It's a force. How quickly that force is applied is power. For example; if you have a jackhammer and you have to push a cart up a hill with it (weird I know, but bear with me ) If you have a really powerful jackhammer that is really slow, it's the same thing as a engine with a lot of torque. Say you hit the cart with 1000 lb force every minute. It moves but not as much as a 500 lb force jackhammer hitting the wagon every 10 seconds! Torque is the value of the force. HP is a calculation of the force and how fast it's applied. Now maybe 500 lb jackhammer won't even move the cart! That's why you need torque for towing. But given a car that has plenty of torque to weight ratio, HP is king. NOW why is torque so good? Because cars have an RPM range. At lower RPMs they make less HP. But if you have a lot of low RPM torque, that means you have more low RPM horsepower compared to a car with less low RPM torque! And therefore the more HP you have down low the better the car will accelerate at that RPM. So a car with 'low end torque' gets 'out of the hole' better not because torque is better than HP, just because at the low RPMs the car also has more available HP! So, in conclusion, HP is what really matters, but because we don't stay at peak HP all the time, the torque figure helps you know how broad a RPM range you have usable HP at.
Thanks for all of the explanations. I appreciate the equations that were posted as well. I found that one HP= the ability to lift 550lbs, one foot off the ground in one second. Or, 550 foot pounds per second. So, it is work over time. Torque is a measure of the application of the work and is defined as the measure of the force applied to a member to produce rotational motion usually measured in foot-pounds. Torque is determined by multiplying the applied force by the distance from the pivot point to the point where the force is applied. I guess this would be the reason that longer stroke motors produce more torque? Great discussion! So, in the end heed 1badmav's advice. Let's race!
Agree I would also like to clarify, again, that I was using the word 'strength' and 'power' not in their physics definition. I was using them to describe torque in layman's terms. I suppose that 'power' should have been out of the statements because it muddys things up. However, to use the word 'strength' to simply define torque is very suitable IMO. Charlie's assesment is dead on and is a drawn out way of saying what I said in 2 short sentences. Dave
