wot is torque????

[TUBZGSXR]

wot is torque?? and how do u get more of it, on my last poll for engines the main argument was that 20litres have lots of torque?? but im not sure wot it is??!!! help pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze! :D

[Chris LR]

The force that your wheels develop - Not the speed!

[Manta Mad]

Its the power that the turning force of an engine has. If you think of a torque wrench, the greater torque needed to tighten a bolt, the harder you have to push on the wrench.

[Stuart]

when the mean speed of air in the intake valve is approx 0.6 mach (333Ms * 0.6) then you are usually developing max power.

the mean speed of air for max torque is about 50-80Ms (if i remember correctly)

restrict the manifolds both sides and you gain low down torque but loose top end power, and vice versa. find the happy medium and your laughing.


ps are you ever going to build anything or just keep posting "money no object" fantasy posts?

[ade]

lol!

I always remember it as being able to get up a hill quicker - engine has more strength to pull you up the hill/accelerate.

Or sumut like that

[TUBZGSXR]

im currently building up my sri..... :wink:

[CP]

There's a very detailed explanation of torque its relationship to horsepower on MIG and a few other car based forums.

Essentially as Manta Mad has said torque is the actual rotational force that an engine generates (ie work). The way this force works can be seen on a push bike. If for a given cog size and teeth number you lengthen the pedal arms you will be able to exert (lever) more turning force. This can be improved by you being heavier/stronger and able to press harder. Combining the 2 makes it possible for you to keep going on steeper hills. Thus engines which have long piston strokes, and more powerful explosions are more torquey. (large turbo diesel engines for example)

Horsepower is an expression of the rate of work - torque multiplied by number of turns in a given time period.
You can have 2 very different engines with very different torque outputs giving the similar horsepower readings.
A good example of this is my mates TVR Griffith 500 and my Caterpillar Challenger tractor which are both rated at about 330hp. My mates TVR is a 5 litre V8 petrol engine and my CAT is a 12 litre straight 6 turbo diesel engine. Apart from the above differences my Cat engine is considerably bigger because it has a much greater stroke and much larger engine components. The CAT engine is slower revving so its rate of work is low but its torque output is large - in comparison the TVR is the opposite. Given appropriate gearing both will complete the same amount of work (e.g. same weight moved over the same distance in the same time period) but the CAT will have gut lugged using brute force with relatively few revolutions of its engine - the car will have screamed away at high revs using a much larger number of engine revolutions to achieve the same amount of work.

The important thing in all this to realise when considering the relative merits of torque vs horsepower in various cars is gearing. A torquey 2.0l Turbo isnt so sensitive to gearing cos it applies its peak torque output over a relatively large area of the rev band i.e it will pull strongly from lower down and continue throughout most of the rev range. A smaller higher revving engine - say my 1.4 on TBs generates its best torque in a peaky small area high up the rev range. You need to have gears whose ratio's are closely spaced so that you can keep the revs up all the time to stay in the narrow rev band.

Sorry I've rambled again :oops:

[Tazzy]

that makes a bit of sence CP, ive never understood torque, still trying to uinderstand it, lol

apart from the gearbox, is there anyway you can add more?

[mowgli]

I have long dreamed of the day that I saw the Cat Challenger compared favourably to the TVR.

the description of torque looked good to me..

So many times people quote torque and horsepower figures, and most of us have no idea what they mean in scientific terms.

How many people can actually calculate the overall gearing (mph per 1000rpm) from the tyre size, diff ratio & top gear ratio. perhaps there should be a tech basics bit in the faq section.

[CP]

Torque characteristics can be altered a bit in engines by tuning. Rally cars usually are tuned to have more lower down torquey engines at the expense of ultimate peak horsepower. There are a number of things that can be done but all changes need to be back to back tested on a dyno to be sure. Common ways to influence torque include cam profile changes, tuned and lengthened intake runners, tuning and altering the exhaust manifold etc.
Probably the best way is to add some form of forced induction.

[Stuart]

ill get the gear ratio calculations from uni in the week. its very good and tells you how to build a graph of where the gears are useful lol

[Sexy_cruiser]

hey ppl i'm new and i just think of torque as :-

the more you have, the quicker you let ppl see that "join the darkside" sticker on your rear window

http://members.lycos.co.uk/woody4mg/images/new_bat_angel.gif