The two most misunderstood measures of an engines power. So let's just clear it up.Torque is your engines actual power,horsepower is how fast you get it. Make any sense? Torque is the twisting force or energy placed on the crankshaft and horsepower places a time factor on how fast it makes that power.Most people read up on horsepower that a particular performance engine produces and they in turn want that kind of power.Now remember,torque is what you feel when you put the hammer down when the traffic light goes green.Making modifications that help produce low end torque is what you want for the street.Face it,if you've got and sense at all(and we KNOW you do) your engine is not going to ever see 6000 rpm on the street.
There are a number of things you can do to increase your engines low end torque and still maintain drivability.All of us (yes,even the guys that don't think they want it!) want more power when we hit the gas. Let's keep in mind that a 500 horse engine is not going to idle very well in traffic and will rarely see 18 mpg! 100,000 miles between tune ups are a thing of the past when you consider anything more than trying to gain the free horsepower that your engine already has.
Lets think about headers,cat-back exhaust systems and cold air intake systems for a minute.Headers help to balance compression,scavenge exhaust gasses and the engine breathe better.All a plus when thinking about performance and efficiency.Cat-back systems are just that,exhaust systems that are bolted or welded on after the catalytic converter.Almost all cat-back systems reduce back pressure by seriously reducing those tight wrinkle bends in your restrictive factory system helping your engine breathe better.headers and a decent cat-back system can help you gain very noticeable power.More so if there are other performance mods already in place.
Now cold air intakes are something relatively new to the bolt on performance scene.The performance gain comes from the engine getting a smoother,straighter flow of air into the intake manifold. Now when you introduce fresh "cold" air into the equation then the performance value comes in.The colder the air you have coming into the manifold,the denser the air/fuel charge and the more air/fuel you are going to get into your engine.The air intake system will basically give you better efficiency due to the straighter,smoother air coming in but,chances are it will be a colder denser charge that adds to performance so you may not see much of a fuel economy increase but,you may see a power increase or you could get both,I've seen and heard of both.
There are various other mods you could do like chip up grades,having your car or trucks computer parameters re-vamped or power programmers.It depends on your budget.If your Canadian like me,then a lot of us either get performance parts and upgrades to our vehicles or presents for the kids at christmas. With the products and parts that are available today,you could actually save yourself a little cash at the pump with some modifications because they increase your engines efficiency,that of course would depend on how you drive.
Now,one could argue that is these things are modifications work so well ,why doesn't the vehicle come out of the factory like that? Well simple,from my point of view cars and trucks are built on an assembly line and it's easier and cheaper for the factory to do what they do. They also do it the way the do to keep things quiet,now for anyone that loves and respects that throaty rumble it's not what we are looking for. However,the factory does builder your engine with durability and efficiency in mind. And the majority of consumer want their vehicle to be quiet and smooth.
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