How exactly does one modify an existing engine to produce more horsepower?
I understand some of the basic concepts like a bored engine allows for a greater explosion, a larger intake allows for more air, etc...
But how does modifying cams or headers make a bigger explosion and therefore more HP?
You have a lot of reading to do. You don't even understand the basics of how an engine works, apparently, so you should start there.
The entire point is to get as much fuel as possible into the chamber, burn it as efficiently as possible, with as much cylinder pressure as possible, with the least amount of parasitic loss as possible.
>Cams
Wider angle cams lower the valves more, letting more air/fuel in, resulting in bigger bang.
>header
With bigger/more efficient exhaust, burnt bang gets removed quicker, allowing bang to happen sooner. More bang per second.
Don't think of the explosion m8.
Simplistically engines are air pumps. Anything that means there will be more air will add hp.
Bigger cylinders? More air
More cylinders? More air
Compressed air intake? More air
Honestly you need to understand the fundamentals before you will understand.
Cams are opening and closing cylinder valves which control air, fuel and exhaust, so a racing camshaft is changing how long those valves are open and closed for more power, a factory camshaft will be for longevity of the engine usually.
Headers are where the exhaust gases are coming out of the engine, the bigger the hole the faster exhaust can escape, same goes for air going into the engine, that's what restricter plates are doing on race cars, smaller hole means less air getting into the engine which means less power
Also heads make a big difference.
In a high compression NA build, a head that can handle more pressure is necessary. take for example toyota BEAMS heads for the 3sge.
> (OP)
>>Cams
>Wider angle cams lower the valves more, letting more air/fuel in, resulting in bigger bang.
>>header
>With bigger/more efficient exhaust, burnt bang gets removed quicker, allowing bang to happen sooner. More bang per second.
Retard alert
Horsepower is a bi-product of torque, simply a measurement really.
Torque is the force acting upon the crank causing it to rotate due to the force of the air/fuel pop in the bong chamber.
There is a basic mathematical equation to calculate hp, but unsurprisingly i forgot it.
You can't have hp without torque, but you can have torque and no hp, in which case there would be a force on the crank but no actual rotation.
Tuning an engine is usually the process of helping it "resonate" better in a given RPM range. When the intake shape and size are just right for the cylinders' demands, even an non-turbo'd engine can achieve slightly better than 100% cylinder filling. It's sort of like if you get a bathtub sloshing, you're wanting the pressure waves to travel through the intake just in time to hit the opening intake valves.
Exhaust can do similar things, particularly in two-strokes, that's why those engines have "expansion chambers" as part of the exhaust system. The on/off powerband that a 2-stroke engine has is essentially the difference between whether it is resonating well ("on the pipe") or not.
Cams can increase valve lift and duration. The longer and farther the valves open, the more air can flow through them.
Longer headers with smoother bends let the exhaust flow out faster so there's more room for intake air.
god tier 4 banger
Faggot
Horsepower is (ft-lbs * RPM / 5252). Dynos actually measure horsepower directly and then use RPM via calculation from wheelspeed or an inductive pickup to calculate torque.
Not OP I understand the basics (physics 102) but it doesn't help too much
>The entire point is to get as much fuel as possible into the chamber
But that's wrong. If that were true, I could just rig up two 2000cc injectors per cylinder and make a million horsepower.
He probably meant air/fuel mixture, but you're right.
Look into exhaust more. Specifically look into "The Scavenging Effect"
The hard part is getting air in. Then you can put in however much fuel you want fairly easily. The impressive part of high power builds is how well they function as an air pump.
>you can have torque and no hp
mjet btfo
>
>you can have torque and no hp
This is a curious thing to be said. Most people think as torque being force to accelerate, but technically, the brakes produce torque.
That's where his point about burning it efficiently came in.
Completely ass backwards.
...
An eddy current dyno basically spins a drum (that the wheels are turning against) with an electric motor, and adjusts its power usage to equal the power that the car makes, so the RPM stays constant. It then measures how much power it's using (you know, in kW) to keep the engine from changing in RPM, and that's how much power the engine makes.
Then, it uses an inductive pickup (like a timing light does) to measure RPM, and then calculates torque (HP*5252/RPM).
Yeah, I know how a dyno works. I run them every day at work.
>(that the wheels are turning against)
Only on shit dynos. A real dyno is coupled directly to the engine.
IT'S NOT A FUCKING EXPLOSION YOU IMBECILE IT'S A CONTROLLED BURN!! GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!!
Its called deflagration