All posts tagged torque

Towing Power: 4 Truck Tips to Increase Your Torque

by Anica Oaks on 2016/10/26 in Trucks with Comments Off on Towing Power: 4 Truck Tips to Increase Your Torque

Torque is what gives your truck low-end power to muscle through deep sand and tow heavy trailers. While many newer trucks have excellent horsepower, they often lack the ability to transfer that power to the wheels at lower speeds. Here is a look at four tips you can use to give your truck massive power when it is needed the most.

1. Have It Professionally Tuned

New vehicles often come with complex computers that manage the entire mechanical system. While these processors can save you money on gas or diesel, they could be limiting your torque. Truck owners should find a local garage that offers custom tuning to those who want as much power out of their vehicle as possible. In many cases, these services can be finished in just 15 or 20 minutes, and they could increase your truck’s torque by as much as five percent.

2. An Aftermarket Exhaust System

Anyone who plans on towing a trailer from Hillsboro Industries with their truck should consider upgrading their exhaust system. While it might not seem like the exhaust does much to alter your engine’s power, it is actually one of the most common areas where low-end strength is lost. Stock exhaust systems bottleneck the air coming out of the engine, and this prevents new air from being drawn in as efficiently as it could. Aftermarket systems are designed to pull air out as quickly as possible without causing any backflow.

3. Install a Performance Chip

Depending on the model you have purchased, your truck might already have a performance chip inside it. These small devices plug into your OBD-II port and give you full control over many aspects of your engine. A performance chip essentially allows you to tune your truck without heading into a garage. Many modern chips also allow you to create specific settings depending on what type of driving you plan on doing.

4. Cold Air Intake

Installing a cold air intake is one of the most cost-effective ways to increase your torque, but you should first make sure these devices are legal in your state. Because they alter a truck’s emissions, some states have decided to ban them. This upgrade lowers the temperature of the air that is going into your engine to make it as dense as possible.

Many of these tips and upgrades will not only make your truck more powerful, but they could even improve its efficiency. That makes them an excellent investment for practically any driver.

Diesel vs Gasoline Engine: The Bitter Impasse

by Anica Oaks on 2014/10/27 in On the Road with Comments Off on Diesel vs Gasoline Engine: The Bitter Impasse

On October 17, 2002, the Banks Dodge Dakota Sidewinder rolled onto five feet of white potash salt in the shadow of the hazy Silver Island Mountains at Bonneville, Utah. It carried a 5.9-liter Cummins turbodiesel engine with 1,300 lb-ft of torque. Three days later, it would set a world speed record of 222 mph. Before the trials, company president Gale Banks announced, “Diesel has a negative image in many quarters. We intend to erase that image.”

The lines were drawn.

Citius, Altius, Fortius: Diesel’s Low-End Torque

Diesel engines create immense amounts of torque for the reasons of turbocharger boost (optional), stroke length, and average effective cylinder pressure. Most diesel powertrains are made with forged components to withstand the high compression ratios – 20:1 is typical – and are thus capable of transmitting the extra torque from a long piston stroke. As Archimedes said, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”

Big Bang, Small Package: Gas’s Power-to-Weight Ratio

In January 2014, Nissan unveiled a 400-horsepower 1.5-liter engine small enough to fit inside a hiking backpack. The engine, destined for the ZEOD RC, weighs only 88 pounds. Such technology proves that gasoline engines are capable of tremendous power-to-weight ratios, which are becoming increasingly important as western nations adopt suburban lifestyles and lightweight cars.

Built to Impress: Diesel’s Long-Lasting Reliability

In May 2005, Mercedes grabbed three E-Class sedans off the production line, gave each an experimental V6 CDI diesel engine and raced them around a Texas track for 100,000 miles. Each car ran for 30 days at an average of 140 mph, averaged 18 mpg and satisfied CARB emission standards. None broke.

Modern diesel engines are the posterity of the compression-ignition powerplants used to motivate great marine steel carriers. Their lower RPMs, mechanical ignition systems and heavy-duty components guarantee years of use. Plus, they average 20-30 percent better adjusted fuel economy than their gas counterparts. If they do break, aftermarket parts like front-end conversions and brake upgrades are available from Pure Diesel Power.

Popularity Contest: Gas’s Availability

Diesel-powered cars make up 2.8 percent of American passenger vehicles. Gasoline is America’s pet, and the reason is simple: price. A Jeep Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel, for instance, costs $4,500 more than the base V6 model. The payback period extends far beyond the average length of new car ownership.

As of now, gasoline engines remain the most versatile and widely used engines in America. But thanks to clean-diesel exhaust fluids, noise cancellation technology and icons like the Sidewinder, diesel may not have long to wait.