since a b16a2 only makes 134llb torque and i heared somewere if you did a b16 swap you could run high 13's. how could you with so little torque? well sorry for asking becuase im coming from a mustang that has 293 torque and 230 hp so it just boggles my mind.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by charlesw6954 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">since a b16a2 only makes 134llb torque and i heared somewere if you did a b16 swap you could run high 13's. how could you with so little torque? well sorry for asking becuase im coming from a mustang that has 293 torque and 230 hp so it just boggles my mind.</TD></TR></TABLE>

A stock B16 only makes 111 or 112 lbs of TQ (160-170HP), and hatches or CRXs only weigh around 2000-2200 lbs. So obviously you dont need as much HP or TQ to make a light car fast. Also I think a stock B16 hatch/CRX is probably closer to mid 14's -/+ depending on several factors.

 

Exactly, power to weight.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by charlesw6954 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">since a b16a2 only makes 134llb torque and i heared somewere if you did a b16 swap you could run high 13's. how could you with so little torque? well sorry for asking becuase im coming from a mustang that has 293 torque and 230 hp so it just boggles my mind.</TD></TR></TABLE>
You have to understand how torque and horsepower are related.

Torque is the actual twisting force produced by the engine. Power is a calculated number; it is a measure of work done over time. In this case, power is torque applied to RPM. The exact formula to calculate horsepower is:

horsepower = ( torque * RPM ) / 5252

So, if you have 0 torque, you're not doing any work, and thus are making no power. Similarly, if you have 0 RPM, you're also not doing any work, and are still making no power. However, if your engine makes 100 lb-ft of torque, and can sustain that torque production at say 5000 RPM, you'll be making about 95 horsepower.

So, peak torque production is not the only figure to look at; you must look at the entire curve.

The B16A engine has a long, flat torque curve, and it doesn't drop off significantly until after 7600 RPM or so. Thus, the B16A can make an impressive 160 peak horsepower out of a mere 1.6 liters of displacement and 111 peak lb-ft of torque, due to its ability to sustain torque production into the high RPM range with VTEC.

The ability to rev high also allows shorter gearing to be used without having to worry about shifting sooner and more often. Thus, you can benefit from the greater torque multiplication of shorter gearing. Most B16A engines are coupled with transmissions that have a 4.40:1 final drive ratio.

A lightweight car makes the difference also, in terms of power-to-weight ratio. The heaviest CRX sold in the United States weighed only 2167 lbs. A Mustang weighs 3200 lbs +, and thus needs an engine with more torque to move its fat ***. However, without the ability to rev high and sustain its torque production into the high RPM range, the Mustang's engine does not produce a huge amount of horsepower relative to its large amount of torque.

Man, I get the feeling that I tried to include too much in this post, and just ended up confusing everyone. Sorry. It is a complicated subject, and not easy to explain in simple and brief terms.

 

Makes sense to me

 

Human Helms Manual is right.

 

dude that cleared everything up. thanks for that long reply. i understand it more thoroughly. thanks

 

While the engine is only producing 134 or 111 lb-ft of torque (111 is what I heard), it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500 lb-ft at the wheels in first gear.

Torque at the wheels/ weght is ultimately what makes a car fast, and a b16 crx has more than a lot of cars with 3x the displacement.