Project: Power vs. Safety and Efficiency

"Wobbles the Mind" (wobblesthemind)
06/02/2016 at 21:25 • Filed to: Tuning

*Disclaimer: This may be a large project if you don’t know a lot of the specs on your vehicle.* You happen upon a Magical Tuner Wizard that says he’ll tune your vehicle for no charge and guarantee reliability! The catch is that if he adds horsepower, you lose fuel economy. If he increases torque, you lose airbags. For increasing the redline and the rpm for peak horsepower while also decreasing the rpm where peak torque begins, you lose seatbelts. The packages are below. What would you choose to do with your vehicle?

Horsepower Package: Lose 1 mpg from both city and highway ratings , gain 15 hp .

Torque Package: Lose one airbag , gain 30 lb-ft of torque at same peak torque rpm .

RPM Package: Lose one seat belt , peak torque begins lower by 750 rpm while peak horsepower and redline move up by 750 rpm.

* Every time you choose a package, it goes up one “Stage.” So if you choose to add 90 hp (while losing 6 mpg from city/hwy ratings), then you are going “Stage 6" on Horsepower. *

I’ll do my 2012 Grand Cherokee:

Stage 2 Horsepower, Stage 3 Torque, and Stage 2 RPM.

360hp @ 5150 rpm - 390 hp @ 6,650 rpm.
390 lb-ft @ 4,250 rpm - 480 lb-ft @ 2,750-4,250 rpm.
14/20 mpg - 12/18 mpg
Lose overhead airbag and side curtain airbags on driver or passenger side.
Lose rear center and rear driver side seat belts.

Like I said, this is pretty involved but you may get to know your vehicle a bit better, which is always nice!

DISCUSSION (13)

interstate366, now In The Industry > Wobbles the Mind
06/02/2016 at 21:40

2001 Prelude with H23A. Stage 5 HP, stage 2 torque, stage 2 RPM. 275 HP @ 8300 (redline 8700), 223 lbft @ 3800-5300. MPG 17/22. Remove both airbags and rear seatbelts (I’m putting in a lightweight cover where the backseats used to be anyway, a la GT-R Track Edition.) These numbers are actually very realistic for a supercharger build, although I’d have to get some high-end cams to get it to rev to 8700.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Wobbles the Mind
06/02/2016 at 21:41

1999 4Runner SR5.

Stage 1 torque. Loose passenger airbag because that’s half the airbags in the car gone.

Stage 1 RPM. Loose rear middle lap belt.

Peak HP of 190 at 5550 RPM. Peak torque 250 at 2750 RPM. Recline at 6250.

Yeah. The 5VZ isn't a fantastic engine in the first place.

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > Wobbles the Mind
06/02/2016 at 21:45

1961 Corvair:

HP package, stage 2 swaps my ‘62 80 with a,’65 110

Torque package: n/a

RPM: n/a (seatbelts are aftermarket)

Milky > Wobbles the Mind
06/02/2016 at 21:46

Honestly I don’t care much for RPMs and like seat belts, but I’d stage 3 HP and stage 2 torque. So:

260 hp & 290 lb ft. while getting 16 & 22 mpg. I’d also lose the side airbags and only have front driver and passenger airbags.

Have I mentioned I want a new car?

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street.
06/02/2016 at 21:50

If I had the room I would get a Corvair.

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
06/02/2016 at 21:54

I tried to sell mine last year for $3k, no takers.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street.
06/02/2016 at 21:57

I would build a Panamericana car

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
06/02/2016 at 21:59

It has more body rust now since the paint is chipping away and the fan rubs slightly since greasing the bearing, but otherwise I’m still rocking it.

samssun > Wobbles the Mind
06/02/2016 at 22:02

Since my current car has two airbags and I’ve never felt under protected, I guess I’d buy a new car that has 20 and trade away 18 for an extra 270 lbs-ft of torque.

gawdzillla > Wobbles the Mind
06/02/2016 at 23:38

I suck at math,
but what do I do when I start out with a 450hp LS2 Miata that weights 1600lbs with no airbag anywhere ? (it already get 30mpg on the highway)