I've been thinking something about our vq engines...3.5L and 287 horsepower/274 torque.

Forgive my ignorance but if you want more horsepower do you sacrifice torque and vice versa. The reason for my question is that Acura RSX 2L 200 hp (but i think torque around 150 or so)...100 hp/liter.

Ours is <100hp/liter...does that mean our engines are seriously out of tune? and if so, then what would it take to get there naturally aspirated...just curious about future mods. Also, is our drivetrain loss supposed to be 15 or 25%. most people stock is around 230-235 hp range...it would take a drivetrain loss of ~25% to account for 287 at the crank.

Late night...deep thoughts

 

no the rsx is a different type of engine. it is made to produce hp at higher rpms, known as being a peaky motor. to achieve this it loses lowend tq. the z is a torquey car producing a lower powerband but only revving to 6500, the rsx i believe goes to 8000. they are too different beasts, you can increase hp without losing tq, but to really gain a lot of topend hp you will lose your lowend responsiveness with advanced mods. unless you add a forced induction system, but thats a whole other topic.

actually the z is not out of tune, quite the opposite in fact. hp/liter is a term only used by ppl that lack tq to justify the power of their engine. the z engine is in the same ballpark as the e46 m3 and porsches, there are very few v-6's that even come close in the power department.