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Picture of a turbo charged engine. Turbo charged engines have a higher VE than normally aspirated engine usually.

Volumetric Efficiency Calculator

This volumetric efficiency calculator (VE) will tell you the VE of your engine at the RPMs you choose.

What information does the engine volumetric efficiency calculator need?


  • Engine capacity in CC (cubic centimeters)
  • Engine power in bhp
  • RPM of this power

(Don’t have this info? Scroll down to find out how to get it)



Where to get the data you need?

  • Dynograph/Rolling Road graph. This will give you the power of your engine at each RPM. Exactly what we need.
  • If you don’t have a dyno graph for your engine, search online for dyno graphs from engines with a similar spec to yours.
  • StrikeEngine engine horsepower calculator. Not as accurate as a dyno but should give you a ball park figure.

How to use VE info?

  • Assess the performance of your engine and/or modification.
  • Use it to find the optimum turbo upgrade for your engine with the turbo size calculator.
  • Asses the size of your current turbo using the turbo size calculator

What is volumetric efficiency?

In simple terms, volumetric efficiency is how filled the cylinder is, (immediately before the compression stroke starts), compared to the actual capacity of the cylinder.

In other words, how easy is it for the air to enter the engine. The better the VE the more power the engine has.

NA Engines

A normally aspirated engine which is designed for torque will have a low VE at high RPM because cylinder filling at low RPM is the priority

Turbo/Supercharged Engines

A turbo engine can have a VE of over 100% because air is being forced into the engine under pressure by the turbo ie the amount of air in the engine is more than the actual capacity of the cylinder because the air is pressurized above atmospheric pressure (by the turbo)


Actual VE Examples & Power Potential

If we can move the peak VE to a higher RPM we can increase the power of the engine while theoretically not increasing stress on the engine.

Below is a list of three cars, we look at the RPM of the peak VE and see how much tuning potential these engines have (without increasing engine stress)

Honda S2000, 2004 – Normally Aspirated (Non Turbo)
Nissan Micra 1.2, 2009 – Normally Aspirated (Non Turbo)
Ford Focus ST, 2014 – Turbo

Honda S2000, 2004: 237bhp at 8,300 rpm = 99% VE

Nissan Micra 1.2, 2009: 79bhp at 4000rpm = 110% VE

Ford Focus ST, 2014: 286bhp @ 5500 rpm = 180% VE


Honda S2000

With the Honda, not a lot we can do because the peak VE is already close to redline.

Nissan Micra

The engine, even though it is normally aspirated, is making over 100% VE at 4000rpm.

If we move the power band of the engine to higher RPM with a camshaft or turbo upgrade for example, how much power would the engine make at 6000rpm with 110% VE?

Bolting the numbers into the VE calculator we get

115bhp, an increase of 36bhp or 45%. How can we increase the VE at 6000rpm?

Turbo/Supercharger, camshafts

Ford Focus ST

Redline on this engine is only 6500rpm

What power would the car make if we move peak VE from 5500rpm to 6500rpm?

338bhp, an increase of 52bhp (18%).

How can we move the VE up?

The car has a turbo from the factory so increasing the boost at 6500rpm would be the easiest solution.

Find performance parts on ebay




This page was last modified Mar 7, 2022 @ 1:35 pm

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