What do I need to mod to increase the car's pick-up speed when it's at stop?

 

anything that gives torque.

 

you mean to accelerate faster?

you can add a turbo to make your car faster. and make your car go on a diet aka loosing some weight. (take out back seats, interior, cf parts, etc)

 

Get a lightweight flywheel.

 

Yes, I think that's what I wanted to change about my car. So what do I need to change to increase torque?

 

Depends on your budget and goals. You've just got to modify the car. You can make it lighter, make the engine's internals and everything dragging on it lighter, you can put more air, fuel, and spark into it and take more exhaust out of it and change the time and duration that everything happens and you'll get more power or the illusion there-of. Assuming of course everything's done right. Otherwise things might actually slow you down or blow up.

 

Is it true that if you add more torque then it will simultaneously decrease acceleration? I heard people compare torque and acceleration as a balance equation that they are equivalent at a fixed point when a car first comes out stock. When one side is weighted more, something from the other side must be taken away.

Also, how exactly does an intake help to improve performance?

 

No, torque accelerates you off the line and gets you up hills, horsepower allows you to accelerate at high speed. If you add torque to stock, you've probably also added horsepower (because torque is a function of horsepower relative to RPM... I don't understand that concept 100% but I know that it exists...), and you've probably also added potential for more gas milage (if you can lightfoot), but you've taken away gas milage at full throttle, depening what you've done you might be taking away reliability, and driving comfort. Adding power won't take from speed. The only thing that gives or takes from acceleration in the way you discribed that I can think of would be gearing, you have to pick top end, acceleration or a balance.

intake improves performance by allowing a higher airflow, getting rid of a certain amount of turbulance to help the venturi effect (although it's said it doesn't matter in the intake, it's the intake manifold that that really happens), and to cool incoming air because cooler air carrys more oxygen.

 

So with intake, will it add more power to acceleration or torque? Assume it will lean toward either way, will it affect performance of the other?

 

Horsepower is a function of torque. Torque is measured, horsepower is calculated.

HP = (TQ * RPM)/5252