My first post.
Wanted to first say what an amazing resource this place is. I’ve been a lurker for a long time now, and I only recently registered to the forum.
I’m collecting parts and trying to put the final plans in place for a complete rebuild of a 292 that will power a 2-Ton truck. I’ve read a lot of threads here at Inliners on how to extract more torque and horsepower from these engines. All super helpful.
The most basic modifications I am reading here for making a 292 make more power and torque, is installing larger valves in the head, bolt-in lumps for the siamese intake ports, bump the compression a little, and a camshaft that’s happy at lower RPM. Top-off all these free-flowing improvements with a new intake/carb and headers. Sounds great to me.
It’s my understanding that when you can get an engine to breath easier, it will make more power. It’s also my understanding that the higher levels of power and torque from these modifications now peak at a higher RPM. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
I’ve seen a few dyno results for these types of modified 292’s on this forum. The problem is, these dyno results typically start at 2,500 RPM and higher. What I want to know is what’s happening between 800 RPM and up. I’m interested to learn what I’m potentially loosing at those lower RPM from these types of modifications.
I’ve read that the modern water-brake engine dynamometers commonly used today are not able to effectively control the engine and give accurate results below about 2,500 RPM. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see a published dyno sheet that starts at 3,500 RPM, or even 4,000 RPM. For the hard core race engines, this is not a problem. For a street engine? Or how about a truck engine?
Because this engine I’m going to build will see most of it’s usable life between 1,600 RPM and 2,600 RPM (with a max peak of 4,000 RPM), is it unreasonable to want to know what is happening starting at 800 RPM? Maybe I’m asking for too much.
Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
David
