Quote:
Originally posted by Superman
Nope, I didn't find an image of the graph, but I noticed that my stock 3-liter with 20/21 cams, '73 heat exchangers and Triad final exhaust made 174 lb/ft of torque at the rear wheels. That's less than the motor above, but not by that much.
Again, you can build a high-hp engine that never makes much more power than the stock version. Torque = power. It just makes that power at higher rpm's resulting in a higher hp calculation.
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Superman,
You are right to a certain extent, however, because of the big increase in available RPM over stock, (maybe 20% +) at a given speed, Tom can remain in a lower gear. Maybe at 50mph Tom's in first gear when you are in second, at least for a while. Since he can run a larger torque multiplier (lower gear),acceleration can be much stronger (if you wind it out). Torque does not equal power. Imagine the extreme case of two engines - a diesel which revs from only 1k to 2k where Tom's rev's 3X to 4X that engine, but both put out 200 ftlbs (really simplified model). He can use a lower gear multiplier of that same ratio for a given speed. If torque is equal between the two engines, and vehicle weights are the same, Tom's acceleration is 3X to 4X, assuming no wheel slip. Force applied to the ground is as much a function of gear ratio as torque.
An good demonstration of this is to look at the torque and horsepower curves of F1 or Indy motors. They rev to 20k rpm, have big horsepower but meager torque numbers. It is all about the gearing!