funny the torqiest engine I ever had was a 350 chevy in my 73 jeep. After 20 years it still accererates faster than you can hang on and will cruise 70 easy it does kind of start to loose it at 80-85 but I wouldn't drive that thing that fast anyway.
32" tires, 373 rear,
The experts at several cam grinders said my engine would even run.
350 chevy, 9:1 compression, 305 truck heads with like a 185 intake valve, rams horn manifolds and a stock chevy dual plane cast iron manifold, heaviest largest diameter flywheel that chevy ever made for the small block. Built 100% for torque.
The cam was the shortest duration chevy small block cam I could find but had quite a bit of lift. Several people made one it was listed as a 305 RV cam. With an RPM range of 1200-2500 rpm if I remeber right. I have since sold it to a buddy of mine and all my recoreds whet with him.
but this thing would easily cruise 70 with some left over for passing. getting ther was fun. offroad it was a monster, when I fuel injected it ten years later it became easier to drive
.
It accelerated so fast and hard I had to wire the q-jet secondaries to only oper about a 1/4 inch or it was just dangerous. I know a lot of this is big engine light jeep but it wont be much different that what you are trying to build it I read you right.
There isn't really a lot of information out there about building an engine to make big torque numbers and most of what you do find is still really written forthe street and everyone worries about loosing the top end even the cam grinders dont really understand (or at least they didnt) an offroaders desire to make stump pulling torque. I guess they are afraid you will get mad if you cant run 100MPH in your Bronco.
If you use stock ford cast iron heads with a little port work and a just a regular old 351 RV cam that thing will have awesome torque and still make very good on the highway. To make good torqu you want HIGH lift and very little overlap. You can spend more money on some specialty grind and high dollar heads but your gains will not be as dramatic as if you were building something to run at wide open throttle. When running an engine to a max of 3500 to 4000 you just dont need or want the stuff you end up buying on the aftermarket. You could spend a lot of money on heads and actually hurt the build. Port match and clean flash only on hte stock style heads. Do you really want to double the cost of you build and not make any real gains in the 1000-2500 rpm range? You might even spend that money and hurt low end torque.
My experience is keep your compression ratio below 9:1 PERIOD if you run a 351 RV cam in a 408 stroker motor. Since there isn't as much overlap there is less scavanging and the engine will actually run very well due to the EGR qualities of this type of cam , but you have to start it and when starting the cylinders are clean with fresh fuel charge and it will rattle and tax the heck out of a starter.
when I built my torqer 25 years ago I went against all the experts recomendations and was very happy I did. I had one nationally respected cam grinder flat tell me the 350 would even run on that cam.
I am collecting parts for a 393 roller mtr. My intent is to run stock heads and a 351 RV cam. Yes the engine will not make hugh HP numbers, Yes it will be well under the peak power it could make. But it will out pull a hot 351 up to and above highway speed. If a cam will run a 351 to highway speed to will run a stroker past that speed. Yes its not as effiecient as it could be but it will make more torque across the board than the 351 just due to the larger displacement.
No need for high stall torque converters on a properly built torque engine.
big cubes will run more overalp and idle stably than a smaller engine. You can put more cam in it but would you use it? ANything that slides the torque curve out to the right will hurt you offraod even though it will be awesome on the street. It is really nice to have an engine that will lug down at idle and keep going. Its also easier on your clutch. All you need to do is figure out where you want you top end. If its just cruising down the highway and an occational pass, a 351 RV cam is probably the way to go.
Like an old guy told me when I was young and caught up in what magazines said to do," If you build an engine and never need to run it wide open throttle you wasted some money somehwere."
