Under the curve. This is a term you hear a lot if you spend time on the dyno, whether it is the engine or the chassis dyno. Once you see two tests overlapped so you can see the differences, you’ll immediately see the area under the curve in an entirely different way. Talk to professional race engine builders and they will tell you that the area under the curve is what matters to them. Sure, they care about a much smaller area under the curve than you do for your street car engine, but they still care about the area under the curve. If a race engine is going to operate in a 2,000 rpm range, it doesn’t do any good to have a 2 horsepower increase at the top of the range while losing 1 under the rest of the curve. If instead you can gain a couple under the entire curve, then that is a win. Pro Stock teams look for increases of 1-2 horsepower average and are thrilled to find them.
So keep that in mind while you watch this video from Richard Holdener, where he’s going to compare cams and show that sometimes the one that “makes less power” really makes more average torque and that means performance gains compared to the single point on the curve that is higher.
Watch and learn.
Video Description:
HOW CAN I MAKE MORE LOW-SPEED TORQUE? HOW WELL DOES A 408 LS STROKER WORK? HOW MUCH POWER IS A STROKER MOTOR WORTH? WHAT IS THE BEST CAM FOR A STROKER LS? CAN I RUN A TRUCK CAM IN A 408 STROKER? HOW MUCH CAM CAN I RUN BEFORE I START TO LOSE TORQUE? DOES A HIGHER PEAK TORQUE NUMBER WORK BETTER? WHICH CAM SHOULD I RUN IN MY STROKER LS? CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO WHERE I RAN 4 DIFFERENT CAMS ON A 408 STROKER LS TO ILLUSTRATE WHAT THE BEST COMBINATION IS FOR MAXIMIZING TORQUE PRODUCTION. I ALSO COVERED WHAT I THOUGH WOULD BE AN EVEN BETTER CAM CHOICE FOR THOSE LOOKING TO OPTIMIZE POWER PRODUCTION THROUGH THE ENTIRE REV RANGE.
