[demonstang76]

I was building a 289 for my senior project and now that its almost completed ive got my hands on a 302. asking for help here on the 289 alot of people recommended i get DeskTop Dyno if i was into building engines from ground up so i invested in it and i have a blueprint for the 302 but with my setup im peaking out at 600 horsepower, but not until 7000 rpms. first of all im under the impression i dont want to be turning a 332 (i have a stroker kit for it) at rpms that high i am aiming for a strong 1/8th mile car.

Engine Parts: -AFR with 205 intake runners, 2.08 int and 1.60 exhaust valve with a 58 cc combustion chamber, aluminum
-Edelbrock torker ii intake, single plane, 2500-6500 operating range
-holly 4 barrel 750cfm
-Comp cam .565 intake .574 exhaust valve lift 2600-6500 operating range
-SCAT stroker kit, forged pistons, crank, h-beam rods with .030 bore
-brand new axle setup for it to convert to 5 lug rear axles with 9 in housing, detroit lockers, and 4.11 gear
many more parts but not going to spend all night naming them unless someone wants to know


so my question is what can i change to move my power band lower on my rpms, if not right off idle, then at least at a resonable rpm.

[samotrx7]

What will be the primary use? If it'll be a street/strip car I'd say instead of the 205's move down to some 185 afr's with the comp port to lower your powerband some, it'll take alot of rpm's for a little 332 to fill those 205 heads, additionally an edelbrock rpm air gap would be a good choice to match up with with the heads. A speed demon 650 would also be a good choice. That'll be a nice streetable combo, if you plan on a race car than keep the 205's, boot the torker and put on a victor jr. and possibly up the gears some(4.30-4.56).

[EagleAutosports]

Based on the combination you put out, I'd have to agree with the software, that would be a screamer on the top end but with a big loss of low end torque. Those 205's are HUGE and would require a lot of rpm before they start making power on a 332. (or would that be 331?)
The 750 is also too big, you would want a 650 at the most on a 302 based engine. The cam is definitely aggressive and would be a high rpm piece.
What you would have to do is swap to heads in the 185-190cc intake runner size, since you want the power to start lower in the rpm band, you should ditch that intake and get an RPM. The Torker is a single plane and would make it's best power over 4000 rpm. You could probably keep the cam and see how it does with these parts instead.

[socalwrench]

I know this seems like a bunch of information, but I was unsure how much detail you wanted.

as general guidelines, if you want low end power you need to keep the engine's air velocity higher during lower RPMs. this is done by using a dual plane intake manifold and cylinder head with smaller intake runners.

also, avoid camshafts that have a large amount duration or valve overlap. without getting into engine dynamics- simply put, this kills low end power. a camshaft with less than 228 deg. (@.050) on a 112 or 114 lobe angle will idle nicely and give you plenty of torque.

whenever, you build an engine, you need to determine what the NORMAL operating range of the engine will be- IE idle to 4000, 1500 to 5000, 2500 to 6000, 3000 to 7000, etc.

one last note, gearing will have a significant effect on how the car accelerates in relation to the NORMAL operating range- IE 3.08 gears will allow the engine to operate at a lower RPM than 3.73 gears. plus, if you are using an automatic, the torque converter stall speed will also change how the car accelerates. lower stall converters will apply engine torque at lower speeds, but don't store as much energy for hard launches (such as drag racing). most factory converters are adequate for the idle to 4000 rpm range (1500-1800 rpm stall).

[demonstang76]

its more a race car that is street legal and may be driven to show off every now and then

i assumed it was a 331 but for some reason this kit with bored .030 over pistons states its actual cubic in as 332 which desktop dyno says 332.5 so i just went along with it

i am new to the single plane and dual plane intake i had never heard of until i started my 289, i didnt know dual plane was better low end but now i do so thanks

after crunching it for a lil while i assumed it was my heads, so i got some twisted wedge 185 intake runners and entered the flow data and got a dissapointing shift, barely affected it at all

unfortunatly i did not get the desktop dyno advance so i can adjust all the settings to my cam but ill look into a smaller degree

the engine is pretty stout either way, the torque peaks out 530 ft lbs at 5000 rpms, i was just curious if there was a way to shift my peak horsepower back. thanks for the input guys this website a huge help with anything ford lol