given: car is 3650# rear wheel dyno shows 650 torque at 3800 rpm and 550hp at 6900 rpm. car runs 7.1 et in the 1/8 mile at 97 mph. it has a 3500 stall and a 4.10 gear/ assuming no spin and you could add one or the other, what would be better
20 more horsepower or
20 more ftlbs of torque

:confused: Trying to better my et.

I'd like the same torque peak, but at a higher RPM.... and the same peak HP, but at a little lower RPM.

Does your cam have a real wide lobe separation?

More than likely that torque at 3800 is misleading. On a chassis dyno the torque converter exaggerates the torque at the start, then it starts to get get normal. I wouldn't be suprised if the torque curved went from peak, then down low, then curved back up, and then slowly down. 6900 rpm is a very high peak, personally, I'd go for the more torque at lower RPM with that weight.

TNT,

Not to butt in here, but mind laying out your combo? I am always interested to see any combo, mild or wild (engine, trans, converter, rear, etc... )
As far as it goes, torque is king ;D.
I actually miss the low end off idle 1200-2600 of my old 230's @ .050 cams even though I picked up 45 or so hp with a much larger cam.
6900 is getting up there too, but it must be fun (hope you have a rev limiter in there!)

Matt

You must be at a very high altitude. With those rw numbers and weight I would expect alot lower et.

Sorry Guys I made a mistake. The numbers I gave were the calculated engine numbers based off the rear wheel dyno at a 20% loss. The rear wheel numbers where 450 hp and 542 ft lbs. The combo
This dyno was at 36 degrees timing and 12.8 air fuel at wot--a 3" fram air filter, old plugs

454@.030
stock crank
eagle rods
srp 10.5:1 pistons
3993820 heads ported
comp cam solid roller
265 duration @ 50
675 lift
victor intake
holley 900 cfm carb
1.75 headers and 3 inch exhaust with flowmaster 50 series delta flow mufflers
msd ignition
350 turbo trans
3500 stall
4.10 gear
Going racing again friday
By the way this is my street car
Sorry but it is a 79 camaro
3650#

Best et so far
7.16 at 96.0 mph with a 1.56 60' time

After that I tuned a little
spinning
60' time 1.63 but a 7.18 et at 97mph

I have tuned more now so we'll see. :D