One critical thing missing in this thread is intake manifold. For performance in general, people spend way too much time talking about heads and not nearly enough time talking about the manifold. Manifolds make a huge difference in overall performance. Don’t forget headers either.travis wrote: ↑Wed Jun 16, 2021 4:10 amAnd I think, yet again, that this is where my confusion comes from.Walter R. Malik wrote: ↑Tue Jun 15, 2021 6:31 pm Maximum horsepower at Wide Open Throttle has little to do with street driving. Keep it all in perspective.
I’ve found a large number of posts on here that state that anything over 330-350fps is too high and you start getting more pumping losses, more possibility of the port going turbulent, etc.
Larry’s posts are highly informative, no doubt about that. But…I don’t build SS engines. I primarily build stuff that needs to perform well in a 4000+ pound daily driver with highway friendly gears, or needs to lug up a rough mountain trail, or needs to pull a trailer full of hay out of the back 40. Cam timing is a lot of it, but not all of the picture. So…if I am interpreting correctly, 350+ FPS port velocity in the stuff I build isn’t a bad thing, especially when part throttle performance is more important that WOT performance.
I’ve never really driven a 6.0 LS powered truck, but spent plenty of time with 5.3 powered GM trucks and the Coyote based 5.0 in ford trucks, and to me they just don’t seem to be a good truck engine. I think they are more tolerable because of lower rear gears and multi speed transmissions, and they certainly get better fuel economy than anything I’ll ever build with ancient technology, but IMO they just don’t have the low end and part throttle grunt that I like…especially in a truck. I guess that’s why diesels have become so popular
If you want a puller or a climber, nothing beats a diesel. There’s no comparison between gas and diesel when it comes to truck performance. You can improve gas engine truck performance but diesels will always come out on top.