I have shared with you all what my plans are for my 292. It's in the Hi-Po Area, as the questions I was asking was better suited for that area. This is engines in general, so I am starting it here, and if it needs to be moved, please do. Thanks.
I know the engineers know way more than I do. They crunch numbers, adjust this, tweak that, test this, toss that out, etc. Being a curious individual, and thinking outside the box, I tend to go about things differently, think about things differently, and do things differently.
I own a Jeep Cherokee with 4.0. Jeep improved upon their inline six design, by making the engine breathe better, and also increasing the torque output. I have to say that the 4.0 is a fine engine, and with mine having 207k it still runs strong, doesn't burn or use oil, and gets decent mileage (20-22 mpg) for a wheeled-brick. Yes, it has EFI, which is a huge improvement all by itself.
We all know an engine is just an air pump. In my mind I am picturing my 292, which I have been told varying things about the mileage they can get, but this really applies to all engines when I ask this, as there are engine improvement items for all the makes and models. Other engines that come to mind are the tuna boat car engines with tons of torque and got great mileage, while able to cruise down the road as fast as you wanted to, usually hitting 80 mph without even trying to. Unless the engine is offered up as a performance package, it will be woefully under powered, but will get the job done. Hence the huge aftermarket for performance improvement parts. Say one has one of these non-performance engines, and does improvements to it to make it breathe like it needs to, not like holding your hand over your nose and mouth with a slight gap in your fingers while running a marathon at 8,000 feet in elevation. And since the camshaft is the brain of the engine, if one gets a cam designed for torque, will this not effectively improve the torque, all the while having a better-breathing engine?
The car manufacturers are bean-counters, and want to save as much per unit as possible, yet they still need to adhere to federal regulations which typically drives up costs because of the extra restrictions.
Is it feasible to have an engine that breathes really well, but maintain low end torque? Or does improving the engine automatically make it a racing engine?
Inquiring mind wants to know. You guys have way more track time, drive time, tinkering time, performance adder time, and any other kind of car/truck tweaking time than I do.
I look forward to hearing back from all y'all.
