The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Building a 292 for more torque

Guys,

I know the 292 has decent torque from the factory, but what can you do to increase the low end torque without moving the peak torque too far up the rpm band?

The specs for the stock 292 put the gross torque at something like 275 lb/ft at 1600 rpms (those are pre-1973 numbers). I would be very happy yielding something like 325-330 true lb/ft of torque at, say 2500 rpms. Any ideas?

-ftyler

retard or advance the cam timing will change the torque... go to a cam site.. i cant remember if advancing will give lower end torque or retarding... but remember what ya sacrifice or gain in lower end...will do the opposite to the top end.....

Thanks dude. No more takers?

Fatweed is probably right changing the timing will get you some more torque, but I don't think it's going to get you near what you're looking for. I seem to remember someone telling that a blower on a big six will get you as much bottom end as a BB. That's what I'd like to do if I had the money, but with a James Bond twist.
Larry

Getting more torque without a supercharger is not easy. One thing we did in high school was to make a velocity stack for the carb. We would take a junk bottle jack and drill out the base so the hole was through, but tapered so the hole got smaller at the bottom. Weld a plate on top, and put it under the carb. Reducing the air flow area increases the air speed, which is what is needed for bottom end torque.

As you all ready know, bigger cams move the usable rpm range up the scale. Its easy to make hp and torque, the hard part is to make it where you need it! Longer intake runners, small tube long runner exhaust headers, and even a camshaft if ground right. I going to have to dust off the Engine analizer to see what works! Joe

More cubic inches,many more,sell the 292,drop in a 502 big block
Like Fred T says,supercharge.

So if I understand the concept correctly, leaving the stock intake and 1 barrel carb, stock cam but maybe do long tube headers and a 1 into 1 exhaust would give as much low end torque as possible with this engine without using a supercharger.

What about bumping up the compression ratio? Will that help? I have higher compression 292 pistons (approx. 9:1 ratio LPG pistons).

-ftyler

1. Raise the compression. Your LPG pistons are a good beginning, and milling .050" or so off the head will help, too.

2. Install a relatively short-duration, high-lift cam. These are usually advertised as "RV" or "Pulling" cams.

3. Equal-length headers with LONG tubes. I like to figure out the volume of one cylinder, and make the header tube long enough to have the volume of the cylinder in the tube before it enters the collector. This takes some pretty imaginative plumbing to get all that pipe routed sometimes. Splitting the manifold and installing dual exhausts makes it a little easier. Make sure the length of pipe from each cylinder is the same. Trying to do this on the intake isn't very effective, because of the siamesed intake ports. A 12-port head helps, but that's a BIG-BUCK option!

4. Installing the cam slightly advanced from its "straight-up" position increases low-end torque, with a corresponding loss of high-speed horsepower.

Good luck!
Jerry

I'll bet that 571 Chevy crate motor has some power.. slap one of those in there! Then you'll have torque AND top end!

Thanks Jerry. Good to have you back online!

-ftyler

You have a .060 over 292 in your truck now. Can you give me an idea of what it is about your present setup that you want to improve on.
The reason I ask is that I've wondered if you wouldn't be happier with a trans with closer ratios and one more gear. Your A833 gives you a 3spd plus an overdrive that you can't always use, much like my SM465 is a 3spd with a granny that I can't always use. A 5spd would let you shift from high (direct) down to 1.30:1 as opposed to the 1.67:1 that you now have.
The reason I'm saying this is because my setup is not so very different than yours. I invariably find myself in heavy traffic and on a hill. Lugging a 4600LB truck on a hill @ 1100rpm isn't good and neither is grinding along in third @ 2000.
I believe I have the same cam as you have and .060 over LPG pistons. It has 1.94" intake, but stock exhaust. Your Offy is probably a better low rpm intake than my Clifford. Same headers. Your Edelbrock is about the same as my Carter AVS.
You don't want to use the LPG pistons and mill the head. The static compression would be above 10:1 and with that small of a cam, the dynamic compression ratio would be way too high.
If this was the inliners forum, there would be two guys screaming about lump ports. How much they would help in the 1500-2500 rpm range, I don't know.

It's been my experience from actually working on these engines,the best low speed response or torque come from a set of short pipe tri Y type headers reguardless of the carb and cam so long as they are not too radical.Long tube headers on these engines do little for added power in normal driving.Throw away those supposed equal length headers(by the way,it's equal flow not equal length)bolt on a set of short tubes and feel the power!!

4Wheeler magazine had an article about this very same thing several year ago. Huge torque advances with a Crane cam, decent carburation, some minor head work, and small diameter headers. The source of the information was Clifford Performance. I built my 292 with that information. It pulls with huge torque from 1500rpm right up to about 3800. I had it up 4200 rpm once just to see how fast it would go. It was over a hundred in my old truck and I just chickened out. Redcoat

Richard,

My current engine is fine (though I haven't had the thing on the road in 6+ months - what a waste of time and money! :rolleyes: ). I'm just pondering my next engine project.

I have several goody parts stashed around that I got for little or nothing, relatively speaking - Clifford water heated 4 bbl intake, Offy 4 barrel intake, Clifford "shorty" headers, 2 sets of LPG pistons, and a couple other things). I'm just trying to see if any of this stuff would be helpful in building more torque.

That's my goal with my next 292 - build as much low end torque as possible. The trick words here are "LOW END," meaning, in this case, making peak torque at or just slightly above stock peak torque rpms. Naturally aspirated.

-ftyler

I'm in the market for a set of those LPG pistons if you want sell one of your sets.