273ci thoughts?

273 said
The reason to not give a darn about torque, cause unless your competing over dyno numbers, it what gets to the ground which is more important. Torque is mainly based on size in a NA engine , same with powerband and needed gear which tends to even out if everything is setup optimally . Say an engine needs about 650 cfms of fuel and air to make 400 hp and both engines have a VE of a 100%. A 440 at 5100 rpms will displace 650 cfms of air, a 340 will need 6600 rpm. A 340 is about 3/4 the size of a 440 and a 440 needs 3/4 of rpm than a 340 to displace the same amount of air. "cid x rpm / 3456 = cfm" Most mid built engines will make 1.15-1.25 lbs-ft per cid so say 1.2 per cid. So would give a 340 408 lbs-ft and 440 a 528 lbs-ft.

So say a 400 hp A body does 115 mph in quarter mile and you want to hit peak power at the finish line, a 440 would need a 3.70 gear to turn 5100 rpm and a 340 would need 4.78 to turn 6600 rpm. Again 340 is about a 3/4 of a 440 and 440 needs about a 3/4 as much gear. Now times torque by gear to see whats going to the ground 528 lbs-ft x 3.70 = 1954 lbs-ft for the 440 and 408 lbs-ft x 4.78 = 1950 lbs-ft for 340, Hp is what counts the rest is proportional, if geared right everything tends to equal out.
There's no free lunch, cubic inch don't give bonus power ie. torque.

Not trying to be personally critical, 273, so please don't take this to heart as an insult; just trying to work this out. The above is a false argument; the only thing that this says is that the example 340 and 440 engines are equally efficient at the same airflow, which is the case since you picked the flows and power per ci to be equal. It is a meaningless argument as to the effect of displacement.

Real world, the airflow will not be equal at all; we work to make the airflow adequate to support the cubes. So torque/HP output will not be equal vs cubes. A quick look at BB vs SB port flows will tell the story.

Can't agree on the thought that considerations of torque are not important. In some racing forms, it is a far, far better measure of overall performance than peak HP. Peak HP for 4 stoke engines like we typically build here is a convenient and direct indicator of 1/4 mile performance, so is useful as a measure of performance in the drag race world.