2.5 liters is 151 cubic inches. I haven't built a TR engine before,
but I have built Chevy's. My experience is that anything over 1 HP/ci
becomes marginal on the street. Admittedly, one man's marginal is another
man's "fully streetable" so let me define streetable as I see it:
Engine idles sufficiently smooth that the body of the car does not
shake noticeably, nor does the engine 'lope'.
Sufficient torque that stalling is not a problem
Idle speed of less than 1000 RPM
Mileage hit of less than 15%
Sound level at cruise is acceptable.
Cold start drivability is not noticeably affected.
So I think 220HP, while definitely 'drivable' on the street, would
be fatiguing to deal with for more than a short period of time. This would
put you into the "lopey cam" territory, which means large mileage hit, rough
idle, and high noise levels at cruise, easy to stall, etc. I have built this
kind of motor, and while it is fun for a while, it wears quickly on you.
A reasonable number for the street is 150 crank horsepower for the
2.5 liter displacement. I know I would not consider any more than that for
the street, but then I am an old man....
Cheers,
Vance
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert M. Lang [mailto:lang@isis.mit.edu]
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2002 8:54 AM
To: Mark Holveck
Cc: Six pack
Subject: Re: 220 hp TR6 engine
<snip>
But to get to 220 HP, you've seen by example that it's not exactly cheap.
Regarding the under $2k motor warm overs, yes, you may be making more
power than stock, but you're not making a _lot_ more power than stock. 16
second 1/4 miles times are not indicative of a large power increase. If
you told me that you got into the 14's, then we might be talking...
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