Thu Jan 29, 2015 4:15 pm by ABlockOfCheese
You have to take into account that comparing a muscle car engine from 1965 and one from 1955 is like comparing apples to oranges. Pre-mid 60's V8 engines suffered due to the poorer quality of both the parts and the engineering, then again they would though, especially considering trying to make a 7+ liter V8 at that timewith the whole trial-and-error thing. Chevrolet didn't come out with the gen I small block until 1955, and there was only one size, 265 CID (4.3 liters i believe). They kept the displacements small in the 50's and early 60's because larger engines couldn't handle higher revving, and sometimes those larger engines would have such a low redline that the engine would be basically useless due to such a small RPM range. Seeing as how most V8's in automation from the mid 50's tech years seem to have a safe max of around 400 RPM, you aren't given much to work with. I however believe that one should still try to get the torque and HP lines to cross in the upper end of the RPM range. All your power in most of these engines is in the top end, and while they have tons of power up there, they will be more susceptible to bogging down and stalling on takeoff. 400 torque sounds great, but if you are sitting at a red light about to race a buddy with a lower profile cam in his and he smokes you right of the line despite probably only having about 300-350 torque you'd probably be banging your hands on your steering wheel in anger.
Basically, when in doubt, build for low end torque.
