Towing HP

[John Hofstetter <hofs@domain.elided>]

>But, that doesn't explain why less torque and more HP make the GC tow
>better.
>
>Tom H.

Tom,
Hopefully, somebody who understands power curves better than I (that's 
not saying much) will give a definitive answer. I really can't. I'm 
tempted to tell you about the "good old days" when we were racing "hard 
tops" and the Chrysler straight sixes beat the Ford V-8's almost every 
race. Out at the drag strip, the V-8's always won, not even close. No, 
I'm not going to tell you about that, because I feel the connection, but 
can't really put it into words. 

It certainly has to do with where the two kinds of engines get their 
maximum power, and the range of RPM's that are covered in that power 
curve. 

Our 345's get about 170 horsepower, or less, (I think the book says that 
mine is 163) and the 318 or 5.2 L is 230 horsepower, the difference 
mostly I think from the fact that with the shorter stroke, the 318 gets 
in half again as many power strokes in any given unit of time. Add to 
that the multi-port fuel injection, the electronic ignition, the computer 
controlled everything, 4 valves per cylinder, etc. and you're at a 
third-again as much horsepower. Gotta make a difference. 
As you are aware, we owned a series of Jeeps with the 4.0 L. straight 
six, which is now available also in the Wrangler. This engine is about 
200 HP and has amazing torque. It was a good trailer puller, better than 
the Scout.

The "torqueist" engine I ever owned was a GMC V6 with 496(?) ci. 
displacement. It had cylinders the size of buckets and a very long 
stroke. It would start in gear and idle along the road in 4th gear. It 
never even hesitated at any pulling task I asked of it, but I used to lie 
to people and tell them that I got 8 miles per gallon, which was at least 
doubling its true mpg. On 4WD trips, I would put a row of full 5 gallon 
gas cans in the bed of the pickup to make sure that I got out of the 
back-country. Believe it or not, my big "old"  (actually new at the time) 
Travelall got so much better gas mileage, that we viewed it in the same 
way others viewed their VW's at the time. It didn't take too long for us 
to change our frame of reference, and start complaining about the 
Travelall's mileage, but realizing that it weighed over 8000 lbs. its 
8-10 miles per gallon wasn't all that bad. As I said before, I think 
because of its 5 speed gearing and axle ratios it was an awesome trailer 
puller. It was a 345 and had a 2 barrel carb. on it, but was rated at 
10,000 lb. towing capacity, and could have handled that size trailer.

John H.