450 HP from a 302 all engine

[MiracleMax]

Originally posted by 90dpscoupe:
Hmm why is it the ls1 can make 450 hp with just bolt ons? well, they do have 10:1 compression, there heads flow like 240 intk im guessing stock

Probably 2 things work in the LS1's favor, in stock form its probably the best pushrod engine ever to see the light of day, and next to god, nobody else knows more about engine airflow than Ken Sperry. Thats the guy in charge of GM's airflow department.

Airflow by itself isn't the whole picture when it comes to power. just because a head flows "X" amount of air doesn't mean its going to make "X" amount of power. combustion in rapidly accelerating/de-accelerating cylinders are a dynamic environment and there are about ah gajillion variables invovled as a piston moves from BDTC to TDC. things like mixture homgenization, how it blows across the spark plug, where it goes in the chamber, yadda, yadda, yadda. This all effects net pressures in the cylinder.

Combine this with things like frictional HP losses, less efficient thermodynamic design, ect. and the bits and pieces start to add up to a sizable chunk of HP gone.

The windsor engines where designed like almost 40 years ago? The LS1 is at best 10 years old counting when some guy with a slide rule got a stiffy thinking about it.

So the bottom line result is an engine that is easier to get bigger numbers from without as many mods.