The 496 in my Coronet made 613 hp and 631 torque so one could argue that I only gave up a tiny bit of torque to pick up a bunch of power. But, I have a feeling that the cam used in my 496 would not be happy pulling a heavy Imperial down the freeway at 1800 rpm. It would probably pull the car down the racetrack a little faster, but cruising in OD is a really tough trick for a performance engine.
I'm not convinced that the induction system on that engine is great for that application but it would take a bunch of testing to find a better one that fit under the hood so I think it is what it is.
I knew my build was going to throw away a lot of easy power but it makes no sense to build an engine that won't do what the car needs. Looking at the datalog the engine was idling around 48 kpa. That'll keep the power brakes happy. There should be no such thing as a soft bottom end on this motor and I imagine it'll be happy dragging the Imperial around.
As for the intake, I had it so it went on. I expected it to fatten the middle of the curve but I didn't think it would quit that hard and fast.
I explored the idea of TF 270s but I couldn't find a decent intake that would fit under the low hood and work with the MW ports.
