Horsepower is horsepower?

pnichols wrote:

JIMNLIN wrote:
I've yet to see anyone with smallblock gasser in any size LDT pulling combined for a living on any LTL website. There are a couple of members who are still pulling short local runs with the 8.1/V10 at those weights.

I suspect that the main reason for this is - as has been brought up many times in this thread already - is that diesel truck engines with turbo boost have been available for years and years ahead of turbo boost being offered on gasoline truck engines.

The heavy haulers really don't like the horsepower fall-off with altitude you get without turbo because of their trying to tow so much weight relative to their horsepower. For instance, an 80,000 lb. big-rig with only a 700 HP diesel is not going to do as well at all in the High Sierras as compared to an 18,000 RV with a non-turbo 350 HP gasser - IF the 700 HP diesel is NOT turbo boosted.

The diesel versus gasoline discussion might pretty much fall apart if you remove turbo boost from the diesel side of the story. I guess it's tough keeping the comparison to apples versus apples when the only modern diesel apple that manufacturers are offering as of late is turbo boosted diesels.

What the gasser crowd needs is turbo boost on a whole variety of small gas truck engines - just like turbo boost (or supercharging) has been available for a number of years on high performance gas street car engines.

A boosted small block is still a small block and doesn't have the numbers to compete towing at the weights it takes to make a living. My old carbed 460/454 would on average get in the 4-6 mpg range. The trucks were usually wore out at 150k-175k.
The newer gen diesel are pulling 35k+ combined and getting on average 9-11 mpgs and up to 18-20 mpg dead heading for a back load. And most are run over 300k before things like a water pump or injectors start to nickle and dime the operator.

The new gen small block simply is out classed by the new gen diesel which IMO is the point of the OP post.