Desert Mavericks.......Sand Box

I was just thinking. How about a heads up race between me and Gene and I pull two plug wires. Think it would hurt anything running it all out like that down the strip? I cant think of anything it would hurt but who knows.

Should be kind of fun to give it a try and see if it will run like that, much less run good enough.

 

I'm all in with that idea...

 

Im sure you are Gene. We alredy tried the race with running 600ft and costing the rest of the way and you winning. Why not try some new form of humiliation?

Any other ideas? 2x4 under my gas pedal?

 

Starting in 2nd gear is another good one...

 

I dont think that would help you too much. 2nd gear would just mean less tire spin with the 5 speed and 3.89 gears. Might actually be faster with the street tires if I did that.

Would be an interesting way to have fun at the track though, finding different ways to race our cars togethor with different handicaps.

First person who suggests me going backwards gets kicked in the knee though.

 

I would argue that opening up the intake is not the route to faster heads. The latest theory suggests that velocity and keeping the fuel in suspension in a carburated application is more important. That along with the size and length of the runners will tune the intake much like you tune headers for the exhaust side. Just some theoretical input on my part.

 

Ive heard about that too Tony. Thats why you need somebody who knows what they are doing to build them to match your setup. Bigger may be good. Too big can be bad. Or go EFI and not worry about fuel suspension.

I still say the bigger bang for your buck is heads over strokers. I put in a 347 with worked over 351w heads. wasnt impressed. put trick flows on the 347, was impressed. blew stroker and now have trick flows on stock bore bottom end, dosnt seem to be missing any power judging with the Butt-O-Meter.

 

the only reason I went with a 331 is I had to build a whole new short block anyway. Might as well get more cubes. For racing 347s dont last. To much rod angle. 331 is the way to go. My heads are Holley heads made by Brodix. they flow real good.

 

Im pretty much in the same boat. I have a Mexican 302 in need of a ground up build. So I figured I have to spend the money anyway why not get 30 extra cubes. I dont like the rod angle of the 347 either. As for heads, Im thinking Victor Jr 210.

 

I won't argue that the bang for your buck is certainly flow over cubic inches. (An engine is just an air pump when you come right down to it.) I experienced this myself many years ago when I changed from a .030" 429 to a 521 stroker. It wasn't nearly the impact I expected to get from the outlay of the cash. At the time I had what could arguably be called the best heads available for the big block (this was before the proliferation of aftermarket aluminum heads) and those did not change. In the end it all comes down to parts matching for your intended purpose. But having said that I will say that if you are investing in a rotating assembly anyway...given everything else the same...go for the largest amount of cubes possible. There is no replacement for displacement and oftentimes these days it doesn't cost any more than replacement parts of the same quality.

 

Which brings up a question. What is the advantage of a 2 piece valve spring over a one piece. Im thinking of putting in a retrofit roller cam and lifters, would that have something to do with it?

 

My first stroker was an old 73 block I put in a Lunati retrofit kit. I still run that cam in my car which now has a roller block.

Instead of picking the springs yourself I'd get what the cam maker sells with or reccomends to use once the cam is picked out.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong Tony, but duel valve springs have he same seat pressure and smaller coils so less chance of having coil bind than one large coil spring.

 

They can have the same seat pressure, but usually it is higher. Sometimes all this talk of dual springs becomes confusing because almost all springs these days incorporate what is called a damper spring. A lot of people think that this inner spring is adding some pressure (usually it is not that much) and consider these a dual spring. Actually this is used for dampening harmonics. A true multi-spring setup is done exactly for the reason you are talking about Robbie. In order to get the high pressure required for some really agressive cams (or more specifically, solid roller cam profiles) the spring diameter becomes too large to maintain the required pressure to still have enough travel. To get around this, manufacturers added an additional (or in some cases two additional) springs within the first coil. I'm no spring expert, but it occurs to me that the last 10 years or so that you seldom see triple springs any more. This is probably due to better materials science. Having said all that, I have to go with what was stated earlier...check with the cam manufacturers specification for the proper springs. Without the correct springs (along with retainers and keepers) the cam is not going to perform as it is spec'd.

 

Thanks Guys