jonnyv713 said:
A word of advice, build the car to suit you and don't worry about who you shut up at the track. Because I can garauntee there will always be someone faster than you.
383 in My Cutty
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A word of advice, build the car to suit you and don't worry about who you shut up at the track. Because I can garauntee there will always be someone faster than you.
I wouldn't change anything I suggested. As Andrew stated, you won't beat everyone but it'll still be respectable. You will definately have fun in it (until you see Mr. Officer's lights in your rear view mirror...then you'll know you had *too much* fun!!!)
Good heads, good pistons, good cam and induction, and a good rebuild. Don't scrimp on cheap parts. It's far cheaper to buy the good parts now rather than cheap out on the parts and have to rebuild it *again* later when those cheap parts broke.
I've never had mine to the track but a guy online I know built a 383 with AFR 190 heads and a small hyd roller cam in the 218*/224* range and all the associated goodies for the whole combination and he was running 12.5's in the 1/4.
http://jeffd.50megs.com/index.htm and then click on the "Engine pics of the 385 and previous 355".
Even with a 100 horse shot of nitrous would put you in the high 11's. That, in my opinion, is real respectable for any car that you can hop in and road trip anywhere you want to go.
Good heads, good pistons, good cam and induction, and a good rebuild. Don't scrimp on cheap parts. It's far cheaper to buy the good parts now rather than cheap out on the parts and have to rebuild it *again* later when those cheap parts broke.
I've never had mine to the track but a guy online I know built a 383 with AFR 190 heads and a small hyd roller cam in the 218*/224* range and all the associated goodies for the whole combination and he was running 12.5's in the 1/4.
http://jeffd.50megs.com/index.htm and then click on the "Engine pics of the 385 and previous 355".
Even with a 100 horse shot of nitrous would put you in the high 11's. That, in my opinion, is real respectable for any car that you can hop in and road trip anywhere you want to go.
I've enjoyed reading this post. I'm remember being at the exact same point where your at with your car except I was 14 at the time. I'm 19 now (just wait till these older guys jump in :wink: ) and this site will definately help you out in the long run. On top of my old man teaching me for years now, you will learn things on your own and figure out different ways of going about certain aspects of the car. I daily drove my malibu for 5-6 years before the driveshaft snapped (dont ask me how).
As for the engine, if your building this car to handle primarily on the street, then keep your torque numbers in mind. The rpm air gap intake will help you with that. Do not go with a single plane intake as that is meant for the high rpms and drag racing, which you will never see. Remember the cardinal rule "bigger is not always better". There was a point where I wanted to put the biggest cam, port/polish the heads, and be the fastest car on the road. Then as you drive around for a while, you realize that there are gonna be cars faster than you. My rule is whenever I build a motor, I use forged internals as a safety precaution and to avoid the possibility of an internal cast part failing. I run flat top hyper pistons in my 350 and haven't had one problem with them.
I know your figure of speech when it comes to the mustangs as I've seen every variation of the damn things, including those with cowl hoods, and am tired of their bark. But the simple thing you need to realize is that those mustangs are a dime a dozen and your car is not. Those guys can easily go to a used car lot and find another one. That's why I stopped kickin every import and tuners a** that I came across because it is not worth it, especially after you invest 6 years worth of time, money, and labor.
As for the engine, if your building this car to handle primarily on the street, then keep your torque numbers in mind. The rpm air gap intake will help you with that. Do not go with a single plane intake as that is meant for the high rpms and drag racing, which you will never see. Remember the cardinal rule "bigger is not always better". There was a point where I wanted to put the biggest cam, port/polish the heads, and be the fastest car on the road. Then as you drive around for a while, you realize that there are gonna be cars faster than you. My rule is whenever I build a motor, I use forged internals as a safety precaution and to avoid the possibility of an internal cast part failing. I run flat top hyper pistons in my 350 and haven't had one problem with them.
I know your figure of speech when it comes to the mustangs as I've seen every variation of the damn things, including those with cowl hoods, and am tired of their bark. But the simple thing you need to realize is that those mustangs are a dime a dozen and your car is not. Those guys can easily go to a used car lot and find another one. That's why I stopped kickin every import and tuners a** that I came across because it is not worth it, especially after you invest 6 years worth of time, money, and labor.
patmckinneyracing said:
Somebody taught you well and you did some good listening! BTW...is 50 years old, old enough?
Yeah, I used to have a 69 Camaro that had a nice lopey cam...it sounded real mean. After many years you start to learn...and I did too. Sounding mean don't get it done in a street car. Torque does! You feel torque. Horsepower is just a mathmatical measurement and an engine is considered a horsepower motor when the powerband is in the higher rpm ranges. All engines make more hp over 5252 rpm due to the formula used to compute horsepower. Optimize your power range for 7000 rpm and you have a horsepower motor. Optimize it for power in the 4000 - 4500 rpm range and you have a torque motor (torque MONSTER!). Does your street motor live in these rpm ranges? Not generally.
Keep your duration in the 220 - 230 range with a lobe seperation of 110 - 112 and it'll make good torque. You can also use streetable gear to keep your engine in that powerband. Push the duration into the 240 - 250 range with a 106 - 110 seperation and it will lope like hell! It will also be a flat out dog on the street unless you run 4.56 gears to keep it in that rpm range. And don't fool yourself into thinking you can run 4.56's unless you have an overdrive transmission. If you don't, don't plan on leaving town or stray too far from your local gas station. 5000 rpm at 60 mph isn't *streetable*.
I'm not saying a torque motor doesn't have a lope to it...just a lot less due to smaller duration and less overlap on the cam. It makes guys with that bad-*ss sounding cam wonder how you just blew their doors off with such a *stock* car...
One word...Torque!
You feel torque...you measure horsepower.
Now that were on the topic of gear ratios, I'm running a set of 3.73's and get about 4000rpm at 70mph with a 215/60r15 tire. This has not been fun to drive on the highway. It does good at getting the torque to the ground and launching from a stop without spinning the tires. I had a th350 trans but after the snapped driveshaft destroyed the bellhousing, I am now going with a 700r4 to allow better highway driving and maintaining good street/strip performance. A good rule I follow is that if your running a 3 speed trans a 3.42 gear is a really good balance for performance without hitting high rpm's on the highway. With an overdrive, you can go from 3.73's on up. This does not include if you have a 5 or six speed, which at that point you could run a pretty stout gear ratio. That is one thing most kids my age will neglect is the overall drivetrain.
I remember in a post not too long ago there was a kid roughly the same age as us (20-23) who was going to put a monster of a 455 in his cutlass. He was pissed that a group of mustang guys called his car a gutlass (which they were since they couldn't get out of their own way). So I asked him what he was doing to the trans and gear ratios. His response was "I was just gonna run the stock 200 trans (non overdrive) and 2.73 gears". Big mistake. A 500hp 455 is nice, doesn't do one bit of good if your drivetrain can't hold up to that power, let alone get it to the ground.
This is the current camshaft I am running and has been very good to me for the 3-4 years I've been running it.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-1103/
Provides great torque, is cheap, and is very easy to tune in. I'm running 2.5inch pipes with flowmaster 40 mufflers. Has a really nice lope and I've had many guys think I was running a 454 in the car. Another case of exhaust as part of the overall combo.
My point of learning from that driveshaft snap was to always have a driveshaft safety loop and do not trust that factory sheet metal bracket that runs across the floor boards underneath. It will not save the floors of your car :lol:
PS eh 50 years old ain't bad, only 2-3 years older than my old man
I remember in a post not too long ago there was a kid roughly the same age as us (20-23) who was going to put a monster of a 455 in his cutlass. He was pissed that a group of mustang guys called his car a gutlass (which they were since they couldn't get out of their own way). So I asked him what he was doing to the trans and gear ratios. His response was "I was just gonna run the stock 200 trans (non overdrive) and 2.73 gears". Big mistake. A 500hp 455 is nice, doesn't do one bit of good if your drivetrain can't hold up to that power, let alone get it to the ground.
This is the current camshaft I am running and has been very good to me for the 3-4 years I've been running it.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-1103/
Provides great torque, is cheap, and is very easy to tune in. I'm running 2.5inch pipes with flowmaster 40 mufflers. Has a really nice lope and I've had many guys think I was running a 454 in the car. Another case of exhaust as part of the overall combo.
My point of learning from that driveshaft snap was to always have a driveshaft safety loop and do not trust that factory sheet metal bracket that runs across the floor boards underneath. It will not save the floors of your car :lol:
PS eh 50 years old ain't bad, only 2-3 years older than my old man
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