KWIK84

iTrader: (5)

Alright guys have a few questions on what to do to the car this winter. First off it is a 350 +.060, ~9.5:1 compression, cam is .472" 230@.050 with 108 LSA, cylinder heads are 416's with 1.94 intake valves, and a good port and valve job. Those parts are staying the same, the question is first, do i ditch the single plane intake and go with RPM Airgap? Also it currently has a 650 DP, should i upgrade with the Pro-Form main body and base plate? Since this is a bracket car, I think that I need to be looking at running a 2-step to help with consistency, the #'s are showing that I am pretty close right now, just wanting to get closer.

OK, here are the details, new baby on the way and the wife says I only have $1000 to spend on the car this winter. I need a new set of slicks, so now I'm down to ~$650......SO that is what I have to work with. Not worried about the car being the fastest, like I said it is a bracket car, and the class is 13.99 - 11.50. Just wanting to pick up a little so that I am not ALWAYS the one being chased.

I am really wanting to run 12.0 (on a good day!) but be a consistent low 12's.

#'s in the sig are on a 85* day with the typical midwest humidity.

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

so you don't want to change any parts that could make you more power? You'll never drop .8 by a carb body change and a dual plane intake over your single plane. How about different heads or cam? that'll make you faster. Hack saw off the choke tower and save the cash on the proform.

KWIK84

iTrader: (5)

Not that I don't want to put on better parts, just as I stated lack of funds, I know .8 is probably out of reach, that is why I said on a good day and the 12.87 is on a horrible day, air wise. I have with good air day, run 12.94 coasting through the lights so I didn't break out, so 12.7's are in the car easy, just haven't had alot of time to tune on it yet, But, I know that in "theory" the intake and carb are to small for the CID of the engine. BTW carb has already had choke removed and the intake radius has been smoothed. I mentioned to try and bring up the question of switching to a downleg booster. Unless you can come up with a good set of small chamber ~56 cc heads complete and ready to run for under 650.00, if you can please let me know! I am trying to make the most out of the funds that I have available.

OR, should I leave the engine alone and focus more on the chassis and a set of gears?

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

you have big dish pistons in that motor? A 360 engine(360 + .060overbore) with 64cc heads should be 9.5:1 or higher with 64cc heads not 56cc. I'd look for used dart iron eagles and buy a new cam as well, or think about suspension mods, gut the car out, etc to make it faster.

KWIK84

iTrader: (5)

Car is already gutted out, the short-block i'm using is basic, I pulled it out of an old chevy truck, cleaned everything up and installed cam, and the upper end off of my 305 after it decided that the #6 rod would be better in 2 pieces. The car has been a long slow project, with limited funds, so when I couldn't afford speed parts I started shedding some weight out of it. According to the scales at Cordova last year the car race ready was 2980#.

I may change the intake just because the 305 was a high RPM motor, and the cam in the 360 is done at 6K, so I should probably get rid of the single plane and go to a dual-plane setup, I am hoping that correcting the mismatch will help a little, the reason I am trying to decide on the carb is that ppl keep saying the 650 is to small for it, but, only going to 6k on it i don't know if jumping to a 750 is worth the benefit.

I may just focus on the suspension for now to help with consistency though, just wanting to bounce some ideas around.

IHI

iTrader: (1)

Keep everything the same and spend your money on a 1-2" 4 hole tapered carb spacer-wilson brand, and a new 750HP.

You said your not looking for alot more speed, mainly consistency...that's about all you need as well as making sure suspension parts are tight and in shape. I won a heck of a lot of races being chased, just a matter of getting the car tuned so you hit the dial or force the other guy out.

going with a new hp series carb will definately be the best bang for your buck since it'll pick up the ET a bit due to larger carb on a race type set-up. An the hp series is a very very good investment for bracket racing, when i went from the 830DP race series to the 950 HP, i did'nt pick up any et, but predictablity got scarey accurate.

Dont make it harder than it is, your a driver so you need to adapt and learn what you need to do even though chasing gives you the two advantages we all know about, but make no mistake, you figure out your car and you'll realize the feeling of "needing to chase" is a **** poor excuse.

Once you get settled in with the lil one, then you can start setting funds aside and build something better later, no sense in tearing apart and trying to fix up a lame horse that's getting the job done as it. Regardless of what folks say, kids dont effect your disposable income that much.

KWIK84

iTrader: (5)

IHI, thanks for the input, that is what i was hoping to find out about, I have been looking into the wilson tapered spacers for a while now, just hadn't made the leap of faith to invest in one yet.

I looked at some pics today of the car launching when we were out last and there is a ALOT of squat in the rear, so I may upgrade the torque arm, at a minimum a set of LCARB's.

BTW, are you running in the MBA series?

IHI

iTrader: (1)

LOL, well, i signed up and paid to get in it, but you've read the problems I've had this year. Really bums me out too since this series was exactly what i was looking for to break up the BS monotony of typical bracket racing, at least it brings the feel of the big boy series to the mudane brackets we run all season. This type of race is the only one i'd run for points, any other time it's going to be strictly for money. Track points is very top heavy and pay out for our track is a joke, actually this year only first and second get anything...if your 3rd or worse, you get nothing.

Motor was'nt done in time the first few races, so ran a freinds street car/footbrake car...big mistake running someting like that in modified/pro class, especially since i was'nt used to the car and it left like a dog.

called on the mill, it'll be bolted together by friday, but we're shooting for monday/tuesday to dyno and hopefully be at the last points race for ***** and giggles...we're trying to round up all the boyz we all started racing with years ago to make that race for sake of "old times sake" just going out and having fun win/lose or draw.

Back to your dilema, upgrading carbs is a very worthwhile investment, even for future mills since that 750hp will work on a variety of engines..and i thinkk once you get it tuned you'll understand the easier predictability of it vs a old standard DP. plus you'll pick up some et to boot....willing to say at least .2

Have ya done the electric water pump/manual steering conversion yet...there's another .3-.5 by itself on a motor like yours.

KWIK84

iTrader: (5)

Yeah, I've removed all accy's off the engine.

I figured that you guys would pay out like CDP now, guess not. I was going to try and make Oktoberfest @ CDP, but, looks like the wife has other plans, at least I made it out for the Series last month.

Started looking into the HP and spacers last night, looks like it will just about squeak in the budget. I've started working on a design for a new TA, and think I may build one over the winter, I've got someone who has the spare material laying around that he said I could use, just trying to decide on what the length should be, was looking at making it ~ 32".

Hope all goes well with the new mill. Sounds like it should be a good one! Hopefully I'll see ya up at CDP next year.

IHI

iTrader: (1)

If we can keep it together next season, I'll be doing my "racing *****" impersonation and hitting all the tracks around me like normal, I'm for sure not going to race in night of fires nor the world series, too many bad tastes left in my mouth the way the programs operate...i know tracks need to entertain the crowds since it's the tracks one big night of the year to make a large profit, so we as racers are put on the back burner since people dont want to see our junk going down the track..they want excitement and stuff like they see on tv...and i dont blame them a bit, prolly why i dont watch racing on tv or go to the track to just watch...if i cant do it, i want nothing to do with it LOL!!! sounds weird, but i'm just not the spectating type.

Make the newer carb fit the budget, look at it as investment into the future-which it is, by rights if you have any thoughts of going bigger cid engine wise, forget the 750hp and just do the 950hp and be done. One thing to keep in mind, the 950HP has no provisions for a vacuum source, so if you need vacuum, you will have to drill/tap a hole in your carb spacer like i did to pwr get a vac. source...no biggie, just forewarning you. That 950HP has performed wonders on everything from 305's to 496's, so that would truely be a one time investment in all honesty. Skip the Proform series carbs, we've debunked two proforms in 2 weekends at the track by swapping REAL hp series carbs and both cars picked up mph and et...not alot, but enough to justify keeping it original. one was a 377sbc and the other was a 468bbc, S/S cars.

I dont have a measurement on my jegster tq arm, i could get one in a week or so after i get engine and converter in hand, but it worked beautifully and deadly in my 525hp combo, really helped bring 60's into a very tight range over the stock long bar, then when i added the big anti roll bar, that was just frosting on the cake and it was varying only .00? during an event in the 60'...exactly what you need to win rounds.

I will say that the short arm has probably reached it's limit in the 525hp range though since it changes anti squat to really hit the tires hard...rear of the car actually lifts up on the hit. I truely believe with the correect converter behind this new motor I'm going to have a big traction issue in the summer heat. The last engine I went through a set of slicks per month since sidewalls got beat up so bad...plenty of tread left, but sidewalls just went away from being shocked so hard. We/re going to see how it all works, but in my head I already have plans to steal the rod/heims off the jegster arm and built a long arm again so i can get the chasis to absorb some of the energy and give the tires a bit of a break.

I know there are countless treads on here about how LCA's relocation brackets help with traction and what not and are the pieces that actually affect AS, but i still politely and quitely disagree. I have photo's of my car from different events with the long/factory tq arm and the car weight transfers like crazy (taking pressure off the rear tires) and then I have photo's after i installed the short jegster arm and amazingly the car is lifting the back end up....no LCA relocation brackets installed, just changed tq arm. I might be waay off base, but I'm just basing my thoughts off what i have experienced personally. Guess what I'm trying to say, at your current pwr level and maybe even your next motors power level, you wont go wrong building a shorter arm.

Josh

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

josh, try out some stiff sidewall slicks and it should hold up much better with the short arm. Guy on ls1tech is running a BMR short one which is within 1" of the jegster and hitting 1.3s on stiff sidewall slicks and said he doesn't beat them up and need to change them as often.

IHI

iTrader: (1)

I never paid attention to the tire selection Hoosier offered when i ordered my new stickies. We're gonna try the 29x9 and see how they work out, i wanted the extra roll out to help bring finish line rpm down a bit for engine longevity sake, and without getting crazy the 29x9 is about all i can fit. i did put a set of 29x11.5 quick time pro's a buddy had on his chevelle with the 10" rim 5.5 bs like mine, and it looked stupid, tires hung out past the wheel wells and just looked to back woods hilly billy style for my tastes.

I flat out refuse to ever run M/T's. I tried 2 sets to give them an honest run, and they just did'nt do it for me. Some of my buddies think I'm crazy, but my biggest weapon i bring to the track is the ability to cut stellar lights consistantly. I had more troubles with lights on the M/T's than i caare to remember. The first set of tires i too thought it was in my head, so i tried a new set the next month..still found to maintain good consistant lights. following month went right back to hooiser's and 60's got faster and lights went right back on kill each round. With as much at stake and oney it costs to compete, i may be crazy but i know what works for me and i'm not about to change...not to mention tire life was soo much longer with hooisers than M/T's. Our track used to look like it was sponsored by mickey as many guys that used to run them, now hoosiers have all but taken over for a few reasons:

cars got a little quicker in the 60' was always the first noted change
cars seemed to be "that much more consistant"
tires seemed to wear longer, guys were noting 20-30 more passes per set over the M/T's of the same compound

just my opinons/thoughts though and we all have ideas on what works and what dont. i dont win every race but the last 2 yrs at home was in the semi's in almost every outing so i keep doing what i'm doing LOL!! I will be checking the book to see if hooiser offers a tire that will fit my app in the size i need though for the next set after these

KWIK84

iTrader: (5)

Thanks for the input, looks like it will be a new HP and some work on a new Torque Arm setup. I had never really thought about the slicks issue, I may look into that a little more as I am currently running M/T 28x9, have to see what Hoosier has.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

i think the torque arm will be fine, but rather put the lcarb's on to get the car to not squat so hard.