k well, my here is my full combo, im wondering if any one could tell me what kinda power i should be making, and what kinda 1/4 timesi should be running.... 350 sbc 4 bolt main bored .30, TRW forged pistons and rods, unsure of crank, stock rebuilt heads 462624 casting unsure if they are 1.94/1.50 or 2.02/1.60's, edelbrock performer RPM cam, holley dual plane street dominator intake manifold, 600 cfm holley carb elec choke, KN 14x3 filter, edelbrock headers and y-pipe to a full 3 inch cat back with no cat. i have the AC delete pulley and ac delete blower box and no smog. the trans is a beast th700r4 from Mad Dog Transmissions (about 2200 stall) 9bolt 3.27 LSD i have a fiberglass cowl hood and i use BF goodrich Traction T/A's right now, nothing too special.... i thought that i would be able to beat this 9c1 beast but heres his combo.... 94 lt1 homemade CAI with cone filter, de-screened maf, bbk 52 throttle body, hooker tri -y long-tubes to a 2 1/2 inch x pipe set up with spin techs. same trans as me 3. ? sotck rear with a bad clutch his car has Nitto tires (unsure of type.. pic below) and the interior is gutted except dash and front seats he beat me by a car or 2 up to 100mph. and the only 1/4 mile time references i can give is from when his car was stock, he ran a 14.5-14.9 i forget but some where in there what can i do to improve my set-up? is it possible to beat him with some mods, besides heads/cam? also can anyone tell me what kinda power i should be making? is there something wrong with my timing or carb tuning? i dont know im kinda upset, i thought id be able to take him... thanks guys

step 1: two words - WEIGHT REDUCTION. If you haven't already, remove just about anything from the interior. Passenger and back seats, spare tire/jack, floor mats, anything and everything that doesn't directly affect you while you're driving. Run the car on a 1/4 tank of gas. there's more serious surgery you can do, but the stuff i mentioned should be good for 120 lbs. or so.

step 2: - tune the air filter. most people are saying "huh? tune an air filter?" yup. look into a K&N Flow Control kit. It comes with a 14X4.5 filter, Xstream lid, and a filter base with an integral Stubstack built in.. Hot Rod magazine did a test with a ZZ454 crate engine. first test was a baseline, open carb. It made 502 HP and 534 ft.-lbs. of torque. The last test was with the Flow Control kit. It made 508 HP and 539 ft.-lbs. of torque. If you need to squeeze the most out of your car, this is the way to do it.

step 3: custom ground cam. If you bought that edelbrock cam out of a catalog, you might as well chuck it out a window. You'd be better off getting a custom ground cam from Comp Cams, Crane, Lunati, etc.

step 4: GEARS. those 3.27's aren't helping. ditch them for 3.73's.

when all is said and done, you should be able to beat him out, if you're only losing by a car or two now.

Get it dyno tuned before you do a thing. Call Crazyhorse Industries, LaRocca's or some shop in NJ and make an appointment for a dyno tune. You'll find out so much info about your car from the dyno. Then take it to Englishtown or Atco. If you aren't sure about the heads, buy a pair of Vortecs with the spring upgrade. They're cheap and should perform better than the rebuilts. Get a pair of Nitto drag radials too.

awesome thanks guys, as for the cam, what cam would you guys recommend with those heads, i know that they arent the best heads, but what cam would help me out?

he'll have to get a new intake manifold with the Vortecs.

i agree with the dyno tuning. it helps a LOT. get some baseline runs in, then decide what to do.

as for a cam, i'd call up one of the companies I mentioned, or send them an e-mail or something. They have guys who can tell you exactly what cam specs you'd need for your motor.

Just get it tuned on a dyno first and try to find out more info on your opponent's 9C1 (Impala SS).

Do you have specs on that cam? Your combo should be pretty stout and should be faster than his mid 14 second pass. Those heads will improve dramatically with some port work on the intake side. How agressive is your timing curve? Swirl port heads don't need a lot of timing and power can be reduced if you go too high. I too recomend a trip to the dyno and to the track.

awesome, when can i go get it dynoed and how much does it cost? i've never been there. really want to go if i have more info on the larocca place. i think my timing is set to stock spce for a 79 pick - up cause i had my buddy do the timing for me and he just used that for a baseline, think i should advance it a little? ill deff call comp cam and see what they say about a cam.. THANKS A MILLION

where exactly is hamilton? I live in North Jersey (morris/passaic county area) and i know a few shops that i could suggest to you up here.

im in mercer county near trenton

Try www.dynojet.com , click on the Automotive Dyno pic. Scroll down to More Info section and click on Locate a Dyno Center, North America. The first time I got baseline numbers for a car, I set up a personal appointment and they charged me $150/hr. and they only made 3 pulls. I also drove 45 mins on my lunch break during the summer to the shop. No cool down, nothing. Whatever shop you use, tell them you want it tuned on the dyno. They may have a special price for dyno tuning, but it could reach $300-400. Do a regular tune up, oil, plugs, air cleaner, etc. before you go. They will set the proper air/fuel ratio, get the most out of your combo, etc. Remember to post your results.

3.27's arent bad but you probly could get a 3.70 set in there and it should run ok.

if not, get a 2800-3000stall. you will like that alot.

well im unsure of what the name is for them but i turned out the things on the front of the carb to give it more fuel. turned them both out 2 1/4 turns, runs a hell of alot better. they were at 1 3/4 turns before, i guess next ill advance my timing, what do you think it should be at?

Get new heads. Those 624 if there not already cracked are garbage. I will say your combo is probably around 300 Hp 350 tq. Ditch the heads, and it will be a night and day difference

What's your compression ratio?

As far as where to set the timing most of those smog heads like a lot to make there max power. Usually we find 38 and up they make the best power. Last motor that I worked on took 41 deg total to make its best power.

should i go vortec? i can get a set-up for cheap, 64cc 194.1.50's from a tahoe, all rebuilt for $250, then all ill need is a custom cam, lifters, push-rods and intake, right? is there anything id have to do to the block to make it work with the rollers on the new heads, since it has flat tappet now?

Get your baseline dyno numbers and dyno tune before you spend anymore money on parts.

well if i have **** heads, that deffinatley restrict my power, i should get a better baseline that will give me a better max HP/TQ first, correct? then dyno tune? what exactlly will they "tune" when i take it to the dyno? just play with my timing and carb alittle? if thats gonna cost me $300-$400 i might as well jsut use that money towards a better base (different heads, etc...) then go ahead and dyno tune correct?

I would ditch those heads first before I did any sort of tune. A set of 82-85 HO 305 heads would even be better espically with a home done port job or you could just slap a pair of vortecs however then you'll you need to change intake manifold. With that you should be toying with 13's.

Those are the reg. street tires. nothing special.

yea, im just gonna save up for a better top-end, i would like to get some decent heads but i dont want to spend too much, what would you guys reccomend for me? my car is driven daily, but i want it to be alot quicker than it is now, i would like to be able to hit high 12's with my car gutted (1 seat, dash, and center consle) and a nice pair of slicks, but also be able to keep it streetable with street tires and a full interior and still stay in the 13's, is this possible? deffinatley let me know what heads/cam/intake/carb i should go for... im kinda dissappointed in the swap. bought the whole set-up and spend alot of money to be able to take down a few 4th gens, why am i still losing to my buddies with stock lt-1 camaros when in theory i should have about what they do to the wheels and my car is lighter?!?

Simple those 624 heads produced 170 hp 350's the lt1's produced 275 hp. That cam you have doesn't seem to be that bad, it had decent lift 0.488 int./0.510 exh. and 234 int./244 exh. @ .05. The rest of your set sounds alright. You don't have quite the optimal gearing, but it'll due. Oh and this all takes into account that your carb is in decent tune. But you'll probably need more traction and cam to get 12 even without the interior.

should i port and polish the heads, and use them? or should i just say screw it and get new ones with the money?

I wouldn't use them. Your most logical choices are 305 ho heads, 350 l98 heads, or vortecs. Right now you are using 76 cc chambers, 8.x compression and not much flow.

A set of 416 (305 heads) with larger valves and diy port job and you would have higher compression engine, with atleast 50 more hp. Heads should cost between free and 100.

Either the aluminum or iron 350 TPI heads would be a good bolt on. Probably resulting in about 50 more hp and very streetable 9.4 or so compression ratio. The aluminum ones 200-500 and the iron 50-200.

The problem for you with a set of vortec heads is that would require a different intake manifold. I haven't looked that much at yours but its not the biggest bottleneck. However the vortecs would be a great bolt on too.

sweet so i can use ANY L98's? im going to start looking for a set of aluminum ones, will they work OK w/o the port job? any one have some for sale?

cant use just any l98s, answered my own question.... maybe ill just live with my combo for now, until i get money for a set of world sportsman 2's , air gap rpm, and xe cam

hey guys just wanted to let you know what was wrong withmy car and why i lost to this caprice.... A FREAKING SPARK PLUG WIRE! lol the guy that did the timing for me also put on new wires, and he forgot to install the #4 cylinder wire all the way lol, totally diff motor now, and i smoked the 9c1

I'm glad things worked out. I keep wondering if those valves are 1.94 or 2.02, probably won't know for a long time.

lol yea, dont think ill be ripping them heads off soon