well i hope im posting this on the right board. im getting ready to swap out motors im planning on using a set of vortec heads with 1.6 roller rockers a edelbrock vortec air gap rpm its goin on a .30 over 350 with a hei ignition a edelbrock 600 carb
comp cams xtreme 262, :218/224@0.050 110deg lobe seperation, so does anyone know what redline will be? and if you can, explain what determines redline. your help is appreciated

 

There are all sorts of opinions about what constitutes "redline"...

Sometimes, it's the point at which it becomes unsafe, unhealthy, or otherwise stupid to rev the motor any higher; parts might fly out or some other bad thing might happen. One person's opinion of an acceptable risk of this might not be the same as someone else's. So one man's bleeding red zone might not even be another's mild yellow. And of course, if you're a mfr and you're painting this on the tach, you'll want to minimize both your liability and your warranty claims; so typically factory motors are very conservatively rated by this standard.

Another definition is the RPM above which the motor ceases to produce meaningful power; i.e., the car will go faster if the driver shifts. This is a very common misconception people with little motor experience (especially with motors other than stock ones) seem to have: they feel like their motor still "pulls" to 6500 RPM, which it may at least a little bit, but they may also find that if they shifted at 4800 RPM, their ET would be lower.

For the former, tell use exactly what parts you're using, especially what rod bolts and how many times they've been torqued, and we can guess at a reasonable-risk sort of RPM ceiling. For the second, take your car to a chasssis dyno; it will be about 200 RPM past the peak HP RPM.

 

well i plan on using new bolts and used rods and im more interested in the safe redline, for now ill have to make my decision on the fastest redline via the butt dyno for now till i get to a real dyno

 

assuming its a V8 (305, 350) i wouldn't go much higher than 5500rpm unless:

- you have some VERY stiff vavle springs (prevent valve float)
- you have a cam designed for high rpm power
- very strong con rods and bolts

But its really better to shift at a lower rpm (like said above) and use the huge torque to push the car faster.

 

5500 was what i was thinking but i really wasnt sure but thanks for your guys help :hail: