Today was "race car" test & tune. Slicks, or 11.99 or faster required to run for this T&T.

I saw a very clean '83 H/SA car out there, talked to him a little bit (he had it up on jack stands, didn't want to bother him too much). Said it was the 2nd time he'd had it out, best run was a 13.88 on an altitude-adjusted 13.43 index.

Later, I happened to get paired up with him on my 2nd to last run. That slip is on the left, he's in the left lane. Guess he got something figured out.

Right slip is my last run of the evening. Best run of the night. Please note the DA written on the top...

 

I'm no guru regarding NHRA stock class rules by any means, but I thought it was interesting that he was using a non-CC q-jet. He said he could go back as far as a '79 carb, the last year b/4 CC.

He claimed the "200 HP" engine dyno'd at 365 HP and around 350 torque, if I recall correctly what he said. Not bad for stock block & pistons, stock heads, stock intake manifold, and stock duration & lift cam.

Did I mention 5.38 gears, 5400 stall?

(Not sure why the timeslips didn't post up as an attachment instead of a link.)

 

Still only a 13.551 on a 13.43 index. Closer but not good enough. To compete at any national event you need to run at least the index.

The HP factor from NHRA puts the 1983 200hp 305 at 263 and 257 for Stock class and 259 for SuperStock. If he's running in H/SA then he's classified as 263 factored HP.

Pistons don't have to be stock but can be an approved stock replacement. Still going to be a low compression piston. Lift is .430 or OEM, whatever is greater. Duration, LSA, overlap is wide open to anything you want. Stocker cams don't like to idle much below 2000 rpm. You won't find a listing for a stocker cam in any cam catalog either.

The deep gears and high stall working with a 30x9" tire is what makes the difference. Wind the engine up high to it's peak hp and keep it there as long as possible.

As for the carb, I've seen a lot of stockers using Edelbrock carbs now as legal replacements.

 

Stockers are WAY COOL!

 

People often ask what it would take to get their 305 into the 13's. Here's one that's hamstrung on many counts doing it at altitude.

Obviously he's got a ways to go to be competitive, but that takes sorting out. Dropping 3 tenths in one session would seem to be a good start.

I realize you don't need 1983 pistons. National Dragster has a list of replacement pistons every few issues. Allowing different carbs, though, seems to fly in the face of the concept. I would think a CC carb could do the same thing, with similar tweaking done to non-feedback carbs, and chip tuning. I'm sure it's easier this way.

When stock, my 305 wouldn't even rev to 5400 RPMs - the valves started to float at 5200. To get an engine with that little cam duration to rev that high is amazing, in my opinion. Of course, they don't sound anything like stock, the cam profile is really harsh - that's got to be hard on valvetrain.

I didn't notice if he pulled the front tires - too busy with my own problems. Wouldn't surprise me, though.

Yes, stockers are cool. And expensive. And completely unstreetable...