What do you have in the motor? What's you induction? What type of times are you running or think you will run? How many blocks can you light the tire up for....hehehehe.....????? More importantly does it get any sorta gas mileage??

 

i built one a couple of years ago that kicked ***. it was in a '72 camaro. i had 2.02 and 1.60 valves in the heads,a complete roller setup(rockers,lifters,and cam). the cam was a lunati .555 lift with a 290 duration. the pistions were stock as were the rods and crank. there was a holley 750 double pumper sitting on top of a edlebrock performer intake that was backed by a turbo 350 trans. with a 2500 stall and power being planted to the ground by way of a 4:11 posi. rearend. there was nothing special about the setup but everything just clicked and the car would just haul *** bigtime. i would spot rustangs two,three even four cars and let them leave when they wanted to but when that 406 hit second gear...katie bar the door ,it was over.

 

Whats the rev limit with the stock rods on those motors? I have heard around 4500 to 5000 would be the max. Of course with all that torque you wouldn't need to go higher.

 

What did you have to do to make it use a Roller cam. I thought you had to use a Hydraulic non-roller cam in them. I want to spin mine into the 6000RPM range for some good horsepower. And still keep my low end TPI torque. I am going with Fuel injection though cause well i need some sorta gas mileage so i can still take on trips and back and forth from school. Im going to use some Sportsman II heads 72cc (maybe the aluminum ones) and was looking at a 224/230 durtion Hydr-cam. Kinda modest for a 406 but whatever. And then id use some SVO 24# injectors. Im hoping i could atleast get 400HP outa most of that combo. Oh ya it will have 5.7 rods and 9.5:1+ CR. And if ever fall into a big wad of cash or go insane and wanna max my credit cards i will maybe order a nice intercooled procharger or a Vortech unit. Oh ya im going to try to back it up with a 700R4/4L60. Im projecting this to take me 2+ years to get. However i got the 400 already in all its greasy glory.

 

i never seen any reason to turn mine over 55-5700 rpms and most of the time not even that much.torqomeo,that sounds like it will be a good setup but i think that the cam is a little low but will still work out. all there is to running a roller cam is make sure you change the gear on the bottom of the dist.. i can't remember what i had to change it to, i just bought what my engine bulider said buy .

 

1985 BAD *** VETTE
MODIFICATIONS
406 SMALL BLOCK CHEVY WHAT ELSE IS THERE
TRW FLAT TOP PISTONS
195CC AFR HEADS STOCK
1.6 ROLLER ROCKERS
ULTRADYNE CAM 223-227 DUR AT 50 460-480 LIFT 112LC
ACCEL SUPER RAM
BIG MOUTH INTAKE
58MM THROTLE BODY
24LB GREEN STRIPE INJECTORS
BOSCH IN TANK PUMP
ADJUSTABLE REGULATOR
TPIS COLD AIR INDUCTION
REBUILT 700R4 WITH SHIFT KIT
TCI 2650 STALL NO LOCK UP CONVERTER
1 3/4 INCH LONG TUBE HEADERS
CORVETTE FLOWMASTER MUFFLERS 2 1/2
BORLA REAR Y PIPE
MODIFIED MASS AIR FLOW METER
160 DEG THERMOSTAT WITH 4 1/8 INCH HOLES IN IT
UNDERDRIVE PULLEYS
STOCK CHIP
DANA 44 307 GEARS
HIGH OUTPUT COIL
MSD 6AL





WARP TIMES ON STREET TIRES THROUGH EXAUST!!
BEST AS OF 10-29-01.......DYNO RESULTS ASOF 9-25-01
ET=11:70...............................340RWHP
MPH=116.24..........................420RWTQ
60FT=1.60
1/8=7.44
(BEST ET ON STREET TIRES OPEN EXAUST)
1/8 MILE ET:7.37 MPH:92.66
1/4 MILE ET:11.57 MPH:117.37




EMAIL AT:CORKVETTE1@AOL.COM

http://hometown.aol.com/aheis46312/myhomepage/auto.html

 

Corkvette thats a nice setup and very close to what i want out mine. I think i will have a little more cam then you and i think i will end up having to use a LT1 manifold cause i can't afford a Super/Miniram. Im sure you could SO easily pulls 10's off that with a custom chip and sticky slicks. The 3.07 gear seem a little odd in there though but probally helps with gas mileage. Its good too see you stuck it out with the 700R4 its a good trans and i hate it when ppl rag on it. And Duzzit thanks for the info on the distributor gear if thats all i have to change then i will maybe go with a nicer hydra-roller cam setup. I want to see the car bust into the 10's and still be able to drive back home on the highway if it require a lil Xtra omph well thats what NOS is for right. Good *** am i gonna go through trannies.

 

The answer to the original post is really what you want the car to be and what compromises for speed you will make in your 3rd gen.

Here is my combo:

406, cast pistons, stock rods (redone with ARP bolts) redline 5600. Compression is 9 to 1.

Stock 1970 400 heads (unported)

Cam: Comp cams 268 I, 274 E, advertised.... 222@.500 Intake and 226 exhaust, with .465 lift.

Exhaust: 1 5/8" headers with a custom y-pipe and single 3" pipe all the way back to a Hooker Aerochamber muffler...I like the single larger tailpipe.. (unlike the ricers with a 1.5" pipe to a 5" tip )

Here is the reasoning for this combo. First, when you run the math with the stock rod ratio, you can calculate that the amount of piston travel (in speed terms) determines the redline of the engine. I calculated it out to be about 5650 rpm. This is the point at which the pistons are stressed enough that going over this point will mean excess stress on the pistons. Since I have cast pistons with stock rods, this is my redline. That is ok. You can easily make 450 crank HP on this engine by 5500 rpm. This cam is setup for lots of torque. I also have a SR setup with an Edelbrock HI-Flo base. The stock TPI setup I have now with the Edelbrock base is choking at 4200 or so. with the SR, I should be fine to my redline of 5500.

For comparison, with these heads and cam, exhaust, etc. with a carb, I would have about 400 crank HP and 475 lb/ft of torque. With the SR, I should have about 380 HP and just as good or a bit better torque with the FI.

The 400 is fairly stock form is a great torque monster. That is what moves street cars. I really only built this engine to run high 12's on street tires (88 GTA with 700R4 and 3.27 posi rear) cause i will be driving this thing daily with AC.

It all depends on what your platform is and what you want. My budget doesn't say 11's right now...but in a few years maybe. More power to Corkvette for building an awesome car.

If you have any more questions, feel free to email me privately with specifics.

 

Im almost afraid of the torque this motor will make. I don't want an all out race car. But with a good setup the motor should have alot a drivability and still be a good weekend racer. I was looking at 5.7 Rods and HyperN pistons around 9.5:1+ CR with a 70CC heads. After seeing the posts here that have came back i think the cam should actually be alright. I don't really wanna use too many stock parts as i don't know how they were maintained. The crank is still good though and the block has never been rebuilt. Its still actually a 400. 88TPI how did you figure out your redline as that would be something i would like to figure out. As i think i could give you most the numbers you would need. What i really need is Desktop Dyno. But im cheap!

 

I wouldn't worry about too much torque...there is no such thing, just making it hook would be a concern.

A great budget 5.7" rod would be the GM powdered metal rod. Good to 450-475 HP and definitely get forged pistons. I wish I had done that the 1st time. Even off the shelf Federal Mogul forged pistons are better than cast or hypereutic pistons.

Another concern with any engine making power is how good your transmission is. That is why I am buying a Pro-Built tranny in 2 weeks (tax refund) so I won't have to worry about it.

The big thing is to think of the whole drivetrain as a system. Don't just focus on HP or torque as you still need to get the power to the wheels efficiently and reliably.

Desktop dyno is good, but not really necessary. As for the equations, I bought the Auto Math Handbook. The equation I used actually calculated the piston speed in Feet per Second (FPS) and then I calculated the FPS at different RPMS. That is how I came to my redline. I do have a friend with a stock-type bottom end 406 and he has regularly shifted at 6000-6100 rpm and it is still together after 50,000 miles. I don't want to risk it though. Also, he ran into valve float and his cam didn't make power up there, sometimes you just can teach your friends.


I would say 9.5 max on 92 octane. Although 9.0 to 1 would be fine too. You aren't really going to see a difference in power between 8.5 to 1 and 9.5 to 1 compression and it gives you a buffer for bad gas. It also depends on what your chip will be. You can burn your own and that would help.

BTW, I am running just a hydraulic flat tappet cam. No problem. You do make less power than with an equivalent roller cam, but not enough at my HP level to justify the retro-fit costs. Just get a cam that is designed for the 1985-1986 non-roller TPI setup. That is what I did.

 

that is the old setup the new setup is wiseco pistons 5.7 lunati 4340 rods and a tpis solid roller hopefully high 10s dont know but we will see.the old motor was 10.6 comp new motor should be about 11.8 comp also