grumpyvette

http://www.wmsonline.com/crateengines.htm http://www.amerspeed.com/ http://www.gochampion.com/ http://www.theengineshop.com/ http://www.strokermotor.com/

got asked this?? "When you are Drag Racing do you shift at peak torque, peak HP, or another point?" look at this, http://www.geocities.com/z28esser/ratio.html now ideally you want to shift a a point that will drop your rpm level so that you drop back onto your torque peak, lets take the GM Muncie (M-21, M-22) 2.20 1.64 1.28 1.00 as an example and an engine that has its peak torque at 4000rpm and its peak hp at 5000rpm and a 6500rpm red line, thats a 34% drop from first to second and a 28% drop from 2nd to third and 3rd to fourth gear, so you want to shift from 1st to second as you pass 5400rpm (34%over peak torque)then from 2nd to third and 3rd to fourth as you pass about 5200rpm, this always puts you just past peak hp as you shift but more importantly it drops you on the torque peak each time so you spend almost all the time at above peak torque and near peak hp. BTW in most cases if your more than 1000rpm past your hp peak when you shift you will be slower , the idea here is to maximize the time you engine spends at the area in your engines torque and hp curves that will provide the most average usefull torque per second.

casting #s 10239906 12558062 vortec cast iron heads THESE ARE VERY GOOD IF YOUT ONLY LOOKING FOR ABOUT 400hp casting # 12367713 aluminum fast burn heads pontiac style aluminum casting# 10033867 bow-tie raised port aluminum casting # 10134363 are all reasonably good but rare heads

"Read what you forwarded and found it very informative. I especially like the Ryan page...will spend some time on that. I am comfortable with the math and physics and already understand the concept of volumetric efficiency. From reading other postings I now realize you often recommend balancing the available intake pieces, but seem to prefer canfield heads when they are an option." all parts of an engine build must be ballanced to get the most possiable hp from an engine(matched as to their intended rpm and hp range)or the resulting engine will in most cases run down to or even below the level of the lowest potential (hp wise) part level, now I think the AIR FLOW REASEARCH cylinder heads are as good or in some cases better than the CANFIELD HEADS and the TRICKFLOW ® series and the DART PRO1 series heads are also great heads but I think the CANFIELD 223cc head is one of the best deals for the money spent, look here, http://www.dartheads.com/sbpro227.htm http://www.airflowresearch.com/ http://www.canfieldheads.com/sbc_2600.html http://www.trickflow.com/product/prhomefeature_index.htm what youll find is the canfield heads give you about the most features and flow for the money spent if your looking for a true high performance head, now the other choices may even be better heads but they cost quite a bit more money, it just hard to get 300cfm of flow in a head for the $ 1,145.00 canfield charges "But the question I still have is when is more engine too much, especially for a Z? I don’t want to build a drag racer. My car will be summer’s only street machine that will hopefully see some short slalom club racing. Thus the idle to 2500 RPM band will be more than just something to get through in the first 100 feet of the drive." if you want the most responsive head out there for almost all rpm ranges its probably the AIRFLOW RESEARCH 195cc CNC head but it costs about $1250-$1750 depending on the option you choose. "Now like your articles say gearing will go a long way to keeping me in the power band, even with short tracks. But what I am trying to get a feel for is how much “drivability” can be retained and still have an awesome engine? I know this is a very subjective question. I also know money will probably be the limiting factor anyway. The thought of 500 HP is captivating and since this won’t be a daily driver I don’t mind (and would even like) a grumpy idle. But I would like to stop short of something that would be miserable to drive on a long road trip." your not going to get a 460hp- 500hp engine of 350-406 displacement thats suitable for long trips and has a relatively smooth idle unless your running a supercharger, to get enough fuel air mix through an engine without a supercharger you will need a cam and heads that can breath in the higher rpm levels and that will require too much duration for smooth low rpm use (idle to 1800rpm) dropping back to about 425-450 hp though and you can get to have almost what your looking for but that will be a compromise in that you will be giveing up about 50hp in exchange for an engine with better street manors, if you want both you need either a bigger engine or a supercharger, look here,this is what your asking for http://www.sdpc2000.com/cart.asp?action=prod_detail&catid=120&pid=693 "The second question concerns your opinions of roller cams. I have noticed in several posts that you like to recommend solid lifter cams. Any particular reason?" roller cams are great, I would use them exclusively but they have one bad point COST!!! a good roller cam and kit will cost $700-$900 while slightly less but reasonable performance can be had for about $150 with a solid lifter cam, thats the main reason I recommend them, and hydrolic flat tappet cams while excellent can not quite match the hp or rpm potential of a good solid lifter cam so i figure that if you know enought to be able to change a cam and tune an engine the idea that you might need to adjust your valves every 4 months is no big deal

Keep the rubber side down. I LOVE THAT

those pistons are for a 383 and will have about 10.6cpr with a 64cc head and about 9.4 with a 76cc head, so if your going to use the cheaper iron heads ,get the 76cc size if the cam is mild but if your looking for a kick butt high rpm combo the cam with the higher duration will bleed off some compression allowing the smaller head combustion chambers, FMP L2491F 383 10.6 9.4 FLAT 5.7 F 1/16,3/16 497 311.95 heres what I would suggest to get the most for your money,match the CANFIELD 223cc heads to a CRANE #113841 solid lifter cam and a #2925 super victor intake to a 750cfm carb with 1 3/4" headers http://www.canfieldheads.com/sbc_2600.html http://www.cranecams.com/master/apps/chevy21.htm#1.%20PowerMax that combo will get you about 460hp/460tq and will work GREAT WITH NITRIOUS

the victor jr intake works best after reaching about 3000rpm to about 6500rpm, a long duration cam like 240@.050 or above is designed for the 3500-7000rpm range so those parts match ok, but most stock chevy iron heads are meant to run from idle to about 4500rpm thats going to kill the big hp numbers your hopeing to get with that intake and cam, and without a good set of headers its almost hopeless to try and get big hp at high rpms, and if you start with a 9.5 compression ratio and add a long duration cam the dynamic compression will be so low youll have a terrible torque curve, look here and fill in the program blanks (you need about 8.0 -/1 cpr btw) http://cochise.uia.net/pkelley2/DynamicCR.html if your staying with stock heads get a smaller cam and a dual plane intake like a performer rpm, if you want better hp, get headers,higher compression and better flowing heads. the secret to a good combo is getting every part to work in the rpm range you want the most power in.

even roller cams will benefit from more oil on the rollers,thats why comp cams makes the #866 lifter look http://www.compcams.com/catalog/261.html so that tool works on all lifters but Mike C is corrct that roller cams have FAR LESS PROBLEMS but still more oil can,t hurt!

just some info guys,as you know I tend too run more ,CROWER,CRANE,ERSON AND LUNATI CAMS BUT THIS APPLIES TO ALL BIG BLOCK CAMS,and to some extent small blocks too. I was asked about a comp cams big block lobe failure on a new cam install,now if all the clearances and procedures were correctly done that still leaves this other fact which might have some effect on lobe life, the comp cams xe grinds have exceptionally fast ramp speeds to give you the most possiable area under the lift curve, now after building dozens of big blocks I found that this tool,(in combination with a high volume oil pump and a MILODON WINDAGE SCREEN) used to provide extra oil flow to the lobe surface at all rpms is one great insurance policy against lobe failure http://www.compcams.com/catalog/335.html I now use it on all the blocks to provide extra oil flow to the lifters lobe surfaces, most people seem to not realise that the cam lobes get much of the oil they need to survive the stress their under from the valve springs thrown on their lobes by the spinning crank and rods, thats one of the big reasons they tell you to break-in a new cam at 2500rpm and not let the engine idle durring the break-in , its because at idle and just above idle theres a lot less oil being thrown around by the spinning rotateing assembly, now im betting its not so much the cam as the lack of oil or clearance problems as it was being run that caused the failure here. and a suggestion to run a can of GM's E.O.S. is a good one too!

LIMITED SLIP DIFFERENTIAL (LSD)similar to POSITRACTION in a G.M.CAR and if your looking for a good engine combo and need some ideas http://www.ryanscarpage.50megs.com/combos2.html look at combos #16,#17 ,#18,and #71 http://www.zonc.org/TechnicalInformation/L28combinations.html http://www.geocities.com/z_design_studio/ http://www.zonc.org/Tech_Link/RogersTrannySwap/ http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/R200.htm http://www.alphalink.com.au/~donhill/detailso.htm

heres info you will need http://www.turbofast.com.au/TFcomp.html http://www.turbofast.com.au/tfcalc.html http://www.turbofast.com.au/TFcompB.html http://www.turbofast.com.au/TFmatch.html http://www.turbofast.com.au/turbomap.html http://www.turbofast.com.au/Drag.html

http://www.zonc.org/TechnicalInformation/L28combinations.html http://www.geocities.com/z_design_studio/ http://www.zonc.org/Tech_Link/RogersTrannySwap/ http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/R200.htm http://www.alphalink.com.au/~donhill/detailso.htm

here this might help on the trans question http://www.nastyz28.com/transid.html http://www.tciauto.com/tech_info/trans_dims.htm http://www.geocities.com/z_design_studio/

thanks for the info

read this it will help http://www.vettenet.org/torquehp.html http://ryanscarpage.50megs.com/street.html

ok first this is for hot street use, so you determine the rpm range and max rpm the engines work best in, now some of that is determined by the cam,etc.(Ill save you the trouble a 406 spend its most effective time (peak torque curve) in the 4200-6200 power range (if your racing a 4000rpm stall converter) and a 377 has its (peak torque range) in the 5100-6500 range (if your racing a 4500rpm converter) so figure 5200rpm for the 406 and the 377 as 5800rpm.look here http://www.cloudmaster.com/cloudmaster/speed.html now if you play around youll find that a 3.73 gear works well with 406 engine with the 400th trans,and 25" tires while the 3.77 can use the 4.11 rear more effectively

after building lots of both 406sbcs and 377sbcs I can tell you the 406 has a slight hp advantage (maybe 15hp)over the 377,but the 377 makes more hp per cubic inch of displacement but the 406 sbcs torque IF GEARED CORRECTLY MAKE IT THE FASTER ENGINE BY FAR

now thats alot of questions so lets try and answer a few of them, first read this, I already posted before but you need to understand it. .ever wonder why your engines torque curve gets higher with the engines rpm level untill about 4000rpm-5500rpm(DEPENDING ON YOUR COMBO) but fades above that rpm level? well it depends on several factors, first as long as the cylinders can fill completely you get a good fuel/air burn so you get a good cylinder pressure curve against the piston each time the cylinder fires,THE ENGINES TORQUE CURVE INCREASES WITH THE NUMBER OF EFFECTIVE POWER STROKES PER SECOND, at very low speeds theres not enough air velocity to mix the fuel correctly or produce a effective ram tuneing effect but as the rpms increase the cylinders fill very efficiently untill the rpms reach a point where the cylinders just don,t have the time necessary to flow enough air through the valves to fill the cylinders , remember a 5000rpm the intake valve out of 720 degs in each cycle opens for about 250degs of effective flow even with a hot roller cam, now thats only about 35% of the time and theres 41.6 intake strokes per second , thats only 1/60th of a second for air to flow into the cylinder, I found this graph that shows the relationship between V.E.(VOLUMETRIC EFFICIENCY) and AN ENGINEs torque CURVE http://www.n2performance.com/lectures/lect1/n2perf5.gif WHAT THAT GRAPH SHOWS RATHER EFFECTIVELY is that its your engines ability to fill the cylinders that increases your power and the more efficiently you do that the higher the rpm level you can acomplish that at the more power your engine makes, remember the formula for hp is (torque x rpm/ 5252=hp)so moveing the torque curve higher in the rpm range increases hp. btw heres info on how to find the effective tuneing lengths for th intake and exhaust lengths, -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ram tuned and rpm matched cam timeing for the effective use of the headers and intake system can get you to slightly over 100% V.E. at (1) rpm range where the tuneing is most effective, look here, http://www.grapeaperacing.com/GrapeApeRacing/tech/intaketuned.cfm heres how to find the correct tuneing lengths http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~allan/fluids/page7/PipeLength/pipe.html now read this, look this site over for ideas, http://www.ryanscarpage.50megs.com/combos1.html http://www.airflowresearch.com/ (look over the dynoed engine combos and take special note of the fact that the heads flow big numbers but the cams are relatively mild) the first thing you will notice is the HEADS AND CAM CHOICE are the key to makeing power, now if you have been around cars long enough youll remember those killer 375hp;) 396 camaros that could beat most hemi powered road runners in 1969 well they had 305cc rectangle port heads and really had about 425 hp but with headers,great tuneing and a cam change 500 hp was within reach now the main reason I bring that up is that those engines had 49.5 cubic inche per cylinder and ports of 305cc for a 6.16cc to cubic inch port to displacement ratio, a 350 with the same port to cylinder ratio would have a 269cc port size!now the reason those engines made that kind of power was those engines could effectively fill their cylinders at high rpms because those heads flowed massive anounts of air, (around 325cfm) but you also found if you owned a few (I DID)that the cam that came in them had too much duration and not enought lift to produce the best and broadest torque curve. yet even with the stock cam they had plenty of power to totally destroy the rear tires just by flooring the car at any speed under 25mph. now thats a lot of reading to give you a base of info so heres some answers, "Seems like anytime someone asks gumpyvette (who by the way really explains things well ) to select between two heads, he recommends the head with the highest flow rating. Yet pick up an issue of Hot Rod and they are always talking about maintaining adequate flow velocity. Get on the Edlebrock site and they tout their "total power package" and how it matches the induction components." edelbrock has a lot of money tied up in those performer rpm heads so they have got to try and sell them, while not bad heads for the street they make WAY LESS POWER THAN THE LARGER AFR or PRO-LIGHTNING HEADS but thats because edelbrock built those heads to get a combination of very high air speed in those small 170cc ports for good fuel mixing in the 1000rpm -3000rpm range because they expect most of those heads to be used in heavy cars with 283-350 engines for daily driveing so they designed the heads to be most efficient in that range. but the engines in this forum are used in light weight cars with in most cases reasonably high rear gearing where low rpm torque just destroys your tires. the larger port heads work much better in the higher rpms and remember the hp is (torque x rpm/5252=hp)so the higher the rpms you can effectively fill the cylinders at the more power strokes per second your engine can make and the more total torque the engine makes per minute, now it takes only about 60hp-70hp to move a car in traffic at 65mph while your engines in the 1000rpm-2500rpm band for daily driveing so as long as the CAM YOU CHOOSE has timeing points that EFFECTIVELY fill the cylinders in that rpm range any size port will work at least adequately, its not the port size that has the biggest effect its the cam timeing and the carb and plenum size and runner length of your intake manifold that determines the torque curve but its the port size and chamber shape, valve size and valve shrouding and total flow numbers that effect your max power "GM produced a ZZ430 engine as an example of what can be built from their catalog. This engine uses their fast burn heads and HOT cam to kick out 430 HP. Seems like a pretty potent package. If I had the money for this crate engine and liked this target HP, how would I be better served building such an engine from other manufactures components? Or are you guys saying for the same money I could get a lot more engine?" yes you can get alot more engine for your money if you carefully match parts for max power production, for that same $6500 you would spend on a ZZ-430hp engine (LOOK AT THE FINAL PRICE NOT THE BASE PRICE) you can get 500hp building it (your own custom engine)yourself (look at combos #15,#16,#17,#71 on the RAYN SITE) and remember the new pro action heads flow just as much air and are cheaper http://www.sdpc2000.com/cart.asp?action=prod_detail&catid=120&pid=464 http://www.sallee-chevrolet.com/Photos/zz430pics.html http://www.sallee-chevrolet.com/ChevySmallBlockV8s/SalleeZZ430HP.html http://www.sallee-chevrolet.com/Ascripts/prices.cgi <-$6500plus shipping

to tell iron from aluminum heads,get a magnet aluminum heads don,t stick to magnets very well iron heads do! The best way to tell what engine size your dealing with is to pull the #1 plug,and remove the rocker arms from that # 1 cylinder so the valves stay shut, turn the engine to BDC (by hand with a breaker bar) and fill the cylinder with marvel mystery oil then insert/screw a section of 3/8" fuel line into the spark plug hole and turn the engine to TDC (by hand with a breaker bar)as the oil pumps out into a burret and measure the amount of oil the cylinder holds(remember a slight amount of oil will remain in the cylinder, 305=about 620cc 350=about 710cc 383=about 780cc 400=about 815cc after checking leave the spark plug out and reinstall and then re-adjust the rocker arms on that #1 cylinder. let the engine idle for about 2 minutes with the spark plug out to blow out the remaining oil (yes its loud but it wont hurt a thing)then stop and reinstall the plug and everything will be fine, but if the guy signs a paper GUARANTEEING ALL YOUR MONEY BACK IF ITS NOT THE SIZE ENGINE HE SAYS IT IS (NOTARIZED) then you can wait till you get home to check it, but check it at the first possiable second and pay by check or money order so you have proof what you payed and get everything in writeing with witnesses. EDELBROCK,HOLLEY,and DEMON carbs are better than QUADRAJET CARBS IN MY OPINION and almost any weiand,or holley, or edelbrock intake is beter than a chevy cast iron(MAGNET )intake or offenhouser intake. but the performer rpm,victor type ans stealth intakes are the better common intakes.

biohzrd do you have a part number for that block your talking about? have you tryied to see if the heads,intake,cam, ETC. from a gas engine fit/ bolt on that block correctly yet? Im not sure they will if we are talking about the same block I think your talking about!

ever wonder why your engines torque curve gets higher with the engines rpm level untill about 4000rpm-5500rpm(DEPENDING ON YOUR COMBO) but fades above that rpm level? well it depends on several factors, first as long as the cylinders can fill completely you get a good fuel/air burn so you get a good cylinder pressure curve against the piston each time the cylinder fires,THE ENGINES TORQUE CURVE INCREASES WITH THE NUMBER OF EFFECTIVE POWER STROKES PER SECOND, at very low speeds theres not enough air velocity to mix the fuel correctly or produce a effective ram tuneing effect but as the rpms increase the cylinders fill very efficiently untill the rpms reach a point where the cylinders just don,t have the time necessary to flow enough air through the valves to fill the cylinders , remember a 5000rpm the intake valve out of 720 degs in each cycle opens for about 250degs of effective flow even with a hot roller cam, now thats only about 35% of the time and theres 41.6 intake strokes per second , thats only 1/60th of a second for air to flow into the cylinder, I found this graph that shows the relationship between V.E.(VOLUMETRIC EFFICIENCY) and AN ENGINEs torque CURVE http://www.n2performance.com/lectures/lect1/n2perf5.gif WHAT THAT GRAPH SHOWS RATHER EFFECTIVELY is that its your engines ability to fill the cylinders that increases your power and the more efficiently you do that the higher the rpm level you can acomplish that at the more power your engine makes, remember the formula for hp is (torque x rpm/ 5252=hp)so moveing the torque curve higher in the rpm range increases hp. btw heres info on how to find the effective tuneing lengths for th intake and exhaust lengths, -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ram tuned and rpm matched cam timeing for the effective use of the headers and intake system can get you to slightly over 100% V.E. at (1) rpm range where the tuneing is most effective, look here, http://www.grapeaperacing.com/GrapeApeRacing/tech/intaketuned.cfm heres how to find the correct tuneing lengths http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~allan/fluids/page7/PipeLength/pipe.html

first thing is that AFR makes a much better flowing set of heads for that LT1 than chevy does and the HOT CAM is not the best choice , crane makes some better choices, call them. http://www.airflowresearch.com/ http://www.cranecams.com/camshafts.htm

by far the best set mentioned are the 215cc iron eagle heads, the smogger heads flow about 200cfm max the double hump, 2.02/160 Chevrolet flow about 230cfm and the iron eagles about 268cfm look here http://www.dartheads.com/sbiron215.htm thats potentialy an 80hp advantage for the iron eagle heads over the double hump, 2.02/160 Chevrolet and even more over the smog heads, btw the mechanics your talking to are obviously talking about a stock un-ported TPI set up running a stock cam, now the cam your running now won,t work well with the EFI because the cams overlap and durration will drive the sensors crazy but if you port that TPI plenum and base and get a #114142 crane cam thats designed to work with the big heads and TPI intake it will work fine, BUT BE AWARE THERE ARE TWO POTENTIAL PROBLEMS .some year TPI intake bases have the area around the intake ports that are small enough that you might have port sealing problems with some gasket combos on those big port heads,(a swap to a T.P.I.S. BIG MOUTH BASE MANIFOLD will fix that! and that even after you port the PLENUM and BASE that TPI setup will run out of airflow at about 5500rpm so my suggestion would be to get the BIGMOUTH BASE AND a SUPER RAM PLENUM or if you really want PERFORMANCE get a HOLLEY STEALTH RAM EFI INTAKE INSTEAD

these people do good work! If I did not want to build a sbc but wanted a well put together combo Id call these people and tell them EXACTLY WHAT PARTS TO USE AND LET THEM DO THE WORK! http://www.theengineshop.com/ just tell them you want an all forged, internally ballanced short block assembly with 6" cap screw 7/16 rod bolt rods, and a 4 bolt block. but you might want to get a 415 cid it will have a better torque curve and wont cost all that much more , and after they tell you the price and you dont pass out remember (1)you get what you pay for (2)the block they use is better/stronger than standard chevy block (3)its done correctly, something most places can,t say

Scottie-GNZ TRUELY AWESOME little ride youve got