Update.. SBC 377 and weight!

[deMideon]

Well. I am pretty much finished with the conversion. Have the car running really well. I'm absolutely amazed at 1: how fast it is... about 4.5 sec 0 -60 and I should be able to get it a little lower. 2: how well balanced, how solid the body feels, how nicely it handles. It is also very easy to control. I was worried about having a problem controlling the wheel spin. No problem at all. I almost always am doing exactly what I want to with it. I've driven it in the rain, still very easy to control, no excess spin etc... Great car!!

 

I still have to roll my front fenders a little more, maybe even have to do a little cutting...

 

I also got it weighed at a certified truck weigh station. Really easy as it had 2 section so you can get total weight and front and back weights. This is with a SBC 377, T-56, and about 16 gallons of gas, I was not in the car...

 

Front - 1340

Rear - 1520

Total - 2860

 

Not bad at all considering when I beefed up the body I probably added almost 50lbs of steel!!!

 

I also added a few more pictures to my album, under finished!

[DaleMX]

Wow really nice job. Mine is years away from being that clean. I like the autometer setup, what gauges did you use and where? Did you go with the electric speedo?

 

Glad to hear the power is controlable. I worry a little bit about that. Once again, Nice Job!

[deMideon]

Thanks! When you start from a shell it helps! Yes the are the autometer all are electric except for the oil pressure. The speedo was very easy to setup with the T-56 once I figured out how to do it ! Although I went with the 200mph one... dumb move, should have gone with the 160mph one. Much easier to read at normal speeds!

[DavyZ]

Project is looking great, Joe! Thanks for posting a bunch of up to date pics.

 

I'll bite, so why don't you like the 200 mph speedo? Is it because you'll most likely never see over 140 mph ayway? Hey, 200 mph speedos are cool!

 

Davy

[deMideon]

Heh... at normal driving speeds 30 - 60 is behind the steering wheel and the the spacing between like 30 - 40 is very small and harder to read while driving... not that I can see it since it's behind the steering wheel!

[Cable]

Hey, I have been reading several of your older posts about your 377. Did you ever get it Dyno'd to confirm 450HP? That would be awesome if you have.

 

Anyway I was interested in what heads you are using, manifold, compression ratio, cam specs, etc.

 

Here are some minor details:

 

It will be based on a cherry sbc 400, 2 bolt block (standard bore) that should clean up with a 0.020" overbore (4.145"). The three center mains are being machined for billet steel splayed main caps and ARP main studs will be used on all inter holes. This is being done for the ultimate bottom end strength. Why? Just incase I want to turbo, nitrous, or supercharge it down the road.

 

The crankshaft will be a 3.50" stroke 4340 SCAT forged piece w/400 mains, SCAT 6.0" 4340 H-Beam rods, and 11.0:1 compression JE/SRP forged pistons. The cam will be a Lunati/UltraDyne solid flat tappet grind in the .550" lift/250dur@0.050", 110 LSA range (still deciding). Edelbrock Victor Jr. intake, and a Holley 750 cfm double pumper (tuned and choke horn milled off). I am also seriously considering Dart aluminum Pro 1 215cc heads w/2.05/1.65" SS valves (64cc chambers). I might switch to long tube 1.75" S&S headers and true-dual exhaust at the same time to gain max power.

 

With the fat cam it will bleed off some compression so I'll get away with 91 octane for street driving, but 100 octane will be in the tank when racing (just to be sure). I am aiming for that magical 500HP mark with no forced induction, but I guess we'll see.

 

Any help you are willing to share is welcomed and thanked in advance.