Please critique my setup, imput for better setup

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1 Stout Z · #1 Post by **1 Stout Z** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 7:16 am

First post, been reading a while. Lots of knowledgable people here so I request your opinions on my setup and what I can do to make it better/what would you do?

Car was originally built for a street/strip pump gas driver, but it has only had one tank of 93 in it, been running 110+ since. I will still drive it on the weekends around town and to car shows local, but mostly dragstrip oriented now. It is streetable now but my expectations are more than the car is now. Here is my combo now and my possible changes to get more out of the setup, what would you suggest? Motor, tranny, rearend, lightweight panels, different combo altogether? Guess I need to put in my goals for the car first huh? I dyno'd 430hp and 467tq at the wheels on motor and ran 11.71@112 on motor and 10.84@121 on 150 shot. Would like to get it as close to 10's on motor and mid 9's on the jug, or faster. Whatever you can think would take it to get there(besides going big block) please list. I have ideas in my head that I will list, but kind of got builders block.

1970 Nova 2 door
MOTOR
406ci small block 0 decked
11:1 TRW forged flattop with total seal file fit rings
5.7 forged rods
3.75 forged crank
Comp cams custom street roller nitrous grind 252/264 .574/.574 110lsa 2800-7200 rpm range
comp cams 10,000rpm roller lifters
comp hardened pushrods
pete jackson noisy gear drive
Brodix Track 1's 67cc with very mild bowl blend
Harland sharp 1.6 rockers w/stud girdles
Weiand Team G 2800-7200 rpm range
Holley 800 dp stock
MSD pro billit dist. 38degrees timing
Hooker Super Comp. 1 7/8X 3 1/2 headers

TRANNY
junk yard TH350 with shift kit
3600 stall

REAREND
8.2 10 bolt 4.11 gear with stock axles and mini spool

SUSPENSION
front: lakewood 90/10 shocks
rear: ladder bar with off-brand shocks and 12-150 springs

Things I can think of to change:
called comp cams, suggested 270-280 .739/.739 112lsa cam
upping compression
different intake?
electric water pump
vacuum pump

Lot more I am not thinking of I am sure but lost at the moment.

sc racing · #2 Post by **sc racing** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:20 am

How much does your car weigh? What kind of 60' times.Ive run a very similar combo but with small solid cam .525/.548 254/259 old gm fuelie heads 1-3/4 headers and only 1800 stall. 3500lb car best et 11.75 @116. Crappy 60' around 1.75-1.80s.Id probably look into building that trans better first. The last thing you want to do is change a bunch of stuff all at once.
Just my .02

Bob West · #3 Post by **Bob West** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 2:54 pm

I definately be beefing up that rear, its not going to last long, those axles are living on borrowed time and a mini spool is not recommended for drag racing. I know alot are using them, but with those wimpy 8.2 axles, its a matter of WHEN!!

mytmouz · #4 Post by **mytmouz** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 10:14 pm

I had a similar set up in my truck. Slightly more comp. Soild roller in the .660 range, Victor Jr. It had out of the box Track 1's. Ran consistent 10:40's on motor and 9:30's with a 175 shot. My truck hasn't been lightened so the weight should be close to yours. Sounds to me like you're on the right track as far as the motor combo upgrades go. When you step that up the rear and tranny will probably upgrade themselves, though. I had a 'glide with a convertor that footbraked 3800 with that combo. Hope this helps.

1 Stout Z · #5 Post by **1 Stout Z** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 1:25 am

Don't know the weight, never had a chance to weight it but I can tell you what has been done to it and you can make your own assumption. It has 1 jaz racing seat in it with a 10 point cage, aluminum dash and no interior panels. Car has been mini-tubbed, has a 16 gallon fuel cell, battery, and nitrous bottle in trunk. Aluminum panel seperating drivers compartment and trunk(cut original panel out), Inner fenders gone, Fiberglass 5" pin on hood, fiberglass pin on trunk lid.

Had 4.56's in rear, when I came back from Afghanistan in September went to the track to run the nitrous for the first time and ripped every tooth off the ring and pinion(about 20 miles on R&P)launching on a sticky track. Tore it down and carrier bearing was worn out causing it to come out of alignment ever so slightly to bind up. Swapped to 4.11's and next weekend am getting 1.74 60' on motor and 1.54 on nitrous, hooking good.

I will definatly be upgrading the rear to either a 9" or 12 bolt around the first of the year. The 8.2 has suprised me so far, when it broke the richmond ring and pinion I thought for sure an axle or the minispool had went but it was the axles. I have made about 12 passes with the nitrous since putting the 4.11's in it and 1.54-1.56 60' times each time and nothing yet. I thought about building the 8.2 and putting a spool, C-clip eliminators and spool in it to keep down the weight of the 9 inch but will probably end up just cramming it together, cutting it down and putting it in this coming up year. But pretty impressive for a 8.2 huh?

I am looking into getting a built TH350 and a brake around first of year with a new converter, size depends on whether I stay with cam I got or upgrade.

Just to make myself feel better and let you all in on a reason it may not be running as fast as I think it should with the combo, I run at Bristol Dragway, Altitude 1790 and when I ran the 10.84 the DA was over 4800ft above sea level.

1 Stout Z · #6 Post by **1 Stout Z** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 4:30 am

How much power would I leave on the table if I went to a 640 lift instead of the 739? Would it be worth it to change springs and go to the bigger cam?

#7 Post by **John_Heard** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 9:07 am

1 Stout Z wrote:How much power would I leave on the table if I went to a 640 lift instead of the 739? Would it be worth it to change springs and go to the bigger cam?

Do you have any flow numbers for the heads? If they'll flow ok up in that range then yeah, more lift is generally better. It does open up a whole new can of worms though in regards to springs, piston to valve clearance, etc.

rustbucket · #8 Post by **rustbucket** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:00 pm

my set up is really close to yours. i have slightly more compression, approx 12.8:1 and a 950 cfm carb with a lunati .626 solid roller set up. im not geared for the quarter but have run a 6.84 at 102 mph in the eighth with a 1.49 60 ft. 72 nova all steel but hood. im considering junking my t350 and trying a powerglide with a transbrake. im not sure if it is going to kill my et. im running 4.56 gears and with a t350 it is perfect for 1/8th mile. im shifting my motor at 7000 rpms. it is block filled with a studded bottom end. ive got my fingers crossed that it doesnt grenade anytime soon.
my intake is a holley strip dominator wich is very similar to your team g. i am not using a vacuum pump. Ive still got the ol' hoses running to the headers. ive pushed mine to (inbetween a 1/8th and 1/4) and ran a 10.80. im guessing if i could stay into it it would run in the 10.50-10.60 range.
I think you are right on the money with a bigger cam and more compresion but with that, a bigger carb. may be needed. my best increase this year with et was a bigger carb. i picked uo a 10th in my 60 ft. and 6-7 mph with the 950. my goal for 2007 is to run a 5.99 in the 1/8th. i have a big shot that i havent really started tuning for. its gonna be big numbers or a trail of parts down the track! he he he, cant wait!

1 Stout Z · #9 Post by **1 Stout Z** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:23 pm

Thanks for the responses
Beyond
Here are the flow numbers on the T1heads from Brodix's website:
lift-------------200 300 400 500 600 650 700
2.080 Intake 124 179 228 264 276 278 279
1.600 Exhaust 103 138 164 178 186 188 190

I think the .739 lift cam would max out the heads, which is a good thing, but don't know if it would work or if I would just be overcamming my motor, without changing the compression. By the way Beyond, I have been following your car's buildup(actually the site I used when I minitubbed mine) and noticed when I got back from afghanistan that it was down, what happened, did it change location? Lot of good information on there.

rustbucket

Yeah, your setup does sound close to mine. I shift mine at 6800 on motor and 7000 on nitrous. When I had the 4.56 in mine, I ran a best of a 7.41@95.15 at Rogersville raceway(better elevation by 500') on motor and a 6.98 on nitrous. The 4.56 was right for mine in the 1/8 with the nitrous, but on motor, I was turning about 5000 through the traps in 3rd on motor. I swapped my 800dp for my friends 750 dominator and went to the 1/4, no motor passes just nitrous and that is when it went the 10.84, last year when I had to go back to japan(my current station) my friend ran the car with my 800dp on nitrous and it went 11.02. I am guessing the dominator worked but don't have any back to back times to judge by. What carb did you have before you went to the 950? I am trying to decide if I should go with a bigger 4150 or just go to a dominator, I am really liking the progressive linkage as far as throttle response. On any of your times, were you running nitrous or have you even turned it on? I am trying to see whether I am way off on my motor as far as my goals of 10's on motor or whether it just needs some minor changes.

My pictures are too big to post so I will give you all a link to all of them, halfway down there is a picture of a draglite below that are 2005 photos, above is 2006 after painting the hood and trunklid.
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/beastz1998/ ... 2381722297
Thanks

#10 Post by **John_Heard** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 9:30 am

Those flow numbers show that you're not going to get much over .600, the .739 lift cam might be a bad idea. Something in the low to mid .600 range might be a better way to go. But I'm no cam expert, you might discuss this with someone like Harold Brookshire at Custom Cams.

Last time I talked to him he advised opening the valves up basically as much as you can that the heads can flow, but mentioned over a certain cfm sometimes flow rates decrease which might be starting to happen around .800 in your heads. If that's the case you want to avoid that area. I might not be explaining it quite right, he's much better haha.

My old web page for the car is still there, it's http://www.iola.com/71nova I haven't added anything to it for quite a while. One of these days I"m going to clean it up and move that stuff over to this site. Some of the guys here might get a kick out of seeing it when I first got it.

rustbucket · #11 Post by **rustbucket** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 7:32 pm

the times listed above were motor passes.i have tried a 275 shot and blew the tires off. on the bottle my 60ft dropped a 10th due to traction issues. im currently working on my rear suspension to better the problem. however, on a n20 pass with the car flubbing down the track i ran a 6.39 @ 109 mph. i think my fuel pressure was to great or my timing was to retarded. i quit messing with it after that and havent been back to the track. the carb i took off was a quick fuel q750. the throttle responce was awesom so i was reluctant to change but thanks to the guys here on this site i decided to go with a 4150 style quick fuel q950. look back at some of the "carb too big" post and you will read alot of comments of 4500 series carbs not being the ultimate set up for a smaller cube small block.
i think with the minor changes you mention you will easily be in the 10's on motor.

Please critique my setup, imput for better setup

Please critique my setup, imput for better setup

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