Hey y'all! Got some engine build q's

Hello all, I'm chip, from central Alabama. Purchasing a 225 inch suncoast dragster. Little bit about my situation, used to have a hot rod shop in Florida. Closed the doors in 08'. Well, this past year here in Alabama, had shop fire. Lost everything. 4 hotrods,tools,equipment, etc. So, now I've built another shop, and rebuilding. But have the itch to race again. Found a dragster ibwant. Here's my question. I have a 429 4v premium fuel motor. I want to do a mild build to get me on the track and bracket race until I build the motor I want. I just need to get the setup working, build a a decently srout motor to make some soft bracket passes on.it will have all the normal dragster parts on it, but I need to avoid dropping 10k into a motor T the moment. I can get castings off motor and heads. I believe it came out of Torino. Don't quote me on that. So, think y'all can help me put together a healthy little 429 to get back on the track? Appreciate any input.

What condition is it in?

Maybe just top end upgrades to the valvetrain

Intake and a carb, oil pan etc

And go have fun?

It's in good shape. Been sitting boxed up for a long time. I'm going to tear it down, machine shop owes me a favor. Was gonna have them go through it, make sure is all is well, slap some pistons in it. Probably clean the heads up myself and freshen them up. I'm just curious on some decent internals. Pistons,compression ratio, cam, etc. When I build the next motor I might throw this motor into a 68 1ton I'm gonna make into a slant back hauler for something. Have the pg trans already, but haven't ordered convertor yet, so kinda need some help putting a package together. Is 450 hp possible without having to take out equity loan on my house??? Lol

I'm gonna run Victor or TFS intake, down swept headers, and probably a detuned dominator.some things will get swapped onto next motor.

I like 429's but, 460 cranks are pretty cheap and pistons are more common. You said you may want to put it in a truck later, so you likely want to keep the compression somewhat low. If you go forged pistons you should have it balanced, and then there is the question of hardened exhaust seats on the old closed chamber heads. I would weight the options out carefully. I think some D3 heads at about 9.5/1 or so compression on a 466 might be a good option.

450 is pretty easy and cheap as long as the engine is in top condition.

I'd do a solid Flat tappet cam and lifters with matching components, The Victor with a 1050, upgrade the ignition, dragster pan and good pump and let it eat.

If you have the ability do a little porting on the heads, nothing crazy just clean up the bowls and have a good valve job done with some SS Valves.

If you are planing on changing pistons then find an early 460 crankshaft. They're pretty easy to get for not much money.

That easy 30 cubic inches will provide the most power increase you will ever get for the money spent.

I can get you hooked up with a motor and tranny for 3500$ ready to run...shoot me a pm if interested

Anyone else running a mild motir in a dragster?

Chopperchip wrote:Anyone else running a mild motir in a dragster?

My first motor in my old Undercover car was a 466 with a Hyd Camshaft...

What kind of times?

Actually, it was a 490" motor..
It made around 550 hp..

At 1900 lbs, it went 5.70's @ 123
With a change to a solid flat tappet. it went 5.30's @ 127

I'd find a 460 crank if you can. Cheap cubes. Other than that a decent flat tappet cam and Victor should get you going. Get out on the track and get racing. You can always build a faster one down the road!

Sounds like fun...

Chopperchip wrote:Hello all, I'm chip, from central Alabama. Purchasing a 225 inch suncoast dragster.  I want to do a mild build to get me on the track and bracket race until I build the motor I want.  I just need to get the setup working, build a decently srout motor to make some soft bracket passes on.it will have all the normal dragster parts on it, but I need to avoid dropping 10k into a motor T the moment. So, think y'all can help me put together a healthy little 429 to get back on the track? Appreciate any input.

I know a guy who took a bone stock unmodified 1968 C8VE 460, disassembled, ball-honed the cylinders, ground the OEM valves, replaced only the bearings, new OEM-style link timing chain, super mild (~0.480") hydraulic cam, (nothing else) and reassembled. He did 10.30's in the quarter mile all season long....not so much as a spark plug change. Unported heads, one carb, pump gas.  1500-lb home-built altered with shortened F250 3.89 rear end.

A few obvious upgrades (as noted above posts) would be a good idea.

well, good news today, I was able to crawl up into my conex that was not involved in the fire. didnt realize how much i still have. the good news is I didnt even know I had a set of D0VE head in there. seperate from the engine i have!ive gathered o many parts and lost so many parts i forgot what i have. so tomorrows chore is going to be getting that engine pulled out, cleaned up and put on the stand. I guess I'll have to start photographing the process. next week is the big week. Heading to tallahasee florida to pick up the dragster. I'll post that in the dragster forum. I'm sitting down tonight and really gonna hit the books and do some research, yall imput the last 2 days have really boosted my enthusiasm and good fortune to revive a motor I've kept around for 15 years. more questions to come.

well, some of my next questions... here we go....headers? I used to do all the exhaust work in my shop on the hotrods, but time and slowing rebuilding my tools up, are there any decent kits to build a set? i know if i was running a chevy i could by them all day, but im not a chevy fan. i love seeing ford dragsters whoop up on chevy.

torque convertor, i know i'm still looking at which way to go with engine build, just food for thought.

anyone have any used parts willing to part with?

like i said, this is a start for better things to come. its a project for my daughter and i, and she is so excited. love that my 8 year old daughter can crank a wrench better than some men... lol

also, what oil pan are being ran in dragsters for these bbf's?
which electric water pumps?

ok, did some r&d lastnight. so heres where Im heading so far


hydraulic Crane Cames part number 354552. 288/292 duration 522/530 lift 2500-6000 rpm. 9.0-11.5 comp. ration prefered. this came set up comes with all new lifters springs etc.
Crane ROller Rockers part number 27744-16
D0VE heads, cleaned up

question is valves: Do i go ahead and increase valve size? or just new SS valves and seat?

remember this is a get by motor, next motor will be the animal.....

next questions

If I switch to a 460 crank and rods, whats the best production I need to be looking for? or maybe what casting numbers? which ones had good rods and which ones had shit rods, etc. were the truck crank and rods better as far as accesability?

thanks for the input. gonna get this joker pulled out today and cleaned up. excited!

The crank used will determine which block you go with they are all the same as far as strength goes....

truck rods with good arp bolts will be better than passenger car rods.

If you have the funds go ahead and do big valves in the doves and seats mill them to 72cc and rock on with heads.

gmsmkr wrote:The crank used will determine which block you go with they are all the same as far as strength goes....

truck rods with good arp bolts will be better than passenger car rods.
.

EXCEPT the Cobra Jet rod, (they came in passenger cars), but, they are all about the same strength in the beam just below the pin which is where they all inevitably break if stressed to much.

Marine rods are a bit better than truck rods as they have the caps shot-peened but, are otherwise the same.

A good oil pan with a distinct sump and baffling is available from a lot of different places and are adequate.

I forgot about the CJ rods.... those are hard to come by around our parts

Chopperchip wrote:ok, did some r&d lastnight. so heres where Im heading so far


hydraulic Crane Cames part number 354552. 288/292 duration 522/530 lift 2500-6000 rpm. 9.0-11.5 comp. ration prefered. this came set up comes with all new lifters springs etc.
Crane ROller Rockers part number 27744-16
D0VE heads, cleaned up

question is valves: Do i go ahead and increase valve size? or just new SS valves and seat?

remember this is a get by motor, next motor will be the animal.....

next questions

If I switch to a 460 crank and rods, whats the best production I need to be looking for? or maybe what casting numbers? which ones had good rods and which ones had shit rods, etc. were the truck crank and rods better as far as accesability?

thanks for the input. gonna get this joker pulled out today and cleaned up. excited!

If I was going to change valves and seats I would go with the big valves. The late model fuelie truck rod were supposely the best. I would go with the 2Y pre 1979 crank to keep it internally balanced. All truck rods have football head bolts but, the latter one were supposed to be revised and a little better. I would also go with a bigger cam and if you put the engine in a truck latter changed it out to something smaller then.