Getting engine ready for Drag week 2018.

I just returned from Hotrod Drag week this year. This this my third time going but the first time we finished. I have been going with a good friend as passenger/crew on his Street race BB NA Malibu. I am try to see if it would be possible to get my car reliable for the NA modified class. The main concern is as always the valve train. I am looking for any experiences or opinions that any of the members may have to help with this project. I will try to list as much information about the engine as I can and please point out any weak areas that you think needs attention.  

A460 block wet sump
C460 heads TI 2.45 in 1.90 ex valves with BeCu seats
Billet Scat 4.5" crank
Oliver 6.8 Rods
Diamond 4.610 Pistons 043/ 043/ 3/16 14.5:1
T&D shaft rockers 1.80:1
Comp Custom grind  290/306 .858/.848 115 intake center line
Crower .874 HIPPO lfters
Valve spring set 338/850

The engine will be freshened up before going on Drag week. I am willing to make some changes to help with the reliability for the event. I was thinking about bushing style lifter and or changing to .904".  The car is close to 3000# pounds  and i would like to run 8.9-9.0. As you know the drive is what kills cars on Drag week. Any experiences or opinions you would like to share would be great. If there are any questions by all means let me know and I will find out the answers.  

Thanks in advance for your help.
Mike Remines.

Sounds amazing My goal is Drag Week as well.

Why so much compression?

Go for steel upgrade on the shaft rockers.

Bigger lifter for sure.

Keep us posted!

In my opinion, the cam is way to big for a reliable street driven vehicle along with unnecessarily high valve spring pressures.

You either want a DRAG RACE piece or a STREET/Strip piece and you are not on the correct avenue to getting BOTH.

rmcomprandy wrote:In my opinion, the cam is way to big for a reliable street driven vehicle along with unnecessarily high valve spring pressures.

You either want a DRAG RACE piece or a STREET/Strip piece and you are not on the correct avenue to getting BOTH.

I agree with Randy on the cam, but not that you can't have both. Give Straub a call on the cam and lifters. I'd go .903 Morel Ultra Pro and have Chris do a cam with lobes that won't kill the valve train. I also think you have way more spring pressure than necessary. For your goals you can make lots of power in a very reasonable RPM range. Way less cam and spring pressure. We did the top end and valve train for Troy LaCrone's 572 BB Chev Camaro. It made well over 900hp on pump gas and the car has run 9.03 @ 3200#. It's a Nitrous motor and not really set up for NA. Sorted out for NA it should run well into the 8's (has run 148 mph n/a). It has .842 lifters and a cam no where near as big as yours with heads and springs no where near as big as yours. He had ZERO valve train issues. Your combination in a 3000# car should run well into the 8's with very reliable power. Oh, and plan on installing the biggest pushrods you can fit in there.

Scott Foxwell wrote:

rmcomprandy wrote:In my opinion, the cam is way to big for a reliable street driven vehicle along with unnecessarily high valve spring pressures.

You either want a DRAG RACE piece or a STREET/Strip piece and you are not on the correct avenue to getting BOTH.

I agree with Randy on the cam, but not that you can't have both. Give Straub a call on the cam and lifters. I'd go .903 Morel Ultra Pro and have Chris do a cam with lobes that won't kill the valve train. I also think you have way more spring pressure than necessary. For your goals you can make lots of power in a very reasonable RPM range. Way less cam and spring pressure. We did the top end and valve train for Troy LaCrone's 572 BB Chev Camaro. It made well over 900hp on pump gas and the car has run 9.03 @ 3200#. It's a Nitrous motor and not really set up for NA. Sorted out for NA it should run well into the 8's (has run 148 mph n/a). It has .842 lifters and a cam no where near as big as yours with heads and springs no where near as big as yours. He had ZERO valve train issues. Your combination in a 3000# car should run well into the 8's with very reliable power. Oh, and plan on installing the biggest pushrods you can fit in there.

It's a very nice combo and runs very well, but it's a hydraulic roller, correct?

Steel rockers for sure. The aluminum ones are well known to break.

Maybe some spring squirters to keep the springs cool on the drives. Drag Week eats springs.

BigBlockRanger wrote:Steel rockers for sure.  The aluminum ones are well known to break.

Maybe some spring squirters to keep the springs cool on the drives.  Drag Week eats springs.

x2  

From T&D's catalogue:

How much power do you think you need to run 8.9 with your car?

The owner of the 572 Camaro that Mr. Foxwell references states it made 933hp / 809tq in this thread ( http://www.yellowbullet.com/forum/showthread.php?p=63016226&highlight=#post63016226 )

The owner also states that they did update the car to work better N/A:

"The car ran 9.10 @152 NA with 3.50 gear, 31" tall tire and 4,200 nitrous converter. Really cool early spring weather. Stock ratio 400.

We put 4.11, 6,000 NA converter with low slip numbers. Best 9.03 @149."

windsor wrote:The owner of the 572 Camaro that Mr. Foxwell references states it made 933hp / 809tq in this thread ( http://www.yellowbullet.com/forum/showthread.php?p=63016226&highlight=#post63016226 )

The owner also states that they did update the car to work better N/A:

"The car ran 9.10 @152 NA with 3.50 gear, 31" tall tire and 4,200 nitrous converter. Really cool early spring weather. Stock ratio 400.

We put 4.11, 6,000 NA converter with low slip numbers. Best 9.03 @149."

We've come to the conclusion after testing that the converter and gear combination aren't near optimum for NA performance. Just didn't have enough time before Drag Week to sort it out after the power increase. It had decent MPH but cold never get the 60 where it needed to be.
It was a hyd roller in it's last configuration but now it's a solid roller. Troy wants to go after the power adder class next year. All new engine.

Not knocking the build at all, I like the results (for a Chevy... ).  Just stating some details for the folks in this thread and the original poster's question on what is needed to complete and be competitive in Drag Week.

That dude made a bunch of laps at each track so it must work well.

windsor wrote:Not knocking the build at all, I like the results (for a Chevy... ).  Just stating some details for the folks in this thread and the original poster's question on what is needed to complete and be competitive in Drag Week.

Oh, I didn't think you were at all. Just filling in some details.

Thanks, this is the knd of opinions and information that I was looking for. It looks like I have a lot of work to do. Thanks to all that have contributed. Again thanks for sharing and keep the opinions and advice coming. I always like to get different prospectives on a subject.

Michael Remines

You could always swap on some lower ratio rockers for the highway, which would be easier on the springs.....or carry extra sets of springs with you, and swap them for racing!!
It would also be wise to carry extra intake gaskets and extra roller lifters too!!

Just looking at the competition and what it will take to win. Shoot for 8.50's....
If your heads can support more cubes use a bigger crank and take some load off the valve train.
Limitations on the tire at 11.25 are going to kill some 60ft. A lower rocker ratio will help. Why not go 13.5 compression and E85?

Thanks for all of the input. Changing the rotating is not really an option at this time. The lower ratio rockers for the drver may be viable. Why chance of winning is not real good, but would like to finish well. Thanks

Michael Remines