First off, I'm a new member. Hello everyone, I'm NickTheVanMan. As the name suggests I build vans but will be on the hunt for Nash Metropolitans for future projects so I thought a membership here would be useful and educational. I'm currently building a Ford 300 inline six to use in a vehicle for a drag racing event in 2024, its my first 300 as my background is mainly in Ford Windsors. Hoping to learn some things from folks with more experience than I. Thank you for having me, and onto my thread. I'm building a Ford 300, to put in a old Econoline that already has a 300 in it. I wanted to have something different at this event, last year I had a small block Chevy Astro. This year I want a Buzzin Half Dozen in a sea of modern V8 platforms and mainstream vintage domestic V8s. I figured there may be some subtle nuances to this engine as opposed to the windsors I'm used to building. The vehicle weighs 4,420 pounds with me and a full tank, it has a 3.08 gear in it. I do drive it to the event, and will mainly bracket race it. Last weekend I bought a good standard bore core 300 to start with and here's the combo I have so far and wanted everyone's thoughts, what kinda numbers you think it'll make and anything you feel I've made a poor choice on. Here's what my plan is so far- 1981 300 block. Basic rebuild with hypereutectic pistons. Balanced rods and crank, arp main cap studs and rod bolts. Decked enough to clean up. Cam grind I've chosen to have the cam company I use often and have excellent luck with, is a grind that Schneider has in their catalog. It's the 256h. 204/204@.050 448/448 lift on a 112lsa. Cylinder head is the stock casting that came on this long block. I plan to have it ported , bowls blended, valves backcut and polished and decked enough to clean it up. It'll be topped with new stock rockers arms. Intake manifold will be a Offenhauser type c single plane 4 barrel intake with a adapter and a Holley 350cfm 2 barrel carburetor. Exhaust manifolds will be new factory efi manifolds that I will port the primaries of to get rid of the casting flash and rough texture and gasket match them to the head. Hei ignition for packaging in a van. Exhaust will be true dual 2.25 inch , with turbo mufflers. Planning to use the stock C6 freshened up with a stock converter and leaving the 3.08 gear in it for ease of highway travel to and from events. Any thoughts on what kinda power this will make or some constructive criticism? Thank you in advance and happy holidays.
Sometimes it isn't how fast you go but how much fun you have going fast. I've had friends who have had an absolute blast running low 14's with a pretty well trouble free low maintenance ride while our buddies who ran cars that were a lot faster but a lot more work. Thinking back a friend of mine had some car that ran in the 16's that he won his class with more Friday nights than you can count. I'd see his name in the race results in the paper just about every week for winning his class and doing pretty well against the winners of the other brackets in the runoff.
C6: power and fuel drain. 3.08: Great, if highway fuel economy is your goal and intended purpose. See comment on C6. I suppose with bracket racing you're not trying to go as quick as possible. A consistent slug can still win.
Maximize your CR....9.5-10:1 More cam with a tighter LSA. It will pick up the power and the nasty idle will give it attitude. (It will make YOU smile too) Maybe the 3.8 gear and a BIG OLD HEAVY C-6 will let you go through the quarter in the 1st two gears. C-4 are way lighter and plenty strong for a 300-6 BTW. 6sally6
The 3.08 gears will kill any performance gains in that heavy van. I have a 3oo built similar to your plan(w/a bigger cam and carb and 4 spd) in a truck that weighs 4900. It pulls like a freight train over 3k rpm, but has 4.10 gears.
You might look for a cylinder head from a 240. It has smaller combustion chambers and will give a 300 a higher compression ratio. The early 240 heads also feature adjustable rocker arms.
I'd still like to know what went into the figure-8 cars with the 223 Ford in them. Those had an extremely strong pull off the corners. Of course they were geared like mountain goats. As 6sally6 mentioned, get the CR up to get the most out of the cam. I like to have my 1st gear ratio x the rear end gear ratio close to 10. This gets it out of the hole nicely. My old set up was just over 9, with the 3.89 rear it was very close to the targeted 10.
I’m just curious, no advice. Some have mentioned bracket racing, they might know the events you are speaking about? But are you racing in a class or bracket racing?
Yes, bracket racing in sportsman. I do occasionally race heads up. At the No Name Nationals I do some grudge racing against a few friends for fun. But my main goal is consistentcy for bracket and something that's fun on the street.
We’d go up every so often to Sacramento for “grudge night”. After a few passes you’d figure a dial in. Then wait and let vehicles around you till your buddy showed up. Then the grudge was on! But as was said, I had a friend one night in a bone stock (forget the car) that got 30 bucks (hey, this was the ‘70’s) for second place running in the 17’s. lol. Had he realized the car was getting stronger from the cooler air and just backed off a bit, he’d have won for sure, because he ran too quick.
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