Life, kids you all know the drill. So I inherited all the rod stuff and putting it to use the track roadster P/U is all there 55/63 chevy rear with spool 3.73 gears 4 bar front and rear suspension (coil over carrillo shock rear w/watts link/ 4 in dropped ford front with corvair box and pan hard bar kit) using a 700R4 with a 2200-2300 stall/still have lockup for the road nwith OD . disc brake conversion front/drums rear NO power ***ist. vac*** be damned! Looking at it now he was building a street driven sprint car. Now the engine choices I have a NEW 283 .060 over flattops `64 block with arp /manley hardware. I have a lunati 10120703 cam 227/233@.050 retarded 2 degrees with 1.6 roller rockers .522 Int/,538 Ex lift and a set of 113 alum D port heads(1.94/1.5) screw in studs and guideplates with LS beehive .600 lift springs w/+.100 spring retainers 787-16 Now I have choices an OLD Torker (not Torker2) or a Performer or a C4B intake or torker 2 to pick from I have all of these already(the old man was a hoarder) I have a new Edelbrock 1406 w electric choke 625cfm looking to kill off bottom end and still being very driveable looking for rpm range 1500-6500 maybe little higher I am leaning more to the old school torker as a performer is kinda modern looking but driveability/traction is most important. car is crazy lightweight 1600-1700 lbs so max HP is non issue. OR is there another intake i should look for I think air gap would be way big flow wise for the 292
First, glad you have your life together enough to persue a rod. I'm a newbie to SBC stuff, so I'll be useless on intake selection. I'd concentrate on driveability and low end, since you probably won't be exploring the upper range a lot in it. It sounds a bit like my project and @Dave G in Gansevoort 's T. I mentioned him, so hopefully he will drop in. Sounds like a blast. In the 1957 thread, he mentions a ratio for first gear starting out. That's a stick VS auto, but might be a useful rule of thumb. the 700R4 has first gear ratio of 3.059:1. I don't know how applicable to your ride this is, but something to research. The converter will change that anyway. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/yes-it’s-still-possible.1213757/page-18#post-15245609
What size tires are you planning to use. I ran a Yorker on a 302 Ford for low speed torque and it worked great. I don’t think that is what you’ll need. With the set up you mentioned and 30 inch tires you’ll be just over 2000 rpm at 70mph. Smaller tires will increase that and make the performer a better option imho. The 700r4 will be a good fit for the car. Just make sure you get the TV cable set properly. You won’t need power to the brakes but getting the bias adjusted correctly is crucial for slick roads and low traction conditions with a lite performance car.
Been under the weather and haven’t had much of a chance to peruse the Hamb. Sounds like an interesting project. You are building a lot of engine there. Should be a fun ride. Of your manifold choices, I like the original Torquer, got one on the shelf. If I use it, it will have a 650 cam vacuum secondary Holley, just because I have one. However going old school with my 283; Edelbrock 3 deuce intake with 3 Rochester 2G 2-barrels. That power band is asking a lot for an old school small block. Cam, Compression, Carburetion will all have to match up. Are those heads GM castings, or aftermarket? I like the valve sizes, the intakes will clear the cylinder walls. There’s a few threads on 283s on here. I wish I knew how to get them as links, as I’m semi-computer illiterate. I also will be watching. I’m always looking for ideas to plaigerise…
Know the LSA on the camshaft ?! Sounds (pun intended) like a whole lotta cam for such a small engine. A tight?small LSA number will make it a little more friendly for street driving. 227/233@050 AND 1.6 rockers may take more than retarding the cam timing on 283 Shivel-lay mow-der. That dude with 'tell-the-gospel' at idle though !!! Late cam timing/ big exhaust number (think Thumper cam)will give the idle that deepTHUMP-THUMP sound. Big intake/duration numbers give a pretty 'snotty' idle to boot. Tight LSA numbers 106*-109* will give even more chop but...you need that to bleed off some of the compression at low speed so you won't need race fuel to prevent it from knocking. You're gonna need a LOT of timing to make it idle right and have ANY low RPM manners. 32*-36* degrees total timing and all in early for starters...(maybe look into a fully locked out distributor)... NEW modern mini starter and... a good battery with a LOT of CCA's. Do us all a big 'solid' and run open long tube headers on this animal ! You will definitely be "THE MAN" at the cruise-ins..... Should melt the tires AT WILL ! 6sally6
Cam has 110LSA... I think it will lope a bit........ tires are 26.5 tall Should scare the piss outta me if it hooks....
Your combo will put you just under 2300 rpm at 70. I'd look at the power curve of the cam and figure out where that will put you. If you want to speed up where you are on the curve makes a big difference in can you give it a little more gas or do you have to drop a gear and step into it. Also think about talking to some others that driven a very light decently powered car with a spool in the rear end. In my opinion you won't like it. But get some opinions before you lock that in stone.
I agree, you want it to cruise at an RPM that has a good amount of torque, but room to rev. Given the light weight, it won't take much to push it along at a steady cruise. The T had a Lincoln locker (welded spiders). That along with sloppy steering and huge rear tires made it undriveable. Diff and steering were the first things fixed! I've driven some spool cars before, some pretty crazy. This was BAD. I'd strongly recommend a limited slip over a spool. I sent OP a Private Message (PM), that's the Letter icon at the top right of each page. It should be Red to indicate an unread message. Just click on it to get to the Conversations page.
A spool, or "locked" rear end sure takes the fun away from cruising around, especially if a cop happens to be behind you when you need to make a turn. But, maybe that is just me?
Detroit Locker. That’s the answer. But wait, sometimes they don’t ratchet… and probably do it in front of a cop. Same outcome…
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