Technical How fast will it be?

You can have all the power you want, getting it to the ground and hooking is a whole other story. If you are going to drive it 99.9% on the street than build the suspension for that. If on the other hand, you plan on racing it a bunch, get as radical as you want. Seen too many builds that are over built for the street and the quality of the ride compromised. Learning the fine art of compromise while building an engine and chassis can be a challenge for some.

 

Going faster can be a costly adventure but slowing a car down can be as simple as pulling total timing advance, slowing down the secondary opening rate even starting in second gear. I know a stock class racer that sandbags a full second with just the throttle and brakes.

 

That's something I used to tell my students. Putting 500HP in a 350HP chassis is just pissing away the most expensive part of your HP. Somebody can put 400HP in a 400 HP chassis and wear you out.

 

Yes that is amazing. I went and looked into that car and it has had extensive work done to the suspension. Stronger control arms, shaft loops, a 12 bolt ring gear, 31 spline axle stubs, spherical bearings, re-valved AFCO front shocks and more. Seems they are squeezing more out of the L88 using today's tech.

It looks like the car launches off idle and the front end is up most of way down the track. A lot of work went into that car.

It will be interesting to see what the OP does with his 51 chev.

 

The tire part of the car was what I'm talking about though, just a standard skinny Firestone bias ply that they shave. They are making some killer power if you watch some of the dyno videos they have, I don't remember if the numbers are at the wheel or if they are corrected to crank.

 

This thread has been a huge help in getting ahead of a few things I hadn't really mapped out. It does look like the car is going to be quicker than I had initially hoped for. Not that that is a bad thing. I've spoken with Viking shocks and will most likely be using their shocks. Traction bars on the rear were part of the original plan, but I have adjusted the plan to include the Caltracs system. I have also watched the video several times. I like the cage in the 67 Vette. I think if I could find someone to build a cage that hugs the posts and pillars like that one, I would be ok with it. Looking in the windows you don't see cage everywhere. I am also second guessing my rear end choice and will figure out if I'm going to switch to a 9". Of course based on that final decision, I'll contemplate putting the 400 in it instead of the 700r4. Thanks for all the good input.

 

Unless you do everything to make use of the HP there won't be a helluva lot to worry about. Rear suspension, properly tuned and aligned front, convertor, gearing, ign control, trans brake ( not a deal breaker). Weight is a factor too. All in you'll be about 33-3400 at the starting line. Then dial that all in and manage it. With that flywheel HP mid 10s are possible with everything hitting just right. My best was 10.32 but it averaged 10.40s, and I did all the above at 3545lbs.

Last thing, ET isn't the only rule setter, 135MPH is full cage and chute, but again...