How to raise rpm redline on SBC?

Read this carefully. This is exactly what is like to have an engine like this. Critical and tedious maintenance that cost you alot of time and money not counting the initial build. I never was lucky enough to get out spending 12k-15k. It was more like 18k-22k for a super latemodel engine. Just as the old saying goes, Horsepower cost money, how much money do you have. The sky is the limit.

 

(pssst.....kinda rude to talk about someone--in their own post. i would hope that if you have a problem with what i'm doing please PM me or address the issue right here. Thanks)

To put it another way.........Rodder puhleese

2) Rest ***ured that i am not asking all these questions to do some sort of sociology experiment and/or to measure psychological responses from each individual poster........although that is a side benefit. No, i am trying to get as much info before i plunk down big money on a project.

This is one of the great things about the internet-----information. It's definitely helped me immensely when working on cars.

 

I have no problem with what you are doing, seeking information. And rest ***ured, your prose has shed more light upon this matter. With the wealth of information available on this web site alone, a person's limit's is their pocketbook. Pertaining to one's goal.

 

Buy a tach with a 7K redline. Problem solved.

 

Four pages devoted to someone who is "mental ****ing" and looking for "cheap power" and mentions F1 engines? "Surea I putta de Ferrari enginea togehter fora you. 90a cubica inchesa, 1000a horseapowa alla fora $19.95 includinga taxa"

 

These threads always generate p***ionate opinions but the tech facts are also interesting. What I found to be the 1st element to hi-rev power and longevity is really square and true blocks combined with good balancing and accurate valvetrain geometry. Naturally you'd need to perfect every other dimension and parameter in the build like rod length and rotating wt. Cubic inch displacement doesn't matter. I ran a .100 over 454 to 7800 every weekend several years back. Got over 400 p***es out of it and it never failed. GM rods and crank along with out-of-the-box TRW pistons. The decks were square, every valve was exactly the same ht, 3/8 moly pushrods, etc. The BBC trick was always 7/16 pushrods for strength but a better 3/8 held less oil so it was much lighter. Yes you have to consider EVERYTHING. Once all of that's done the real engineering starts from the flywheel back to the tire's contact patch. It's never just one thing, it's everything.

 

How about a tach that goes to 11 like the amps in "Spinal Tap" ??? (no , I did not read all 4 pgs. of this ****)

 

A few weeks ago was a thread here on engines.One guy replied he knows a man who builds FE Fords that rev to 10 grand,I think it was a 406.Imagine what this engine builder could do with a small V-8!

 

i run a crazy Big cam in oval track and turned 8K, pistons all died and that was a 302 short stroke it only did it once , and I never tried it again


A CHEVROLET will turn 7,500 all day and live a long time, even stock and i did it a lot in my 18 years of oval track raceing in everything from street stock to late model

 

It's easy, you just have to wear pointed cowboy boots when you drive.
Just ask Gene Schwartz. 9000 plus all the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-s-0Ce-OaM

 

$$$$---- You mean like this !!! >>>>.

 

Install a 4 cylinder Tachometer

 

I did 8,000 with a steel crankshaft and the rods out of a 283. 302 12.5/1 forged pistons. 2.02 straight plug heads with screw in studs, guide plates, stock GM valves, dual springs and retainers. The 283 rocker arms and pushrods. A GM Duntov/ Fuelie/Z28 solid lifter 30/30 camshaft and lifters. Double row timing chain and high volume oil pump. 8 quart oil pan and windage tray. Aluminum intake and Holley 750 double pumper. Distributor from the 283 with a spring kit and mallory points spun on a machine to 4500 rpm (9,000 engine rpm)

Everything was balanced, blueprinted and ***embled with a Mr Gasket bolt kit. The only problem I had was that the Fel-Pro blu composition head gaskets didn't hold up. I switched to GM steel gaskets and everything was fine. Drove it on the street in a 57 Chevrolet with the stock exhaust manifolds and stock dual exhaust. Of course this was back when you could get real gasoline at 103 octane.

 

Had that happen once, to a block that we'd put splayed bolt center caps in.

Pulled all three center mains right out, from the pan rail clean up to the cam bore.

Didn't go BOOM though, spun the #2 main and locked up before it could blow.

Actually managed to save the rotating ***embly from that engine, though the crank had to be welded, heat treated, straightened, and reground.

It was a high dollar piece (one of those lightweight Callies IIRC, something like 39 or 40 lbs, back before they were easy to come by), so it was worth the effort to save. Now a days, it probably wouldn't be worth the money, but at the time it was significantly cheaper to fix it rather than buy new.

I came within a hair's breadth of keeping that block to make a coffee table out of, but I didn't have any place to put it at the time, so it got s****ped.

Now I wish I'd have kept it.

 

hahaha - yeah right!! I take some, too...

 

Maybe the SBC is the wrong engine to run near 10 grand.I was making fun of the guy who said a FE Ford can rev to 10,000 rpm. Check out this discussion on the FE website.Some is Cammer engines ,some regular FE
http://www.network54.com/Forum/74182/thread/1231746156/%26quot%3BThe+Year+of+the+Cammer%26quot%3B+-+Bill+****+-+re-+%26quot%3BWaiting+on+Modern+Cammer%26quot%3B+by+Keith+C:

 

About 2 years ago I went to Brainard for the races(top Fuel) and my brother new a guy that was racing a mid 80's malibu, and he was using rebuilt Nascar motors- made like 750 hp, I think he was buying them for a bout 8K each, they were a couple of years old and prob not as competive anymore in Nascar. They def wern't very streetable.

 

How about 12 large,ya think so?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqYs2R4Ks1U&feature=related

 

Ha ha ha..."Hey Bada Bing I'lla take-a tena dem hey!"

 

This is true! A solid lifter cam and matching springs will make any small block Chevy spin seven five.

I had a tired 350 two bolt with factory dished pistons that I freshened up a bit (honed, black rings, new cam and main bearings, original rod bearings because they were a two thousands clearance). That thing lived in my '55 for two and a half years till the old camel humps got tired, then a fresh set of heads and put it in a car for a friend. Lot's of fun for very little cash.

P.S. My next toy is just a pile of parts right now but is all there; 1/8" over 283=301!

 

Without reading through all 5 pages.

You never mentioned longevity of the engine, Are you building it to gernade at a show?

Redline is a combination of things. Cam spec, Compression, cylinder head flow, valve springs, exhaust to name a few. Block strength plays into it as well.

Simply put, if you want to raise you redline, you gotta give the engine more fuel to keep the rpm's climbing. Usually at some point the valve springs float, and then it stops climbing or when they float a valve kisses a piston and then catastrophic failure occurs.

In short, you need a solid block, strong rods and crank, then a cam ground to the given RPM that you want to acheive, then the valve springs will match the cam, and the heads will have to also, then comes the fuel delivery system. If you are running a stick, then no biggy, but if you are runnin an automatic ****** , you will need a higher stahl torque converter. Usually when you build an engine for High RPM you will sacrifice low end power. Coverters match the cam.

The fuel system is critical also, If you run lean at High RPM then you will cause your pistons to expand in the cylinders, and then lock the engine up.

The biggest factor in High RPM engines is the aspiration, and engine is just a compressor. More in More out....

This is just a basic idea...

 

Build more power at lower RPMs, and install a transmission with more gears, over a wider range. I'd wager that would be more cost-effective.

 

Jeeze people ... simple things first ... cut a hole in the floor, just below the gas pedal ... (allows for more travel and ... higher revs) simple simple simple.

 

Isn't the easiest and cheapest way to just move that little red plastic tab on the Sun tach a little further clockwise?

 

Boy, I dont care what you say, That's a sickining feeling right there. Thats exactly what happens.

 

First thing you need is a trustworthy speedshop machinist. You need a forged steel small journal crankshaft, have it turned down .020" for both rods and mains. You need extra rod and main bearing clearance, maybe 0.003". Have your motor internally and externally balanced. My favorite combo is a 400 sbc that is 0.030" over, with a 327 crankshaft. This combo will spin good RPMs no problem. It's all about less stroke, bearing clearance, balanced internals. You could do this all with stock factory parts. The machine work is the only thing that will cost you and that isn't too expensive.

 

Yep! X100

 

Billy "Da Grump" Jenkins also wrote a great book on small blocks...

 

Is that anything like jacking up the radiator cap and throwing a new car under it???