Event Coverage Official 2016 Meltdown Drags Thread - What are you doing to get ready?

The MAJOR forces occur not during the ups and downs of the pistons.. it's the SUDDEN STOP at the top of the stroke when all the piston mass has to stop and almost instantaneously it gets reversed and yanked back down the holes. Like always it's the sudden stops that will kill ya.

And I will bet that Panneton Bros. Racing has a fancy dancy computer program that can calculate just how massive the force is involved with the piston mass stopping and starting over and over at those speeds. My best guess is it's a*****load

But then we get into the mass above the piston wrist pin vs below and what happens at the top of the stroke vs the bottom. and all that technical*****.

And if your numbers for the 289 impressed you try thinking Formula One engines winding to 18,000-20-000 rpm for hours at a time with their tiny light weight pistons now those piston speeds will blow your mind.

 

Got a different cam but no real science went into it. It has 112 lobe separation the old one is 108. The duration is now 280 @ 050 where the old one was 270. If I can get Johnny interested in a dyno run this winter we might try a pull on each cam. Because of the piston clearance issues on the first engine, the cam was installed straight up - no advance - trying to keep from hitting the piston. The new setup might be able to take some advance or retard, but without a dyno its hard to say which is better.

 

Just for starters you could try adjusting the cam timing to get your best cranking compression.

 

Never thought of that but it makes sense!

 

Cam advanced, gives the best pumping pressure.

 

Been looking at deeper gears, ( the rear end is apart yet to brace )

Pulled out the cam card ( after reading your post ) and noticed it 4 degrees advanced.

Any one know about to estimate how much lower the upper r.p.m. limit becomes when advanced?

Looked up cam specs, actual limits for this 111123-10 s cam straight up is 4400-8400
Dont want to go there, my heads and valve train wont support that kind of r.p.m.

With 4.56 gears with 29.5 tall slicks been shifting @ 6900 and going out the big end @ 6300.

Been looking @ 5.14 gears to go out the big end @ 7300 ?

Any Ideas ?

 

Was the cam ground with the intake CL at 106', or is it installed at 106'? If your engine is a 434, and doesn't have any more intake port flow than 300-320cfm, its never gonna make power past 6800-7000 rpm any way. Once the chain slacks a little its gonna retard a couple degrees anyway, so if you have enough piston to valve clearance on the intake valve (every 2 degrees you advance it, you loose .008-.010 of intake valve to piston clearance) I'd run it 6' Adv. (104 int. CL) to 8' Adv (102 int. CL). It'll just be that much stouter in the bottom and mid range where that combo wants to run. With a small rear tire, I don't see that one wanting more than a 4.56 gear.

 

PS. Tickety, my guess is that Howard has a relatively lazy lobe rate, so you could*****e up the opening speed, with more intake rocker ratio, as long as you have enough piston to valve clearance.

 

For the F/HR Wagon ......replace the Chevy P Case Style Rear with an Olds Rear Housing, replace the Saginaw "vega" trans, new street / strip clutch, McLeod Bell housing, racing driveshaft and yokes, and then some good headers. Then I can think about traction and leaving harder.

Thames will sit for now......

 

Ummmm.....Ric,this is really awkward,but,in the interest of "Political Correctness" we like to refer to Norb's motor as a "327+107",not that big,scary number you were using.

We can't be causing a panic in the staging lanes,now can we...?

Now I can get back to working on my "289"...[emoji6]

Scott

 

Thanks Ric

You just saved me $300.00 gear money, maybe I should be cam shopping for a better package.

 

Nothing to see here Scott ( just a miss print ) what he really meant to say is that cam is to big for my 327.

 

Gotcha!

I think it had something to do with the different time zones?

A 327 on the west coast is an hour and seven minutes behind the Norb Central time zone...?[emoji6] lol

Scott

 

..,Errr umm, ya, 334, uh ya, uh 334, that's right.., YEP, good ole 334 she is, for sure.

 

Alot of people really miss the boat on cam timing verses stroke, and piston acceleration. Its easy to get "small block Chevy" on the brain, and forget you have a 4.000 stroke, same as a 454 big block, with nearly the same rod length, and upwards of 1 to 2.5 ratios less of rocker arm. The worst part is, your cylinder wall lengths is about .750 or so less than the big block, so there's way more piston hanging out of the cylinder wall at bottom dead center, and piston rock/ring seal are much more aggravated, and harder to control, although I will admit, we have a very good handle on that @ CP Pistons. This piston issue, and the cam deal have left many a 434 small block owner, wondering way the performance of their big stroke small blocks, isn't any better than a good 355-410" engine.

 

PS. The other problem with 4.00 stroke small block chevys (unless you have a Dart Iron Eagle, with a raised cam tunnel, you have to run about a .100 smaller cam base circle to clear the connecting rod swing. I call .850 base circle SBC cams.., "Torsion Bars". The trend is going to bigger, and bigger base circles, for torsional strength, and much more cam tuning, abilities, while being gentler to the valve train. The small base circle deal is just going backwards.
Tickety, if you want to try something different in the cam dept., call Scott Brown @ Competition Components (517)719-5935. Tell him Ric Panneton sent you.

 

Ohh Yaaa You are East of our Eastern time zone. LOL

That would make you far right. ( nothing wrong with that )

 

Got engine back together, we shall see how well it holds together this year.
Who is stopping by to help me drop it in ?

 

When you doing that
Chris Nathan and I need to get out

 

I would love to give you a hand dropping that gigantor Mopar Motor in there,but I'm in the wrong time zone...lol
Glad to hear it's back together and ready to make some noise!

Did you add a bunch of cam,and a couple points more compression?
You might end up wishin you did after the Shaker gets done with ya![emoji16]

Were you gonna put more gear in it or something too?I have a hard time keeping everybody's combo straight....I just know yours scares me,and I'm coming loaded for bear this year!lol!

 

PM your address and when and what kind of Beer.

Got to use gloves ( that mopar stuff might give me a rash ) LOL

 

So I got the less-than-perfect crank and rods out of the block,pistons pulled off the rods,everything boxed and ready to go.
I just need to double check that everything to****emble it is there,then I can drop it off to the guy who's going to step in where my limited expertise may get me in trouble.lol!
He's going to do the bulk of the****embly for me,since I'm real nervous about getting all the dimensions right on the money with the pushrod length,and these Crower shaft rockers.
Once it's together,he's going to dyno it as well,so we're right in the ball park on timing and jetting when we drop it in the car.
I'm so stressed out about this thing....Its kinda taking the fun outta this for me right now.

Once it's together and in the car I will finally be able to calm down.[emoji53]

Scott

 

Do you think that once you get that Dyno sheet in your hands, your going to calm down.

I Dont think so You ll be Ford Farten all over the place

 

He's gonna be on the Wallace ET/MPH calculator, figuring out who he's gonna give a beat'n at this years Meltdowns! Hey MoonFrog , if your listening, you better stay home this year, unless you have a line on a couple of Jato rockets!

 

I don't care what the numbers say so much,I just want it to start when I turn the key,go when I press the pedal,and hold together until I'm bored with it! lol

Scott

 

And I've already been all over that calculator like stink on a monkey Ric.....And I have nowhere near the suspension and tire I would need to run et's like its claiming.
Mph maybe,but not et.

 

You better buy a case of depends buddy, cause even if it struggles in the hook dept, your gonna be smooch'n the rear speaker grills when Big Momma HP gets her feet under that pony

 

The numbers the calculator threw back at me were pretty scary.I thought the calculator was screwed up at first....lol

 

Don't break it on the dyno oops I meant don't break the dyno.

 

There's nothing in this motor that's going to fail.
The only thing that will fail is the driver...lol

I just want to do something with no compromises,no cut corners,and 100% peace of mind for once.

It's going to be nice for a change,instead of wondering if part of the crank is going bulge my hood out....lol

Scott