Build off!!!

[Low84]

Long story short, my younger brother challenged me to a build off. Me being the eldest, I got too much pride to lose this. We have a race scheduled for sometime in May of '09. I got roughly a $4,500 budget a little more but everyone knows the little things add up. Anyway he just turned a 14.7 1/4 @96 last night with a tired, bolt on 305. I know he is swapping out to a 350 and adding a cam, I'm thinking he might dip into the high 13's at best......I just remembered he also has nitrous already installed although he's never used it. I know he has weight and aerodynamics on his side but I got you guys on mine.......shameless flattery LOL!

Anyway spent a little over 3hrs yesterday planning things out and was going with a basically stock internals 355, dart heads, blower cam from Summit, and a small Weiand 142 blower to be ran at 6psi. The engine alone was totaling $1700 so about twice that with the blower factored in.

Well, I received a call from a friend of mine, stating his friend is selling his 454 with a built transmission (he didn't know what it was, guessing a 400) off his 80's c10 for $1500. I heard the truck is somewhere in the 14's. It's very tempting but I know big blocks are A LOT more expensive than small blocks, and the fact that the big block is used concerns me.

What do STOCK or near stock, 454's run in the 1/4? If anybody has any suggestions be it on the blown 355, the 454, or any other combination you might have, please post up. I'm open to all ideas right now, as long as they have a carburetor in them.

[Low84]

I'm 'bout to go look at the 454 right now. Any tips to check if it's bad? I know removing the oil cap when running and if smoking usually means no deal.

Anything other than that?

[vern350]

what kind of vehicle is the brother building?

[Low84]

Originally Posted by vern350

what kind of vehicle is the brother building?

1992 Camaro RS. What I'm worried about is the nitrous and the fact that he's running 350 Vortec heads on a 305 so I'm sure the compression is going up when he swaps to a 350. I'll uploading the 1/4 mile pass right now, post up in a bit.

[vern350]

Those 3rd gens don't weight in as much as our trucks and their suspension is better. Looks like you got your work cut out. I'm sure you can pull it off.

[spudz]

you gonna get messed up if he is spraying...just saying... your best bet is to build a good bottom end and decent headed sbc.... install about a 150 plate system.. Some cal-tracs, posi and 410 gears and some drag radial or slicks and hang on....also with the weight of our trucks, as long as you got good traction, a good 3500 stall really launches these trucks.

[Low84]

Originally Posted by vern350

Those 3rd gens don't weight in as much as our trucks and their suspension is better. Looks like you got your work cut out. I'm sure you can pull it off.

Yup, and that's stock. The car has suspension upgrades atop the engine mods. Heres's the vid:

YouTube - 5.0 92 Camaro RS v. 5.3 ecsb Silverado

Luckily for me just went and looked at a possible engine swap candidate today. STOUT motor to say the least. 454 backed by a built and stalled 700 r4. Valve job, Edelbrock RPM Air Gap manifold, comp cam kit & rockers, mallory ignition, bored 30 over. Truck it's in right now (80's c10) hit a 13.1 this past Wednesday.

I also got challenged by a friend of mine against his 98 Doge Ram......not worried about that one though

[Low84]

Originally Posted by spudz

you gonna get messed up if he is spraying...just saying... your best bet is to build a good bottom end and decent headed sbc.... install about a 150 plate system.. Some cal-tracs, posi and 410 gears and some drag radial or slicks and hang on....also with the weight of our trucks, as long as you got good traction, a good 3500 stall really launches these trucks.

Yeah, we're real close and I know he's terrified of sparying. Thing is in the heat of the moment, I'm almost sure hes going to fill that bottle up just for me

I know what you mean, it's not as good as say the 99+ Silverados but the bite and weight transfer you can get on these trucks when set up right is pretty impressive. I'm hoping a better reaction time and hopefully slightly better 60ft will be enough to go against his top end. 4.10 gears I wanted to stay away from, I was hoping I could get away with 3.73s anything is better than the 2.xx gears I got on right now.

[spudz]

Originally Posted by Low84

Yeah, we're real close and I know he's terrified of sparying. Thing is in the heat of the moment, I'm almost sure hes going to fill that bottle up just for me

I know what you mean, it's not as good as say the 99+ Silverados but the bite and weight transfer you can get on these trucks when set up right is pretty impressive. I'm hoping a better reaction time and hopefully slightly better 60ft will be enough to go against his top end. 4.10 gears I wanted to stay away from, I was hoping I could get away with 3.73s anything is better than the 2.xx gears I got on right now.

373 will work fine too.

[Richard D]

What compression is the 454? You can possibly still run the blower, I think they make a manifold to put it on a big block.

[Pyrotechnic]

No replacement for displacement ! The 454 is the clear choice, especially with the weight disadvantage against a small car.

With a 28" tall tire, 3.42 or 3.73 gear will work well. It just depends what the powerband of the motor is like. Also, consider getting a high stall torque converter, somewhere in the 2000-2500 range.

Cal Trac bars are the best tractions solution for these trucks, but cost around $370. If you are on a tighter bugdet, your typical $99 slapper bars are better than nothing and will help to control spring wrap.

If you really wanna blow his doors off, I'd consider dropping the big block into an S10.

[Low84]

Originally Posted by Richard D

What compression is the 454? You can possibly still run the blower, I think they make a manifold to put it on a big block.

9:1 I was thinking of it, but I would prefer something in the 8.x range. Looking at prices for big block heads and they're up there!!! I think the engine by itself will be enough.

[Low84]

Originally Posted by Pyrotechnic

No replacement for displacement ! The 454 is the clear choice, especially with the weight disadvantage against a small car.

With a 28" tall tire, 3.42 or 3.73 gear will work well. It just depends what the powerband of the motor is like. Also, consider getting a high stall torque converter, somewhere in the 2000-2500 range.

Cal Trac bars are the best tractions solution for these trucks, but cost around $370. If you are on a tighter bugdet, your typical $99 slapper bars are better than nothing and will help to control spring wrap.

If you really wanna blow his doors off, I'd consider dropping the big block into an S10.

The trans does have a 3200 stall if I remember correctly. He said the motor was made to redline at 6000 rpm......I'm not too familiar with big blocks but that sounds pretty high doesn't it?

My biggest concern right now it the rear end holding up and traction.

Suburbans from similar years had posi 12 bolt differentials correct? That might be the cheapest way out.