Bullshit. Hqs have more room, and I had 275/60 15 Hoosiers stuffed under the back of my XY.
Bullshit. Hqs have more room, and I had 275/60 15 Hoosiers stuffed under the back of my XY.
"Where can we get hold of a Vincent Black Shadow?" "Whats that?" "A fantastic bike," I said. "The new model is something like two thousand cubic inches, developing two hundred brake-horsepower at four thousand revolutions per minute on a magnesium frame with two styrofoam seats and a total curb weight of exactly two hundred pounds."
Don't think I'd be interested in this one to be honest, sounds like it'd be another one of those 'build it & then have to look after it for the next 10 years' type jobs.
I don't have time to look after another race engine, going away from that stuff, soaks up too much time & having to be on call for advise etc is wearing.
You want a bigger shop (I'm just 1 guy) that has the time to look after it for you - the build you're looking at will need real regular tear downs to check lifters, springs, bearings, rockers etc etc. Probably every 1/2 a dozen race meets. Not doing regular maitenece tear downs will be what costs you the engine, a failed roller lifter or rocker needle roller bearing can make a big mess & the loads on them things mean they don't last that long.
Low tension rings & dry sump works great, but you will need to feed it rings pretty regular.
Have a think about it - if you can't afford to loose the engine can you afford to maintain it?
If not then you can still use a lot of your parts, but tone it down a bit - you are not going to be able to use what the motor could but out when set on kill anyway, not on a circuit.
You are also not going to be able to use if for circuit & drag - you cannot set up a car to use an engine like that for both, it's one or the other.
I do have a flow bench, but it's in bits & has been for a while, I borrow a mates SF600 with Audie flow tech for now, but have recently aquired a performance trends black box & software to go with it & have started thinking about screwing my bench back together again & converting to full digital setup with automotic depression control etc - but it's still a few months off.
For engine dyno work I use either EAD or Peter Michaels - no way in hell could I justify my own engine dyno, plus I can't tune for shit, I just build.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand, I won't build the engine, sounds like way too much of a headfuck for a 1 man show, I'm happy to do the heads & intake, but that's it.
To build the engine I'd recommend Rhemac's - top notch work & a big enough operation that they could maintain it without giving up sleep & family time.
But, seeing that it'll want regular tear downs by the guys that built it I'd think a Vic builder would be more convenient for you - running it over the border all the time would get old quick.
Listen hard to this bit - you don't want a drag engine builder, you want a circuit engine builder, they are much harder to find.
Building an engine is all well & good, but you have to think about the application & the implications of how you are building it in terms of actually using it - no good building a monster if you can't afford to maintain it or don't have the time to dedicate to it, most guys that run top of the line type engines are either very wealthy & pay someone to look after it, or they are only moderately wealthy & dedicate their whole life to racing. The latter are often divorced.
Edit - LOL, speaking of being on call for advise, while I was typing this I was talking to a customer in darwin about gear ratios for his speedway car, he's peaking at 6100rpm at the end of the straight, needs to get it up to 6400-6500 to have the engine in the sweet spot out of the corners.
I need less time spent on this sort of shit.
Last edited by TK; 06-06-11 at 10:02 AM.
If I may I'll add - I think you've picked the wrong engine for the application, you may have been much better served with a SBC rather than a BBC, staying under 6L opens up a lot of racing options, as it is there is pretty much no class that will let you run.
A high winding 372 chev would be a lot easier to drive, you would actually be able to use full throttle rather than learning to feather the throttle 95% of the time - that makes for a very hard to drive car.
With a small block you could run Group N, supers etc etc - good competitive classes with decent fields.
Now, if you wanted a small block circuit engine then yeah, I wouldn't mind building that, done enough SB race stuff that I could build something that'd last & be competitive no probs.
Big block I think you're asking for trouble, it'll be slow simply because it'll be too damn hard to drive & even if you can drive it there will be no-where to race it.
On the tyre question there is nothing suitable to use on a standard wheel housing HQ that will go anywhere near coping with such overpowering.
The biggest readily available slicks are from Michelin, Dunlop and Pirelli at 310/710/18 which is the GT3 size these; need 12" and up wheel widths.
There is also the 325/710/16 Dunlop Sports Sedan tyre which is possibly the most suitable but will require extensive wheel housing work and 12"s to fit.
Steve Coad's well known orange HQ Tarmac Rally Monaro has a 400 odd CI SBC in it and is a handful. When I did the rear end for that rules and space limitations meant it had to use 16" wheels with a 265 section 'R' Spec tyre which is nowhere near enough for tarmace rallying let alone circuit work.
Sceptic.
brb, going to flick through old magazines to figure out who momus is![]()
Sounds like a fun sort of project but do you know how hard it is to drive a car up a hillclimb or around a track in a sprint with tyres that light up? Very. Last sprint I did in May and the track was wet for first two runs, so my 347 Ford running 275 R comp back tyres suddenly was too much motor. Motor comes on cam in 3rd gear and back snaps sideways. Gets a bit old rather quickly...and your times are rubbish as a rule when it happens. Laying down nice black lines exiting corners is fun and quick, but beyond that, not so good.
And don't stress about breaking the motor. Not a matter of if, but when!
Thanks for the advice TK , you are a legend and a straight shooter. I appreciate where you are coming from mate. I got the same story this morning from a shop in moe victoria. he told me practically the same thing. They are big enough to take me on and from what i heard they are reputable and good at what they do and only 50 minutes from where i live. So i will take it there. Hopefully i will get looked after. I will have to just drive it on the street and drag race it . once again thanks for your pro advice ...
Thanks Momus . awesome info and it will help me choose the right tyre and wheel combo straight up. Now i can't wait to get this thing on the road. Car is at panel beaters right now and he will be getting a rocket up his a*s as he is taking way too long ... thanks once again cheers andre
Pussy.
Ha Ha Ha . it is set up for na . way too much comp for turbos or blower. Not enough $ to start changing engine combo now. Maybe later when the carbon tax $ start flowing back to us . lol
Blowers will be banned as of next february according to vic roads. No blowers allowed on cars apparently even hot rods will only be allowed 400 hp or they will be off the road.
Cool, no roundy roundy & 540 cubes makes much more sense!
Just a quick word tho - ditch those tit valves & retainers, on the street (or anything that'll see some miles) they are a big liability, they just don't last long.
Best left for guys that NEED the lighter weight in order to be able to control a rather extreme cam (think inverted flank roller), stuff like 410 sprinters & pro stock etc need that gear, everyone else is far better served with high quality steel - look at the ferrea comp plus valves, they'll cop a beating & shrug it off & will last 10x longer than tit valves.
Think about E85 for fuel as well - all the fun of an alcohol base fuel, available on pump or for the better stuff in a drum, pretty dang cheap for a fuel with so much potential.
On E85 you'd have to be looking north of 800hp with those heads & a decent build, maybe a decent whack more if you don't mind turning it hard.
No probs TK will discuss it with builder in the morning, he tried to explain the pitfalls of titanium valves as well. Just these suckers look so good and weigh absolutely nothing. I asked him about E85 and he said it good for hp but will increase valve seat recession wear. he does v8 supercar work and has seen an increased percentage in wear. something about washing the valves ? is this right?
800hp sounds awesome and i am sure the gear will handle it. just not talking myself into it and then get dissapointed with less power.
sounds like moe engines/Brian Cassar?
Last edited by greenhj; 06-06-11 at 09:32 PM.
E85 does wash a little, a bit like meth, but no-where near as bad.
It just means that when it's due for rings & bearings you touch up the seats & give the valves a lick at the same time.
IMO well worth the small amount of extra wear for the benefit of a big jump in torque & a decent jump in peak HP.
I'll be doing some back to back testing of E85 on Jason's 365 cube holden circuit engine once hes finished putting humpty dumpty back together again.
To start with we'll head for the dyno with the existing pump 98 carb & tune - the fuel system will be set up to work with E85. We'll run it up, then drain the tank, fill it with E85 & switch to a quickfuel E85 carb, no other changes, then run it up again & report on the results.
Down the track we'll bump the comp up to better suit E85 (it's at 11.2:1 now for pump fuel) & run it up again.
Should be an interesting excersise - I'm predicting at least 20-30hp & 30-40 ft/lbs gain straight up without bumping the comp, more when we give it 13:1.
sorry to be a pain tk
will the rings wear very quickly ? thanx
You should have found an engine builder BEFORE buying all the parts.
It's unlikely you will find a builder who will agree entirely with your parts selection and be happy to assemble it as is. If you want someone to build it, tell them what outcome you want, and let THEM select the parts required..
Quickfuel is just a carb brand - they make some nice tarted up holleys.
Rings won't wear a noticable amount faster - plenty of circuit guys use E85 now that it is a sanctioned fuel, not seeing any noticable decrease in time between freshens.
Big power/torque gains, cooler running & a very forgiving fuel - you'll be hard pressed to get it to ping unless you do something stupid, much wider tuning window than petrol type fuels, not as wide as meth, but still a much bigger tuning target to hit.
If you can't afford to blow it/crash it/fuck it, you can't afford to race it.
Boycott temporary street circuits and support permanent racetracks for club level motorsport and driver training.
Why not circuit race it? will defiantly please the crowd.
Like that turbo mustang up in QLD, spins the wheels carries on but what a thing to watch.
Run it in Super TT.
Last edited by profi; 13-06-11 at 01:39 PM.
Profi