Billy Godbold comp cams engineer, as I have heard he is one of the best in the business and great all around guy.
The idea that a pushrod valve train is stable to 11000+ with the Spintron is cool but where is the video of the actual engine going 11000+? They mention a video of the actual engine on Horsepower Research but I couldn't find it with a quick search on their site. I found this but no numbers:
Many of the Honda Vtec 1.6 and 2.0 can reach 11.000 rpm and above, with the only mod being a stiffer oilpan.. There's alot of videos of other Honda's etc..
In 1960, the Push Rods Auto Club (I'm still a member) had a B/MR powered by a much-modified 364 Nailhead with an Iskenderian ultra-rev kit, wound to 10,500 and stayed together. Sorry, but 500 RPM more 60 years later does not impress me.
"The 358 cubic-inch engine will be warmed up before making the pull. Strader mentions that while the engine will probably make peak power around the 9,000 rpm range, he intends to start the pull at 9,000 rpm and take it to 11,300. After the mill is warmed up, Strader opens up the beast, and the sound from this engine is nothing short of glorious as it zings past 11,000 rpm. After the pull, Strader frantically fumbles around on his computer, trying to display the exact rpm the engine reached. The final number for the 358 cubic-inch LS was a monstrous 11,230 rpm. The LS made an impressive 921 horsepower and 545 lb-ft of torque but we wern’t sure at what rpm. We reached out to Strader who said, “It made peak power at 9300 rpm with peak torque around 8000-8200 rpm. We knew it only had enough cylinder head to go 9300-9500 with this engine displacement but the main goal was valvetrain stability so we just focused on that instead.”
The Buick Stage II V6 Indy engines would run at 12-12500 for hours, as would the Ilmor Mercedes Indy engines. Granted, not stock production engines, but they were still pushrod equipped.
No matter the accomplishments of the past, any 11,000 rpm pushrod engine is fully impressive. Think about how high most V8s rev then double it. The forces inside that engine are astronomical, and the piston speed achieved is hard to imagine.
And funny enough they were using roller rockers much like our Buick ones. I would love to see the pushrods they used. I would think there was a lot of titanium in the top end.
