Went to the Pure stock race in Sept. Best I got was a 13.55@99.9. Weather was not good on Friday and the pressure dropped even more on Sat where the I lost another .18 and 1.5 mph. Strong head wind. If theres no rain this Sunday we're doing a test and tune at Stanton.
Running pretty strong Steve. I saw where you were up against a 455 and was pretty much neck-neck with it. All hail the mighty 350! The differences at that event were so close you may have won had you ate a lighter breakfast. lol
haha, nope, I missed that part. Just a good guess? With timeslips so close, some of them couldn't possibly be attributed to the car itself, but circumstantial factors such as the one you described, along with reaction times, head winds, etc. etc. Still fun though I suppose. At the end of the day, you know you have a good car and is fun to drive no matter what.
Well, got to play with the car a little at the FAST race last weekend. One thing I've been wanting to test did get done. I've been wanting to remove the power steering to see what could be gained by not only the 27lbs of weight removed but also the HP loss of running the pump. I made the swap in 30 minutes at the track so there comparison was as apples to apples as it could be. The change was worth .1 seconds and 1.25 mph. I like the way it drives without it also. But probably put it back on for the street. The weather was not as good as last years race. Pressure was only 30.09, humidity was up at 55%. 74 degrees. Did manage a new best of 13.34 at 100.18.
Congratulations Steve. I always enjoy reading your updates. You said something about testing some headers on that car...are those plans still in effect?
Nice gain Steve! If you want to go without power steering on the street an manual steering box would make turning the steering wheel a bit easier than just disconnecting the and removing the pump(you probably know that, just wanted people reading to also know). Or are you saying that you in fact swapped to a Saginaw manual steering box when you removed the pump at the track? Just removing the P/S belt when the Impala had the 283 2bbl in it I gained IIRC .2 and around 2 mph, the less power an engine has the bigger the difference I believe this makes. With the 383 it wasn't even worth taking the time to remove the belt for the small gain it gave me! IIRC around .02 gain. Its nice to break that 100 mph threshold, and OH so close to the 12s! You think there is some more tuning in it to get there? And when do you want to meet at Dave's? Let me know when you absolutely need those cutouts and I will get them to you even if you can't make it to Dave's shop. It may be at midnight when I can drop them off so don't shoot me if it is, I'll text if it is just in case though. Been so busy with family drama lately, I haven't had time to even think about the important(to me) things in life! If and or when you want them back I will make it a point to get them to you in a day or 2 from when you say you're ready for them. I have to make sure Dave is around so I can get them though is why it may take more than a day. Let me know. Good job on the numbers Steve! Derek
I swapped for a manual box. Took the pump and power box off together, never disconnecting the hoses. Zero fluid loss. Was actually pretty easy. Headers are not an option for me so no plans to try them. I am working on a new carb I hope to improve on the 60 foot times. Was getting 1.95-1.97 last week end. Just give me a call when you have plans to go to Daves. I never know from hour to hour what I'm doing anymore. All our daily drivers seem to break down every week so I'm always rolling around under one car or the other.
So much great info in this thread. I have some questions about this quote (see pg. 3) which dates back a ways: I have a set of '72-'80 heads that I’d like to do some mild porting on this year for use on my '72 GS 350. I’m considering a cam swap (TA-212 or other, suggestions?) with an end goal to wake up my motor for street use/fun. I’m not planning to do any more invasive mods since I need to control cost. I may install headers down the road if I can get my hands on a decent used set or free up more funds. Questions: With TA-212, mild head porting and headers (later) do I need to raise compression? To my knowledge this 35k original miles SBB hasn’t been rebuilt, so has stock cyl. bore sizes and deck height. Any good instructions/advice on here about how to (or how not to) port my heads to achieve what I’m hoping to?
Somewhere in this Forum is an article on head porting of Buick 350 heads. It was published in Musclecar Enthusiast Magazine a long time ago. It had pictures and instructions. I can't find it, mostly because all the links to the old board don't work anymore. http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/head-porting-101-in-current-magazine.94517/#post-728096
Thanks! I asked the Google and found: http://billiehall.com/jefferson/articals/musclecaren/march06/musclecarenmarch06.pdf Will also digest the write-up on DCR you posted above. Appreciate it!
Rygelca, concerning porting and the various comments or threads... The comments are easy to take out of context, even when truthful. The articles and various flow sheets shown have been subject to some scrutiny regarding accuracy and more importantly, there aren't velocity numbers shared from head porters. You would have a tough time going by CFM #'s alone unless you have the ability to calculator out BS. It would be tough to hog out the heads enough to kill off velocity unless it was carelessly and randomly. The act of porting, with velocity probing along the way, will show that much of what's done actually increases air speeds at all lifts and evens out the dead-ish areas of the ports. Until one carves out some serious iron, there's not enough area being increased to hurt anything. What can be a problem is enlarging portions out of 'order'. Traditionally it's safe to work around the valve job and bowl first, then back towards the intake. It's just as easy to begin by calculating the restrictive areas when you know you will supercede those immediately.
I might have misunderstood Derek's question so I'll answer it both ways I took it. Plans? Nothing planned as far as changes to the car, but if I think of something then who knows. Do plan on going to the Dick Miller race if the weather cooperates. Maybe FAST in June. Pure Stock in the fall.
