Yeah... it's a interesting contest considering that you hav very low RPM per sec acceleration rates AND no acceleration forces acting on the carb and oil.

How many people do you know that run all the oil down the front of their motor?

If you make it a parts budget of $7500 then I can see that, but what do you base that on. The motor as it appears at the contest? How about the other parts you tried and didn't bring.

You gotta have porting too. No reason to do this without head porting, all this relocating of the spark plugs and chamber welding has got to go though.

Bret

 

Just issue a 350 holley to everyone as they walk in the door and then we will seperate the men from the boys!!!

 

It would be really interesting if they ran through catalytic converters. They would almost be close to what people actually use/buy for the street, since that is what kind of engine this basically is anyway.

 

If it's me I'm not putting cats behind a $20K motor, i'll make interchangeable off road pipes for when I drive it and cats for inspection. Assuming that you have a car that needs cats. ;-)

Bret

 

I recognize that cats are a restriction, but since with so many cars it is a neccesary evil it would be interesting to see how much power can be made with them in place. It might even advance the technology to where the cats become less of a restriction.

 

I'm not sure cats ARE a restirction anymore. Not in any meaningful sense.

I just did a quick web search on Random, a name I'm familiar with; in order to come up with some info.

Their High Flow Catalytic Converter for 3.8L Engines has a 3 inch inlet, 2-1/2 inch outlet and flows 438 cfm at 28 inches of water.

Here's a cut/paste from Random's website:

True, that's less than 500hp, but I'm only trying to make the point that Cats aren't what they used to be.

 

There's no way to regulate money out of a contest. The more you try to regulate it out the more it becomes about getting around regulations.

About the only system I've ever seen that comes close is a "claimer" system like in some racing classes. Although I'm not sure how you'd do that in a contest like this without ending up with some REALLY ticked off builders, or many refusing to participate as their competitors could buy the winning engine (essentially buying the winning builder's trade secrets) for pennies on the dollar at the end of the contest.

It's still an interesting challenge and worth the read on the newsstand as long as you realize that the average weekend hotrodder can NOT build a motor like this himself. And even if he did it probably wouldn't last long under the hood of his car. Like all motorsports contests the engines are PURPOSE BUILT for the contest they are to compete in and may not be well suited for your average street/strip weekend fun car.

 

That's the key.... you make a competitive forum for doing anything and people will purpose build something for it.

Bret

 

I just have to bring this post up from the dead because I RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1