That's because unless you are running a stock eliminator 9" drag slick, a 10" slick is usually 26" dia. Once you get to 28" or so, they go to 12.5" and bigger.

My argument is based on experience. I don't know how much drag racing you do, or how much time you spend at the track studying engine combos and watching their performance, but I spend a considerable amount of time each year racing my car.

The fact of the matter is you seem to think because the ZZ502 is advertised at 502HP that this alone is enough to get a 10.90, but in a *typical stock weight* Camaro, it is not. I am beginning to think you don't full understand just how difficult it really is to run that quick.

I already explained clearly, why the ZZ502 will not work with the combo you posted, mostly do to your choice of a 4.56 rear gear. You have neither taken into consideration the redline of this engine - 5800 RPM according to my GMPP catalogue - nor the fact it has hydraulic roller lifters which severely limit RPM in the big block application; even more so than with a small block. By the time you hit around the 1000' mark at the track, this engine would be *done* RPM-wise with a 4.56 gear and that 26x10" slick. Even with a 28" dia. tire it would still be RPM limited well before the car went thorugh the traps.

You are comparing an apple to an orange.

The DZ302 in the 1967-69 Z-28 was designed from the get-go for Trans Am racing back in the day. Because of cubic inch limitations GM was limited to 303ci maximum. The 302 is basically a 327 block with a 283 crank. It would rev to the moon with the short-stroke and big 254/254 @ 0.050" solid cam it came with. It also had #492 heads with screw-in studs, guideplates, 2.02/1.60 valves, high-rise Winter's dual plane intake (which Holley copied and still sells to this day as the Street Dominator 300-36), 780 Holley and 4-speed transmission. The M-22 Muncie ('rock crusher') was actually a rarity in those cars even back then. They mostly came with the M-21 close-ratio box. You could wind a stock 302 well over 7000 RPM in stock form - more likely 7500 was the norm if not higher. You simply cannot compare a high-winding small block with a low-RPM big block, and use the same rear gear and tire combo for both. The effective powerbands are completely different as is their intended application.

I know exactly what you are talking about, I am trying to point out to you as politely as I can, that you have not taken several crucial elements into consideration.

If you have very little or no drag racing experience, then you can be forgiven for failing to understand how important it is to match the engines' effective RPM limit with the rear gearing/tire combo, so as you neither run out of gear or engine at the top-end, and also to take maximum advantage of the RPM range you do have.

In sum - a 4.56 gear and 5800 RPM redline simply won't work on a 1/4 mile track. If you really want to test that theorem, take a bone-stock 350 with factory flat-tappet cam and run it down the track with a 4.56 gear and see what happens.

 

Actually the Trans Am limit was 5.0 liters or 305 cid. Most Trans Am Z28 motors were bored over 0.015 to maximize displacement. Incidentally only the 1969 motors are DZ's. 1967 motors were MO or MP (with A.I.R.) while 1968 motors were MO (the DZ came out in late 1968, so there may have been some DZ 68's however to date I don't believe any ahve been documented). The 1967-8's also started with a small journal block.

Seriously though, if a low buck 500HP engine is what you're looking for, the Car Craft article is a good read. They built the sbc up for about $3500 complete.

 

how about an ls1? lol

 

Dirt, I understand completely that you thoroughly believe in the correctness of your position and that you feel you have supported it well.

I would therefore suggest that should you ever find yourself owning the engine/car combination that we have been discussing that you please give me a call so I can take it off your hands.

 

Dirt is right on fellas. If you dont believe him just check my car. I started out with a 502 and ran into the vavle float problems mentioned and that was on a 28 inch tire not a 26. It is all about the math. I ran 10.90 with a 28 inch tire and a 4:11 gear, 125mph. 1.57 - 60'. That was not with the stock 502 but with a 502 with 12.1 pistons, a bigger solid roller cam and a super victor intake, a dominator, and Canfield heads that flow to the max. It's a heavy car at 3450 lbs. Now if the car weighed 1000 pounds less I would get it into the 9's but at some point you really have to step back and figure out what you want to do with the car.