Cranked it up 3 AM Saturday.

This is a brand new shortblock with an Eagle 3.75" 4340 crank, Eagle 5.7 H-beam rods w/ ARP 2000 bolts, SRP 31 cc dish pistons, zero decked (8.3/1), 4 bolt main conversion, etc.

It has AFR 210 heads that flowed 280 intake and 218 exhaust, a new Extreme 224/236 - 114 high lift cam with 1.6/1.52 Pro Magnum rockers for .605"/.593" lift, Hooker LT headers and Mufflex Y-pipe, T-trim with 6.66/2.75 pullies, and a Vortech Aftercooler. I mounted a 5 gallon fuel cell in the trunk for intercooler water. Fuel system is a 255 lph intank and a T-Rex external with 8-42#/hr SVO injectors and 3-55#/hr injectors in the Superfueler.

After the obligatory 2 mile break-in period, I gunned it and it feels strong. My butt-dyno says 130+ mph in the quarter. I checked the intercooler water temperature and it seems as though the 6 gallons of water in the system stabilize the temperature well.


Problems I encountered along the way:

1. Larger bolt heads on ARP L19 rod bolts caused bad interference with block and oil pan. Switched to ARP 2000 bolts.

2. Pistons interfered with crank counterweights. Had to grind all 8 to some extent.

3. Windage tray interferes with crank. Had to leave it out (the windage tray, not the crank).

4. #8 rod bolt still hit the oil pan. Had to clearance with a mandrel and a hammer.

5. Pro magnum poly locks interfere with valve covers. Had to massage with a hammer and mandrels.

6. AS&M headers interfered badly with BMR tubular cross member. Had to buy Hooker LT's.

7. Hooker LT's interfered with the floor pan. Had to replace stock trans crossmember and B&M TH350 adapter with BMR tubular trans crossmember to lower rear of the transmission and headers.

8. Mufflex Y-pipe interfered with trans crossmember, floor pan, and everything else imaginable. Had to hack it up with a saws-all and re-weld.

9. Piping for Vortech aftercooler didn't fit. Had to modify with a saws-all.

I'm sure there were more problems that I can't remember right now. Must be post-traumatic stress disorder.

A big thanks to Geoff at Thunder Racing for helping me set up the valve train, flowing the heads, and installing the engine.

I promise dyno numbers in the next couple of weeks.

Mike

 

Thats Awesome Mike....Congrats!

How much HP are you shooting for?


Thx.
Claude

 

Sounds like a sweet setup!

Quick question: why do you want more lift on the intake side?

 

I can relate to that

 

hahaha...........congrats on getting it running!

 

Thanks, everyone.

I've seen similar combinations making 630 - 660 rwhp, but I'd be pleased if I got over 600.


Two reasons:

1. I've seen bunches of NA dyno tests where lower exhaust lift improves low and mid-range with only a slight top-end loss. The theory is that this causes higher velocity at the end of the exhaust stroke to help pull a vacuum on the chamber, which, in turn, helps pull intake air in. I'm not 100% sure this is the case with forced induction, but I thought I'd give it a try.

2. My Comp 977 springs are rated for .600" max lift. A 1.6 exhaust rocker would reach .624".

Mike

 

Congrats on getting it running!


No 7in crank pulley?


I'm not completely sure, but isn't the t-rex inline rated lower than the 255 intank?

 

Thanks.

I couldn't fit the 7" pulley edgewise into my budget, especially after the unexpected $1000 for headers, y-pipe, O2 extensions. . .

The T-rex is rated at 190 lph. However, after combining the pump curves for a 190 and a 255 in series, I found that you get more flow everywhere except for very low fuel pressures. I could be wrong, but according to my calc's, it should only help.

Mike

 

COngrats

 

Nice setup you got there, cant wait to see some dyno numbers.

 

Hah, my neighbors loved it when I started my car w/o exhaust at 3PM. I don't even want to think what would've happened at 3AM.

Even though I wanted one, #3 is why I didn't run a windage tray. I'll have enough to worry about w/o parts smashing into each other.

 

Ever since starting it up, it has sounded like it had a miss. I wrote it off as the way the new headers sound.

Last night, I was re-tightening header bolts and discovered a plug wire touching a header tube and burnt half way through. I fixed the plug wire and secured it away from the header tube and WOW! For the last week, I've apparently been driving around on 7 cylinders and was happy with the power then. But NOW. . .

I'll probably dyno it this week.

As a side note, the 5 gallon aftercooler water tank in the trunk is working out very well. I can run the car through 2nd and 3rd gear at full throttle, get out, check the water temp with my hand and it's never more than mildly warm. My theory that a larger mass of water would heat up much slower is working out well.

If I put ice in the tank, will I need to install some sort of screen to keep the pump from drawing in chunks of ice?

Mike

 

Mike,
You might want to consider picking up a Scanmaster; you can monitor your intake temps real time, check if you're throwing a code, insure your O2 sensors and working properly, etc. I've got one and I fine it very useful.