I checked on this for ya..it made that number through the 12 bolt/4.56 gears/5000 stall and on the 29.5" slicks. I will see if I can find what Ben made on the 10 bolt and nittos.

 

talk about putting the power to the pavement!!! Thats very impressive. I think people should be a little more appreciative of the things you can learn from people like Ben. I remember when it used to be cool to run the quickest you can with the least amount of horsepower but now days it seems its better to have gobs of horsepower and run 11's or just have a dyno sheet to race with.

 

here is how i look at it.
A street car is anything that can be driven in or on the street perioud.
A daily driver is something you drive everyday
A drag car is something that has to be towed to the strip because youl get pulled over before you get there.

Personally i think its all on the user. One person thinks a car that doesnt pass smog is not a street car. Then there are others like myself that think if u can drive it on the street its a street car. I mean literally just drive it on the street lol. Ive seen LARGE cams drive on the street just fine. Most people just dont like it lol.

 

I've never raced in a class where tube frame chassis were legal nor is it likely I ever will. Ever heard of the SCCA or NASA? Racing of production based cars is quite popular at all levels.
With all the joy I've gotten over the years running circles around cars with tons more HP than me I'd say my setup is doing just fine, thank you. But no, my car isn't a stripper. Except for seats it has a completely full interior, AC, CD player, etc. I haven't weighed it but it's nowhere near "racecar weight."
That's what I'm doing. The car will stay streetable for quite a while at least. Maybe forever.
I don't have monster HP yet (soon though) and never said I did. As mentioned, my favored forms of racing involve turning and braking as well as accelerating. So what do you want to see? The suspension, brakes, engine, etc? How well I've been able to do with my prior modest HP in a heavy street car makes me quite anxious to see how I'll do with "monster HP" as I continue to improve the rest of my setup. But even then, I know how much that "streetable weight" is and will be slowing me down.

The difference is I don't wear it as a badge of honor. If somebody strips his car to where it weighs 500 lbs less than me and beats me around the racetrack even with less HP and a worse suspension, I don't put him down for it. I give credit where credit is due--he beat me. And that's all that matters when you're at the track.

 

BTW Jon things are moving along... the crank is down to 46lbs territory.

mgray.... if you want to start bench racing, I wouldn't pick on Jon, I happen to know he has one nasty 355.

Bret

 

I don't get all the fuss?? it's a race car, that's what they are, light and fast.

 

Yea ...

The guy never claimed it was street driven. I think its awesome what he did with it. I mean dont get me wrong, I wouldnt do it with my car. But I dont want to make it a race car. I want to build a nicely powered, street car with most options still on it.

Thats not to say I think what he did sucks though. Its pretty damn awesome to run 9's on a 456 RWHP car.

And to the guy who said he would rather have a 1K hp turbo car that does it ... Why? Its one thing to say you would rather have all the options AC etc, but I know I sure as hell would rather run 9's on a 500HP motor than on a 1000HP motor. The less power your making, the easier it is on the engine, tranny, driveline, chassis.

Thats why I dont get the whole Honda "I make more HP per liter than you" arguement sometimes ... Yea you might make more HP per liter, but your doing more work = more energy = more strain per liter as well.

 

I was pretty impressed with the ear incident lol ...

That makes more sense though ... I get what your saying.

 

This car isn't making only 450 rwhp...don't look at the dyno numbers on this car. It was dynoed the same way its run. On slicks and the big converter. On a stock rear and Nittos (which he ran for a LONG time..in the mid 10s by the way...and it may have been on a 4l60e) still through a loose converter it made hp in the high 400 with torque about the same I think. Those slicks/converter really eat up the dyno numbers.


How many other all motor 9 sec lt1s do you know.....I can count them on one hand. Joe O, Mindgame(you will like this one...3600+ lb car and a 6 speed..or course it has converted 18 deg. heads), Ben. As far as I know thats about it. I say that puts him in good company and something to be proud of. I glad you think that making any 23 deg. headed lt1 car go this fast is easy..Just showes your grip on reality is alittle skewed. Either that or you have never actually built a fast car and its all theory to you.....everything is easy on paper. Reality is totally different.

 

95Bird, im not argueing with you, but look at it this way. His car is a race car. Most of the built LT1s you se are street driven vehicles that rarely (In comparison) see track duty. If I was building a race car though, I for sure would be all about weight reduction like this guy did. He still has some pounds to shed off of that beast though. I wish that guy posted on here. Id like to see what he has to say about this thread lol.

 

I can point him over here. His car is built to go fast..he did a great job. We all understand what his car is built to do. Its the people who act like its a cake walk to do what this car and others have done is what amazes me.

I understand that most of the cars here are daily drivers. I also understand that a 12 sec. heads/cam car..or even a 11 sec. stroker car(which I see many still int he 12s) doesn't become a 9 sec. car mearly by droping weight. If it was that easy moer would be running in the 9s.


This is the same car..at a race that required inspection sticker, insurance, plates, and on DOT tires. He did this on M/T et drag radials.



Ben holds the longest d.o.t tired wheel stand for that track at 170 feet aprox.

He tattood the front and rear bumpers. Madmans "save your *** bars" saved the headers, oil pan on the landing.

 

Awesome picture

 

Here's the article, http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showth...ht=hot+rod+lt1
It' definatly not an everyday type of car, unless you can afford to pay for race fuel in a car with a big stall and no lock up or overdrive with big gears, but it is streetable and definatly doesn't look chopped up. Regardless of what catagory it fits into though, it is absolutley awesome . This guy definatly deserves congradulations and respect for building an awesome car.

 

I'm coming in here late, but any 9 second LT1 n/a run is damn impressive...race car or street car. I laugh when people aren't impressed by this...Hell, 9s n/a with any sbc is damn impressive. By dropping weight it seems as though he's doing more with less and thats also pretty damn cool...I don't get how those who haven't been there can critique this guy. We should support the hell out of him as he's carrying a pretty big torch for the LT1 crowd....

--Alan

 

GREAT Job Ben!!!! Everyone of us in the LT1 bunch should be proud of him. Holy cow, he is doing this with 23 degree non raised runner heads. This in itself is a huge reason to give Ben a big thumbs up. Keep up the fight for us Ben and good luck.