xrated

Woohoo!

The engine is getting pulled apart tomorrow for inspection. Im replacing the 12:1 pistons with some 9:1's. This will allow me to run the premium unleaded available at 90% of gas stations. It has Dart 2 heads and Crower solid cam/roller rockers. Im unsure of the crank & rods. Came with a Tilton starter, alt and Crane HEI dizzy.
My only concern is the Victor Jr manifold it came with. Will this manifold fit under a 72 small block hood? If not, my cheapest option will be to run with my Performer (non egr) until I import an L88 Hood Scoop from the USA.
I cant believe the deal I picked this baby up for. Around 1/3 of its 'cost to build' price!

Im guessing i will loose a hundred or so horsepower with the compression drop :nonod:

groovyjay

Sounds very good. Any change you could keep the CR closer to 10 and save few Hp's by doing this? Sounds like a great motor anyway :cool:

xrated

Yeah Im pissed that I have high HP engine sitting on the ground ready to be vandalised with 9:1 pistons. But a few months ago they banned the sale of 100 Octane Racing fuel at Gas Stations. (due to turbos not V8's). I can purchase the racing fuel in drums but this would be a headache. The engine must be street usable simply for convenience.

groovyjay

:iagree: Keep us posted, BTW are you gonna put the engine on Dyno before it goes in? :cheers:

xrated

The engine is brand new and has only been dyno run. This was with the previous owner. I will get it dyno tuned once I have the engine back in the car.

GrandSportC3

The Victor Jr. will fit under the stock hood and is progably the best intake manifold for a radical engine.. However - in order to fit - you need a radical drop base air filter setup and you might need to shave the choke tower off your carb.. I have a race carb with no choke tower on my engine..
There are 2 possible air filter setup:

1) Here's what I did.. I got a Holley drop base air filter at Discount Auto Parts for aprrox. $20 (1 1/4 inch drop base and 3 inch filter). I removed the 3 inch paper filter and replaced it with a 2 1/4 inch K&N filter ($40). The total cost was $60 for the whole setup.
2) other members have purchased a L-88 air filter base (2 inch drop base) and have combined it with a 3 inch filter. This setup is the exactly same height as my setup but costs a lot more..

My setup flows enough air to feed a 383 with 465 HP

:cheers:

Olivier

QuickVet

sounds really nice. BTW the Weiland Team G intake is a single plane intake that is shorter then the Victor and the Performer RPM. Good luck :cheers:

xrated

The carb that came with the motor is an Annular Discharge 830. Im pretty sure it doesnt have a choke horn. There is a 1.5 inch spacer between the manifold and carby...that will have to go. Thanks for the tips GrandSport & QuickVet.

Would there be a large performance difference between the Vic Jr and the Performer (not RPM). Im told the engine created peak HP around 5500 rpm. Using my engine dyno programmes I have seen the the compression drop will loose me HP and TQ but moving to the Performer increases low end torque substantially. Is the software over optimistic? Can the Performer pass enuff air for the 215cc heads?

Flareside

You can get a reproduction of the '60s air cleaner base (used on L-88, L-36, LT-1, etc.) for around $35 or so on Ebay. I have one, and it's identical to my original '68 2.5" drop base.

Flareside

I got mine from this guy last year, no problems at all. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=1876319068

xrated

Looks like a great base Flareside. Trouble is he only ships US. Good news is that it looks like the Vic Jr will fit with a drop base cleaner...if i can find one!

bowtie racing

High CR isnt allways only factor for preiginiton(detonation). If it has correct cam wich has enough overlap to bleed of additional cylinderpressure awy I am sure you can run on premium. And if you know it has "12:1 pistons" but do you know actual compression ratio?? It might be far less than 12:1!

If your camshaft is matched higher cylinderpressure or actual compression ratio you will srewit quite badly if just swapping new pistons.To get even some driveability and low end response be sure to swap new cam too ,desinged for lower compression ratio.

GrandSportC3

I think that there would be approx. 10 HP difference.. not really too much...
I personally would NEVER use a dual plane intake on a radical engine...

:cheers:

Olivier

xrated

bowtie racing --> once the engine is pulled down and I have all the details ill do a follow up post. I know the cam is solid but I wont be able to get the grind number for a couple of days. The guy rebuilding my engine is a professional race mechanic and a good friend of ours. In regards to the compression, its an educated guess that its 12:1 compression. Not 12:1 pistons.

xrated

GrandSport --> would u classify a 400 hp 406 a radical engine? I was thinking a 700hp 355 was radical!

tshort

xrated - My current engine is running 11:1 and I'm using 93 octane with no problems. Well, every now and again I'll get some bad gas and it doesn't want to run very well but it's nothing to worry too much about. You may try not dropping so much in compression to retain some of that power. Just a thought.

stickboy

I am not sure whether your head are iron or Aluminum, but if they are aluminum you should be able to run 10:1 on pump gas, maybe a little higher with the right cam and timing. Also if you are changing the compression that much you are going to need a cam that will work with the new compression ratio.

xrated

The heads are iron. I thought I would need a need a new cam as well. But it wasnt mentioned. After I get the details Ill get some feedback from u guys. I did check the block part number and its a four bolt from 1970/73. I havent paid for the engine yet. I have it for 'inspection'.

MassVette

Say goodbye to 530 hp if you go with 9:1 pistons. There will be a huge performance drop if you do this, especially to a small block. Try at least 10:1- it should be fine. We run it on a '69 'vette with the stock 350 motor and iron heads- no problem on 93 octane pump gas at all.
my 2c.
:yesnod: :chevy :chevy :yesnod:

GrandSportC3

400 HP 406 isn't all that radical.. I thought that it was 530BHP :confused: :confused:

:cheers:

Olivier