Technical 392 build ideas for 600HP for mild drag racing FED 8.60ET

I don't think it was the heads but your tune up. oh wait its never the tune up its always the parts fault. the orange crate fed ran 95 percent going over 250mph in a nhra legal vintage dragster. the car set the low et at the march meet one year and runnered up. they ran hot heads for many years before switching to ajs. there are so many cars running hh on nitro I cant count. its not the heads.

 

Well, of course it was the tuneup. But were we gonna back down on the tuneup just so we can make some latest hot setup cast aluminum heads live?
If your boys had years of success using the cast heads there must have been a very compelling reason to switch to the far more expensive AJs. I wonder if that funny looking exhaust flame at 1000 ft had anything to do with it?

I rest my case.........

 

Thanks for the info guys!

 

What is this going in? OOPs just saw FED. Lippy

 

The reason for the change was do to the work involved in modifying the hot heads for max power. The ports were enlarged to the point that the pushrod holes broke through. Brass tubes were required. The seats were replaced for larger valves. O-rings needed to be cut. .050 was removed from the spring seats. All this work took alot of time to do on several sets of heads. Aj got ahold of a set of the heads and copied what was done in billet. The new solid heads had all the work done already along with being stronger. The OP isn't running nitro so who cares. The HH are still superior over steel. They also outflow the ajs in the right hands.

 

What ET are you running Lippy?

 

Oh no....another Sac guy getting smitten....the motors in the 195 nostalgic car were cast iron block and heads when they got back into the nostalgic racing....ran and blew a few having some fun against some tough (Keith Black built) competitors.....

 

I can be of assistance. You do not need Hot Heads castings to make the power you are after. Those heads flow 10-15 cfm more than a stock head so you still have to port them once you get them. I have CNC Programs for all OEM Early Hemi Chrysler, Desoto, Dodge Hemi heads, and the Hot Heads Castings. I've been apart of many builds and can direct you to the options you will need to make decisions on. http://www.smithbergracing.com/

Here is a pretty basic build that Gene Adams built. We did some intake testing with this engine and it made 600hp on 10.2:1 Compression. This retained the stock rockers and pulled to 7000 RPM. Long term we would at least put some straps on the exhaust rockers to help beef them up as they are the weak link. https://hotrodenginetech.com/early-hemi-single-plane-4v-intake-test/

This one made 750hp in testing (by rules pulls to 6500RPM) and 710hp at the event. If we could pull it up to 8200 RPM this one could have made about 800hp in the same trim. https://hotrodenginetech.com/hardcore-hemi-attacks-the-engine-masters-challenge/

The Heinz 57 Head article I wrote a few years back. Setup still works very well and I have improved things since then on the valvetrain package. I have many more examples just depends what you are wanting to do. Be happy to answer and questions you may have.

 

Thanks Nick, appreciate your input.

 

Tech pieces are nice, but NEVER show the cost
If you have to ask "how much" you really didn't want it in the first place

 

J/F required iron heads and I had some good ones. Otherwise, I would have chosen aluminum. Not likely to hurt them running alcohol.

 

You hit the nail on the head there! Let's be honest, it's a Hemi! Ain't nothing cheap about a Hemi!

 

Racer X made some very valid points. You have to consider what you are doing. Are you limited by rules? Racing competitivly in a class? Handle head repairs etc. Aluminum is the answer in some cases but an iron head is very capable in the right hands. Consider this flowing through an injector on a 331 head.....

 

You got that right.

I am building a mildly beefed-up 354, with a 6-71.

I am doing a bunch of the machine work on it, and my engine guy is doing a labor/parts trade for the rest.

Even with all of that, this is costing a fortune.

 

In the mid-years of N/JF, a racer (Jim Paul) had DART cast a set of heads in iron using the aluminum patterns. they poured 10, but some did not pass inspection and machineing process. After that ordeal-Dart refused to make them again because of all the issues with them

 

They were Buick heads for small block Chevys. That was the trick of the week in Comp Eliminator. Finally got a couple of pairs to work. Pretty much ruined N/JF.

 

Hemi and 600 h.p = not low budget. But damn you're gonna have a hell of a ride!

 

Question about the Dragster, using a transmission ? 8.60 ET shouldn't be all that difficult, using a P-Glide.

 

The nicer the nice, the higher the price.

 

Should have included in the rule--- "Any Commercialy available". Ran the Alu versions on my Sprint Car , wasn't impressed