It has been 3 and a half years since I destroyed my trusty 468 in my 27 T, and true to my fathers teachings "your engine blowing up is God's way of telling you need a bigger engine" my new 489 roared to life tonight. After the requisite breaking run we checked and double checked everything. Then it was time to start adding load and RPM building up to a full on dyno run. Our baseline dyno run produced 540 foot pounds of torque @ 5400 RPM and made 640 horsepower @6700 RPM. Saturday we go back and play with it and see what happens. If this is as good as it gets, my roadster should be quite a kick in the pants, if we can improve on these numbers I may be in the market for larger testicles. I hope I have not bored everyone with this, I feel like standing on the roof and screaming "It's ALIVE!!!" I can fix it, or I can fix it so NOBODY can fix it
Tell me about it, with 14 to 1 compression ratio, the gas I have to use is $8.75 a gallon. Good thing I only have to drive it a 1/4 mile at a time.
Wow... that looks like fun! What are you expecting for times... Looks like a low 9 second ride from here!
You can SEE it? Now I'm really freaked out... This post is more cryptic than the writing on the walls when I 'accidently' took a crap in the girls restroom...
You should be able to get at least 700hp out of a 14:1 compression 489 if you have a decent set of heads. Even a ported set of large oval ports will make 650hp. I had a 496 that I built out of a 427 truck block that made 650hp on pump gas with a set of ported 049's. You should be able to pull much more out of yours!
My wife is into racing of all types, drag racing is new to her and as she learns it the more she likes it. One arrangement we have is something she adopted from her time as a team manager, she accepts blame for everything at the track so no time is wasted pointing fingers. That way all of the time at the track is used to solve the problem at hand. The other side of that is that everything at home is MY fault. Damn I am glad to getting back to the track. I can fix it, or I can fix it so NOBODY can fix it!
With the 468 best time was 9.70 @ 139. With this engine I looking for 9.20 @ 145. And you are right the can is as much fun as a barrel of monkeys. Second only to sex. I can fix it, or I can fix it so NOBODY can fix it!
Not a Davis car, it is a Wesley Brown (me) creation. I built it from a pile of tubing, a harwood body and alot of junkyard parts.
One of the many lessons in life I have learned is that horsepower is alot like sex, almost everyone says they are getting alot more than they really are. Not saying that you are one of those people, 650 is very doable with a 496. I have seen MANY engine builders waving printouts of big horsepower numbers that just dont show up on a properly calibrated dyno. I have also had engines that had great peak numbers on the dyno but the powerband was so narrow that it wouldnt pull wet string out of a cats ass in the real world. I really dont expect to see much more than 650 horsepower from my 489 inch big block chevy for the following reasons, I am using very mildly modified edelbrock heads, the roller cam was chosen to produce a flat torque curve, I am using an edledrock Torker intake (can you say old), and I do not intend to spin the engine more than 6700 RPM. That being said, I think we are very close to the target. We measured 490 ft/lbs at 4500 rpm climbed to 540 at 5400 rpm and then fell back to 490 at 6600 rpm. It takes a lot or torque to push a car with the "aero package" that my roadster has and it looks like we have just that. A wise old racer once told me "Horsepower is for braggin to your buddies, and torque is for gettin the car down the track" and I have seen that adage proven time and time again. Then again these are just my opinions, I could be wrong. Dont take me too seriously, the medical professionals and court documents all say I am nuts.
Sorry, sometimes I assume to much. We all know that Assume makes an ass out of u and me LOL. My 489 is a chevy 454 bored .030 over with an additional 1/4 inch stroke.
I was running a Weiand Team G with a very tweaked 850 holley that was flowing north of 1000cfm. 10.8:1 compression with some .400 domed wiseco's (stupid huge chambers), a set of ported 049's with 2.25/1.88 valves and lots of porting. A custom ground lunati solid roller with 252/260 duration @50 and about 660 lift on a 108 lCA. 2" headers worked well and is still sends a 3800lb nova into the high 10's. Its power peak is only at 6300rpm and it has a nice flat torque curve once you hit 4000rpm... I can tell you that a manifold like victor or team g is work about 30hp on an engine line yours.
To tell you the truth I have no idea what the cam specs are. The friend that is helpimg me with this engine is ALWAYS vague with cam selection. I have learned not to question him, his engines ALWAYS do what I ask whether it be for me or one of my customers. We came to an agreement long ago, I dont tell him HOW to build my engine, and he doesnt tell me HOW to build his car. Over the years I learned that I can get WAY more out of tuning the car than I can ever get out of tuning the engine. The beauty of working with professional engine builders is that I can tell them what I want and they deliver leaving me alot more time to work on the car instead of the engine. I choose to be ignorant about engines so I can concentrate on the car. I guess I should stop typing and go back to drinking whiskey and eating ice cream.
Did you have your T at the Texas mile a while back? Reminds me of the one car I likes out there if not.
Wasnt me, the car hasnt been out of my garage since I killed the last engine over 3 years ago. It is amazing how long it takes to raise money for toys when you have 2 teenagers and an ex-wife. The engine is off the dyno now and sitting next to the car. I should have it in the car tonight and running in the next couple of days. If all goes well I will take it to Seguin and shake it down Saturday. Ex wife for sale, just take up payments.
The Jalopy Journal
