[71 T/A]

Cliff, is that with the Old Faithful cam and KRE heads?

[Cliff R]

Yes, 455cid, 10.99 to 1 compression, 290cfm KRE's from Dave at SD and his "Old Faithful" camshaft. I also run 1.65 rockers on it, with the ICL at 109.5 degrees.....Cliff

[67ramair4]

First off this isn't bashing the thread originator; but more of a question? 117 MPH is freakin impressive!!
But, why do you run 3.08 gears in a drag car? What ever happened to 3.90's or a 4.33 gear?
What kind of horsepower does it take to go 117 MPH and doesn't the (high) gear kill your launches and abuse your drivetrain immensely???

If I missed it in the thread apologies are in order!!

[ta man]

Originally Posted by 78w72

congrats on the 11.4. car runs good. i had some good runs last weekend too but ran into some fuel supply/starvation issues. curious, what fuel system are you running?

RobbMc 1/2 inch pickup,Mallory 140 deadheaded,All 8an lines and fittings up to a 6AN fuel log..I may switch to a Magnafuel pup this winter it has a return on the pump.

[ta man]

Originally Posted by 67ramair4

First off this isn't bashing the thread originator; but more of a question? 117 MPH is freakin impressive!!
But, why do you run 3.08 gears in a drag car? What ever happened to 3.90's or a 4.33 gear?
What kind of horsepower does it take to go 117 MPH and doesn't the (high) gear kill your launches and abuse your drivetrain immensely???

If I missed it in the thread apologies are in order!!

Its a street car that gets driven 100 miles to the track,can easily cruise 60 to 80 mph,drives like a stock 301 around town,idles at 850 rpm.The story behind the 3.08's is my old car had 3.08's once I switched to 3.42's didn't really pick up much..little harder to hook up,when I bought this car I left the 3.08's in for highway cruising..and to see what it could do...
As far as the high gear killing the launch..yes initially it did about a half a tenth..now this car is a tad quicker in the 60ft with a bit of tuning,the convertor actually flashes slightly higher with the 3.08 gear out of the hole just using 3 way adjustable shocks
As far as abuse..my nearly stock drivetrain holds up well,now imagine a 3.73 gear 4200 stall,The engine would destroy everything behind the convertor..plus I would need a rollbar more traction aids
This car and the previous car have always been street cars first..while tuning for both clean comfortable driving and gradually dropping et
Two guys have been big influences on me..Jim Hand as far as his thinking on tuning a combination to the max...and Darby Otto's(Grandville 455) track tuning with his big old car through the years...I still have much to learn..but I'm going to see how far I can take this engine convertor and rearend combo.

[ta man]

Originally Posted by 67ramair4

First off this isn't bashing the thread originator; but more of a question? 117 MPH is freakin impressive!!
But, why do you run 3.08 gears in a drag car? What ever happened to 3.90's or a 4.33 gear?
What kind of horsepower does it take to go 117 MPH and doesn't the (high) gear kill your launches and abuse your drivetrain immensely???

If I missed it in the thread apologies are in order!!

Actually closer to 119mph!

[grivera]

Impressive! Stock type u-joints?

[Region Warrior]

3.08...SWEET!
My 455 RAIV cam(stk 87 E-hds/10.2cr) combo(3550 lb), 10" 3500 stall with 3.42's and "to tall" tires ran 12.0 @ 114 mph on a "ok day".
Was gon'a put in 3.73's. Re-think'n that unless go more CR and cam.

[ta man]

Originally Posted by grivera

Impressive! Stock type u-joints?

They are the heavy duty stock style...one of the parts that will get changed this winter will actually be this driveshaft..its one of my "junkyard" parts on the car...my old car used to have a vibration ..pulled this driveshaft off a rusty parts car put new u joints on it..no more vibration...my other junkyard part is my distributor...

[Cliff R]

I would upgrade to the 1350 yokes when you have the new driveshaft made so you sleep better at night. I did this many years ago and the driveshaft has been fine. It still loosens up the rear U-joint after a couple of years of drag racing, putting a new one it before the next outing as it has developed about .010" of end play.

Even with more gear and converter there isn't a lot of improvements waiting with this particular combination, IMHO. I've already ran over 121mph with mine in good air and the engine was only turning just past 5000rpm's.

When I did the tire swap from 28" to 26" tires a few years ago, NOTHING improved anyplace other than I picked up nearly 300rpms on the top end of the track.

Sure gear AND converter would improve 60' times if you can get it to hook, which may be worth a couple tenths in ET at about the same MPH. It wouldn't be nearly as fun to drive on the street and is not worth the trade-off.

My car acts and drives like a 15 second car till you get to the track, smooth idle, strong off idle and PLENTY of power in the "normal" driving range. Seldom any need to rev the engine beyond 2400rpm's or so to keep up with traffic.

The power from this particular combination is more "locomotive" like with no real rush of power anyplace, it just pulls really hard from the instant you load the engine will you decide to shift it. It's a proven combination, very impressive, and quite popular as it should be.......Cliff

[71 T/A]

Cliff,
How much stall on the converter?

[78w72]

Originally Posted by ta man

RobbMc 1/2 inch pickup,Mallory 140 deadheaded,All 8an lines and fittings up to a 6AN fuel log..I may switch to a Magnafuel pup this winter it has a return on the pump.

how do you like the mallory? running a regulator? is it loud or get hot on longer drives? im debating on switching to an elec or adding a pusher to my system. i have the robbmc pickup, 1/2" line to -8 braided from pump to carb. but with a q-jet my mech pump cant seem to keep it fed on hard launches. very happy with the times & dyno numbers so far but i know theres more in it if i can get the fuel pump up to par.

congrats again on the 11.4, im right behind ya & searching for lower 11's. also agree on the lower gears, i run a 3.23. with the high torque of the big pontiacs, a high gear isnt needed & will kill any streetability, which is what you & i built the car for, i drive the heck out of mine & didnt want a full on drag car that i cant drive & enjoy.

[Skip Fix]

I've had a Mallory 140 on my 78 for well over 20 years since they first came out. Had to replace it once. Street and track driven. Quiet pump.

[ta man]

Yes a regulator for sure!My pump is pretty quiet..no issues I did replace the pump last year with a spare I had..the new one is an older design that you can just pull the brushes out if needed.My fuel pressure at the end of the track is a rock solid 6.5....But it is still a deadhead system..I may put a return on it this winter or buy a Magnafuel that has a return on the pump.
One of the gains that had on this combo was going from stock pickup 3/8 lines Holley Blue to a 1/2 inch RobbMc,Mallory 140 all 8AN lines..car used to run 114mph's went to steady 116's after fuel system change...

[ponjohn]

Originally Posted by 67ramair4

First off this isn't bashing the thread originator; but more of a question? 117 MPH is freakin impressive!!
But, why do you run 3.08 gears in a drag car? What ever happened to 3.90's or a 4.33 gear?
What kind of horsepower does it take to go 117 MPH and doesn't the (high) gear kill your launches and abuse your drivetrain immensely???

If I missed it in the thread apologies are in order!!

It is not needed.

[Half-Inch Stud]

super results. Your combo is definitely dialed-in for efficient fun Street-Strip use.

my 12.0 & 11.0 ET signatures both required an early (5000-5200RPM) 1-2 upshift and imthink 2-3 as well. When to 60foot was there, these "early" upshifts made the difference in 12.2's being12.0's same for hitting 11.0's . fun to known the 12.0 ET was 4950 RPM at the big end.

Fact was:same engine/converter/TH400/driver. Differnt carb/intake/Gear&tire/car. So i assume that the 5200 upshift allowed the converter to fall back into TQ multiply mode.

Wishing my 3.54:1 could be closer to a 3.08:1

[mchell]

Originally Posted by ta man

They are the heavy duty stock style...one of the parts that will get changed this winter will actually be this driveshaft..its one of my "junkyard" parts on the car...my old car used to have a vibration ..pulled this driveshaft off a rusty parts car put new u joints on it..no more vibration...my other junkyard part is my distributor...

I'm not making a ton of power, but I just changed out my old stock tapered driveshaft(3"X2.5") with 3R ujoints......still intact after many, many runs

went to a 3.5" driveshaft with 1350's....first thing I noticed was the weight difference!....the 1350 yoke's and ujoints add some weight!.......massive pieces of hardware.........beats putting it into the wall at 120mph....piece of mind

what weight are you at?

good runs!....

[ta man]

Haven't weighed this car yet..the old one was right at 3900 lbs with me in it..This one may be 100lbs lighter..I will weigh it soon I'm curious.
Most likely going again Oct 10th to the track to test again..it will be cooler as long as there is some track prep that night should be faster!

[Cliff R]

"Cliff,
How much stall on the converter?"

I have the old reliable "Jim Hand" 10" unit. Mine flashes to right to 3400-3500rpm's on a hard run with traction. This is just a tad higher than most folks see, but every converter I've had in this car, even the 13" unit flashed pretty high. Might be because of how hard my engines "hit" the converter, the tune on them is pretty decent, and they are built to make a TON of low end power, with super-quick throttle response right off idle, etc.

It's amazing how well these Continental converters are "locked-up" on top end. I go thru just past 5000rpms at over 120mph, which on the calculator shows very little slippage at all.

Most converters of this type will show 400-600rpms slippage on top end, some even more. Mine is less than 150rpm slippage when I do the math on it.......Cliff

[ta man]

This is a shot from a 1.7119 60 ft..the other two were 1.66's...only three way adjustable shocks nothing else.Not a bad launch for 3.08's...