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Originally Posted by Skip Fix
GJN- I still disagree that "anyone" can copy Jim's combination cheaply and run as fast as he has. Even Cliff said it takes time to tune them, you don't just drop a big motor in and go fast. If you have seen the progression of Jim's wagon from the 12s to the 11's as he meticulously tweaked EVERY detail you would see few others will take the time to do that. Jim also has the same "expensive" bottom end that "high rpm" Pontiac motors use, 6.8 rods stroker crank.
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Steve, I never said cheaply. Inexpensive, yes. What does a 455 block and rotating assembly go for these days? $500 to $800? 6X heads ported to flow 250 cfm by Butler/Kaufman? $1,400. Everything else would be the same regardles of what you are building. Remember, he was in the 11's with his 455 before the "eath mover" motor. I agree it's all in the details and I am surpised that so many people try to re-invent the wheel and build their own combo. I fall into that category (I wanted to keep the original block and chose to stroke the 400). If I knew what I know now, I would have copied David Kawallek's motor to the T. Everything was listed on Boyles site and an e-mail to David would have anwered the last few quetions. I would have know all the parts, where the cam was dial in, spacer under carb, jetting, timing, headers, converter, exhaust, necessary head flow, gear, tires, etc, etc. The motor would have been on par out of the box; but, getting it to the ground would have been another story at the track in a my first gen. Luckily, I met David at the track and he helped me tune the combo at an excelerated rate due to his test and tuning of his 81 TA. That is why, I was able to tune it from a 13.6 @ 101 to a 12.36 @ 111 with only a carb (750 vacuum secondary to a 650 DP) and tire change in 9 months.
I would suggest to someone wanting to build a street strip Pointiac to copy a known combo to the T (every aspect). Why go through the expense of switching parts and trying to build your own combo? Unless this is what you enjoy and you have the ca$h to do it. Where I have spent most of my money is trying different parts and different parts and different parts, etc. If I would have followed Jim or Dave's car to a T, I would have saved several thousand dollars over the last 6 years.