I wanted to share an excellent experience I had with my SD TA. Three years ago I took the car to the track hoping to get a 13 second time slip. The car was mostly stock with the exception of 1.65 rockers, exhaust and carb/dist.tuning. I ran 13.9@100 mph and was quite happy. Then the racer in me kept thinking about a project Cars Magazine did back in '74 trying to get an SD to run 12's, and I wondered if I could accomplish this using a different approach. Since I had a spare SD block laying around, and enough parts to assemble another engine, I decided to see what could be done. I ordered a set of trick custom flat top pistons from CP, rebuilt a set of rods using ARP bolts, had the crank nitrated and the rotating assembly balanced. I just did the standard performance blueprinting prep to the block. I spent a lot of time on the flow bench testing different valves and valve seat combinations. The heads were milled .060 and an HFT cam was designed to match the flow characteristics of the heads, and hopefully accomplish my goals. I never touched the heads with a grinder, nor did I port match or modify them in any way. Other than an efficient valve job and milling, they are stock. I used a '72 455 HO intake manifold that I gasket matched, and I ported the exhaust manifolds.
I figured I would need to update the chassis a bit, so I clamped the rear springs and installed a set of performance shocks in the rear. I believe my front shocks are original. When I scaled the car, it weighed 4100 lbs without the driver. I figured I needed to remove a little weight, so in addition to the aluminum intake, I removed the spare tire and jack assembly, installed the thinner fender to core support braces and painted up a set of Rally wheels I could use at the track instead of the heavy honeycombs. The car still weighs over 4300 lbs. with the driver.
I got my chance to race the car at a local track this past May. I was very happy when I got the time slip and saw that I ran 12.7. I made four runs and didn't get a chance to try and dial-in the combination. I ran three 12.7s and a 12.8 all at 107 mph.
Super Duty 455's are the best!
I've attached two video links of my runs that day.
http://youtu.be/7SvcXv8YvEE
http://youtu.be/iT9oOBH6JRU