Small Block & Big Block Chevy Specific - New project BBC

Well, I joined this site awhile ago because I feel that this has to be the best site with board members that are seriously into racing. Some of the other boards are nice, but this one is better.

I have a new project I am just starting. I bought this car about 9 years ago. Its a 96 Z28 with a T56. I started out with all the bolt ons, then heads and cam. Still wasnt fast even (is it ever?) and went crazy with a new valvetrain, 18 degree heads, new cam, etc....spent about 4000 dollars in tuning through a local company here in Charlotte that no longer exists. They could never get the computer tuned right so I went carb and had fun with it on the track.

About 2 years ago, the car was towed due to new city laws that said any un-registered (tagged) non-inspected cars were no allowed. I was in an apartment and lost her for a while and was being kept at a body shop. To make a long story short, I just bought a house (not in the same city :) )and got her back....and shes in rough shape. So now I get to rebuild her up for more serious racing.

I race 1/8 mile tracks and was thinking about some new setups. I have awhile to decide and maybe some of you guys can think of a radical setup with me. Right now, I am currently running through the car and checking out whats good and bad. Basically I'm starting with the interior...roll cage, VFN dash, and some new cool guages (was thinking about something cool like the Phantom guages). And then from there I'll be moving to the rear of the car...possibly a Moser 9", narrowed. The reason I want it narrowed is because I want the tires to tuck (but I dont want to go too tall).

Heres the fun part....I'm tired of SBC. Been screwing with them my whole life and I want to start fresh and new. The car is only a drag car...it is not street legal, no turn signals, no wipers, no lights, no heater, no ac, no power steering...nothing. So I'm going big block. This is wear I need the help at.

I want to run a mid 5 in the 8th. What do you all think about a blow thru procharged BBC. I know my goal is attainable but lets see some suggestions. Remember...I dont care about pump gas, I dont care about streetability. As long as she idels back to the front I'm fine.

Thanks.

Brady has done a few 4th gen setups and because of him and several others there are actually quite a few parts that have been made to get you where you want to go.

http://teamprickracing.com/firebird

http://www.teamprickracing.com/bigblock/

This one is my setup that is in process that I just took a few pics of. Waiting on heads right now and then I can swap motors and put everything in.

http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=530459

HTH.

Rinning race gas through a blown bbc will enable you to make all the power you want. Take a look at steve morris racing engines to get a good idea of what is possible. The crazy thing is that he makes stupid power and does it on pump gas most of the time. www.stevemorrisracingengines.com
Give him a call, from what I hear he's very helpful. Good luck with the car and return to racing.

Wow, really nice motors on that Steve Morris website. Thanks for the info! I've got a while for me to plan out the engine combo. I might do a little research on EFI setups. I'm not a wiz at that stuff so it requires learning all that. I have a small understanding of EFI, which is porbably why I went to carb (that and it was just too expensive at the Tuning shop I went to).

There's always http://www.rehermorrison.com/ and http://www.shafiroff.com/ if you are looking for engine ideas.

Beautiful engines on these website! I have never ran a crank trigger before in any of the engines I've built, I've only built roughly 12 from scratch so thats not too much to begin with. Does anyone here have experiences with them? Any down falls, short comings, etc... with running crank triggers? Also, does anyone here have some knowledge about magneto (Pro Mag or other various sorts).

Like I said, I think I want to change the way I build engines starting with this one coming up hopefully in the next 4 months. Thanks everyone, I'm pretty sure I'm starting the cage in the next few weeks. It's not going to be anything radical or special...just a cage with some new interior parts. I'd also like to get a digi cam (only one left in the world that doesnt own one :) ) for progress pictures...sure I can find a really cheap one somewhere.

newegg.com is where I got my camera.

Wow! I didn't think it was going to take 5-6 weeks for the dash to come in. I thought it was like a stock item they carry but they make everything to order there. Atleast that does give me some time to get the cage in and done, and also get the gauges, switches and all the rest of the interior together. And I still dont own a camera......

Yea,they take forever (seems like) to make parts at vfn. I think it was worth the wait though,I get compliments on my dash every time I go to the track.Here's a pic of how I set mine up,may give you a few ideas.Good luck with the project :)

Very nice! I've only seen one car with the dash installed and it was a More Performance Race car (when they use to be in business here in Charlotte). That does give me ideas though, thanks for sharing! I'm assuming the switch panel is made by Painless? Also looks like you pop riveted that top piece of the dash. I haven't seen very many cars with the dash in, so I'm not even sure how to attach the dash to the car. I'll be able to come up with something when I can hold it in my hands though. If you have any pointers I would like to hear them!

I'm also starting to have doubts about my cage so I think I might take it to someone here and have it fabbed up. I'm not sure if I want to trust my own welding, just incase the car seriously does flipped or whatever. You never know what could happen in the future, but its safety first.

It's a moroso switch panel,but the car is wired with a painless racecar harness kit. I used small machine screws w/wingnuts to mount the lower portion to the top so it can be removed,and fabbed up some brackets for the bottom :)