I did get your message and will respond in full tomorrow when I'm at the shop. (Much easier to respond with my PC rather than my tablet which I'm on now) The short answer is the 1971 motor that is in the car now is "factory" stock. This is pretty easy to believe because of the low MPH - only running 102 so far. The car is quick because of the lack of weight and the great 60 footers it's getting. I will elaborate more tomorrow as mentioned. Thank you for your interest.
Nick, Rather than pm you with this info I'm going to post it here as I have had some other e-mails with questions regarding my engine build up so here goes: The biggest reason there is a Stock 1971 455 "Station Wagon" motor in my car now is I simply do not have 10K or more to throw at my dream engine right now. I wanted to get the car running and start tuning it for the track so the plan was to purchase another motor and do a basic rebuild and spend as less as possible doing so. I did not take any shortcuts on building this car but when it came time to build the ultimate stock appearing motor the economy went to crap and my Diecast Business definately suffered. A motor was located on Craigs List and we tore it apart the same day it was purchased! Some new gaskets, bearings, rings, timing chain and a small cam & lifters were purchased through Greg Gessler and within a few weeks later the motor was assembled and ready for the dyno. We retained the Factory 8.5 to 1 Pisons as well as the factory connecting rods, rocker arms, push rods etc..... No port work was done to any of the engine pcs. The factory carb was rebuild by a local shop here in town and other than jetting & metering rods it is unmolested. I should also mention that the deck height etc.... all remains as factory as well. I think the dyno numbers will prove that this motor is stock other than the cam. I also think the lack of MPH my car has run is a true indication that the HP is as claimed. So far the car has run 101 & 102 MPH. The mid to high 12's are simply a result of some fantastic 60 ft times and the lack of weight. As I've mentioned my next step is to order some pistons and bring this motor up to 1970 Stage 1 specs. I also plan to convert these heads to Stage 1 specs. Port work IF the money is there. If not, I'll stick to a "Pure Stock" type build up for now. Picture below shows the motor being assembled with the Factory 8.5 to 1 Pistons: Picture below shows the motor with the Factory Rocker Arms: Picture below shows AC Delco Spark Plugs and AC Delco wires - nothing fancy here: Picture below is the best run we achieved on the dyno (no headers were tested) : Thanks again to everyone following this build up - I'm hoping to get out one more time this fall and possibly run a 12.50 with the Cold Fall Air! For the Spring of 2013 I hope to at least be at 1970 Stage 1 specs (more compression and Stage 1 heads) Maybe tap into the 11's without port work! ? ! ? .
Is there a reason for running that specific cam or was it something "laying around"? I know you said you bought it from Gessler,but was it reccomended for that specific low comp combo or? Just curious as it seems to work well,yet i was quoted quite different cams from a few places including t/a Thanks again
We chose this cam simply because of the use of Factory Manifolds and the lack of Compression. The car in general has worked better than I had hoped for. I was hoping (and thinking) that a 12 second pass with a stock low compression motor would be a good goal for this summer. Now I'm thinking the car will run a mid 12 with cold air so I'm really happy with the overall set up. I'm wondering now if we bump the compression and convert to Stage 1 heads and possibly bump the cam a bit as well if we can tap into the 11's WITHOUT Port work?!?! Yes - Hood Pins
I find it interesting that if we're at 4100lbs, and your at 3100lbs, that's 1000lbs difference, and if a 100lbs is worth a tenth, then your car should be exactly 1 second quicker than ours, minimum, because ours won't 60ft the extra mass as well as your car. so our 13.78 vs. your 12.72, that is a difference of 1.06 seconds. The Math works!!!
The Brackets were custom made by a buddy of mine at Autokraft.org Total weight saved was 18 lbs roughly.
Heading to Rock Falls raceway next weekend for there Musclecar Shootout.. Hoping for cooler air which I believe will get me in the mid 12s with the stock motor. Will also be running taller tires to help out the gear ratio which right now is way to steep for a stock motor. (As evident by the lack of MPH. - only 102) The stock motor along with 3:90 gears is NOT the hot set up. Lol Will post my results next week Some Gessler ported parts are in the works for my Stage 1 motor that will hopefully find its way in this car soon. That motor should easily put me in the 11's. I am having fun seeing how fast we can get the factory stocker to go though. Mid to lows 12s are possible!
Although slower than my past cars and slower than I want this car to be eventually you're correct! I'm having a blast with this car. It will get faster in time but for now the challenge of getting it down in the low 12's with a stock motor is my goal. Thanks for checking it out :TU:
Jim any progress on that last "project" you told me about?? I'm super curious to hear more about them! .
Well we unfortunately did not get a chance to run the car in Cold - Crisp air this year so 12.7 with the stock "1971" motor is still the best to date. Only 102 MPH which backs up the 380 dyno tested H.P. I feel it will run 12.5 at least in decent air, just didn't get that chance this year. I plan on new Pistons, Stage 1 Heads and Port Work for next year so things should get a bit more interesting next spring. Hopefully it's a short Winter!! Thanks again to everyone following this thread. I think we'll see 11's for sure with a Ported (Cast Iron) Stage 1 motor soon! .
