First, let me say Hi. This is my first post here....I'm usually on the Chevelle and Vette Forums. My personal car is a '67 Vette ragtop that has a pump gas 540", G-Force 5 speed and a custom Dana 60 IRS differential with 3.07 gears. Great street car that runs 9.90's@141+ mph on all motor and 93 octane.

I see some familiar names here...so this will definitely be added to my Favorites section.

It was suggested to me that there are folks here that might be interested in this buildup. It's a pump gas 555" motor I built for a buddy of mine. We were approached by Corvette Enthusiast magazine to cover it and after building and dynoing it, I got my first try at magazine article writing. Here's some links to the articles so far. The first one covers the shortblock, the second one does the heads and cams and next month the 2 full days of dyno abuse will be covered. We tested a solid flat tappet, a Hyd roller, the hyd roller with solid roller lifters and a solid roller cam along with multiple carb and intake swaps to see what did what.

You'll likely have to sign in to read the Magazines for free....but hey...that's a lot better than paying for a subscription! That's how they know what people like to read.

Part I starts on page 40.

http://editions.amospublishing.com/KPCV/Default.aspx?d=20091101&pagenum=1&f=


Part II begins on page 24.

http://editions.amospublishing.com/KPCV/Default.aspx?d=20091201&pagenum=1&f=


Thanks,


JIM

Mike picked up a copy and I read thu it, and entertaining read Jim, Great job!
I like the parts about no weenie cams, this aint no 6000rpm dump truck motor,
who needs low end torque… and all that “real world stuff” that people don’t know
about when building a big cube street deal. So youre saying you don’t need
1000tq at 2000rpm, and 800hp up top will make it run (or scare the crap out of you),
Jim you tell it like it is… no pussyfootin around!
Lookin forward to part 2.

Its about time you started posting here, and let people see what 307 gears,
a dominator, and no low end tq will do in a streetcar… in case you guys missed
Jims sig, his vette goes high 9s… on pump gas, drive cross country.

Hey...RAF lives!! Man...I hadn't heard from you in so long I was getting worried!

Where did Mike find a copy at? Some places have had them...others not.

Yeah..it is pretty opinionated isn't it? Not the ONLY way to do it...but a heck of a fun one!! I LOVE that high gear pull!!


JIM

I think its was Barnes & Noble,
Fry’s (elecrtronics) carries a bunch of mags too.

Could you post a little bit about the combo? Heads, cam, compression, intake, carb, exhaust, etc?

I'd like to read the articles but I'm a little funny about giving out my email address and info on the net.

I can honestly say I haven't been spammed or hit with anything weird since signing up to view them. No different than this site, Hot Rod, Car Craft or whatever.

Anyway, it's a 555", Dart 335 CNC heads, 11.1 compression, all pump gas deal. Ran it with a hyd roller, the hyd roller with solid roller lifters, a solid flat tappet and a solid roller.

Through all of those tests we added in a mixture of tests of a BG 850 Demon, a Holley HP1000, a Holley 1150 Dominator and a Braswell Custom Dominator.

Also tested a Wilson ported Vic Jr, a Reher/Morrison Edelbrock CNC Victor, a Wilson CNC Super Victor and an ancient Edelbrock C-454 Dual plane with the 1150 Dominator on it.

Also did the usual test of 10/30 Dino oil to Royal Purple 5/30.


All in all there is a ton of info in the three articles about how to select parts, how to make them work together and what did what on the dyno for two soild days and 35+ pulls.

Anything that you want to know that was left out due to space I can answer right here.

Thanks,

JIM

Hey Jim,

Nice vette... I cant believe that things running 9.90's with 307 gears. What did that motor dyno at and what rpm's did you leave at, what rpm's were you shifting at and rolling threw the traps.

Thanks Skip

What does the vette weigh

Thanks guys. The motor in the Vette is a 540 that I built about 8 years ago. It's had a few changes over the years, but nothing more than head porting with a cam and intake change. Just to be clear the motor in MY Vette is NOT the one in the articles.

Anyway, my motor is a Merlin block, ported Brodix 2Xtra's, Super Victor, 1050 Dominator and a 266/272 solid roller, 11.06 compression.

It weighs just barely under 3700 lbs with me in it. It gained 26 lbs when I added the rollbar (got thrown out of a lot of tracks!)

I make up as much gearing in the trans as I can, but it's still pretty long geared...you can hear it in the video.

I usually launch around 5000 rpm...sometimes a little higher...sometimes a little lower...but in that area. I go through the traps at around 7450-7500 rpm or so in 4th gear (underdrive). Not the most efficient way to do it, but it allows nice easy cruising with a trans that will live through the abuse.

I haven't dyno'd it in years. The first version of it with unported heads, old Team G and a 262/273* cam it made 732 HP at the flywheel and 615 RWHP. After that it had a 272/278* cam in it with ported heads, a Super Victor and the same Moroso pan. It made 825.1@7400 rpm. The RPM range was too high for my gearing, but I ran it that way for a couple of years. I dropped back to the 266" cam and hit it on the money. It literally picked up 7 mph at the track with the smaller cam due to being able to work it in the correct RPM range. I've also changed the oil pan to the Milodon stepped drag race pan that does much better than the old kickout Moroso street pan I had. So I dunno.....smaller cam...better pan......???

I really want to get to the track in some good *cave air*. Most of my runs seem to be in 90*+ weather....but still a heck of a lot of fun!

http://i318.photobucket.com/albums/mm436/540Hotrod/99-1-1.jpg

http://i318.photobucket.com/albums/mm436/540Hotrod/jimsengine32jpg.jpg

http://i318.photobucket.com/albums/mm436/540Hotrod/vemp_0604_01z1967_corvettefront_vie.jpg


JIM

Love your car Jim!! Im "dirtlips408" on Team Chevelle. Welcome to the site!!

I knew there seemed to be a lot of *crossover* folks here!

This seems like a cool place too!


JIM

Jim thanks for the info.

Man that is one nicely set up vette (almost a sleeper) that is until you fire it up and it turns in to the ground pounder....

What are you running for PCV i see the breather/filter in the rear valve cover and its obvious you don't run any vacuum but do you know how much vacuum the beast puts out at idle.

Thanks Skip

Jim ,Ive talked to you over on the UMTR board before,maybe you can post some of your video here to show these guys your car in action.Im looking forward to checking out your articles,maybe i can use some tips to get a little more out of my little 525.

Here's a couple of videos.

http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p236/smokinzx14/?action=view&current=Jim3.flv

http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p236/smokinzx14/?action=view&current=Jim4.flv

These were uncapped, but this year I changed exhaust to 3.5" with Pypes mufflers and on the first pass it hit a 9.94@140...so they didn't hurt it a bit. Now I have one less thing to do at the track!!

The best part is they are relatively quiet...much better than the Race Bullets I had on it before.


I have two breathers on it now in same place as the one in the pic. One on each side. When that pic was taken I still needed to move some stuff to get it to clear. I don't run a vacuum pump or PCV.

It's been a long time since I checked idle vacuum...but it seems like it's around 8" or so at 1000 rpm.

See ya,

JIM

Man that sucker flat out RIPS!!!!

Thanks 6D9.....

Hey, I used to have a 68 SS/RS 396 Camaro before the Vette. Had it for about 14 years. Sold it to a buddy less motor. It was black on black and I swapped back and forth with a T-400 and Muncies. Gears ranged from 3.31's to 4.56's.

I ran a 427 in it that I have had since 1980. I still have the motor, std bore, std crank 427 that I bought as a warranty replacement engine from Chevy when they started dumping inventory. I bought it as a 427/425 shortblock...but it was literally made up of lots of *incorrect* items for that combo. It's easy to see how folks ended up with weird warranty motors way back when. But it's been a good one. It's had oval ports, rectangular ports, who knows how many different flat tappets, rollers, 750's, 850's, a 1050 cfm 3 BBL, Dominators, 2 stages of N20 etc etc and it still lives even after dropping a couple of valves over the years!! That unbalanced POS has lived in the 6500-7500 rpm range much of it's life and never let out a whimper!

My buddy decided he couldn't afford the car with the motor, so he finally installed a ZZ502 after scattering a few 454's. All I can say is that the mildest version of that 427 would walk all over that ZZ502!! He'd have been a lot cheaper to have bought the 427...but I'm glad he didn't!!

JIM