Guys I need recommendations. My Grandson has been given a 71 camaro. It's ready for the track except it needs a motor. I need to build him something that will run mid 11's and stay together with normal maintenance. Anyone have a good combination they are willing to share? I prefer a SBC since I already have several blocks both 350 and 400. Plus several sets of heads such as brodix track 1 and profiler. thanks for your help.

Production 400 blocks are hit or miss for this reason I'd suggest something 350 block based.

383" small roller cam and a 5200-5600 convertor should get you there.

Have 406"with a performer RPM hyd cam, flat tops factory crank and rods 40yr old intake and 292 cast iron heads that went 11.50s at 2700lb with a glide 4.56's and 28" tires in an S-10, so a 383 with alum heads and a roller should be no problem.

quote:

Originally posted by SP 124X:
Production 400 blocks are hit or miss for this reason I'd suggest something 350 block based.

This is 100% correct

You can waste a ton of time and $ on a stock GM 400 block and it may crack at the top of the bores in the deck and leak water into a cylinder.
They will work lots of times but they can also fail pretty regularly as well.

A 383 built using a good 350 block is a much better and more reliable foundation assuming the block is a good one.....

Agree on 400 blocks lots of casting seem to have issues. 350 blocks have lot better chane of good core. A 383 is very popular with very good power. While a factory 3.74 crank will work it does not make snse to spend the money when for little more you can get good after market crank.JMO

Throw in pistons with compression of choice based on cost of fuel you want to buy and good heads.If budget build a set of remorked factory heads will run good, not great but cheap and good stuff can be simple bolt on leter.Match a cam and converter and rock out.

The Brodix Track 1 would be good choice for that. You would not need much cam at all to run those numbers. While I prefer a 400 or larger motor I would not use factory 400 block for anything. You do not need a bunch of cam, compression or RPM to run low 11's. A decent 350 horse motor with right stall, gear and carb would run that and last a very long time and be consistent.
Just for reference many years ago I built a tow truck motor 406 with longer 5.7 rods, 9.4 compression, strip dominator type intake, .440 lift hydraulic RV cam, and steel heads. I put an 850 alcohol carb on it and it ran 11.20 all day and very consistent.

I had hurt a motor in my race car and needed something for bracket finals and had that motor sitting there. Put it in and it ran pretty good. So if you have a good stall converter and rear gear really does not take much to run 11's.

HR3377 is pretty much right on. 5200-5500 stall mild motor and it would run good and should last a long time. Great bracket motor to start out with.

I do recommend an alcohol carb with return style regulator.

quote:

Originally posted by Curly1:
A decent 350 horse motor with right stall, gear and carb would run that and last a very long time and be consistent.

While that MAY be true, I don't see where the weight of the car was shared.

I have buddies running mid-9s with engines that would run mid-11s in my tank.

I was wondering when weight would finally enter into all the babbling.

My car weighs 3k with me and fuel. 010 350 block Eagle rods and crank .030 over so it's a 355. Flat top pistons World Sportsman cast iron heads angle milled Howards SFT cam 540/560 Team G manifold 750 CFM Holley. Shift at 6200 goes through at 6400 have run T350 and Glide behind it. We're 1/8th mi and it's gone as quick as 6.68 on AV gas at some tracks but usually in the 6.8-6.9 range. on alcohol it's been 6.5's. I've run every kind of oil settled on Mobil 1 15w-50. I stopped counting after 1,000 passes.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Eman,

That's running good for what ya got - 355 - steel heads - flat tappet cam 3000 lbs.

The OP can run 6.50's 6.60's with a set of Track 1 215's, 355 sbc, 600 lift solid roller at 3200, 3300 lbs 13:1 compression.

I did one for a 1980 Malibu front & back seat delete factory condition car in the early 2000's on a 10x28 M/T slick, car ran a hair exceptional for what it was on gasoline, with a powerglide & 8" Coan sprag converter. 60 ft was strong / 104 mph.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Rietow:
The OP can run 6.50's 6.60's with a set of Track 1 215's, 355 sbc, 600 lift solid roller at 3200, 3300 lbs 13:1 compression.

This right here seems pretty accurate. Fuel choice and compression being a deciding factor, a 10.5 to 11:1 383 should do the same thing on pump gas if that's something you are after as well... I would think methanol in this application would also easily bump hp up significantly if that is something you wanted to run also.

Weight is a big factor, the original post said Small block chevy in a 71 Camaro that is probably right around 2900-3100.

For our S-10 we decided on a Ohio Crankshaft 406", Forged OC forged crank, OC H-beam rods and JE pistons. They assembled the block and rotating assembly (about $3200 if I recall, been three years. I did not want a 20-30 year old block so we used the Dart SHP for reliability and durability. Canton oil pan and oil pump, check the lash every 30-40 runs and change oil at about the same interval.
.620" lift roller, 15-20 year old Brodix 190cc heads with Brodix HVH intake we found used for $700.00, 750 alky carb from Terry Heller.

Abruzzi converter, 4:86 gear, 3145-lb, 1.80 glide, vacuum pump and it has been "far better" than I had hoped. Runs 6.40-6.50 (never been on 1/4 mile in 3 years and no plans for it to ever be on the 1/4.)
We have had a few weekends this year with 27-30 runs a weekend and I cannot imagine having a more consistent low maintenance engine. Last Saturday it ran 6.53 six times in 8 rounds.
Don't skimp on the "foundation", block, crank and pistons; that's my suggestion.
Good luck and enjoy.
Jok

quote:

Originally posted by Toad1:
For our S-10 we decided on a Ohio Crankshaft 406", Forged OC forged crank, OC H-beam rods and JE pistons. They assembled the block and rotating assembly (about $3200 if I recall, been three years. I did not want a 20-30 year old block so we used the Dart SHP for reliability and durability. Canton oil pan and oil pump, check the lash every 30-40 runs and change oil at about the same interval.
.620" lift roller, 15-20 year old Brodix 190cc heads with Brodix HVH intake we found used for $700.00, 750 alky carb from Terry Heller.

Abruzzi converter, 4:86 gear, 3145-lb, 1.80 glide, vacuum pump and it has been "far better" than I had hoped. Runs 6.40-6.50 (never been on 1/4 mile in 3 years and no plans for it to ever be on the 1/4.)
We have had a few weekends this year with 27-30 runs a weekend and I cannot imagine having a more consistent low maintenance engine. Last Saturday it ran 6.53 six times in 8 rounds.
Don't skimp on the "foundation", block, crank and pistons; that's my suggestion.
Good luck and enjoy.
Jok

Sounds like this is his Grandson's first race car and he wants to go mid 11's. The motor you have is more than he needs to run that number.
I do agree on using good parts as it will last much longer and have room to grow as he wants to go faster. And he will want to go faster before long.

For performance I think something like the old LT1 -350 motor would run mid 11's easy in a decent chassis. The Brodix Track 1 heads he has would be even better because of air flow and weight.

My old 355 with Eagle rotating assembly, flat top pistons, .555 lift roller (PBM cam) and angle milled Brodix Track 1 heads. It went 6.40's in my 3080 lbs Nova. Maintenance was never a problem with the small roller cam.

But, if I were starting from scratch, I would use an iron block GM 6.0 from a truck or van. Swap the cam and put a carb on it. MSD makes an ignition for it and most header manufacturers now make headers for most makes and models that bolt on.

An iron block LS 6.0 will get you there with a little porting, cam, headers and intake without issue.

With a hydraulic roller under .600 lift to boot and it will live forever.

He has Gen1 blocks and heads so why re-invent the wheel?

Back in the early 1990s when I started bracket racing, I raced my 77 camaro. All factory car except for a small cowl induction fiberglass hood and a/c delete. I used a 400 small block with flat tops a lunati hydraulic ft cam. .480/280 iirc,headers,victor jr intake and 750 Holley dp. Used #186 heads. I had a tci super street fighter converter and 4:11 gears in the factory 10 bolt. Car with me in it was probably close to 3600 lbs. it would run 12.2xxx all day long in Georgia summer. Lose a little weight in the car the newer aluminum heads mid 11s should happen easy.

quote:

Originally posted by CURTIS REED:
He has Gen1 blocks and heads so why re-invent the wheel?

For what it cost $ per HP he will be money ahead even having that stuff. A stock LS bottom end will take 500 HP practically forever, OEM SBC stuff won't hold a candle to it. So if you compare bottom ends, you'd need an aftermarket crank and rods to be even on durability.

A 500 HP 6.0 LS can be had for less than grand once the donor engine is bought.

You can't touch 500 HP without spending a grand on cylinder heads alone, nevermind all the other things to be apples to apples durability wise. If you have to buy headers, ignition and stuff like that for either engine the LS will smoke an SBC under 550-600 HP.

My LS1 makes 500 HP with a $150 cam, $300 intake and home ported cylinder heads.

Not to sound like the old man I am, but is there a reason he needs to run mid 11's? If he's new to bracket racing, a mid 12 sec car may be an idea while you show him how to race, tune the car etc.
Again I don't know his experience etc, so ignore me if I'm totally off base