Great looking car. Similar setups in my '04 Cavalier. 2580 with steel deck and hood and driver. 6.05-6.10 in DFW area. I switched from a 4.30 to 4.56 gear earlier this year picked it up .04 and 3mph to 112.

I feel a 514 wouldn't do much for me other than try and make it flip over backwards, your change helps me confirm that. I grabbed a different convertor from Bozman earlier this winter to help with initial hit instead.

Max, my car doesn't wheelie at all just kind of leaves like a slot car. I have thought about making a 4 link adjustment to pull the wheels a little bit but I held of so far. I have seen your car and it's a good one.

quote:

Originally posted by Little Chief:
With the 456 gear ran 6.12 @ 114 with the 514 was 6.11 @ 112

What’s the 60’ time and 330 incremental of the 5.14 gear? What rpm does it flash to when leaving start line?

The last pass was a 1.37 60'
3.96 330 not sure about converter flash but was on a 4200 chip. I have gone to a 5000 launch this year and eager to see If I have any improvement.

quote:

Originally posted by Little Chief:
The last pass was a 1.37 60'
3.96 330 not sure about converter flash but was on a 4200 chip. I have gone to a 5000 launch this year and eager to see If I have any improvement.

Using 5.14 and a 1.8 trans gear @ 2650# with a 414 cu, I believe it should 60’ faster than 1.37.

You should consider looking at two items.

The convertor flash at launch. Conservatively 6000 is good imo. If you don’t have a playback tach or Data Acquisition to see flash, do a first gear stall test with the 2-step chip removed. Then subtract 200- 300 from stall for the flash number.

I would verify that you are maintaining the desired ignition advance at higher than idle rpm. Have another hold the engine at 4000 -5000 rpm and verify the advance setting. The older 7al3 (7230) ignitions were known to have advance errors at higher rpms.

Perhaps a larger carb is needed.

I have run two carbs on this engine one is a dominator from Davinci 1150 and a new ATM Innovation 4150 at 980 and they are both equal as far as I can tell. With me in the car it weighs 2770 and I believe as well it should 60' better but it sure is a blast to drive.

quote:

Originally posted by Little Chief:
I have run two carbs on this engine one is a dominator from Davinci 1150 and a new ATM Innovation 4150 at 980 and they are both equal as far as I can tell. With me in the car it weighs 2770 and I believe as well it should 60' better but it sure is a blast to drive.

I know the camshaft has decent specifications, similar to mine.

Who's cylinder heads are on it? Sounds really low on power for what it is.

I have a buddy I race with at Orlando, beautiful factory condition Malibu 406, AFR heads, 3000 lbs loaded. Ran 6.15 110 mph last Saturday. Personal best.

Or maybe try a converter, banjo has a couple spares that are decent, not as good as the one he has in his car now, but decent nonetheless.

Knowing him, he'd probably help ya out, let ya try one.

Good guy.

If my buddy with the Malibu had your camshaft specifications on a Lunati camshaft I know of, he'd dip in the 6.0's.

It's got a set of heavily massaged Brodix Track 1 heads and I use Sunoco Supreme. This engine & trans only has 9 passes on it at this time. Hell everything has 9 passes. LOL

If I was anywhere in Texas, I'd hand you a torque converter to try.

You'd have a lot more swagger/confidence/fun, running what it should.

Past the time to try a converter, 9 runs.

Ask banjo about converters, he's got a good one now.

Hello Mr. Fin's right hand man, I think there is a lot left in the combo given the weight and the motor. I would bet there is quite a bit in convertor and 4 link setup. Shoot me a note sometime, I will IM you my number or you can get it from Mr. Fin.

quote:

Originally posted by Little Chief:
It's got a set of heavily massaged Brodix Track 1 heads and I use Sunoco Supreme.

Gasoline is faster than methanol. I could prove it easily on my car.

If I thought it would end the debate, I would.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Rietow:

quote:

Originally posted by Little Chief:
It's got a set of heavily massaged Brodix Track 1 heads and I use Sunoco Supreme.

Gasoline is faster than methanol. I could prove it easily on my car.

If I thought it would end the debate, I would.

WRONG,
It all depends on the motor and combination. Gas may be quicker in killer air or 18 degree or more canted valve motors due to the efficiency. I have proven it the other way on almost every car I have had, which is a lot, just to make sure motors are broken in well before racing them. It may be that way for your car, not saying it isn't but to make a blank statement like that is truly ridiculous.

quote:

Originally posted by Little Chief:
was on a 4200 chip. I have gone to a 5000 launch this year and eager to see If I have any improvement.

Increasing launch rpm can improve RT, but it will do little to nothing in 60’ time.

Determining present convertor flash/stall rpms needed first. If convertor acceptable (5800 - 6600), then something else.

Don’t rule out ignition timing at higher rpms with the older red 7230 boxes as I wrote previous. If you can’t use a timing light at over 4000 rpm steady to check timing, increase timing an additional 5-7* at idle (40 -42*) and try. If the timing is inadvertently retarding in the 7230, this increase will show it on the timing slip.

If I were using this ignition, I’d ground the RET terminals not being used along with the Zero chips.

Easy prior things to try.

I can raise my launch rpm 1K and see ET improvement as well as adding time to the box from 3K to 4K with a 5800 stall speed

I have seen this car and it is nice.

Monte [Little Chief] and I both had a hard year in 2022. The Little Chief race car simply has not had enough track time to get it sorted out. The package is sound and well done and it will perform as expected in the future. It has at least 5.90's potential.

Steve, the four link is where it need to be, we are simply down on power.

The converter is fresh from Ultimate [Lenny did it before he sold out] and is a proven spec for the combination.

I think the comments about the red box retarding are likely correct, I have told Monty the engine sounds lazy even though we have checked the timing [at idle] a dozen times. We have a known good 7AL2 for testing.

quote:

Originally posted by The Bozman:

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Rietow:

quote:

Originally posted by Little Chief:
It's got a set of heavily massaged Brodix Track 1 heads and I use Sunoco Supreme.

Gasoline is faster than methanol. I could prove it easily on my car.

If I thought it would end the debate, I would.

WRONG,
It all depends on the motor and combination. Gas may be quicker in killer air or 18 degree or more canted valve motors due to the efficiency. I have proven it the other way on almost every car I have had, which is a lot, just to make sure motors are broken in well before racing them. It may be that way for your car, not saying it isn't but to make a blank statement like that is truly ridiculous.

How many 23 degree sbc's with 23 Brodix cylinder heads have you proven it with?

BTW That's what we're discussing,,,, 23 sbc, Brodix cylinder heads, no other *motors* I'm aware of.