Restomod Racing

I will be discussing the setup that created 454 rwhp naturally aspirated. With this setup, the first time to the track I could not keep the tires from spinning.

On the 1-2 shift I was all over the track. What a ride! On the first run I rode out the wild ride to a miserable 13.4 second run.  I had a top end miss.  On the second run, I removed the air cleaner and backed the timing about 4 deg.  This time the car headed for the center line on the 1-2 shift, then it headed for the guard rail.  I had to abort the run.  That second run shook me up so much that I have since installed an 8 point roll cage and 5 point harness!  Being that this was before I put her on a dyno, I didn’t realize that the engine was the cause of all the wheel spin.  At first I thought it was the track that was causing the problems, after all, I had not had any problem with spinning the tires on the 1-2 shift before.  I took my car to Morgan Motorsports in Reseda, California.  I wanted to have the car dyno tuned so I could get rid of the high RPM miss.  The miss turned out to be due to me running 38 degrees of total advance. We turned it back to 29 degrees of total advance and it was good for 20 rwhp and 86.9 rwt.  When it was all said and done, the dyno session netted me 82.4 rwhp and 108.6 rwt.  This old work horse made 454.3 rwhp @ 6600 rpm and 536 lb-ft of torque @ 3200 rpm on the Dyno Jet Chassis dyno.  Before removing the tail pipe (car has a second set of mufflers in it), I made 438.8 rwhp @ 6600 rpm and 548.6 lb-ft of torque at 3200 rpm.  So when I realized I made 538 lb-ft of torque, I then knew why the traction problem like I’d never experienced before.  Mike Morgan of Morgan Motorsports told me that it was the torque converter that made that great torque.  He said that I have a great converter.  Proves that Lentech knows their stuff.  Ok, here’s the parts list:

1969 351W
Coast High Performance 408 stroker kit
Holley 950 HP carb (untouched)
Super Victor intake (runners cleaned up)
Edelbrock Victor Jr heads (solid roller cam version)
Rocker arm stud girdle
Comp Cam 286R cam (248/254 @ .050″, 110 lsa, .621″/.627″ Solid roller)
12.4:1 compression
Probe pistons (flat top piston)
6.125″ H beam rods Probe
Main stud girdle
Hooker Super Comp headers (1-3/4″ primary tubes / 3″ collector)
Lentech Street Terminator AOD trans
Lentech 2800 rpm non lock-up torque converter
4.11 9″ Lincoln Versailles rear

You can see this one is not for the weak at heart.  It pulls around 10 psi of vacuum at 1000 rpm.  It makes plenty of torque, so street driving is not a problem.  This could easily be a daily driver, but I worry about the solid roller cam’s high lift and the stress it puts on the valve train.  I figure it would kill the valve springs in short order, plus the gas mileage leaves a lot to be desired.  I do drive it on the weekends and to the track. It’s around trip of 140 miles.  Needless to say, I do put a lot of mileage on this beast.  With this setup, I have to run VP C12 racing fuel.  It has a motor octane of 108.  Due to the tremendous torque, I had to remove my road racing set up.  I took the 620 springs off the front and replaced it with the stock springs. I removed the 1″ sway bar and installed the stock one.  I added Carrera 90/10 shocks. Out back, I removed the SSM lift bar in favor of Caltracs and removed the rear sway bar.  At John Calvert’s (owner of Caltracs) advice, I installed Rancho 5 way adjustable shocks. Let me tell you, the nose now reaches for the heavens like it never did before, and no, I don’t mean a wheel stand.  At least, not yet. I have one more addition that I made in my quest for traction, I installed 28×11.5 M/T ET Streets.  I was able to run a 12.736 @ 107.573 mph. My half track time was 8.173 @ 82.146 mph.  By reducing my hp I was able to manage my best time to date. I ran a 12.346 @ 111.878 mph.  The mid track time was 7.948 @ 89.564 mph. I know that there was some top end problems.  I only gained 22.314 mph. If you look at my prior slip above, I improved by 25.427 mph.  My guess is I am leaning out due to a lack of fuel on the top end.  What I did I do to reduce the power? I switch to a hydraulic roller cam. It made 407 rwhp.