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Old 09-26-2014, 06:23 PM   #21
deckofficer
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City: Northern California
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 409
It is the car in my avatar. Over the last 10 years I've run 3 different engines. The first was a 355 sbc circle track engine, lousy street manners, raspy cracking idle, 12 mpg which is poor for a 1790 lb ride and 10.8 ET.

The next engine I built for torque as low in the rpm band as I could get it. 350 block, 400 crank, so 383 cid. 516 lb/ft @ 2800, idled like a pussycat, could pull top OD gear below 1000 rpm (manual trans) and at a steady 65 mph on a flat highway would break 30 mpg. 11.4 ET but a joy to drive. This is a 6% grade being pulled in top gear with a Tremec TKO 600 0.64 OD, 31" tires, 3.54 Jag IRS.


The current engine I let the talents of Scott Shafiroff design and build. Dart block 427. Better street manners than the 355, doesn't pull below 2000 rpm like the 383 could and 17 mpg.

355 was 386 hp, the 383 was 320 hp.

When the car is as light as mine you can see what small increases in hp do for your ET.
320 hp 11.4 ET
386 hp 10.8 ET
526 hp 9.7 ET

Here is a 427 side oiler in my '55 Ford many moons ago (about 30 years) and even though the hp was much higher than any of the engines I've run in the Track-T, the best ET was a 10.8 on borrowed slicks. I've never run slicks on the Track-T but it wouldn't surprise me if I didn't break something on launch that I might see eights.


It took me 40 years of hot rodding to catch on that weight is the enemy.
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USCG Unlimited Tonnage Open Ocean (CMA)
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