H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.

Greg Reimer 7376 · 04-18-2020, 03:21 PM

Something doesn't seem quite right if the car goes 6900 at 117.50. That's fast enough to indicate that the engine makes a reasonable amount of horsepower.You said that it has 5.14 gears and goes 6900. That almost seems to me that the car needs more gear. My 327 Chevelle in I/SA had 5.57's in it when I ran it at Pomona a few years ago, and it has a Glide with a typical stocker converter. It ran 7480 in the lights, and it felt like it wouldn't go any faster, it was pretty well done. That figures out to 68 RPM per MPH. I put 5.38's in it, doesn't sound like a huge change, but that is 61 RPM per MPH. The engine seems to like it better, although the first half of the track is about .03 slower. The overall result is about the same. Your engine seems to pull fourth gear OK, but a little more gear would make its job a bit easier. You have a car there that is consistent, and a consistent set of results run to run. Maybe moving the cam up might show some results. I don't think I would change too many pieces until I had some answers. The clutch would be one thing to investigate, how ever.

04-18-2020, 03:21 PM	#11
Greg Reimer 7376 VIP Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Glendora,Calif. Posts: 1,137 Likes: 172 Liked 718 Times in 220 Posts	Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit. Something doesn't seem quite right if the car goes 6900 at 117.50. That's fast enough to indicate that the engine makes a reasonable amount of horsepower.You said that it has 5.14 gears and goes 6900. That almost seems to me that the car needs more gear. My 327 Chevelle in I/SA had 5.57's in it when I ran it at Pomona a few years ago, and it has a Glide with a typical stocker converter. It ran 7480 in the lights, and it felt like it wouldn't go any faster, it was pretty well done. That figures out to 68 RPM per MPH. I put 5.38's in it, doesn't sound like a huge change, but that is 61 RPM per MPH. The engine seems to like it better, although the first half of the track is about .03 slower. The overall result is about the same. Your engine seems to pull fourth gear OK, but a little more gear would make its job a bit easier. You have a car there that is consistent, and a consistent set of results run to run. Maybe moving the cam up might show some results. I don't think I would change too many pieces until I had some answers. The clutch would be one thing to investigate, how ever.