which motor for class?
 

My malibu wagon is a 79-Do I run dished pistons or flat tops? I lost my Nsa and msa tech sheets. gonna look at work tomorrow. I have bracket raced my wagon for 20yrs and did fair. I hope to find out about what specs to run on cam, Can I use crane roller rockers? Thanks for all the help so far. Some of you make me not feel so lttle knowing that I don;t have much to start. I am calling this Welfare stock racing. I never live above my means, Only do this after all bills are paid. I have this dream to be able and run 3-5 tenths under index helps lift my spirits some. I am going to try and run the stock 7.5 posi rear for one yr.

Re: which motor for class?
 

Do yourself a favour and change the 7.5 out for a 12 bolt. There are conversion bars avalable to put a 68 to 72 rear end in that car no problem. That seems to be the cheapest way. Theres no way around spending money on the axles, c clip eliminators and spool but that rear is still way more available than the 8.5 GN/T type/442 rear. With any kind of power, 250hp and up, a 7.5 will break, specially with slicks. A guy I know just built a really nice Grand Prix that now has a 2 foot long rubber mark and a dent in the quarter panel from the rear end breaking and the axle exiting the car. Thank god the car in the other lane was faster because it would have hit it.
Id rather run 1 tenth under the index and know that the rear end will live more than 2 passes rather than take a chance and break it at half track and hit the wall or the car beside you. Food for thought...;)

Re: which motor for class?
 

Before you go any further, you need a copy of the rules. I suggest you find someone who has an extra copy of a recent rule book, like the 2009 rulebook, that they'll loan you or give to you.

You cannot run roller rocker arms in Stock in NHRA. You should not try to run a 7.5" 10 bolt, you can run an 8.5" 10 bolt, an 8.625" 10 bolt, or an 8.875" 12 bolt, but that 7.5" 10 bolt will likely break, and then you'll have to build a good rearend anyway.

To find out what class your car fits, and what engines you can run, you look in the Stock Car Classification Guide. To find the specifications on the engine, you look in the Engine Blueprint Specifications. To find these lists, go to the NHRA website, and click the "Competition" tab. You'll also find the accepted connecting rod list and the accepted piston list.

Good luck.

Re: which motor for class?
 

The roller rockers are legal in IHRA ONLY and they have to be the correct rocker ratio. 1.5 in your case.

Re: which motor for class?
 

Look here:
http://www.nhra.net/tech_specs/engin...ts/CHEV-79.rtf

Dished pistons. Cam .373" lift intake, .410" lift exhaust.

Don't overlook the 2-bbl engine. At 180 rating, it's a viable option.

Re: which motor for class?
 

They won't let me in that site. It comes up then says enter my 25 digit code off my CD. Product info something/any help?

Re: which motor for class?
 

Sounds like you need to find your Microsoft Office CD and enter the product key that's on the package. The stock car classification guide uses Microsoft Excel and the engine blueprint guide uses Microsoft Word and without this product key, they will not work.

Re: which motor for class?
 

Pretty sure you can download a free Excel viewer right from the link on the NHRA spec front page

Re: which motor for class?
 

I tried the excel viewer too no go