Hooking up an A Body Mopar

[Jeff Teuton]

Send me the chineese ss springs. My anchors have been eaten away by the salt water for my boat. Get the Cal Tracs;, mono leafs, shocks, and go fishing. 1.81. That's really bad.

[bill dedman]

Thanks guys.... Cal Tracs/mono-leafs it is... I won't waste my time with the "old" technology this time.

John Calvert is a genius, I guess....

For right now, I'll leave the front torsion bars in; that'll be a project for next winter. I think they're the 340 bars because this car was originally a 318 with factory air. I think they put the 340 bars in those cars.

I have them "unwound" to the extent that the rubber bumpers are just touching (set very low.)

Any suggestions on tires? I need something S-T-I-C-K-Y.... I'm tired of these turbo Buicks eating my lunch...

Thanks again to all of you for all the good advice!!!

Bill

[Qwik426]

"I won't waste my time with the "old" technology this time.

John Calvert is a genius, I guess...."

John's "new" technology ain't exactly new. It's been around a while. But I do get your point.

[bill dedman]

Well, I think it's newer than the S/S springs... lol! That's all I meant.

Now, I need some 28"-tall, 9"-wide, 15" wheel-diameter slicks that are really sticky...

Got any ideas?

Anybody??


Bill

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

Well, I think it's newer than the S/S springs... lol! That's all I meant.

Now, I need some 28"-tall, 9"-wide, 15" wheel-diameter slicks that are really sticky...

Got any ideas?

Anybody??


Bill

Bill....We always had great life (over 100 runs) and luck with 9 inch "WHOS-YER-DADDYS" . They were 92 and sometimes 94 inch radials on 8 1/2 inch wide rim. 1965 Plymouth IHRA crate motor car. 3730 lbs with driver and a 116 inch wheel base. 2.75 low gear 904 trans.(found that Turbo Action trans and converter was about a 10th better than all the others tried) 4.88 rear and S/S springs. cheap no name rear shocks. NEVER spun a tire. wt distribution 49/51. car ran as fast as 11.38 in K/CM. Ran 11.60's and 70's in bracket mode every where. 6700 RPM shift points. Stock V8 torsion bars in the front. Got tired of readjusting the bars when we ran the 6 cyl versions. Never used a 2-step. Always foot braked.

[bill dedman]

Terry,

Thanks for all that GREAT information!!!

As you may, or may not know, A-Body sedans have smallish wheel well rear wells, and my Valiant is no exception. I really don't want to have to mini-tub this old crate; I think I can get by without that aggravation by running a 28"-tall, 9-inch-wide tire if I can find one with the right compound. The tires you were running won't fit this thing. I'd like to know what compound you had on those Hoosiers. I'd buy a pair of Hoosiers in a minute if they had a set 28"-tall I could use. That's an 88" rollout.

My setup is rpm-limited; the chassis dyno showed that power falls off really rapidly after 5,600.... I think the engine is outrunning the blower about then, and boost goes from 10 pounds down to about 6 as it approached 6 grand, so I'm gearing it accordingly. That's okay; it'll live longer that way, and this is my daily driver.

Thanks again for all the tire and suspension info. I think before I spend a bunch of $$$ on Cal Tracs, after thinking it over, I'm gonna put some really good tires on it and see how it hooks. If it still spins, then I'll attack the rear suspension with a vengeance...

Bill

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

Terry,

Thanks for all that GREAT information!!!

As you may, or may not know, A-Body sedans have smallish wheel well rear wells, and my Valiant is no exception. I really don't want to have to mini-tub this old crate; I think I can get by without that aggravation by running a 28"-tall, 9-inch-wide tire if I can find one with the right compound. The tires you were running won't fit this thing. I'd like to know what compound you had on those Hoosiers. I'd buy a pair of Hoosiers in a minute if they had a set 28"-tall I could use. That's an 88" rollout.

My setup is rpm-limited; the chassis dyno showed that power falls off really rapidly after 5,600.... I think the engine is outrunning the blower about then, and boost goes from 10 pounds down to about 6 as it approached 6 grand, so I'm gearing it accordingly. That's okay; it'll live longer that way, and this is my daily driver.

Thanks again for all the tire and suspension info. I think before I spend a bunch of $$$ on Cal Tracs, after thinking it over, I'm gonna put some really good tires on it and see how it hooks. If it still spins, then I'll attack the rear suspension with a vengeance...

Bill

Sorry Bill....I forgot the dart/valiant had the small wheel wells for a moment. If the 88 roll out 28X9's will fit go with that. The smaller the diameter (roll out) of the tire the less traction you will have with a given tire width. The best we had used with an automatic was the Hooziers. I will check the compound (I forgot) when I get the chance to look. Maybe tomorrow evening? As far as the PSI on the blower it sounds like your heads need some work or the cam is way to short (wrong overlap, Duration). The blower will calm down the cam. Most street boosts on pump gas are around 5-7 lbs depending on compression like on the B&M 6-71 style blowers when using PUMP gas. . Are you using a "Blower" style cam? There is a difference. Ive only played and built some MARINE blower application engines (Not drag race) several years ago and had comp cams (talk to Chris Pagent) grind me some hydraulic roller cams for lower RPM use for the thunder boats (5200 RPM).They were 502's and made 753 HP on one engine and 752 HP on the other engine on the dyno with marine exhaust maifolds at 5250. 8. 8 compression, 5.3 lbs of boost, no intercoolers, pump gas, ported heads (square ports-Ive preped cylinder heads since 1969). Ran 107 MPH in a 1994 (non stepped botom) 42 ft Fountian boat (10,000 lbs plus-lots of beer on board) on the river. What Im trying to say is you need to have the right heads and cam to use the full benifit of a blower. Hope this helps in some way. Terry

[treessavoy]

Originally Posted by Jeff Teuton

Send me the chineese ss springs. My anchors have been eaten away by the salt water for my boat. Get the Cal Tracs;, mono leafs, shocks, and go fishing. 1.81. That's really bad.

Had a friend who ran a super gas camaro using only the '68 SS springs and shocks. I'm still running the one's I bought in the '70's on my '64 Savoy.

When did they go overseas for the cheapies they sell now?

Jim

I use an entire '69 camaro with a ZL1 for a boat anchor, it'll only rust so far!

[bill dedman]

Terry,

Here' my engine:

STOCK 360 Magnum short block EXCEPT for the cam.

The cam specs are: 214-218@ .050"-lift, ground with 114-degree lobe separation. Gross lift at valve .525"

Ground by Engle for Hughesperformance, a Mopar-only vendor with a dyno. HE says it's a good supercharger cam. Very little overlap. Stock hydraulic roller lifters with 300# open, Crane aluminum roller 1.6:1 (stock ratio) rockers.

Heads; OEM 318/360 Magnum cast iron 1.94".1.60" with a 3-angle valve job and minimal valve bowl work; NOTHING else. TRUE compression with stock, dished, hypereutectic pistons: 9.00:1.

Intake manifold: Professional Products 180-degree Air Gap ripoff, untouched

Carb: Holley 4150, 750 double-pumper from the Carb Shop, modified for blow-thru up to 15 psi. ($900.00!!!)

Ignition: MSD Boostmaster with MSD Blaster coil (all analog; no multiple spark discharge)

Exhaust: TTI stepped headers (1-5/8" into 1-3/4") with 3 1/2" collector; 2.5" street exhaust with Dynomax Super Turbo mufflers


Snowperformance BoostCooler alcohol injection system coming on at 3 psi of boost.

Fuel: Avgas... probably 106-110 octane. Doesn't ever detonate, even at 10 psi of boost.

Transmission: Len Schneider built 2.45 low 904 with a 2500rpm stall 318 converter (cheap!) As much low end torque as this thing makes, the last thing it needs is a hi-stall converter. Pulls like a freight locomotive at 2,500....

Idles fairly smoothly at 475 rpm and makes 12 inches of vacuum for the power brakes at that speed.

160-degree thermostat

M-P "curved" OEM-type distributor.

3.55:1 Auburn limited slip, 8.75", soon to be 4.10:1.

Moser axles coming very soon.

When I put this engine together, a supercharger was nowhere on the horizon; I'd never even considered one. I wanted a car my wife could drive and she hates ragged idles; that's how that short-duration cam got in there. But, it only ran low 13's without a blower (I even had 340 exhaust manifolds on it), and that wouldn't get it. I spied a Vortech V-1, S-Trim new in the box on Ebay for a grand, and decided that that was the crutch I needed to pick this ol' tub up a bit.

It picked it up about a second and a half and 17 mph....

It cost me a lot (about 4 grand) by the time I put the new half-inch fuel system with 2 pumps on it (main pump and a backup; I don't trust electric fuel pumps.)

I have a 4" arm and a new set of rods for it... saving for some JE slugs right now. 402 cid will work.

In the meantime, I can have some fun with it as it sits, IF I can get it to hook.

That's what this is all about...

Thanks for your time and all the good info! The cam is gonna stay, at least for now. Driveability around town is like a 2bbl 318... I like that.

Bill

[X-TECH MAN]

OK Bill......Im no pro but from what I know it is the cam that is causing the varience in boost. I would think that a cam with 112 centerline with a little more duration @ .050. Something around 230 degrees on the intale and 240 on the exhaust. The blower calms the cam down and will make it run fairly smooth. . When you go to a 402-408 inch piece you will need more cam. Larger engine needs more duration (air flow) because the cubic inches makes the cam think its smaller. The heads (Magnum) are OK but need some work. The exhaust is better (almost 30 %) than the old LA style head. Ive done quite a bit of playing with the 360 Magnum style heads in crate motored stockers and bracket cars. Also with all that instant torque it might hook better and the chassis will work better with the 4:10 gear. Im not an expert by far but just from what I have found over the years, In case a blower is not always a blower I can only say Ive worked on the DRAW THRU type and not the blow thru versions. Terry