Progress report...
1. A transbrake would help, but would put the car in Super Pro/electronic's.
2. Play around with different converter stalls, but would be costly and timely to find the right combo.
3. Think about keeping the package we have right now and give her a small shot of n2o off the line.
WWBD? (What would Bill do?) Vote now. :yawinkle:
I have another car, a '72 Valiant that has a Vortech supercharged 360 Magnum with a Holley double pumper 750 blow-through carb that was modified by the Carb Shop for action in a blow-through environment.
It has a short-duration Hughes cam (214/218 degrees duration @ .050"-lift), but .525"-gross lift (hydraulic roller.) That cam is in at the Hughes spec, and has 114-degrees of lobe separation.
It has a stock "hi-stall" 318 torque converter tht stalled at 2,500 rpm (full throrttle) when it was normally-aspirated.
My 60-foot times are not good (1.81-sec., best) with that car because at breakaway/launch it incinerates the tires. It's got low end torque like it had 500 cubic inches. It thinks it's a big block. It's not that fast, overall (11.50s @ 118mph quarter-mile speed), but the off-the line torque is such that it spins all the way through 1st gear with a 3.55:1 limited slip third member. Since then, I have gotten some 1-inch wider tires on it (Hoosier 9" X 28" bias-ply slicks) and changed the final drive to a 4.10:1 limited slip. Haven't run it yet, with the new combo, but I am hoping for some 1.50+ 60-foot times... no increase in trap speed (probably less, with the wider tire), but the e.t. should improve, if it hooks better.
I said all that to say this: those two turbocharged /6's that I patterned our build after seem to make humongous amounts of low-and-medium-range torque. They (Shaker223 and 66turboValiant) both are low rpm motors that seem to like 2.76:1 rear axle ratios bettter than numbers in the high 3's or low 4's. We have a 3.55 Sure Grip and a 2.74 1st gear 904. The converter I just bought is a 3,000-rpm stall unit that I am hoping will catch this turbo motor right in the middle of its sweet spot, but it's all pure speculation, because we haven't even fired the engine, yet.
The rear axle is a B-Body 8.75" with the bigger (wider) brakes, and we'll have NO proportioning valve, and have a master cyllinder with a smaller-than-stock primary piston, so I'm hoping that the brakes will be good enough to keep it from rolling the lights, at stall. We'll see...
The last option would definitely be a 50(?) hp shot of N20 for 1 second, at the launch, to help spool the turbo/converter. I don't really want the added complication of a trans brake, but we may have to go to one, if all else fails.
Time will tell! :)
Thanks for your interest and comments; we're new at this...