Big Inch Smallblock
Just a question since this has come back up. What has happened to the old adage that you don't spin a long stroke engine very high? Has that been thrown out the window with modern technology, or are you boys with big inch small blocks just doin it anyway? I always understood the longer the stroke got, the more high RPM was possibly limited. Is that a thing of the past now?
I threw this thinking out (mostly) years ago when I was a young buck when I found out the bore and stroke combo of the NHRA top classes and heard of the rpm they were spinning.
I put “mostly” in parentheses because it comes down to (What I thought then a ways back) the equipment being run above the short block. Now I know the crank, rods, pistons and rings along with the machine work in addition come into play.
Years later in life…. What I realized was the rpm was dictated by the cam size & valve spring to control the valves properly and only better enabled with the proper parts to allow big breathing.
So to that end, I pondered how a big stroke big block was spinning 10,000 rpm and traveling as fast as they did. For me, it became apparent that I had a zero idea of how things work.
I honestly never truly grasped “Ultimate Piston Speed.”
As if they would suddenly break apart and crumble away or something.
Being that I have not watch any NHRA in years, what’s the bore and stroke of the top classes? Are they limited to any certain combo that keeps them at or under 500 inches as I. the way they run the bore and stroke?
Think about how they run the bore and stroke. How does that compare to a 340,360,408,416. Etc…
