Yes I'm one town north of Mooresville. I have not been to any of the shops, too busy getting established at this point. I have seen lots of drag racing though. Lots of 1/8 mile tracks close by so its not the long drive I had back in CT. I ran my Duster at Mooresville once when I first brought it down, drove it there, never even opened the hood and ran a best of 7.16@96 mph. Car is in storage now until we buy a house.
The 340 has smaller mains on the crank. This is an assumption but that means more meat in the mains in the block so doesn't that mean more strength in the block? Also slower bearing speeds in the bearings. I have read that the 340 block is stronger and can handle more power. Is that false? I'm planning on about 600 hp and I'm pretty sure that's right on the edge with a 360 block. I hate mechanical failures especially major ones that cost big bucks. My view is to always build things that can handle more power than you have.
I may wind up using a 360 block but I'm definitely going to be looking for a 340 block first. No rush. Not looking for a complete engine, going to be building piece by piece and the only factory part I would be using will be the block, accessory brackets and timing cover. No need to haul home a complete greasy hulk. Also not using any kind of roller cam, it will be a solid flat tappet cam.
OK, so the mains are not the problem area. I'm not using 4" stoke. I'll likely be going with a brand new forged crank with 3.58" stroke. The plan is to not build a small block that runs like a big block. I don't need or want a big fat torque curve or low end torque with this engine. I'm not going crazy with huge heads either, going to be very carefully looking for someone who can port Eddy RPMs or something similar to deliver somewhere between 280 and 300 cfm without exceeding .650" lift and hopefully not kill the low and mid lift flow. It is going to be high compression around 13 to 1 and run race fuel. I'm planning on running my car in The Gear Jammers races which is all manual trans. Going to a four speed and what ever rear gears will put it through the traps in the 1/8 mile at the top of 4th gear. I want to build it to make maximum power between 5000-7500 rpm and completely ignore the numbers below 5000. The cam will be custom ground to match the heads and intake as best as possible and it also all has to fit under the flat hood with an air cleaner. Its about working within constraints instead of just going crazy with huge parts. If I had the time and money I would build a stock eliminator car but I don't so gear jammers looks like a good alternative.
