[cowboy.2010]

Hey guys, my brother and I are building a couple pure stock circle track cars and are trying to find out which engines have the most potential. He is building a 1978 firebird with chevy engine and I am building a 1965 ford galaxie. The rules are, must be small blocks, MUST BE OF SAME MANUFACTURE AS CAR, NO AFTERMARKET HEADS, INTAKES NO HEADERS, MAY HAVE DUAL EXHAUST, AND ENGINE MUST MAINTAIN 15" OF VACUUM AT 1000 RPM. I was just wondering what you guys reccommend. I was thinking of going with 351 windsor or possibly 300 straight six since i'm a 300 six freak lol. My brother is thinking of going with a 350 or 400 chevy. I no theres pros and cons about every engine but, was just wanting to here your opinions. Thanks

[BigEd36]

As much as I respect the 300 Ford six I don't believe you're gonna be competitive with it because you're gonna be giving up a bunch of cubes. The 351 could run well, but selection of parts is limited compared to SBC stuff, and everything is gonna cost more for it. If your tire rules restrict you to DOT tires I would build a 350. Tried a 400 in a stock class, and with DOT radials it was a bi*** to keep from blowing the tires off coming off the corners with a 400. Took the 400 out and put a 350 in, was just as fast. With the vacuum rule you're gonna have to stay fairly mild on cam, Isky Cams and Howards Cams have a pretty good selection of "vacuum rule" cams for an SBC.

Ed

[oldbogie]

Originally Posted by cowboy.2010

Hey guys, my brother and I are building a couple pure stock circle track cars and are trying to find out which engines have the most potential. He is building a 1978 firebird with chevy engine and I am building a 1965 ford galaxie. The rules are, must be small blocks, MUST BE OF SAME MANUFACTURE AS CAR, NO AFTERMARKET HEADS, INTAKES NO HEADERS, MAY HAVE DUAL EXHAUST, AND ENGINE MUST MAINTAIN 15" OF VACUUM AT 1000 RPM. I was just wondering what you guys reccommend. I was thinking of going with 351 windsor or possibly 300 straight six since i'm a 300 six freak lol. My brother is thinking of going with a 350 or 400 chevy. I no theres pros and cons about every engine but, was just wanting to here your opinions. Thanks

No to the 300, the rules unless they are a lot different for an inline 6 are just to restrictive, not only are you giving up 50 inches against 350's or 351's in the Ford case, but the manifold rules will kill you on getting more carburation which the 300 really needs. Associated with the manifold issue is the hard to get around fact that inline 6's with what essentially is a log manifold has very large mixture distribution issues compared to the typical V8 with a much more compact layout that is designed to minimize cylinders from stealing mixture from each other. As poor as V8 intakes tend to be, they are much better than inline intakes at fairly dividing the mixture up per cylinder.

A 351 with Chevy valves is one effective way to go if the rules will allow it. Chevy rockers on 7/16ths studs, if you can, with guide plates if possible. I you must use a self aligning rocker Chevy rockers are way ahead in weight reduction than the Ford rail rocker on the stem end which is favors a few more revs by unloading some of the mass times lever arm length the valve spring has to deal with. Another way to go with the 351 is 302 GT40P heads if the rules will allow them, still Ford to Ford, with Chevy valves and rockers as the GT40P's are designed for the smaller 302 and now need to feed the larger 351. This gives better porting and a way better combustion chamber that the typical 351 head, to come close to this with a regular production head you'd need to score a pair of 69-70 heads which is mighty hard to do.

Bogie

[cowboy.2010]

Yea that's kinda what I was thinking on the 300 also if it wasn't because of the poor designed intake on the 300 I think I would possibly have something I think I could work with I dident no if Australia had a better factory intake like there heads? But yea in all reality I'd say I better just stick with the more practical 351 I just have to figure which heads have the most potential and go to town on valve work and port and polishing. Does the 351 Cleveland head to 351 Windsor block take a lot of fab work? Or would I be better to just find something factory with potential and just work with that. I know the heads can't be aluminum. Thanks for the info guys