Don't be freak'en out on an engine Dyno. Great for tuning in the shop. I never had one engine Dyno ever. Chassis Dyno is more useful in real world conditions anyway. Real chassies dyno numbers are made on the strip.
Race Engine project planning
- Thread starter 1961BelAir427
- Start date
I agree, but I would still love to do it this one time. I don't really care if both engines are run on a dyno......I just thought it might not cost much more to do both since they will be already set up to do one. I wouldn't think it would be that hard to switch from one to the other if I took them both the same day. The way things are going they will probably both end up being finished about the same time. (Which seems like farther and farther away the closer I get to being finished.)
On the other hand I don't think I really care to have dyno numbers for it using the stock 881.
Hopefully it won't be much longer until the single plane dual quad is back on the market.
Well if they charge something like that FOR THE DAY......and I could get both engines run then I might go for that. Maybe even just this one for $500. It will probably depend on whether I can come up with a better intake and if things drag out long enough for me to save up for the dyno.
I never got a reply from the place I emailed. I'll try to call them tomorrow. I did talk to Reeves Performance in Warner Robbins. He said that his dyno wasn't good for much over 550 HP and he mostly used it for 350" dirt track motors. He recommended a new shop in Macon that would be even closer to me. Said the owner worked for him for about 20 years and had a new Superflow dyno that would hold around 1000 HP. I haven't been able to get anyone on the phone there although I did leave a voicemail Monday and no reply from them either.
The more I think about it the more I believe it'd be best for me to just wait a year or two until I find a better intake and have the heads ported. I guess about all a dyno session would do for this go 'round would be to confirm that stock ports and 881 intakes suck on a stroker.
The more I think about it the more I believe it'd be best for me to just wait a year or two until I find a better intake and have the heads ported. I guess about all a dyno session would do for this go 'round would be to confirm that stock ports and 881 intakes suck on a stroker.
Thank you Jason for sharing your info and pictures .......
So if gross lift is.693 your allowing .107 clearence plus gasket thickness before you'd make impact.....???
Are you tapping oil galley plugs bores for NPT plugs
You're very welcome. I'll try to put as much info and pictures in here as I can to maybe help future first time W builders. Even if I post something that's not quite right.....there are enough people on here that know this stuff to point it out and keep this thing in check.
YES...I plan on it. Gotta do that before final cleaning and cam bearings too. Thanks for reminding me.
Well this one is kinda tough to answer. Short answer "yes". Long answer - I wanted room for up to .750" lift in case I ever wanted to go bigger. The cuts were so tiny after our second bore we checked and cut for about .760" (to match the first one that we'd checked and didn't even need a cut) that I said let's just go ahead and set it up for .800" lift.
I am using 1.72" exhaust valves and don't plan on moving to bigger exhaust valves later. I just don't think I'll have a need for a 1.88" ever. The 1.72" valved ports have proven capable of 260 cfm and that's plenty for me.
Another reason we went a little more than needed was to avoid using the 1.88" cutter that Skip sent when he let me borrow the tool. With that size cutter head on the arbor....that #1 cylinder that had clearance for .760" with no cut......would hit the chamber at around .300" lift and in most of the other bores would not allow any lift at all as it was already touching the cylinder wall. Keep in mind that the cutter is about 1/4" thick so that is partly why. Anyway, the 1.88" will require much bigger notches.
We're hoping the ones we made will be plenty of clearance and safety while still being small enough not to hurt compression much.
Well I had pretty much talked myself out of running either of these, I talked to the owner of the place in Macon and he told me it would be $350 to dyno one of them. He said that was for pretty much a day and included hooking it up to the dyno. Warm up / break-in....and basic tuning such as timing/jetting/carb spacers/etc. I asked about something slightly more involved like an intake swap and he told me it shouldn't be more than an extra $50.
I did not ask him about the possibility of doing both engines in one day, but got the feeling that he'd be willing to give me a fair price for that.
That sounds pretty good to me especially since we should have a lot of the basics covered since we are going to break it in on a test stand similar to the one Ronnie uses.
Now if I only had an intake or two besides the 881 to do some testing with.
Well Jason,I personally think that since we already know that the old,outdated design manifolds[881's] are down on power when compared to the newer Edelbrock stuff, not to mention the single plane stuff,any testing comparing these parts is both a waste of time and money.The extra time and money would allow the other parts of the car that needs repairing,or updating to be done faster,getting the car back into use faster.Most of us are not rich enough to be throwing money around proving what's already known.Set a goal initially,build to that end,dial it in on the street or track,then improve it as money allows.Yes dyno time can be helpful,but even once that's done,you will still have to dial it in at the track because once that engines in the car hooked up and the hood on,things change as far as airflow,underhood heat,exhaust system losses ect.,requiring one to have to rejet,and retune the timing.The only dyno time that really pays off is what you get at the end of a run .It's called a time slip.How many of them can you get for 400.00 dollars?I don't mean to knock anyones preferances.but to me a dyno sheet is mostly something used for bragging rights when you get right down to it,and I can find better uses for the money when it comes down to making the car more consistent,or faster or both.I doubt that Brian's going to be able to market the manifolds that you're referring to any cheaper than the one that Jack is selling,so that might be something to consider instead of the 881.Then when you get the money to have the heads ported.you'll already have the car dialed in,and you can judge the power improvement best by making the head change by the increase in mph,and the reduction in the cars et.
fuel to tow, tolls, entry, race fuel, and some nachos, I'm guessing I get about 8.
It's my opinion also that unless you are really trying to wring the last bit out of something and are willing to change cams or headers or take the heads/intake off and rework them etc, then the time slip is good enough for me. In one day, you really don't have time to really delve into something too deep.
Say you dyno an engine and notice fuel consumption is high. Unless a guy is willing to pull the top half off and look for reasons fuel might be falling out of suspension I really don't see the point. I would rather buy new slicks or fuel or..........
On the other hand, curiosity is a powerful thing!
Here you go Jason, stick this intake on your stroker 
.
Cheers!
TomK
.Cheers!
TomK
Kevin Green
Well Known Member
That was it for me...that and my car will probably never see a track unless there is a car show on it.
How come your so smart Don...........
I'm pretty sure the intake Jack listed sold on Ebay almost immediately upon being listed....and a crossram he listed the same day. He was very cool in listing them here first so everyone had a chance before Ebay. I almost jumped at the Rojeski intake but put it off a few days to think about it and thought too long and the auction had been stopped. Ya snooze ya loose....right??
Keith, Don is not only smart, but he is also WISE. I value his advice and he's very right about the dyno numbers being for bragging rights
.Not that I think this thing is going to be any better than comparable builds here.....I think I'm mostly looking forward to being able to show it to the sbc/bbc/ls1/turbo Honda/blah blah blah crowd that our old "boat anchors" are plenty capable. It would also be something to frame and hang on the wall like a diploma. I dropped out of college to get married and have kids......I've never regretted that for a minute. This is special to me as my first 409 and I somehow think I'll regret not putting it on the dyno even if it means I've got to sell a few more parts to make up that money.
That's beautiful Tom! It sure would be nice if I could line up a few different intakes to try.
Don is so right about the 881 vs. pretty much anything else results, but wouldn't it be cool to run several?
I bet we'd all love to see power numbers, rpm bands, torque curves, etc. for:
881, Rojeski, M/T crossram, ported Edelbrock with 3" of open spacers, SpeedPort.
Of course that would cost $550 plus gaskets and other misc. Not to mention the value of all those intakes.
Hey a guy can dream can't he??