HEY GRUMPYVETTE?
My 502 powered 58 pro street half ton step side is now 11 years old, and the motor has a lot of street miles and quarter runs on it, and getting a little tired (or maybe I'm just getting a little tired of it? ...... Nawww, I love driving that rig, but a little more power would be even more fun! ). As I started with a 502 short block and put Edelbrock heads and intake on it, with a Holley 750, I'm thinking a rebuild with a 540 crank might be the right thing to do. I've been looking at the Ohio Crankshaft rotating assembly.
The block bores are pretty clean, but I'd do a cleanup bore anyway, don't know what the minimum might be or should be, but I'm assuming I would need to go 0.030 with it...
One question is how good the Edelbrocks will be with the larger displacement crank. Maybe have the Edelbrocks worked over a bit, or look for other heads. Also thinking about how much cam I want to run. It's a heavy truck, 4100 curb weight with me in it. Turbo 400, 2800 stall, 3.50 rear nine inch Detroit Locker, 31 spline Currie. I manually shift at 5,000 at the track, barely get into third in the lights, and am running a very consistent 12.5's at 108.
Would like to get it into the 11's, and we have a very active 11.90 head's up class I'd like to run in. I can run in the 12.90 head's up class very consistently now by short shifting at 4,000, but would rather go faster!
If your going to use the edelbrock heads, and keeping in mind PUMP GAS and that this is 90% a street driven truck, Id suggest swapping to beehive springs and clearance the heads for a .700 lift,a 540 bbc, in a 4100lb truck will need to have massive mid rpm range torque as its major goal
ID suggest a 9.5:1-10:1 cpr rotating assembly with 6.385" rods, ,a set of slicks,and an EDELBROCK AIR GAP RPM intake with this cam, installed retarded 4 degrees
http://schneidercams.com/284-94BBCHydraulicRoller.aspx
for street use
http://schneidercams.com/300BBCHydraulicRoller.aspx
for a compromise that maximizes hp while still maintaining street ability, at the cost of some off idle response
now obviously a larger cam in that 540 will produce a good deal more peak hp but the idea here is to keep cost low and as many parts re-used as possible and maximize the street drive-ability will increasing usable hp in the 6000rpm and under power band
There are always compromises to be made and each of us has a different tolerance for what we are willing to put up with in a truck/car designed for transportation, given the components listed "Turbo 400, 2800 stall, 3.50 rear nine inch, edelbrock oval port heads and 750cfm carb" and trying to keep as many current parts in use to reduce costs,I posted approximately what the calculations show as the mildest and most radical cams that will both give decent street manors and long term durability and increased track performance without sacrificing to much of either at either of the extremes, the cam you select will depend on which edge of the power band you want to favor.
theres no doubt the milder cam will be nicer to tow with and drive in traffic or that the slightly more radical cam will produce a good deal more hp.
keep in mind theres only a 10 degree duration increase between the milder and more radical cam, but a significant increase in valve lift, that will both increase hp and make the valve springs work harder, because this is not a race car and the goal is dependability, Id suggest looking long and hard at the milder cam, rather than being lured by the tantalizing aspect of more peak power with the larger duration cam at the cost of low rpm torque and street manors.
Id bet 70% of the guy would go with the larger cam choice,and that's not necessarily the wrong route , depending on your goals,but for your daily driver application that might be the wrong choice.
don,t make the common mistake of chasing ever increasing peak hp, stick to a cam in the ranges suggested, for a good combo, either cam will work, but get too far from that range of duration and lift and youll start running into potential problems, either because of the current rear gear or stall or basic power curve.
as always have a long talk with the cam manufactures tech guys
My 502 powered 58 pro street half ton step side is now 11 years old, and the motor has a lot of street miles and quarter runs on it, and getting a little tired (or maybe I'm just getting a little tired of it? ...... Nawww, I love driving that rig, but a little more power would be even more fun! ). As I started with a 502 short block and put Edelbrock heads and intake on it, with a Holley 750, I'm thinking a rebuild with a 540 crank might be the right thing to do. I've been looking at the Ohio Crankshaft rotating assembly.
The block bores are pretty clean, but I'd do a cleanup bore anyway, don't know what the minimum might be or should be, but I'm assuming I would need to go 0.030 with it...
One question is how good the Edelbrocks will be with the larger displacement crank. Maybe have the Edelbrocks worked over a bit, or look for other heads. Also thinking about how much cam I want to run. It's a heavy truck, 4100 curb weight with me in it. Turbo 400, 2800 stall, 3.50 rear nine inch Detroit Locker, 31 spline Currie. I manually shift at 5,000 at the track, barely get into third in the lights, and am running a very consistent 12.5's at 108.
Would like to get it into the 11's, and we have a very active 11.90 head's up class I'd like to run in. I can run in the 12.90 head's up class very consistently now by short shifting at 4,000, but would rather go faster!
If your going to use the edelbrock heads, and keeping in mind PUMP GAS and that this is 90% a street driven truck, Id suggest swapping to beehive springs and clearance the heads for a .700 lift,a 540 bbc, in a 4100lb truck will need to have massive mid rpm range torque as its major goal
ID suggest a 9.5:1-10:1 cpr rotating assembly with 6.385" rods, ,a set of slicks,and an EDELBROCK AIR GAP RPM intake with this cam, installed retarded 4 degrees
http://schneidercams.com/284-94BBCHydraulicRoller.aspx
for street use
http://schneidercams.com/300BBCHydraulicRoller.aspx
for a compromise that maximizes hp while still maintaining street ability, at the cost of some off idle response
now obviously a larger cam in that 540 will produce a good deal more peak hp but the idea here is to keep cost low and as many parts re-used as possible and maximize the street drive-ability will increasing usable hp in the 6000rpm and under power band
There are always compromises to be made and each of us has a different tolerance for what we are willing to put up with in a truck/car designed for transportation, given the components listed "Turbo 400, 2800 stall, 3.50 rear nine inch, edelbrock oval port heads and 750cfm carb" and trying to keep as many current parts in use to reduce costs,I posted approximately what the calculations show as the mildest and most radical cams that will both give decent street manors and long term durability and increased track performance without sacrificing to much of either at either of the extremes, the cam you select will depend on which edge of the power band you want to favor.
theres no doubt the milder cam will be nicer to tow with and drive in traffic or that the slightly more radical cam will produce a good deal more hp.
keep in mind theres only a 10 degree duration increase between the milder and more radical cam, but a significant increase in valve lift, that will both increase hp and make the valve springs work harder, because this is not a race car and the goal is dependability, Id suggest looking long and hard at the milder cam, rather than being lured by the tantalizing aspect of more peak power with the larger duration cam at the cost of low rpm torque and street manors.
Id bet 70% of the guy would go with the larger cam choice,and that's not necessarily the wrong route , depending on your goals,but for your daily driver application that might be the wrong choice.
don,t make the common mistake of chasing ever increasing peak hp, stick to a cam in the ranges suggested, for a good combo, either cam will work, but get too far from that range of duration and lift and youll start running into potential problems, either because of the current rear gear or stall or basic power curve.
as always have a long talk with the cam manufactures tech guys