Dany's race car adventure, or help us spend my last $1500 wisely!!

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motorpirate

serial mopar owner
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northern KY
So Dany and I will be headed to Edgewater on Fri/Sat so she can have a try at brackets there this week.
She was the SLOWEST car at Thornhill last time and probably will be at Edgewater too, and i know brackets is about consistency but it would be nice not to be on the "bottom".
So, here is what we have:
'66 Barracuda weighing in at 3400 lbs with a half a tank of gas, the spare and jack, and Dany in the seat
904 auto (18 spline)
3.55 Sure Grip
Line Lock
Stock 273 2bbl (in car now)
'01 Magnum 5.9 take out with exhaust manifolds
Crosswinds intake
stock harmonic bal with bolt on pulley
LA timing cover

What we need: (NOT in order of priority)
Full gasket set for the Magnum
360 car pan and pickup
valve springs
camshaft
timing set/tensioner
carburetor
convertor
water pump and bolts
thermostat housing
air cleaner
and last but not least..
HEADERS!!! (and pray the heads aren't cracked!!)

So assuming I DON'T need heads, I know I can go thru the motor, slide the cam/springs in, set it up as an LA and stick it in the car for less than $1500...BUT...
Early A headers (Doug's or TTI'S are the only choices if I don't want to cut the fenderwells)
are like $1000!!!
Not saying I won't buy them, just can't do it now with everything else.

So, do I forgo the cam, springs converter and put the headers on the stock motor?
This is why i mentioned the slant converter in the other thread, its 18 spline, raises my stall some and is a bolt in. and should be a cheap one on this site somewhere!!

Or, do we cam/spring the motor and add headers later when i can scrape up the money?
I have a Ben Pearson exhaust bender from my "previous" life so i may be able to get the right Magnum manifold to work. The car will need some kind of exhaust system(headpipes,mufflers,downturns? car is driven 40 min up the interstate to the track) the left 273 manifold will choke the **** out of the left side!!
Any advantage to port matching a 318 left manifold??
340 manifolds are half the cost of the headers, so I don't see that as a practical temporary fix.

I have gotten so much valuable advice on this site, as there is so much experience here I know some of you have been where I am. We will do all of it eventually, but i am torn on whether to let everything sit until we can do it all, or do it in "stages".
Might be better for Dany's learning curve if the speed came up gradually?

Thanks so much in advance guys!!
 
It's so much easier to slide the headers in while the motor is out. So for me, I would do the headers now! A cam/spring change in the car isn't too hard.

Headers in my 70 a body were a pain in the rear. I'm sure an early A is much worse.
 
If a lower ET is the goal, do the motor upgrades first. Headers are a PIA on the early A's and are costly. If you can get the magnum manifolds to work for now that's definitely better than the 273 manifolds you have. 65'
 
I just took 273 manifolds off my 360 and put in TTI headers and did not see a big gain on the track. I know more fine tuning is needed but my gain would be maybe tenth or two.
 
I don't know how traffic is coming from Ky. going West at the bottom of the loop on 275, you may be fortunate. But going West at the top of the loop from Milford is usually one big parking lot the closer you get to Edge W. on Fridays.
Years ago, from a different location, we went River Road and came in from the South. But for you I 75 North is probably another parking lot.
I'd get an early start so you can get there in time to sit in a long line for an hour or so waiting for the gates to open, and then you get to wait some more.
It's like watching turtles.
Talk about Bad Management. They don't know a dollar when they see one. If they had a brain, they would have a headache!
For me, it's a total pain to go there.
Once you're inside, it's better.
Weather wise it looks like good timing.
 
the 5.9 Mag will be a big improvement over the 273. Friend of mine is running a 5.2 Mag in a 72 Valiant 4dr....stock engine except 4bbl. intake and street demon carb, cheap summit headers - it ran a 13.6 last summer, that´s great. Yours should run at least the same with sticky tires.

Take care of the external balance of the Magnum (proper flexplate), i think you can keep the exhaust manifolds for now. Keep the new cam on the small side, afaik there´s not much Piston to Valve clearance with stock Pistons.

Michael
 
You should also leave the extra weight items in the pits (jack, spare, your buddy) and anything else that is not needed during the run that can be left in the pits or at home. If I recall each 100 pounds is worth a tenth of a second.
 
If you want to get rid of manifolds, you could try Layson's version of Spit fire shorty Tri-"Y"s, a friend got his 66 Barracuda with Teener power down to 12.7 in the quarter running a set. An alternative to Doug's and TTi's.
 
Gears and wider tires first.
Your biggest up coming issue is your torque converter because of the spline count.

I had my wife’s ‘67 - 18 spline count converter modified here: ProTorque High Performance Drag Racing Torque Converters

Worth every cent! Save some money up for this.

You can make due with exhaust manifolds for now. Even if you have to cobble up home made dual exhaust, do that. H pipe it.
 
360duster said:
the 5.9 Mag will be a big improvement over the 273. Friend of mine is running a 5.2 Mag in a 72 Valiant 4dr....stock engine except 4bbl. intake and street demon carb, cheap summit headers - it ran a 13.6 last summer, that´s great. Yours should run at least the same with sticky tires.

Take care of the external balance of the Magnum (proper flexplate), i think you can keep the exhaust manifolds for now. Keep the new cam on the small side, afaik there´s not much Piston to Valve clearance with stock Pistons.

Michael
Click to expand...
My Magnum came with the original flex plate so i am good there..
Here's the cam i have in mind Voodoo Hydraulic Roller Cam - Chrysler 273-360 (W/ Long Snout) 264/270 - Lunati Power
I would be curious to know what your friend thinks of the Street Demon, I have a soft spot for Thermoquads!!
 
rumblefish360 said:
Gears and wider tires first.
Your biggest up coming issue is your torque converter because of the spline count.

I had my wife’s ‘67 - 18 spline count converter modified here: ProTorque High Performance Drag Racing Torque Converters

Worth every cent! Save some money up for this.

You can make due with exhaust manifolds for now. Even if you have to cobble up home made dual exhaust, do that. H pipe it.
Click to expand...
ProTorque looks like a "tell us your application and we will build what you need" type place?
And they rebuilt your existing converter? What did that cost? (if you don't mind me asking?)

I had a 7 inch wheel with a 235/65/15 off another car on it with enough room and there are many drag radials that size so I'm thinking we will go that way when the motor swap happens.

As to the exhaust, if I can get it out of the head and under the car I'm good. I have a Digital Exhaust bender/swager left over from my "previous" life so an exhaust system is no problem!!
 
I have a street demon 625 on my 5.9 magnum. Im buying a 750 street demon from a member here to see if I pick up any power! I replaced an edelbrock and have had holleys in the past. I like the street demon.
 
motorpirate said:
ProTorque looks like a "tell us your application and we will build what you need" type place?
And they rebuilt your existing converter? What did that cost? (if you don't mind me asking?)
Click to expand...
I don’t have the recipe handy and to be honest, I’m not sure where it is.
However, it was in the $700 range. It was taken apart and given serious upgrades including billet parts for a 650+ power handling ability.

Call them up. What’s the worst thing that can happen?
 
If you buy the TTi's, buy the raw steel. Then. If there are any fitment problems you won't mess up the ceramic coating. Though It'll be hot under the hood.
Then in the spring send them out to be coated by a someone who knows what they are doing. It's been a while, but there were a lot of complaints about their ceramic coat jobs. I don't know if Cudachick does this or not.
If there is a slip joint on # 7 put neverseeze on both pipes so you can get it apart later. And do it again after you get them coated. For TTI's Be sure to get on their site and get their motor location figures, to prevent your steering linkage from rubbing holes in your hedders, if's the not correct. Motor height and side to side.
TTI use to offer a chrome finish. I made the mistake of getting it.
My hedders look pretty darn good for being over 9 years old.
 
motorpirate said:
My Magnum came with the original flex plate so i am good there..
Here's the cam i have in mind Voodoo Hydraulic Roller Cam - Chrysler 273-360 (W/ Long Snout) 264/270 - Lunati Power
I would be curious to know what your friend thinks of the Street Demon, I have a soft spot for Thermoquads!!
Click to expand...

Don´t know for sure if this cam would work…..Lobe Lift must be multiplied by 1.6 with Mag Rockers, could be too much.

Regarding the carb: he and i like it for his application, an EDE AVS 650 would be a good choice, too. Maybe the new AVS2 with annular Booster could help with street gears.
 
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