Next step forward for my engine

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straightlinespeed

straightlinespeed

Sometimes I pretend to be normal
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So sitting around thinking of what else I can spend money on that I dont have, during this winter. I was wondering about engine upgrades. Wondering what would be the next step for some added power. Im also curious what you guys think my current engine makes for horsepower.

Here is my current set up

LA 360. .030 over
Magnum Heads
XE268H cam
Keith Black pistons (sorry dont remember which ones off the top of my head)
Stock crank and rods
Air Gap
QFT 750
TTI's

So with out major modifications such as complete tear down, and machine work. Are there any other options that would make sense with my engine to get some more power out of my engine. Such as different heads or cam etc...

If not, just tell me that is about it or what not.. I dont want to spend a bunch of money (that I dont have) on something that would only gain me a little bit with this engine but would gain me a lot with a different engine (such as stroked). If that makes sense. Thanks everyone..
 
Nice combination for a street car, what are you planning to use the car for, street or strip? Have you thought about NOX?
 
Thanks, The majority would be street use. With the occasional trip to the track.. Guess that is the other thing to consider I still want it street friendly.

For the NOX, I've really never been a fan. I enjoy all engine cars personally. Just something about how much power one man can get out of only the engine.
 
What gears you running if there less than 3.23-3.55 would be worth an upgrade. Moving up cam wise you'like start trading in bottom end for top end and move the power band which will require more stall and gear.

Porting your heads or, I'd would go with edelbrock magnums and hydraulic roller.
 
Im currently running 3:73's but I have another section I was going to set up to use for cruising long distance, those are 3:23's. My converter stall is 2800.

Wouldn't swapping to hydraulic roller require me to get a different cam as well? What advantage might that swap give me?

Ive considered porting but wasnt sure if that was the answer or going with different heads was it.. I was actually considering EQ heads prior to me just going with the magnums.
 
What the hell is NOX? Nitrogen oxide, I guess. What's that got to do with anything? That's the gas that the catalytic converter removes.

Are yall trying to talk about nitrous oxide? There's a name brand with the acronym NOS that stands for Nitrous Oxide Systems. Or the chemical makeup is n2O I believe.

I'd stay away from nitrous. It already sounds like you have a really nice engine, Ramie, I would leave it be and look at the rest of the car for improvement. Nitrous is for slow stuff like Chevys anyway. Your engine may have too much compression to run it safely.

You need to build an engine to BE a nitrous engine, not add nitrous after the fact. Things like beefier head gaskets, wider ring gaps and IMO compression not over 9:1 and wider lobe separation angles are optimal for nitrous. That way, cylinder pressure doesn't get so high that problems occur.

All this of course is just my opinion.
 
LOL Rob, I knew what I was talking about.. sometimes it just dont come out right.

Thanks everyone for the input, I was just curious is all. There is always some other place on the car I can focus my attention on, like mentioned.

Much appreciated everyone! Hmm not what can I ponder!
 
What are you running for your ingnition system? MSD is always a nice upgrade but spendy :glasses7:
 
66340SEDAN said:
What are you running for your ingnition system? MSD is always a nice upgrade but spendy :glasses7:
Click to expand...

I upgraded to HEI last year. Very similar to Trailbeast's. Greg helped me and gave me inspiration to build my own set up.

Thanks for the suggestion Keith.
 
You have a pretty good combo now, the only N/A way to get more power is more airflow. You could try to squeeze more out of your combo with more cam with a sacrifice to bottom end. Or through better flowing heads, hydraulic roller would mainly give advantage to ported or aftermarket heads cause of the extra flow at higher lifts, plus you can keep duration relatively small for a more street friendly package.
 
I'd leave it be Ramie. Just enjoy the frigid cold you guys have to put up with this winter next to the fireplace :), and bring that baby out when the thaw comes and enjoy it. It will be fast, believe me. :thumbrig:
 
The kicker in terms of engine changes is the Magnum heads. They are not conducive to larger cmas easilly, or intake changes (and you've gott he best one right now). So I'm with the "leave it alone" crowd - or think about swapping in an OD transmission which would then allow more gear.
 
Thank you guys for the input.. I guess all that reading I did prior to my engine build was worth it.. It helped me pick some pieces that seem to work pretty well together. Again thank you everyone.. Its actually kind of a relief, because I didnt really want to mess with the engine but I've always been curious if there was anything left to do. I will for sure be concentrating on something else... What that is I have no idea right now.
 
there might be a few horses left on the tuning table
you could pull the motor, get her on a dyno and really dial in the jetting, plugs and timing
might be the only bang for the buck left in the motor BUT that is considering you are willing to pull the entire motor
 
Going to the track at all. Start tuning it up. Chassis, Suspension, tire pressures, front end movement/lift, launch RPM changes you'll be surprised at how much can be found in basic tweaks.
 
diymirage said:
there might be a few horses left on the tuning table
you could pull the motor, get her on a dyno and really dial in the jetting, plugs and timing
might be the only bang for the buck left in the motor BUT that is considering you are willing to pull the entire motor
Click to expand...

I had the entire car at the dyno after I got it together. The Dyno results from the couple pulls they did, got me 306 Torque and 260 HP. Sadly the engine dropped the #6 cylinder so I never really did find out the whole potential of the engine, hence another reason why I was curious if there was something else I could do.. After the engine got rebuilt again, it feels like more power than 260, but I have no idea.

crackedback said:
Going to the track at all. Start tuning it up. Chassis, Suspension, tire pressures, front end movement/lift, launch RPM changes you'll be surprised at how much can be found in basic tweaks.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips on things to play with!
 
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