runing out of idea´s on what to improve

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duster340

street racer
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i have run out of idea´s on what to improve within reasonable cost

its a 73 duster
weight: 3200lbs
tires are hoosier quick time dots P275/55D-14

-69 340 fully balanced bottom end everything checked and machined to perfection block halfway filled with hardblock
4Bolt billet maincaps

11.0:1 compresion

fullported J heads with 2.02 intake 1.60 exhaust valves

holley strip dominator intake manifold

edelbrock 800 cfm thunder series AVS carburator

solid roller cam 264/268 duration @.050 lift .630"

msd probillet distibutor msd 6A ignition box

TTI step headers conectet to a full 3" mandrellbent exhaust with 40 series delta flow mufflers

stock suspension

904 transmission with transgo competion shiftkit and extra clutchplates
2800rpm stall converter

8 1/4" rear with 3.21:1 gears will change those thise winter but havent decided if i should use 3.90:1 or 4.10:1 gears

will build somthing looking like caltracs to

subframe conectors are already added

what is good upgrades for this combintion?
any power estimates? will dyno this baby in mars or april...
it runs hard allready but i still want more
its mostly a streetcar but it will see some racing both on the street and strip

of course it is a real streetcar with full interior and it runs on pumpfuel and works great for cruisenights to real headturner when it idles rough @900rpm
redline right now is 7500rpm
 
Define "reasonable cost" and it will help.
However, starting from the top of the engine;

A K&N or equal 4+ inch filter with extreme top.

If you like your Edelbrock carb, so be it. I'd do (At your level at least) a Holley DP. Your build so far is a stout one. :thumbrig:

The intake is very good. Only bested by the Mopar M-1 single plane. Theres a few mods that even help that one out. Contact DLI in Cali. U.S.A.

Your heads. Iron J heads limit your performance even now. IMO, I'd spend the cash for ethier the MoPar Large port Comando heads or the Magnum R/T's fully ported. CAreful with the Magnum heads since there rocker ratio is 1.6 and not 1.5.

Exhaust. Your tti are about the best you'll get. Then theres race headers. Enter the catch 22 of it all.
I do not like those mufflers, but that choice is a personal kind of thing. I myself would be looking at a set of Dyno Max ultera flow mufflers.

Not a auto tranny guy, but I think you need more stall.

Your 8-1/4 is going to explode soon. You'll need a 8-3/4 at a min. I know you said cheap, but this expense of purchasing a DANA is probably very worth your while.

All costs would be considered reasonable though expensive unless you wreck it before upgrading to the better parts like the rear. Then your replaceing the blown up rear and what ever other damage it causes.
 
Converter. 2800 is no weres near enough stall speed for a cam that big. Get a custom built 8" or 9" with atleast 4500 rpm flash.
 
You did not say what your current combo runs. Post a time-slip if you have one.

A higher stall converter and 4.10 gears will get you out of the hole much quicker. Then add a 125 shot of N2O and you're all set. That's what I would do.
 
lots of good ideas! i will look some over this winter for an better axle the one i have now has a studed suportcover and has worked better than i thought from the begining but iam looking at the posibilitys dont whant to blow it...
i have an accel 5" airfilter and i think i can get a better top for that aswell so that is a good ide´ i had not been thinkign so much about until now.

reasonable cost i know it a floating term but i have been looking around for diferent heads and everything exept for the edddy ones needs diferent rockers and or a diferent intake manifold header combination wich feels sad when i have good parts there.. i think i forgot to mention the crane gold race rollerrockers iam runnig now...

soory guys i dont have any timeslip on this thing but i wil get it the next summer:(

i am a litle afraid of using a higher stall converter since that will make lots of heat during long summernight cruising

this thing runs pretty hard on the street and the converter helps mee some i think its tight enough for driving and its realy loose and flaches instantly to 2800 when i eant that so it feels lika a realy good unit... i will look some more into that again anyway

yeah i can tell the flowmasters are a big restriction in my exhaust cause i have cutouts for some specialnights and it makes lots more highrpm power with the cutouts open
are those dynomax mufflers any louder? i cant bee much louder right now it already rattles windows and sets of car alarms all the time;)

the eddy carb works great but i had the fealing that i could improve with a better carb how big should i go on the carb? i used to drive this car with a 650dp but that carb was a real pain in the but to use it wasnt consistent at all and the 800eddy makes more power on high rpms but is not as responsive as the holley was giving full throtle from a stand still...
how fast do you guys think it is as is and with the right upgrades?
it has beaten some mid 12second cars(12second cars with timeslips) on the street (pretty even the first 100feet and than totaly killing them on the top and)

thanks alot guys for the time and knowledge and for reading my bad spelling:)
 
4.10 gearing w/ 28" tall tires.

AT LEAST 3500 stall with that cam, use a deep tranny pan and you'll be fine concerning heat driving it on the street.

Eddy heads, that will wake up your engine. You have properbly more lift then your heads can support.

650 - 750dp carb.

Better rear axle as this one will grenade evnetually when having traction.

The above is what I would do first...hope this, along with the other's comments, helps you something.
 
that deep pan is pretty afordable and i can get the converter rebuilt the transmission guy can bring it up to almost 4000rpm he says and i trust him on that since he has a very good reputaion, and he is one of those guys who makes sure you get what you want..
then i will look for a 750 dp carb since it seams to like a bigger carb on the top end:)
eddy heads seams like the only heads that work good boxstock that accepts my goldrace roller rockers..
 
been looking around for diferent heads and everything exept for the edddy ones needs diferent rockers and or a diferent intake manifold header combination wich feels sad when i have good parts there..
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MoPars Comando style heads do not require different off set rockers. They have a hybred head that uses Magnum rockers and standard intakes. W series heads use off sets and Magnum head use magnum gear. You J heads are seriously holding you back.

The Dyno max mufflers are not louder, but close to equal in cabin sound.

Heat from a higher stall converter is delt with vis a deeper pan from MoPar or other, An external cooler, like from B&M or other. Use it after the stock cooler for further reduction in heat. Theres also synth. fluid to try.

The carb is rather large for a street driven small block car. The biggest problem(s) in making good use of that carb is, low stall converter speed, numericaly low gear ratios and the weight of car. (You could loose some.) Low vacuum signal from big monster cams. Tune that carb over and over till it's crisp.

For additional flow, there are some cheap easy mods, but they do not yeild very much. I have had some good, some troublesome results with the K&N stub stack. It does need lots of room above it and there not currently made for AVS carbs, only AFB carbs. I wittled a few down to work with the stock AVS carbs. Best remove the choke plate when you use the stub stack.
The other mods would be to wittle down the boosters and remove linkages over the carbs openings front and rear.
You should notice the difference.

I don't know how much power your running now, but if the rest of the missing info is a well balanced engine, the mods suggested above will deliver an easy 100 HP gain over your current level. I say this because the J heads only get so good unless you start to epoxy and weld like nuts. Heads like the Aluminum comando heads flow over 300 cfm with light porting as compared to wacko roof raised, max port movement, pushrod relocating head work.
Edelbrocks head will flow almost as much as the Alum. Comando.
 
Convertor and gears is the first thing that hit me in the face. 3.91's are a great street/strip gear. And modern convertors will work good on the street and strip without to much heat if setup right and using the right cooler. We use a 9.5 Dynamic convertor in my boys Dart with a nice cooler. It flashes about 4200 but drives like a stock convertor and we love it. In fact I just got one for my 63. And we ran 3.91's in it. It's nothing fancy and it's a total street car that ran 11.60's with the 3.91's and 11.50's with 4.30's. So the 3.91's work very good and he is going back to them and will just run a 26" slick instead of the 28's he uses with the 4.30's. And with 3.91's and a 28" street tires he can cruise at 2800 rpm at 60 mph. I would definetly go with at least 3.91's and a decent convertor. Then go and get some baseline time slips so you can start tuning from there. Ron
 
very good points there had another look at those comando heads but according to my mopar performance catalog and moparperformance webpage the largeport heads requiers W2 or W5 style rockers and the standard port comando heads dont flow a lot compared to the eddy heads so i think i will buy the eddy heads and run them as is untill i can aford to port them or get e set of largeport heads and the proper rockers.

have spoken to my transmision guy and he is positiv about rebuild my converter again and give me something close to 4000rpm stall this converter is just like 383mans sons converter right know almost as tight as a stock unit until i floor that loud pedal then i flashes instantly, found another carb option an old 800cfm spreadbore holley dubble pumper thats sitting in my garage that is doing nothing so i may try to rebuild that if anyone thinks it can give me some extra power or responsivenes?

rumblefish i had a feeling that 800cfm carb is alitle on the big side for a small street engine but the eddy 800cfm unit gave me so much more power than the samller 650DP holley that used to bee there in the topend range that i can live with the loss in driveability compared to a smaller carb;)

and those tips you had that is sheap seems very good i dont realy care if it takes some time to do there is a long winter ahead and i like to do lots of small things that piles up to bigger results:)
weightsavings are dificult i have a fiberglashood with a sixpack scoop and absolutlely no oundercoating under my car and nothing that is soundinsulating there is not a lot of extraequipment i have a stereo but nothing big to take away realy i like to save weight everywhere but its hard to find anything that doesnt cut back on the image of a realstreetcar that is good for summernightcruising too..
BTW that weight i wrote is with mee in it and a full tank of gas, fire estinguisher(hope i spelled that one right) the things that always are there when driving...

thanks alot for the help guys with your help i cant bee slow;) so anything more that pops up in your heads is greatly apreciated i realy need to bee quicker than all those guys running chevys that especialy on this side of the atlantic is alot cheaper to run quick with..
 
I will say on the carb I really like your basic Holley 750 DP. We had the 850 DP with a SP Holley Street Dominator intake on the boys car and ran 11.59 @ 116.97 . He switched to the Performer RPM and the 750 DP last time out and ran 11.55 @ 116.23 . So the 406 seems to like the 750 just as well as the 850 but I will say the 750 with the RPM had a better 1/8 time also as it was better on the low end. The 850 and Holley SD intake actually had more mph but less et. Just some info in case it may help you. Ron
 
i can live with the loss in driveability compared to a smaller carb
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He he he, so can I, so can I.
Also, your right, Ya caught me out there. The LP Comando heads do require the W-2 rockers. Damn, must be getting tired.
 
383 man i know you have a realy good point there but i am afraid my cam puts the power where a dualplane manifold just wont cut it since my engine already has very limmited torque down low compared to what is available at high rpm i think i will have to let this smallblock scream, but if it had been a litle less of a screamer engine i would have listen very carefull about the performer rpm manifold i know you have lots of knowledge about strongrunning engines that work well and runs lots faster than most would gues;)

rumblefish360 i realy wish those heads had been available with stock rockersetups;) but i hope the eddy heads will cut it for this summer and maybe more with some porting i know of a few very good people that can make wonders with cylinderheads but its not for free

anyone having any idea´about where the limit is for the eddy heads ? will they flow enough air to get me past the 500hp barrier? i dont realy care about a cerain number its just interesting to see how much power it will make and then count some on the performance.
iam also thinking about that nitrous got dart sugested but iam looking for more natural power first and then i will try the nitrous when i cant scare myself with all motorpower;)
right know my goal is low 12.s or high 11second 1/4s but i realise that is for serius cars with brutal power...
 
Another head porter I've heard great things about is Ryan at Shady Dell. He can get 300cfm out of those Eddy heads. But realistically, if your J heads really are 'fully ported' then they should outflow the Eddy heads out of the box. So I wouldn't bother swapping unless you go ahead and port the Eddy's.

Also, don't forget that when switching from iron heads to aluminum you want to icrease the compression ratio at least one point. This makes up for the heat loss in the combustion chamber.
 
ok maybe i should wait another year to get enough money to get a set of ported edelbrock heads its like usual my wallet never has enough money and the shiping will take some time to get those heads home from US...

yeah i would like some more compresion there is nothing like the sound of a big cam engine with lots of compresion and if i bump it up to 12:1 i am pretty sure i am the only one here in sweden running a mopar smallblock with 12:1 compresion on the street:)
thanks again i realy apreciate your help!
 
Are combos are pretty close, If your looking at chainging the carb mine made the most power and torque with a Holley 950. My home built carb made the same hp but about 5ft lbs of torque less. I also saw a average of 15hp gain with a 1" HVH super Sucker spacer. The gain was only 1hp at peak but it made a good differance in the mid range.
 
I'm glad I'm not trying to get THAT crazy with my Dart.

At this point I'll just be glad to get the 904 and 8.25 rear rebuilt. The motor feels like it's making the kind of power I was hoping for, and it'll only get better once I get the right gears (3.55s instead of 2.45s).

What's real bad is that "Mr. FBO" told me I was running the wrong intake for my 9.0:1 CR (Eddy Airgap) and that putting a Torqer or Performer on it would make much more power. Damn shame, it looks SO good with that Airgap. I think I'm just gonna leave it for now.
 
Dons a good guy but I think hes been sniffing to many gas fumes. The Torquer and Performer are good intakes but would be the wrong choice for your motor. The Performer has 318 sized ports and wont match your heads and the Torquer is a single plane and will kill some low end tork. It really wants 4.10 or lower gears.
 
well still running those ported out J heads while thinking alot about my options
but those largeport comando heads start too look real good now that i think more of it, but my mopar performance catalog and the online catalog realy sucks i cant figure out if i need longer valves or if stock smallblockvalves are ok? will i need a W5 intake manifold? will i need hollow pushrods for oiling?
both the online catalog and the old papercatalog i have says stock exhaust location and shape but W5 intake port , if you look real close in the catalogs for partnumbers you will find them described as W5 street heads...
i have foolwed your advice on converter and my transmisionguys advice and my converter now stalls 3300rpm i made the choise to just make it stall alitle more to get a feeling about how the car will react to it, and it made a nice diference ;)
the 4.10:1 gears will bee installed next week i am realy looking forward to see if they make some more diference :)
have also been thinking some about stroking this engine to 400+ cui but i will have to spread out the costs some soo i will prbably start with tearing down the engine this winter to have a look at how it has lasted soo far and then make the choise if i goo largeportcomando or largeportcomando and stroker crank, i wont go for just the stroker because of the heads realy being limmiting so far, i have also tried another carb resently a much bigger one a 1050 cfm dominator with a tall adaptor and that actauly responded better from the starting line than the edelbrock even if the dominator is way to big, soo i will look more into diferent styles of doublepumper carbs...
 
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