Black RS/Z & the 1/8 mile... any suggestions?

[ORIGLS6]

4.88 or 5.13s are believable gears for an 1/8 mile with a Z. We had a couple of guys running 5.38s in SBCs at our old track.
There was one guy who ran a 5.13 in his SBC '61 Impala, and ran 1/4 mile. The car was named "The Twister", for obvious reasons. If I recall correctly, he hit the traps at around 8200.

[Chevy454]

And the thing ya gotta remember, when going to stickies most guys jump up to like a 29" or 30" tall tire, which has at least a couple inches in height over the stock tire, which *really* compounds a gearing problem on a small block...

Would be hard to justify gearing it for the tall tires & the 1/8 mile if you mainly drive the car and only hit the track once or twice a year...but steep gears are FUN!

[Salvatore]

4:56's on the street with 27-28" tires is fine in my book. Plugs are white? Depends on how many runs you have on them. May not have shown any color yet. What heat range plugs are you running and are the float levels a little low? Maybe the valve springs are weak at 7,200 rpm's. Points may be good. Motor has to be pretty cool between runs if you want to make some power. Maybe to hot down where you are. Ice, ice and more ice!

[firstgenaddict]

We did not cool between runs at all... made a pass then came right back around and made another would let her rest maybe 15 min every 2-3 passes.

Floating valves are the least of my worries... it has oversized double springs with dampers and all are shimmed to have the same seat pressure. Engine guy does nothing but drag racing SB's and said the motor would easily turn 8500.

Running stock AC delcos... stock heat range.

We are running 26" tires... the same height as the Wide Treads... had them down to 15# pressure...

One of my friends has 5:13's in his 69 Nova with a 60 over 396.... it runs 7.40's.

[Salvatore]

Try a plug change and maybe setting the floats up a little. That may be the cause of you running out of gas. Low float levels. Probably best bet for the 1/8th mile is a 4:88 for that little motor.

[firstgenaddict]

Photos... William driving...

[Salvatore]

I like it!!!

[John Brown]

I used to run 5.38's and a 40 pound flywheel back in 68/69 in my 68 Z. I ran 12.50's @ 117 in the 1/4. RPM was crazy. That was good for about a 8.10 in the 1/8. Tires are a lot better today too. 5.38's caught a lot of people off guard on the street too !!

[firstgenaddict]

Colder or hotter on the plugs Sam?

[firstgenaddict]

I was wondering if I ran some more tire pressure would it cause the tires to spin a little more and not cause it to bog so much when

We let some air out of the tires and the car hooked better, but the ET's went up... could it be that hooking quicker is causing the motor to bog because the car is not moving forward as fast as it was when the tires were spinning more??? (it may sound crazy but thinking about how the car felt and what the RPM's did when it came off the line and the tires caught, this seems possible)