Hey Jay, big block Chev. piston question:

[Raceman]

Seems like I remember you talkin' about building some SuperStock Firebird stuff a while back so I figured you could answer a few 4 stroke questions:

I just got a rotating assembly in to turn one of my older 502's into a 540. It was supposed to have JR pistons, but when it came in they're Seizco's. (bummer) Anyhow, they're 'sposed to be around 12:1 with 118 CC chambers. Would you do any kind of coating on the domes or other prep on the pistons? It's got Eagle rods & crank. Okay or not???? My other 540 has a Crower crank and Manley rods. The Crower was internally balanced with heavy metal. The Eagle has a large counterweight on the flywheel flange for internal balancing. Think this is okay? Is all this stuff okay for a street toy, or should I send it back and buy stuff I've had good experience with in the past?

[jerry]

if you want jerrys opinion , just ask .

[Raceman]

Raceman wants Jerry's opinion. Other Yankee tells Raceman that Jerry knows his stuff about big block Chevy's. Raceman likes Jerry's dog too.

[Jay Smith]

Raceman,

My son is the chevy person at JSRE and like I have said on many occations it does nothing to my manlyhood, esteem or ego to say I don't know and 4 stroke car motors ain't my thang and I exercise that right now . I have and do pay people to build his motors ( Dennis Faerman who is one of the top builders of BIG HORSEPOWER motors in the Houston area) ( I saw with my own eyes a 358CI small block chevy Pro Stock NHRA truck motor dyno pulled and make 1005 HP @ 10,000 rpms built and ported by them ) and have been VERY pleased as they are the experts in that field of expertice , they have the flow benches and the $30K superflows dynos to prove the changes have made power. I could fumble through the process learning as I go at the expence of shrinking bank accounts and torn up parts but as people send things to me to "rent" my knowledge I too rely on the "experts" that see these on a daily basis and are VERY successfull with thier customers endevers.......

Sorry I could'nt help Norris ,

[Capt.Insane-o]

Other than they are too $$$. I have a 428 pontiac that has been down the 1/4 too many times to mention along with lots o' street miles with W's in it. Flawless. Several of my jet boat buddies( forget I said that) and Stern drivers 540/572's have W, motors. They seem to fair better on the button than J/E or venolia, but other than that nothing really to mention. The stern drive guys with the 572's spin 'em hard. 65-6800 at 8psi. Venolia's are the best weighed set to set. I look at go through or build 10-15 a year. For coatings, not really neccesary unless N2o, high rpm, blower/turbo set up. It don't cost much to coat 'em though, and nitrous sometimes has a sneaky way of getting put on after. What eagle crank is it? As long as everything came as a proper set, use it. Gonna put it in that Vega?

[Jay Smith]

From what I hear the Weisco pistons for car motors are a very good product ! I think thier failures in 2 cycles is that they are "cam ground" with the wrong skirt taper for the 2 cycle application and are tailored more so for the 4 stroke motors!And of coarse no locating pins in a big block chevy .... I think ? :)

[Capt.Insane-o]

That 428 poncho has been buzzed 7300 sooo many times. 650 hp Had it in a 68 firbird, nash 5 speed 4 link rear 3.73 gears. It was a terror at Bithlo in Fla, Hemi guys hated me. They'd put me in the auto class sometimes. I relished those wins.:D

[Raceman]

"Gonna put it in that Vega?"

Probably gonna stick it in a 55.

[Capt.Insane-o]

:cool:

[ken medendorp]

A Rat in a vegas my God.:eek:

[jerry]

Raceman, the Eagle setup you have is a good one , not as good as the more expensive ones, but good , but you get what you pay for . We have a 540 bbc with eagle h-beams and a 4340 crank , a good ported set of bb2x heads and he is making about 720 hp on pump gas . You should upgrade the Eagle rod bolts to the L19 bolts just to be safe . The Weiscos are great pistons , better than the SPR'S or JE'S . coating the pistons wont hurt . And remember hp dont break rods rpms does !!!

[Rickracer]

It went 11.50s street trim, through the mufflers, no nitrous, and somewhere in the mid 9s slicked, uncapped and with the juice on. It was fun to drive on the street, but boring, nobody wants to try ya. I made one pass at the track in street trim with the juice on, and it went a 10.25 popping and spitting cuz the nitrous filter was plugged by a piece of teflon tape. While I was cleaning the filter, they came and told me to put it on the trailer, it was too fast for the safety equipment I had. It would have taken almost 2 grand to run it again, 12 point add-on to my 6 point cage, complete fire suit, SFI balancer, tranny shield, yadda yadda yadda. I sold it to the other guy in the pic and we did some street racing for a while. :cool:

[Raceman]

Which one of those guys in the picture is you Rick???????:D :D :D

[FCnLa]

:)

I think you would need more cubes to spin those huge 22.5s on the Vega anyway! :eek:

[ken medendorp]

NO THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH A RAT IN A VEGA .I LIKE IT. OK

[Rickracer]

Da chocolate guy is the proud new owner of da Vega. A .040 427, 11:1, roller cammed, ported oval port heads, and a 300+ N2O system got the job done. All in all, I did like the car better with a small block, ( I got a lot more races, more fun, and made more money with the SB):D

[Raceman]

Don't all Vega's have big blocks? I thought that's the only way they came?

[Raceman]

Jerry, where do I get the L19 bolts? Is that an ARP number?

I agree with you on the HP vs RPM thing as far as breakin' stuff goes. I'm not very hard on my stuff, at least not frequently, so maybe it'll last.

Thanks.

[jerry]

YOU CAN GET THEM FROM ARP THE NUMBER IS FOR 7/16 1.600 LENGTH IS EAG14000 AND THE 1.750 LENGTH IS EAG14020. THEY RUN ABOUT 150 BUCKS .

[ken medendorp]

Hey Raceman what does the vega weigh with the almighty ratster?:D

[Raceman]

I dunno Ken. It's so far from complete it'd be impossible to guess from where it is now. The sheet metal isn't done, no wiring, no dash, no seats, no steering or pedals & the engine is just a bare block and heads. It has a full chassis with struts on front and 4 link, but the chassis itself is homebuilt and I have a tendency to over build stuff, so it's probably heavy in comparison with a professional one. I did buy glass front end, doors & decklid to try to hold the weight down as much as possible. I started this project well over 10 years ago and the only progress in the last 5 or 6 has just been a little piddlin' now and then.

[LakeRacer99]

These pics look to be right up you guys ally...This is an old work buddy of mine's Monza. Yep, It was a big block.

[LakeRacer99]

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