Quote:

Quote:



So my question, Why hasn't the 4.84 BS Indy 600-13 caught on? It's just a big ole grunt motor that repeats well, is reliable, and everyone I've talked to who went that route seem pleased. Is it just not a big enough jump?



First off very nice post, I enjoyed reading it very much.

I asked about the 4.840 indy stuff on here years ago and the response was go for it if you want to Marry Indy. Not to many people that are into that lvl of engine seem to want that. Although they would give a ring to Bob George in a second;)

Over the past 10 years I have built engine after engine (or bought and then rebuilt) trying to keep up with the competition in our local Pulling club which has been growing rapidly over the years. Each engine built had to be bigger and stronger to try and keep up with the GM and Ford boys. 15-20 years ago we ran a old stock 440 with some NOS and had lots of fun. The fun stopped pretty quickly when the rule no Nitros was put in. So I ported the 906 heads added a torquer 2 intake and stayed in last place for 2 years.

So the stage 6 heads were coming out and I bought a set of them. Bored the old 440 .060 over added a 509 came and the new victor intake. Engine ran fine for what it was but at this time the GM and Ford boys had 500ci strokers and the little 440 couldn't keep up.

So I found a great deal on 496ci engine with 440-1c heads. We went through the engine and it made 800hp. We won our points championship once and runner up the next year. Rules changed again in the club and people were starting to come in with 572ci GM and Ford engines. We upgraded the 496 to get another 50hp out of her but it just couldn't keep up again.....

At this time the Predators were just out and we knew we needed a 600ci engine to compete against the now 650ci engines in the club. We struck a deal on an older 636ci B1-TS engine. Money was the factor of coarse going with the TS heads and not the Predators. Also we were told of the advantages of the larger 4.840BS block and didn't know much about the TS or 4.840 stuff but we learnt very quickly. We learnt that what people said these heads and engines were, were not exact the reality of them. Even with the 636 engine and 1100+hp we were still behind cause people were running 650ci Schmit engines with 1300hp.

We then had to make the decision of what to do to try and get into that 1200-1300hp range. A Predator engine at the time would have done it for sure (2 years ago) but we decided to go the B1-TS route once again but this time have all the bells and whistles done to the heads and engine. The engine i'm talking about now is the 640 I've had for the last two years and I just sold this winter. We were extremely happy with the engine and it did what it could for what it was. We aimed for 1200-1300 and got it but last season we realized that even 1300hp is not enough to keep up on power tracks.

After selling the two b1-TS engines we finally had the money to sit down and actually decide which head/engine would be the best way to go. We thought Predator, Hemi 99, Hemi Millenium, we even considered going to the dark side. Very quickly we realized that no 4.800 BS head would keep up with the 4.900 or 5 inch GM/Ford pulling engines.

Are the Predator heads a great 4.800 head..... YES.... Will they make that 1200-1300hp....Sure.... Were they going to make the 1400+ I needed for the next engine. Nope. Is it the Predators heads fault? Maybe not. Being on the 4.800BS is the problem, even the 4.840 wouldn't help. Either have to move right to the 4.900 like prostock/ford, or right to the 5 inch stuff.

Every power lvl comes with a cost and the certain equipment to do it with. I've made mistakes in the past but i've learnt a hell of a lot going through these last ten years.

The people who don't send nice words to the "newer" equipment out there just won't or never wanted to attain that higher power level in the first place.

To me if it was attended to be made for a mopar its a MOPAR. Let it be 906's, b1's, Brewer, Zeeker, Millennium stage5, 600-13, pro stock hemi...... They are all MOPAR to me




Well said Mopar Billy and Diablo. My take on the whole Mopar, GM, Ford brand loyalty deal is this: I have been a diehard Mopar fan since I owned my first car. It was a 64 Dodge with a 383 4speed. Damn, I miss that car, and it ran better than any Chevy or Ford in my high school. Anybody that had anything real fast, usually owned a Mopar.
About the "cheap stuff". 440 source, Edelbrock, stage 6 heads, -1's, etc, are all street strip/stuff IMO. But, there is a place and purpose for it in the Mopar community.
When people sit around sniveling about why more people like Steve Gill and Best Machine and for that matter Indy, don't want to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in the development of race stuff for Mopar racers, it's because we are not that hard core as a group, to pay what it costs to buy said developed products, IMO.
And when we as racers, not street/strip guys, don't support the technology that's out there, these guys decide not to waste anymore money on the stuff they made for us, that doesn't sell.
I would bet Diablo will spend over 50K if he decides to go Mopar for the same thing a GM can go buy for $38,000 from Schmidt, I know I've been looking at that stuff. So if Diablo decides to go that route, he's as loyal to Mopar as it gets. I'm not sure I will be in the future. And I applaud the Indy, 440 Source, Koffels, Pete and Chuck, Steve G., and anybody else that still wants to develop stuff for my hobby.
I got tired of restoring car (all Mopars) and taking them to car shows and parking lots, long ago. But for those that get a kick out of that, great. I'm a racer now and find it very hard to step up in class with my budget, while remaining loyal to Mopar. So I may eventually change over to the "dark side" and we are cheap, including me, about what we're willing to pay for our loyalty in comparison to the previously mentioned innovators.
I thank Steve for building my Predator the way he did, and for the price he did it for, but I still whined about the money. It was a great deal and I would recommend him to anybody. He built my motor like it was going to be his, and that's passion and commitment in my book.
That's right, I said it, rant over.
PS, you would be hard pressed to buy the same GM or Ford, for what he charged me, and I still whined.