Keith,

I totally agree with what you are advising.

In my own case I used the following logic...

The intake port is visibly larger than my old SDSS stage 2's and as a result I went even deeper in porting my old Vic 340. There's little point in putting more head on a motor if the intake can't keep pace, (at least up to the limits of the cam/ flow window). Additionally, to me the standard Edelbrock port is too small for a 414 and though the torque is phenomina, the top end power above 5800 or so seemed to tail off. I needed more flow up top and I figured another 500 or so RPM of flash would help get to the sweet spot sooner with no downside.

I also went from a standard gear 904 with 4.56's to a low gear 904 and 4.10's....the SDSS2's wouldn't pull to the stripe without nosing over. To be fair this swap was in the works before the Airwolfs anyway. I do most 1/8 mile here so mathematically the 1-2 is still close for 1/8 mile but the taller top gear works better in the 1/4

I also went to the rear sump Milodon dragster pan with a built-in windage tray to replace my old 318 truck pan with no tray.

But on the cam, one interesting thing about the Airwolfs is the flow ( based on published numbers anyway-2 different benches of course) for the Airwolfs exceeds the peak flow of the old heads by around only .430 lift and by only .550 lift they flow 96% (306.5 to 319) of what they do at .800 lift, so even with my mild lift .585/.570 gross 261/267 @.050 duration solid roller there's still much to gain (though not everything). I may go to 1.6 or 1.65 rockers later but with a stock block 414 600-ish is already pretty close to the limits of where I'd take it anyway.

I also only have 1 5/8 headers (since I know they fit the Rocky's "unique" engine bay) but I did weld in a 3 1/2" collector and 3 1/2" to 3" Flowmaster long reducer over the winter. Not as good as a "proper" size header set but...it fits and it's what I have

Bryce publishes a 322 peak flow but that is at 1.00" lift and to me, anyone running anything much over .700-.750 is going to want to run a bigger race port offset runner head (like a SDSS ported W9) anyway.

I'd like to see what these would do with the pushrod pinch removed and an offset rocker!

What's the weight of this car that's going 5.8's?

All right now for the ones that don't know I have a 72 demon I use to race then had the avenger built. I took the engine out of the demon and put in the avenger when the motor I built had pin hole in the cylinder. Now I wanted to get the demon going so I took the edel off the avenger. The avenger is running a 4" stroke and 4.04 bore with diamond pistons .015 in the hole for a 413 at 11 to 1 compression. Engine builders I'm I right? I took the edel off and the comp solid .585 lift out. I had Bryce put on my bullet springs and bolted on the air wolfs out of the box and installed the bullet .640 roller that I had ordered for the edelbrocks about a year ago. I used the same 1.6 hughes rocker arms. This is in a 2140 pound tube chassis car same converter and gears. I wont say were the power came from but I wasn't planning on that much of a gain.

Not apples to apples.

I have a set of Curtis Boggs ported Edelbrocks on my pump gas 408, it's gone 6.57 at 3260#. If someone want's to send me a set of ported airwolfs I'll be happy to test them.

Unfortunately, mine's not going to be an apples to apples either since I've done so many other changes to my combo as well. Plus the fact that I never really made a full throttle pass with the Shady Dells. They were great heads too.

Ran the Rocky 414 with the Airwolfs on Saturday but only got to make 1 drivetrain test run and 1 semi-aborted pass (my Tach quit it the water box) . As I said it was the first run with the new Heads, a new converter, new gearset in the trans and new rear gears. Still the car ran a short shifted (maybe 5800 ) 7.313 @ 96.09 at the 1/8th and an 11.446 @ 116.59 letting out of the throttle at 1200'. I sensed the new heads wanted more jet than the old SDSS stage 2's since the jetting was already borderline lean I decided not to push it.

There were several delays at Rockingham and I couldn't stay all day so Unfortunately I won't be able to get a full test until next time out. I had hoped to get a lot more laps in and the weather was near perfect but the racing was pretty poorly organized.

I'm still figuring out the new converter ( only hit a 1.71 on the 11.44 pass and I know it's good for a sub 1.50 once I find the sweet spot ) and assuming I run a ~6600 rpm shift point with the fatter jetting, I'm confident the car will run 6.80's in the 1/8th and at least a 10.90 @ 121 or so next time. But so far I'm real happy with where the combination will be with a little more tuning.

Wize,

What does the rocky weigh?

About 2925 w/me (230) in it.

My 116.6 run might have been more like 119 if I didn't let out of it, I was banking on getting more runs in that day but it wasn't to be. I just wanted to get back to the pits and trace down the Tach issue. The power felt good considering the slow 1.71 60

Still figuring out the launch and where the vert wants to be. CudaDan said he FB'ed it to 3200 and let it eat, my car likes to be shocked off idle but that was with a much tighter flash than what I have now. The CG is right under my seat I just got to find the sweet spot. Here's a kinda grainy video:

http://youtu.be/b3hVJFuvrRM

Fun car to drive, it goes straight as an arrow.

I think it should go a lot faster than high 10's with that power plant all sorted out. Mine was 500 pounds heavier and made less power and still went 10.75@123.

Hang on

All I need is a good night of T&T to make several passes
And see what it'll do. It definately needed more jet and I'm glad I didn't go for 'broke'.

Yeah it should go easy mid 10's all dialed in....but high 10's is probably all I want to tune for. I always liked 1/8th mile bracket racing in that 6.90 range, quick enough to have fun.

Don,

Yeah, no doubt but I really just wanted to get a baseline in the 1/8th since that's what's around here. I had the jets for the next pass but the long delays/oil downs just got me frustrated with the whole event.

Come down to Darlington on a Wednesday night and we'll tune that thing in.

That's the plan, Chip!

How does next Wednesday look for you?

Next Wednesday should be good. As long as I know on Tuesday morning, so I don't schedule anything for work, I should be able to make it.

Sounds like a plan, buddy!!

Thanks!

Bobby,
What did that critter run before the changes? Sounds like its already making more steam but I cant remember for sure where it was before ?
Keith

Not apples to apples, besides the heads, the car has a new low gear 904 and 4.10 gears, not to mention a new oil pump and pan. It ran an 11.81 at 114.4 last time out and that wasn't anything close to a full throttle pass by any means either.

What guys need to understand (and hopefully appreciate) is I have never and will never make a 'Bawls to the Walls" pass right off the trailer with all new parts without making at least a few check-out passes to run the trans and gears through and make sure everything is working right. Make an easy pass or 2, Check for leaks, check the plugs, tweak and then go at it.

I've seen so many times guys do dumb things (make false assumptions all was perfect) like frag expensive transmissions because the guy at the shop didn't readjust the band screw properly, I'm very conservative even when I' m 110% sure everything is right. Patience is a virtue, especially when my $$$$ (and especially my AZZ )is invested

Once I've made sure the car runs and tracks straight down the track (btw, I also made some good T bar adjustments, but you don't KNOW they're right until you test) before I'm ready to beat the snot out of it