Looking for some advice as to which might be better to build a small block 450 cubes R5P7 head or a w9RP head engine. Or a big block 622 cubes wedge B1MC head or a Hemi millennium stage V head engine. Pros small block lighter pkg. less torque easier to hook. Big block pros less abuse, less maintenance lower rpm launch easier on drive train? 2600lb car cal trac leaf sprung car 6 speed 10.5x28 tire. Opinions?

I believe small blocks bigger than 430 cubes have to compete in the big block class....After that, I guess it depends on budget and ET goals. Most NA combos will be in the 9's, with a nasty BB probably capable of upper 8's...

The other thing to keep in mind, is the tire size your using...A BB is going to hit the tire pretty hard to launch, so if your doing a small tire, I would just go SB....

At 2600lb 900hp will get you into the 8's. Our old 580 makes a little more than that and pushes our just over 4000lb E body into the 9's on 29.10.5 slicks. On our car for drag and drive I'd tame the valvetrain down some (currently .768") and upgrade the cooling system. Likely I'd swap rocker arm ratio's to 1.5 from 1.6 or go smaller on the cam with 1.7's for race and 1.5 for road. We have a drag and drive weekend which is around a 500 mile round trip (UK), I hear some guys are running bigger cams with no issues but boost seems to be the weapon of choice. There are lot's of options out there for power management but for N/A it's usually timing control.

What valvetrain do you think will survive the street drive better? A 9000 rpm small block or 7000 RPM big inch Hemi? Survival is key.

Steve Morris did a thing on valve springs breaking. Seems that running at one rpm for extended periods of time breaks valve springs, and varying engine rpms doesn't.

The one with the best valvetrain geometry...

I thought that was interesting, but I don't know if it is possible to drive for an extended period of time at the exact same engine RPM. Especially with an automatic with a loose converter. I have done 9 drag and drives with my Barracuda. I have run cheap K-motion springs that I changed every year. I have run expensive comp endurance springs that I have used up to 6 years. I have never broken a spring even with a fairly healthy spec'd solid roller. I have broken a rocker arm, and killed a few pushrod tips. I think the rocker arm broke because the shaft was torn up under the bearing on the bottom half and it bound up. The pushrod tip thing was a hardening problem with the adjusters or the pushrods. I ran years with the same pushrods and adjusters, then all the sudden it ate 1, then it ate 4 or 5 more on that one drag week. They didn't turn blue or anything they just wore the cup out. It was like my original wore out, then my spares were crap.

The big block NA class is usually a little slower than the small block class at drag week. But either class can have a ringer that kills the rest of the field. Small Block NA record is like 8.60 at 3200 or 3300lbs I think. But you never know what shows up. I ran the small block super street class one year just because I wanted to run earlier in the day and didn't care how I placed. I ended up 3rd with a 10.57 average. 2nd was 10.40s and 1st was like 9.0ish.

Didn't Doc w/ the red camaro run like 7.90s or 8.0s in the BB NA class?

Green Mustang has been WELL into the 7's NA...Dont know the owners name. I know they change rockers during the drive

Green Mustang AKA "Snot Rocket" has been sold. As for Doc he runs the Pro Street BB NA class with big tires. Doc has something in the works for Sick Week 2025 that is much lighter.Love to see his co pilot get out of that car. LOL Jasons Camaro has been 8.60s as posted. Right at one inch of lift. He and his wife have it figured out. Probly that Mopar intake. LOL. Buddy of mine has a big inch small block R3 W9RP. with a man pedal thats been bottom 9s. Chinese crank shaft is now in two pieces, Have to be a glutton for punishment to be NA powered.

I am referring to the blue colored fox body with a BBC owned by Ed Ensor. Been in the 7.40's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-C-RJpV8wA

That car is a beast.

Yeah but he has a Billet Goodwin motor, kicks him to the Pro-Street class.

Ensor's cars are always top notch performers and could win a car show. I think his current car has to run unlimited since it is a super light tube chassis deal.

I wish I had the budget and the time some of these guys have lol.

I think it was 2019 when Brett Miller and Brad Bowers ran Drag Week. I think it was Brad's Dart and Brett's old Engine Masters Motor which I think was R3W8. They won their class.

That same year someone was running an R5p7 motor in another class, it was a stick shift with some engine setback.

I don't remember the times but I think on most if not days the W8 motor was faster.

If anyone else has more details please chime in.

I just saw an article on Ed’s mustang he cut a 7.12 and a 7.11 some rough math sez he’s doin 1500 maybe 1600 N/A, that’s crazy no BB wedge is gonna make that kinda power with the heads we have maybe a Hemi I don’t know?

Not sure if this was clickbait but the video launched was a campaign add for some incompetent lady running for office, IDK?

Good luck getting a Caltrac car that light!

There is a way around the hard hit of a bigblock. Use a CO2 throttle controller set at low launch rpm, and it will take about .05 aeconds to open fully on launch. Additionally it takes a very small amount of time for full airflow to reach the cylinders. The result forced me to take about .05 seconds out of my delaybox for good reaction times. Now i am at 1.04 versus 1.09. But the Dart now leaves like a pro stocker, no violent wheelstands and it no longer hits the wheelie bars hard enough to spin the rear tires. 1/4 8.60 et, 122 60 ft, launch rom 4000, stall 6200. I do have 51 percent front weight, 2905 lbs, 106 wb.

An MSD grid will retard the timing from a launch event (T/B or F/B) by as much as you want and for how long as you want. Fit an MSD ARC module and it will do this as soon as it sees too much wheelspeed any time during the pass from the launch event.