I need more power

I am going to be running my small block dart at drag week and I need some help getting some more power. Car works well all steel lexan 1/4 windows. It weights 3200 and change with me in it. Dana Caltracs 727 and a cage. The current engine is a 340 block .040 with a scat 360 steal crank and rods flat top pistons. It is 10.2 to 1 with a set of ported x heads. Has a 591 lift 240@50 solid roller cam. There is a 1000 cfm cra on a ported strip dominator. The engine has gone 10.89 at 125 but will ran best of 11.20 120 in the heat. Would like it to run comfortably in the 10s for drag week. I'm thinking I need at least another 50 hp dont want to spray it. I have a set of ported w2 that I think will be going on it. A crank scraper is on the way. Also thinking about changing the cam always thought it needed more. Any input would be appreciated.

My suggestion is look for places to drop weight out of the car. LOTS of places you can trim lbs out of a car. At your performance level should not take a lot of work to find 50hp worth of excess weight in the car

Changing the heads will be the quickest fix. No doubt about it

Taking weight out also is always a good thing to do

I would like to get it around 3000 with me in it. The dana and 727 are weighing it down a bit. Did pick up.a glass hood. The only problem is 200 lbs is not going g to get me to where I want to be.

A good set of aluminum heads will add power and drop nose weight at the same time. Find something compatible with your intake, valvetrain and headers to minimize cost of swap. Maybe a set of 1.6 rockers, too.

A 904 with an aluminum drum is good for .1 to .15 VS the 727 .

I'm with Alguire, loose the weight. Look the car over, 200 lbs should be easy. My first car I scraped all the undercoating off and weighed it. Was over 25 lbs. Glass bumpers with aluminum brackets. You will be surprised how quick it adds up.

Not the cheapest....... but probably the “easiest”.

408/416 stroker with some tweaked aluminum heads.

Basically, a 4” cast crank and a set of off the shelf pistons swapped into the current motor, and better heads.

How much fuel do you run in the car? I lost easily 70 lbs going from 5/8ths a tank to 2 gallons. Installed holley
Hydramat to be able to run that little fuel. Could probably run less but the gauge just starts to move and I like knowing I have enough.

With your weight the stroker 416 would help a lot.. it would add the
torque you need and look at the weight.. will you be running a back seat
if you are you might want to take that out plus the fiberglass hood and
manual hinges with a prop rod.. battery in the trunk.. just a couple of
things.. have fun on DW.. its usually pretty damn hot

I do have a 418 short deck r3 but its 13:1 and dont really want to buy race gas for the whole trip. The car is fairly lightened. No back seat or heater. Most of the brackets are gone or swiss cheesed. Usually run it with around 7 to 10 gallons of fuel. Would like to put a set of trickflow heads on it but am waiting on a coupon or Ebay sale.

When I 1st got the car it had a glass front bumper. My kids where messing around in it and rolled it off the trailer into the garage. Glass bumpers are not kid compliant.

Throw A set of pistons in it for 11:1 with the proper cam and you
can run pump gas

Keep your eyes open or make a post on Monday that you need a Jegs or Summit 10% off code. Jegs and Summit will both be at Norwalk for the NHRA race and will probably be passing them out. I would have loved to go but with all the rain I'm way behind with yardwork.

I’m at 12.2 to 1 and am going to run pump gas for the road portion. Empty the tank at the track and put in race fuel. Did a 30 mile test with pump gas. No detonation, just baby the snot out of it. You could mix in a little race fuel as you go.

THIS^^^^, Add a set of Trick Flow heads along with a cam that's in the 260's @ .050.

Hear ya on the race gas. What about E85??

I thought about going e85 but the closest station is about 30 miles away next closest is over 50

Sounds like a good way to build some extra drama into the trip, looking for fuel that ain't readily available...

Just my .02; best of luck

I carry my methanol with me - it's in my Snow water injection tank.
Light throttle use: lasts a month.
At 30 psi: much less.

Down under we are in the same boat, we are going 10.0/10.1 but definitely want to be in the 9.8's for our Drag Challenge which is like your Drag Week. Our plan is to take a bit off the heads and get comp up slightly to about 13-1 and change over to E85 with a dyno session.

I know you said you don't want to spray it, but a 50 shot plate kit would get my vote.

Set of flat tops into that other short block, TF heads, bigger cam...... should be well into the 10’s.
Also, the pistons can be swapped, heads and cam installed into the other long block, then it’s a weekend motor swap and you’re ready to rock.
Opening day of DW will be here before you know it.

But I also agree that a small shot is the quickest and easiest path forward.

Unfortionitly the 418 is 4.185 bore and the 374 is 4..080

You already have the heads. I wouldn’t waste money on different ones. My vote is to try the heads, and have your current cam reground with another 15 degrees and more lift. A cam regrind is only 150 bucks.
The w2 is gonna work better than any aluminum head that doesn’t have a offset rocker. Even if the advertised flow is the same as the w2 the w2 will make more with the extra cross section.

Unless I missed something......... the current combo is running X heads.


Edit: I see where he “has” some w2’s.

I have worked at weight reduction without spending money and my car without me in it is still over 2900. When your running exhaust and have to fit drag week rules, you can't just start cutting everything out of the car.

And you cant put a 50 shot on a car running in the NA classes

To kill 2 birds with one stone would be a set of aluminum heads on the 418. Have the chambers opened up to fit the big bore and kill some Comp and unshroud the valves. I would opt for indy heads with bigger port than the trick flows although the TF's with a mild street friendly gear would work well

I think the plan of the minute is to put my w2s on the 374 with a old comp 20-730-9 that I have and try it. The new to it cam is 627 638 lift and 276 281 at 50.

It’s easy spending other people’s money........ but that’s def not the cam I would use.

I was thinking(I know..its hard) just put the 13:1 engine back in (as is) and
pull some timing and put a good meth kit on it.. simple.. you dont care how
quick it is on the street but you will have the torque you will need with the
416