The Plan For My 76
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,624
Likes: 431
From: Dale City VA
The Plan For My 76
Ok I though I would let people know what I plan to do with the 76 I just bought. I previously stated that I was going to start out with a mild BBC and try to have fun with the car since (due to building a new very high $$ 383 for my 92) I don't have the $$ to make the 76 really, really fast now. I think I have a pretty good motor to start with and as for the ladder bars and 9" I already have, it seems like a lot of work, so I just may run the stock IRS until it breaks, I hope it has 3.55 gears but not much I can do about it with my limited funds right now.
The car came with a GenV 454 still in the crate, never fired. 9.8 deck, Oval port, hyd roller cam (very small thou), flat top pistons and 4 bolt main Mercruiser Marine engine. I belive it was rated at 360hp but since GM hasn't made any GenV (all new ones are now GenVI) in a few years info is not very available about it. I have asked around about just selling it and building a better motor but the $$ don't add up to where I could build anything decent. So my best bet is just to modify this one to something decent as cheaply as I can.
What I plan to do is ditch the oval port heads, stock hyd roller, stock rods and low compression pistons. Here are the replacement parts:
Heads
Brodix Race Rite 294cc rectangular ports. They are small but should fit well with my limited RPM and small cubic inch engine, and I can always do a little port work on them. My main reason for using them is no raised ex ports to deal with screwing up my Hooker side exhaust. $1800.00
Cam
I can get a good deal on take out 502/502 hyd roller cams from one of my regular parts suppliers. 224 degree intake / 234 degree exhaust & .527 intake / .544 exhaust on 114 L/S. I think it should hit a nice little lick and make decent power considering how cheap it is. $99.00
Rods
Eagle SIR. $270.00 or Scat I beam $260.00
Pistons
Keith Black forged. #KB9919 9.6 SCR. $330.00 I thought about Speed Pros but the are more $$ and not floating pins, also the KB hypers which I have had good luck on street car builds in the past but for the $40.00 difference I will use the forged. Besides with the NO2 kit I have (Top Gun Stage V plate kit) floating pins and forged pistons are a must have.
As cheap as this sounds I plan to re-use the rod brgs and rings that came stock since they have never been fired, I don't like re-crushing rod brgs but oh well.
Intake/Carb
Also an intake that will clear my stock 76 hood is going to be a bit of a challenge. I want a cowl hood but I honestly don't know if the $$ will be there right now. Worst case is I may just take the hood off for a while and use the Profesional Prouducts single plane R port intake and a holley 850DP I already have.
Wheels/Tires
I already have 26X11.5 M/T ET street DOT tires for the rear I plan to mount on the stock 15X8 rally wheels. After much measureing and figuring out spacer and B/S sizes needed I have a set of 15X3.5 M/T ET drag front wheels ordered for the front with 165R15 metric radials.
Trans/converter
I have a fresh TH350 with a man valve body/trans brake that has been sitting unused for about 2yrs in my dads shop from my old race car. I need to buy a converter as the one I have from that car is a bit large for this combo (8" 5500 stall). I'm thinking a 10" 3600-3800 is in order. I'll have to call some favors in and maybe get a deal on one from my suppliers. I'm hoping about $250-$350.00
In all I'm hoping to run some mid 11's in the 1/4 (low 7's in the 1/8th) on motor and maybe dip it into the 10's on the bottle without breaking anything (6's in the 1/8th). I know the best case 3.55 rear gear is hurting me and the stock IRS will probally self destruct the first time I get greedy and leave off the trans brake at 3500RPM and hit the bottle. (Note to self, no matter what keep 150hp pills in NO2 plate, unhook trans brake, & keep DOT tires on car at all times
) Don't know what I'll do if it has a 3.08 gear... run it I guess.
What do you guys think?
Will
The car came with a GenV 454 still in the crate, never fired. 9.8 deck, Oval port, hyd roller cam (very small thou), flat top pistons and 4 bolt main Mercruiser Marine engine. I belive it was rated at 360hp but since GM hasn't made any GenV (all new ones are now GenVI) in a few years info is not very available about it. I have asked around about just selling it and building a better motor but the $$ don't add up to where I could build anything decent. So my best bet is just to modify this one to something decent as cheaply as I can.
What I plan to do is ditch the oval port heads, stock hyd roller, stock rods and low compression pistons. Here are the replacement parts:
Heads
Brodix Race Rite 294cc rectangular ports. They are small but should fit well with my limited RPM and small cubic inch engine, and I can always do a little port work on them. My main reason for using them is no raised ex ports to deal with screwing up my Hooker side exhaust. $1800.00
Cam
I can get a good deal on take out 502/502 hyd roller cams from one of my regular parts suppliers. 224 degree intake / 234 degree exhaust & .527 intake / .544 exhaust on 114 L/S. I think it should hit a nice little lick and make decent power considering how cheap it is. $99.00
Rods
Eagle SIR. $270.00 or Scat I beam $260.00
Pistons
Keith Black forged. #KB9919 9.6 SCR. $330.00 I thought about Speed Pros but the are more $$ and not floating pins, also the KB hypers which I have had good luck on street car builds in the past but for the $40.00 difference I will use the forged. Besides with the NO2 kit I have (Top Gun Stage V plate kit) floating pins and forged pistons are a must have.
As cheap as this sounds I plan to re-use the rod brgs and rings that came stock since they have never been fired, I don't like re-crushing rod brgs but oh well.Intake/Carb
Also an intake that will clear my stock 76 hood is going to be a bit of a challenge. I want a cowl hood but I honestly don't know if the $$ will be there right now. Worst case is I may just take the hood off for a while and use the Profesional Prouducts single plane R port intake and a holley 850DP I already have.
Wheels/Tires
I already have 26X11.5 M/T ET street DOT tires for the rear I plan to mount on the stock 15X8 rally wheels. After much measureing and figuring out spacer and B/S sizes needed I have a set of 15X3.5 M/T ET drag front wheels ordered for the front with 165R15 metric radials.
Trans/converter
I have a fresh TH350 with a man valve body/trans brake that has been sitting unused for about 2yrs in my dads shop from my old race car. I need to buy a converter as the one I have from that car is a bit large for this combo (8" 5500 stall). I'm thinking a 10" 3600-3800 is in order. I'll have to call some favors in and maybe get a deal on one from my suppliers. I'm hoping about $250-$350.00
In all I'm hoping to run some mid 11's in the 1/4 (low 7's in the 1/8th) on motor and maybe dip it into the 10's on the bottle without breaking anything (6's in the 1/8th). I know the best case 3.55 rear gear is hurting me and the stock IRS will probally self destruct the first time I get greedy and leave off the trans brake at 3500RPM and hit the bottle. (Note to self, no matter what keep 150hp pills in NO2 plate, unhook trans brake, & keep DOT tires on car at all times
) Don't know what I'll do if it has a 3.08 gear... run it I guess.What do you guys think?
Will
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 219
Likes: 0
From: Wilmington NC
How much HP are you trying to get? I might be wrong, but I think oval ports will work better for you vs the rectangle unless you are over 500-550+ HP. You may want to check into that to make sure.
-Shark Man
-Shark Man
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,624
Likes: 431
From: Dale City VA
Due to mild camshaft specs and pump gas compression I suspect this combo will peak out in the low 500hp range and make power to 6200rpm. I have yet to run it on my Engine Analazer program but maybe tonight if I get the time.
I have done a lot of thinking about other motors I have built for customers in the past (both race and street) and made my choice for a few specific reasons. The Brodix Race Rites are small rectangular ports. They flow about 340-350CFM and have great port velocity that should work well on a 6000-6500rpm 454. The other reason I choose them is for the standard ex port location and the fact that, if I want to make this a 12.5+ compression/mech roller motor down the road I can port them and still get a decent power increase. It's all in the combination, this is a race car that gets driven on the street a few days a month not the other way around. The power I have off idle is of no concern, I have a th350 and plan to use a 3800 converter, turn it a bit over 6K on the gear change and have a really good NO2 kit. I also know I'm on the bubble as far as HP is concerned for the best standard valve angle oval ports now, so I plan to go with the R-Port 294cc Race Rites for the room to grow later where as a set of oval ports would limit me.
It may very well be a dog that won't fall out of a tree. I'll be glad to admit that if its the case when I go to the track with it. This is one of the very few times I have tried to split the difference between a race motor and street motor. Against my own advice to customers, who I always tell "either build a race car or a street car. If you try to build both it probally won't be very good at either." Anyway, I will be glad to report back how well it runs in a few months when I get the motor together.
Will
I have done a lot of thinking about other motors I have built for customers in the past (both race and street) and made my choice for a few specific reasons. The Brodix Race Rites are small rectangular ports. They flow about 340-350CFM and have great port velocity that should work well on a 6000-6500rpm 454. The other reason I choose them is for the standard ex port location and the fact that, if I want to make this a 12.5+ compression/mech roller motor down the road I can port them and still get a decent power increase. It's all in the combination, this is a race car that gets driven on the street a few days a month not the other way around. The power I have off idle is of no concern, I have a th350 and plan to use a 3800 converter, turn it a bit over 6K on the gear change and have a really good NO2 kit. I also know I'm on the bubble as far as HP is concerned for the best standard valve angle oval ports now, so I plan to go with the R-Port 294cc Race Rites for the room to grow later where as a set of oval ports would limit me.
It may very well be a dog that won't fall out of a tree. I'll be glad to admit that if its the case when I go to the track with it. This is one of the very few times I have tried to split the difference between a race motor and street motor. Against my own advice to customers, who I always tell "either build a race car or a street car. If you try to build both it probally won't be very good at either." Anyway, I will be glad to report back how well it runs in a few months when I get the motor together.
Will
