302 with a solid lifter cam will spin that high repeatedly and hold together.
Hi-revving small block
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,317
Likes: 292
From: Ocala FL
I think the front was black, the rest of the body was red.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 2,164
Likes: 7
From: Beringen
Just my .02$ but I would think there is a lott of difference between a 7000+ or an 8500+ engine.
My opinion is that it is vibration that finally kills the bottom end or valve train. So key to the bottom end is balancing. The top end needs all the good parts it can get when going much over 8000 and yes shaft rockers are needed as far as I know. Of course you need to put in the appropriate bearing clearance, oil pressure etc.
That is why i don't want to go much over 7500 with mine. I'm thinking that a stud girdle would do just fine with these speeds.
Anyone seen the price of these shaft rockers, brrr.
My opinion is that it is vibration that finally kills the bottom end or valve train. So key to the bottom end is balancing. The top end needs all the good parts it can get when going much over 8000 and yes shaft rockers are needed as far as I know. Of course you need to put in the appropriate bearing clearance, oil pressure etc.
That is why i don't want to go much over 7500 with mine. I'm thinking that a stud girdle would do just fine with these speeds.
Anyone seen the price of these shaft rockers, brrr.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,506
Likes: 139
From: Butler Pa
1970 LT-1, stock bottom end, angle plug heads, chevy "off-road" cam, tunnel ram. This motor easily turned 7800 rpm with open exhaust. With the crappy Hooker sidemount glasspacks, it seemed to fall off about 6500. It's still sitting under the bench in my garage.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 7,502
Likes: 1,510
From: Little Rock AR
Thats what I'm talking about! 
Sounds like a lot of fun.I have my stock 302 rev limiter set at 7200 RPM. It would probably go higher but I would not want to scatter all those hard to replace original parts. I do plan on adding some brown stripe valvesprings as the next upgrade. The stock springs don't last long with lots of revs even with these old slow GM cam grinds.
-Mark.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 993
Likes: 3
From: Iowa
Just remember that as HP increases your max sustainable RPM decreases. You will never see 900hp Sprint car engine turn more than 9200. Even Carrillo Pro H's won't live for long in that environment! Sure there are tons of big inch drag and truck pull engines that turn a lot RPM but they don't sustain that; they hit it for a little bit and then shut em down. If you're talking an engine that has to turn it all day long there are limits to what even the most money can do.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 2,164
Likes: 7
From: Beringen
Just remember that as HP increases your max sustainable RPM decreases. You will never see 900hp Sprint car engine turn more than 9200. Even Carrillo Pro H's won't live for long in that environment! Sure there are tons of big inch drag and truck pull engines that turn a lot RPM but they don't sustain that; they hit it for a little bit and then shut em down. If you're talking an engine that has to turn it all day long there are limits to what even the most money can do.
That is basically why I decided not to go to big inch. This puts constraints in other areas which themselves limit the rpm that the engine can sustain. As you use a small cube engine your hp will inevitably drop with it.
However with the right drivetrain, you can still enhance your torque output. Torque output can be changed this way, hp not. Thus if you have lower rpm's at the wheel due to the higher gearing, you will need a higher rpm from the engine to compensate for it.
Team Owner
Joined: Apr 1999
Posts: 21,953
Likes: 1,445
From: Reno Nevada
2024 C3 of the Year Finalist- Modified
This is wrong thinking! RPM kills a motor - not HP. Some short stroke high reving motor does lots of rpm with big head flow and high compression to reach an honest 700 hp. Like 8500 rpm out of 358 ci
Take that same motor and drop the compression down to 8.6 and put a milder cam and install a supercharger that puts out 14 PSI and I bet you could produce 700 HP below 6000 rpm. I also bet you that the motor would last 50K miles where the 8500 rpm needs a refresh in just few 1000's of miles.
I only get 15K or less miles out of my 7500 rpm long stroker small blocks before they are using oil and leak down % is already going up.
Take that same motor and drop the compression down to 8.6 and put a milder cam and install a supercharger that puts out 14 PSI and I bet you could produce 700 HP below 6000 rpm. I also bet you that the motor would last 50K miles where the 8500 rpm needs a refresh in just few 1000's of miles.
I only get 15K or less miles out of my 7500 rpm long stroker small blocks before they are using oil and leak down % is already going up.
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Team Owner
Joined: Apr 1999
Posts: 21,953
Likes: 1,445
From: Reno Nevada
2024 C3 of the Year Finalist- Modified
My rear 3/8ths cooling lines are free flowing. So I don't think that a thermistat would even work at this point. This weekend I was going to reinstall a stock front pulley to cut water flow at idle and heat the motor faster.