Hi all.

Well in the next little while I'm going to be purchasing a C4 so I've been
scouring through all my old magazines looking for cool build up's and I
found this article.

I've tried going to the website provided at the end of the article but I guess
he is out of business (or changed his company name?).

Does anyone know this guy or have info on his engine build up that produced
that kind of power/quarter mile times even off the juice? Local guys with
built BIG blocks can't even put those times down.

Any help would be appreciated.

Magazine Article: http://home.comcast.net/~idindoit/pics/Scan1.jpg and http://home.comcast.net/~idindoit/pics/Scan2.jpg

Thanks!
Nate

 

That's Bill Foutris' car...I've talked to Bill quite a bit and that's one fast C4; however he no longer owns it and last I heard he's out of business. I've been trying to track him down for the better part of a year with no luck.

Bill's combination is very simple actually; big cubes and lots of nitrous. Next to Bill I'm probably one of the faster C4's in the country along with a few others. You can do it several different ways; you can build a monster engine that will in no way be streetable, you can build a very streetable turbo or supercharged combination, or you can use the bottle...I've built and used them ALL... My first love is and always will be giggle gas and if you want to go really fast on a budget it's the only way to go. My previous combination was a 396" small block with 11.00:1 compression, an EFI converted single plane, big solid roller bumpstick, DFI, and a 250 shot of N2O. In my 1990 ZF6 coupe this combination was good for 9.91 at 141 mph and was still friendly enough to drive to the grocery store or whereever else you wanted to go. On motor it would run 10.8's at around 128. I've since decided I want 8's (or at least LOW 9's) which has necessitated another motor and more nitrous... I'm currently building a 436" tall-deck small block with 12.5:1 compression, the same heads as the 396 and a bigger cam and a direct port N2O system jetted for 300 hp; that should put me in the 1100 hp range when all's said and done. If you want to run times like Billy did that's the power you'll need. You see, C4's are NOT drag cars; we're very similar to the fast imports in that we actually have to have MORE power than a dedicated drag car needs to run similar times. Case in point: My NHRA Super Stock "C" '66 Vette runs 9.20's at 146+ and has an 800 hp big block. My 1990 with the 396 and the juice made roungly the same power yet could only muster 9.91 because it doesn't hit the tires as hard (the Super Stock runs 1.17 shorts) and it weighs more.

And that's just engine speak, from there we need to dive into the suspension, tranny, and the rest of the drivetrain. It's a lot of work. If you're interested in doing it though give me a shout...
-Jeb
PS- FWIW my custom fuel side on my N2O system that so many people have been enamored of is loosely based on Billy's...


[Modified by jburnett, 8:17 PM 8/29/2003]

 

Thanks for the reply!

At this point I'm still in a project planning phase, this will have to be my daily driver and I prefer permanent power, best of both worlds would be a single turbo stroker but I'm not sure how much I'm ready to devote to my speed addiction. ;)

What is your opinion of the Motown 427 or 454 combined with a sequential FI and single turbo? (I have a friend who is willing to do all the fab work for the turbo but he has zero experience with computer controled cars... which makes me a bit nervous.)

Also, I noticed that that article says he is running a TH400, I have one now but I'd perfer to be able to drive this on the freeway for long distances, is there no 6spd that would be able to cope with this kind of power?

I'm looking to run mid 9's and that is at a 1 second compensated elevation (I'm in the mountains of Utah) So I guess I have to build the thing to run 8's and I'll get 9's.

Thanks,

Nate

 

I don't have any personal experience with the Motown motors but know several people that run them and have had good results. I'm an engine builder so I build all of my own. You do need to realize that with a turbo you need to drop the compression considerably; maximum would be 9.00:1 running any kind of "real" boost... With a big turbo pumping out big boost I would suggest 7.5:1 or 8.00:1. A 400+ cube motor would make a great foundation for a single turbo application; the long stroke provides plenty of exhaust pressure and volume and I wouldn't hesitate to put a big 70 or 80 series turbo on it without a whole lot of fear for lag... That's the beauty of V8 turbo applications.

You're talking about building a lot of power and spending a lot of money and time on fabrication...I do this for a living; be patient and do it right...

As for the tranny: yes, Billy ran a Turbo 400 and used a Dana 44 with stock 3.45 gearing so it's not too terrible on economy (particularly if you don't drive on the HW much). I use a factory ZF six-speed stick in mine though; it is without a doubt the toughest manual transmission I can ever recall. Stock they will support an ungodly amount of power; with certain modifications they're pretty much indestructable. Part of my livlihood is a cryogenic processing business and I cryo ZF's a lot; we've never had one break. Another place to look is Bill Boudreau (aka ZFDoc); he builds a mean ZF.

Note that to do this entire assembly correctly you're also going to need some form of stand-alone engine management system as you pretty much will render the OEM unit worthless with this much power. I would suggest a FAST, Accel DFI7, or Electromotive TEC3...
-Jeb

 

Sounds like this is getting expensive. ;)

Perhaps a stock LT1 with an 800 shot will work. ;) (Just kiddin!)