So Wednesday I was thumbing through a Hot Rod from this spring and I saw a Dynomax ad about a chassis dyno setup that they are taking across the country. The deal is that they are seeing who can make the most horsepower through their mufflers, etc. Lo and bohold, this weekend is Hot August Nights and the setup is in town!!!

I took my truck down to the casino that they had it set up at this morning(yep, playing hookie!) and they ran it for me. Best part was that because I am running their mufflers they didn't even charge me for the two passes!! And the results are....

Pass 1- 343 ft lbs and 338 hp
Pass 2- 351 ft lbs and 338 hp


I was hoping for 375 but was thinking as low as 350. Didn't make me feelbad, though. Especially when a guy with a sweet black 69 velle with a Schafiroff 540 made only 420 hp right after me! Fun, Fun, Fun. I even took a video.

Lets see the video? Those are very respectable numbers for a 385!

sounds like a conservative dyno. Did the guy with the 540 break down in tears or anything?

Sounds like a fun truck!! Just a touch more than my 385. 5 more mph too but I'm almost 500 lbs. heavier.
What rpm were the tq. & hp peaks at?

Peak torque was at 4800 and peak hp at 5300 peaked again at 5800 with the same number.

The guy with the 540 was too busy bragging about his 8 second 57 chevy......

It is a blast to drive. I drove a friend's 74 Nova that runs 13.0 at 107 and boy, what a handful. Made me realize just how well built me truck is. Launches and drives straight all the way down the track.

I need to update my signature, I changed cams to a UDLunati 280/288 this winter and freshened up bearings, rings, etc.

I'll work on the video this weekend. I'll post the dyno sheet too, love to get comments from those in the know.

for the times in your sig the dyno numbers you got seem about right to me. how much does the truck weigh? my best friend's '65 Elky made 365hp and it ran 12.00's in 90* heat and really crappy air.

for the times in your sig the dyno numbers you got seem about right to me. how much does the truck weigh? my best friend's '65 Elky made 365hp and it ran 12.00's in 90* heat and really crappy air. Kinda depends on where he ran the 12.40s and where your friend's 12.0s were run. I think that dyno is the same one that Car Craft has been hauling around for several years (Werx Dynojet) to all the meets termed Nationals. It must have been updated recently because it use to have a 1200 H.P. maximum and it seems i saw one that was higher than 1200 H.P. recently.

Alan,

Those are pretty good numbers for mild 385 SBC.

The guy with the 540 was too busy bragging about his 8 second 57 chevy......



No doubt the same way he brags about his 700HP 540 big block....:noway:

Andrew

No doubt the same way he brags about his 700HP 540 big block....:noway:

Andrew

Yep, more like a 530 HP - 540 BBC, which is pretty darn weak. Especially for a "crate" engine that likely costs in the neigborhood of $10,000.

Kind of reminds about a "600 HP" Bill Mitchell - 454 SBC that I saw on the chassis dyno last year. IIRC, it didn't crack 400 RWHP.

Yep, saw a Shafiroff 750HP+ 540 barely break 620 on a Superflow a couple of years ago. It was sent back and another was shipped in. Same results. Guy was a little depressed.

And we know dyno is OK...it's the same one I've been on numerous times.


I saw another mild 540 barely make 410 RWHP...I don't think you could build one that mild. Even after a lot of work...he finally made 500RWHP with it. But key factors were he was using 1-7/8" headers and 2.5" pipes and a relatively small (for a 540) hyd roller cam.

You gotta feed those big motors!

JIM

Thanks for the kudos, guys. I am pretty happy with the performance. I must admit, however, that I thought it would be 2-3 10ths quicker with the solid cam than it was with the XE284. Shows how good of a cam it really was... Too bad it went flat.

My prospects are looking up, though. Before my last race the best it would run was 12.51 or so in the cool air. I changed out the 3310 main body that had annular front, stright rear boosters for one that has downlegs. It ran a best-matching 12.42 @107 in 90* heat (7000 DA). That was 2-3 10ths and 2-3 mph better than it would have with the other carb body. Needless to say it was worth the $40!! I think 12.3x or even 12.2x are in the future when it cools back down.

Curb wieght is in sig.

Here is a scan of the dyno sheet.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p180/joyalan/scan0001.jpg

And a nice photo of the truck:
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p180/joyalan/47-Mar07-01-800x600.jpg

[QUOTE=47chevy;1454909]Thanks for the kudos, guys. I am pretty happy with the performance. I must admit, however, that I thought it would be 2-3 10ths quicker with the solid cam than it was with the XE284. Shows how good of a cam it really was... Too bad it went flat.

so you changed to the Lunati cam which was a solid flat tappet right? and it didn't really make any more power? i was seriously considering changing the cam in my 406 which is also an XE284. thought about a solid flat tappet, thinking more about a hydraulic roller lately. it's just hard to shell out the money for hydraulic roller cam/lifters/springs/pushrods and have it only make 10-15 hp difference for around $600+.

Your numbers make sense. I used to go 11.9-12.x at 110-112 with 335 RWHP at 3550 in a car. Not impressive HP, but it beat a lot of "450 HP" cars at the track.

71malibu, I really wanted to go with the next cam up (I think the 290/296), which UDHarold says is THE cam (ok, going off memory from old posts, etc...been 6 months or so since I looked at a parts list. please forgive mis-quotes) I didn't feel that I had the static compression to go to the bigger cam. Figured that I wouldn't really gain anything except a rougher running setup. If I had had another $700 I would have put in new pistons and bumped up to 11:1 or so and gone with the bigger cam.

Of course, if I had had another $700-1000 on top of that, I would have gone roller. I think if you add up all the parts to properly set up a roller with t.c. cover, etc., you will find yourself pretty close to $1000 when it is all said and done. But if I'd had the cash...damn straight I would have done it.

From all I have absorbed, I think that the roller is not just a step up from a flat tappet, but a leap instead. If you have the cash, go for it. What is your compression ratio??

Doug F I figure I'd be around 110 or so with a sedan, my truck is like pushing a sheet of plywood down the track. When I let off the gas at the stripe it is like popping a chute.

Yes the 280/288 is a solid flat tappet.

71malibu, I really wanted to go with the next cam up (I think the 290/296), which UDHarold says is THE cam (ok, going off memory from old posts, etc...been 6 months or so since I looked at a parts list. please forgive mis-quotes) I didn't feel that I had the static compression to go to the bigger cam. Figured that I wouldn't really gain anything except a rougher running setup. If I had had another $700 I would have put in new pistons and bumped up to 11:1 or so and gone with the bigger cam.

Of course, if I had had another $700-1000 on top of that, I would have gone roller. I think if you add up all the parts to properly set up a roller with t.c. cover, etc., you will find yourself pretty close to $1000 when it is all said and done. But if I'd had the cash...damn straight I would have done it.

From all I have absorbed, I think that the roller is not just a step up from a flat tappet, but a leap instead. If you have the cash, go for it. What is your compression ratio??

Doug F I figure I'd be around 110 or so with a sedan, my truck is like pushing a sheet of plywood down the track. When I let off the gas at the stripe it is like popping a chute.i have a flat top 406 with 64cc heads so i'm thinking around 11.5/1.

IMO you need more cam in there to keep detonation at bay. The 401B1LUN is the cam I put in and the 401B8LUN is the cam I would have liked to put in. And yes, I mis-quoted the catalog. The 401B8LUN is 288/296. Here is the cam card: http://www.holley.com/data/Products/Technical/401B8LUN.pdf

i am fairly rpm limited though, as i have a stock crank and a dual plane intake. no detonation problems as of yet and it's been going on 4 years for this motor. i do occasionally throw some race gas in it, about every other tank i put 5 gallons of race gas in it.

Better not to go with the bigger cam then, eh? I still say go with the roller if you can. Make it a hyd with no less duration or overlap than the XE284.