Well, I have gotten to the point of "ready to make a few runs". I have been practicing trying to launch the car on the country road near here and it is useless. I assembled the motor, converter, rear combo for torque, and it works well. The downside is no - hook at all.

The wrench in this equation it that I have the chassis set up for turns and not necessarily drag racing, I don't know if I should expect both. My original intent was to drive to the track and run 12.90's, doubt that the tamed down motor combo will do that but 13's would be acceptable.

'69 Chevelle
408BBC, 9.7CR, 290 oval ports (valves and port work). Crane 286 Powermax (226/236 on 112LSA) Edel dual plane/Holley. The usual.
3000 stall, 3.73 gears.

HEI: 18 initial/38 total
Biggest problem is probably the BFG radials (275-60/15's) and the stiff Hotchkis front 1" lowering springs.

Short of running slicks, what do you suggest?

Joe,do those 290's have 2.06/1.72's or the 2.19/1.88's?

I would get a pair of drag radials or deal with 2 second plus 60 fts./careful launch on street tires.

I predict mid 13's,12's w/traction +tuning.
I wouldn't worry about the suspension with et's like that.Look at someone like Matt aka Mad Marv..he has a handling type suspension.
You could do Tom/mc71454's shock nut trick to help with weight transfer.

They have 2.19/1.72's. I already had the hardened seats in the exhaust, so couldn't go any further. I did a lot of exhaust port work to compensate and run the split cam. The motor pull real hard to 5500 - 5700. Unlike running a 454 though, my experience with 396 motors has been to launch it like you have a small block then run the hell out of it. That is the big advantage of the 454 & larger motors, you can literaly roll the car out of the hole, then let the torque carry the car down the track.

I may have to try the shock nut set up, or maybe just the change the front shocks to something softer. Right now I run KYB's all around, truthfully the handling is rather stiff. In fact, I think the handling kind of stinks on anything other than a glass smooth road. I do have the original F41 front springs in the garage as well as the 20 year old Monroes that cam out of the car.