565 upgrade with AFR heads

157464 Views 601 Replies 48 Participants Last post by 72BBMonte, Oct 21, 2014

72BBMonte

Discussion Starter · Jan 10, 2013 (Edited)

After running my 540 4 seasons I am boring it .100 and running smaller heads. The 3800 lb. car has left ok in the mid 1.30 sixty foots and has mph at 133-134 but has not pulled as well mid track as most guys I race.

With advice from Chris Straub, Scott Foxwell, Tony Mamo, Mike Lewis, and board members I have purchased some AFR 335 cnc heads which should have a lot better airflow velocity then what I have been running. The extra 25 cubic inches cannot hurt either. Chris has some Mahle 4.6 bore pistons coming along with fresh Manley rods.

Chris will cipher out a cam when the time comes, he has proven to me several times that he is the camshaft guru.

I have a ported Merlin X intake but am thinking the runners on this are too much bigger then the AFR entrance port. Will speak to Scott Foxwell about this soon also.

My friend and very successful Super Street racer John H Miller will assemble the engine after machine work is complete.

Want to thank all the board members I have communicated with concerning this project. There are many of you that I have PM'd as well as posted good information in the performance forum. Many Thanks to Chris Straub for answering the phone, answering questions, and getting the right parts sold and shipped to me.

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1 - 20 of 602 Posts

Stokerboats

· #2 · Jan 10, 2013

You will see a fair improvement over those Brodix pieces.:yes:

crazydavey

· #3 · Jan 10, 2013

see...all that O/T is paying off.....

bracketchev1221

· #4 · Jan 10, 2013

I should have gone with a 335 too. But oh well. Whatcha gonna do?

72BBMonte

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 11, 2013

Stokerboats said:
You will see a fair improvement over those Brodix pieces.:yes:

I sure hope so Dan.
Those Brodix are good heads, they just are not the best for my application.
Jon

72BBMonte

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jan 11, 2013

crazydavey said:
see...all that O/T is paying off.....

Having something special to buy later makes working extra days a lot easier for me Davey. I'm a car nut.

mc71454

· #7 · Jan 11, 2013

Good luck Jon, I have the AFR 335's. Picked up .3 tenths and 3 mph when I swapped out Canfield 310's.

Your car runs real strong. Real intrested to hear how the swap goes. Have you ever listed your combination anywhere ?

Tom

BillsCamino

· #8 · Jan 11, 2013

The AFR 335's worked awesome on my 540!! You will be very pleased...

72BBMonte

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jan 11, 2013

bracketchev1221 said:
I should have gone with a 335 too. But oh well. Whatcha gonna do?

Ray,
You were one of the people that helped convince myself to not buy 357's. I want 357's yet but don't want to turn 8000 rpm to use them on this motor. Sat and read through your posts one night, reading how you got to 9.03 ET so far. Basically free recipes on this board. :thumbsup:
Thanks

Offroadr

· #10 · Jan 11, 2013

mc71454 said:
Good luck Jon, I have the AFR 335's. Picked up .3 tenths and 3 mph when I swapped out Canfield 310's.

Your car runs real strong. Real intrested to hear how the swap goes. Have you ever listed your combination anywhere ?

Tom

Cool to see you kept the motor in the car, hopefully the back is better.

72BBMonte

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jan 11, 2013

mc71454 said:
Good luck Jon, I have the AFR 335's. Picked up .3 tenths and 3 mph when I swapped out Canfield 310's.

Your car runs real strong. Real intrested to hear how the swap goes. Have you ever listed your combination anywhere ?

Tom

Tom,
Last years combo...

It was 4.5bore x 4.25stroke 13 to 1 motor
Brodix BB2xtra 365 cc heads that are ported bigger yet
Last cam was about .778?/.765? 276/298 at .050
Ported Merlin X intake
1200 cfm pro systems carb
Turbo 400 with a brake. standard gear ratios
5000 stall or 5800 stall converters. 9" ran more mph and quicker, not as consistent
9" ford with 4.57 spool, good axles
14-31 or 16-32" tires, play with 2 sets

Tuned and drove fairly conservatively trying to make it last a season.
I dynoed it 3 times in 5 years. 750 hp, 804 hp, 860 hp this last year. The times and mph it ran indicated about 760-770 hp most of the time this year. Car should have run better. Solid 10.0et car the last 2 years.

I will post up new combination when complete in a few months.

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mc71454

· #12 · Jan 11, 2013

Offroadr said:
Cool to see you kept the motor in the car, hopefully the back is better.

Thanks Jay, going to get my son in the car. Freshening the motor while new roll cage and detailing engine compartment and suspension. Glad I have him to do the heavy work. Have to farm out the cage though, no way I can even come close to doing that. I can't even get in the car for that matter right now. May have to install some '73 swivel buckets..

Sorry jon, don't mean to clutter up your thread and thanks for the info. I need one of those big boy cams from Chris

. I still can't shy away from pump gas combo's, keeps me up at night sometimes

72BBMonte

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jan 11, 2013

mc71454 said:
Thanks Jay, going to get my son in the car. Freshening the motor while new roll cage and detailing engine compartment and suspension. Glad I have him to do the heavy work. Have to farm out the cage though, no way I can even come close to doing that. I can't even get in the car for that matter right now. May have to install some '73 swivel buckets..

Sorry jon, don't mean to clutter up your thread and thanks for the info. I need one of those big boy cams from Chris . I still can't shy away from pump gas combo's, keeps me up at night sometimes

Tom,
3-4 years ago when tt ran 10.70 I looked at your posts because you car ran good.

Straub can figure up a camshaft. period.

mc71454

· #14 · Jan 11, 2013

72BBMonte said:
Tom,
3-4 years ago when tt ran 10.70 I looked at your posts because you car ran good. Straub can figure up a camshaft. period.

Thanks Jon, Chris is working on one for me as we speak..looking forward to seeing what he comes up with. From your ride alone, I am pretty impressed.

bracketchev1221

· #15 · Jan 11, 2013

72BBMonte said:
Ray,
You were one of the people that helped convince myself to not buy 357's. I want 357's yet but don't want to turn 8000 rpm to use them on this motor. Sat and read through your posts one night, reading how you got to 9.03 ET so far. Basically free recipes on this board. :thumbsup:
Thanks

No problem, I'm willing to tell people things I have done that didn't work well. I may not have the money to fix them, so I make do with what I have.

crazydavey

· #16 · Jan 11, 2013

mc71454 said:
Thanks Jon, Chris is working on one for me as we speak..looking forward to seeing what he comes up with. From your ride alone, I am pretty impressed.

glad to hear you're working on the car Tom...that thing inspired a lot of us....:thumbsup:

67RS/SS

· #17 · Jan 11, 2013

72BBMonte said:
Tom,
Last years combo...

It was 4.5bore x 4.25stroke 13 to 1 motor
Brodix BB2xtra 365 cc heads that are ported bigger yet
Last cam was about .778?/.765? 276/298 at .050
Ported Merlin X intake
1200 cfm pro systems carb
Turbo 400 with a brake. standard gear ratios
5000 stall or 5800 stall converters. 9" ran more mph and quicker, not as consistent
9" ford with 4.57 spool, good axles
14-31 or 16-32" tires, play with 2 sets

Tuned and drove fairly conservatively trying to make it last a season.
I dynoed it 3 times in 5 years. 750 hp, 804 hp, 860 hp this last year. The times and mph it ran indicated about 760-770 hp most of the time this year. Car should have run better. Solid 10.0et car the last 2 years.

I will post up new combination when complete in a few months.

I'm looking forward to your results

are the cam specs for your old cam(listed above) correct?

mc71454

· #18 · Jan 11, 2013

crazydavey said:
glad to hear you're working on the car Tom...that thing inspired a lot of us....:thumbsup:

Thank You Dave..

72BBMonte

Discussion Starter · #19 · Jan 12, 2013

67RS/SS said:
I'm looking forward to your results are the cam specs for your old cam(listed above) correct?

Cam #1 comp .660/.666 254/260 at .050
Cam #2 Lunati .725/.725 282/292 at .050
Cam #3 Straub .782/.765 276/298 at .050

My heads flowed real strong on the intake side after being ported, not so much exhaust. That was why that big split cam was used.

The car is relatively very heavy for what I am doing. The new setup will work better. Looks like that 67 runs very well!
Jon

67RS/SS

· #20 · Jan 14, 2013

72BBMonte said:
Cam #1 comp .660/.666 254/260 at .050
Cam #2 Lunati .725/.725 282/292 at .050
Cam #3 Straub .782/.765 276/298 at .050

My heads flowed real strong on the intake side after being ported, not so much exhaust. That was why that big split cam was used.

The car is relatively very heavy for what I am doing. The new setup will work better. Looks like that 67 runs very well!
Jon

Thanks for the info Jon, I find these threads very interesting because they always make you second guess your own combination.

My car for example, is a compromise at best, I built the motor thinking I wanted the best of both worlds (nitrous and n/a) and gambled with my combo.

My cam is 272/280 @ .050", .750" lift at the valve on both intake and exhaust, on a 114 lobe sep. I'm also running Dart 355 Pro 1 heads which I know are too large for a 10.5-1 compression 540, but I thought they would give me lots of room for a decent hit of nitrous down the road.

On motor only, my sixty foots really suffer from the big heads, on my best n/a run ([email protected]) my sixty was only 1.406, that's leaving at 3000rpm off my transbrake. It will go 1.350 if I leave against the convertor around 4400rpm but the track has to killer for it to hook, so I’ve found 3000rpm to work the best.

I really need to put some 3.73 gears in mine so I can really wack it, last year I ran it with straight 94 octane pump gas and a little shot of nitrous(around 150hp, 22n 16f) and it ran [email protected], but it was turning almost 7800rpm through the traps.

Anyhow, I am really looking forward to you sharing your results, I always wonder about different combinations, all the time.

Thanks
Steve

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