Fastest you can go and still get some life out of car

[turbosam6]

I'm just wondering if my goals are unreasonable. I'm trying to go high 10's on a stock block and ported irons, and it seems like a lot of guys are doin' it, but my POS just keeps breakin', and its not like I'm even stressing it yet. I go to the track a handful of times every summer, like less than 10, and make 5-6 passes each visit. How long should a properly built motor last with this kind of use? I run a felpro, so this thing will probably never see detonation, and I'm very anal about oil changes and maintenance. I really baby this car, but it keeps breaking. I might add a girdle, but I don't feel its mandatory, since it hasn't been faster than mid 11's yet. I put maybe 2000 street miles on the car a year, and a few street races here and there, usually on low boost. Honestly, once it goes 10's, I will probably turn it back a little, to keep the body in good shape, and hopefully get some mileage out of it.

 

[azgn]

if you are going 10's on a stock block....you are definitely "stressing" it......you are squarely in the realm of a race car and everything becomes a maintenance item....like once a year

people that say otherwise haven't been there or are real lucky!

 

[Jack Evers]

I personally think that once you're into the 10's reliability is more a matter of luck than percentages. You may screw something up big time your first 10 second run or your 50th. It's going to happen, just can't be certain when.

 

[Jack Evers]

Originally posted by azgn
if you are going 10's on a stock block....you are definitely "stressing" it......you are squarely in the realm of a race car and everything becomes a maintenance item....like once a year

people that say otherwise haven't been there or are real lucky!

Hey Woody, we responded about the same time. Still hiding out in the mountains. Nice and warm in the valley.

 

[turbo buicks]

id say build a good motor. dont go all out tho. wait for a t/a block, billet crank, t/a heads, forged thia and that bla bla bla and build it slow and when the times right drop it in and it will be much more reliable and stronger. stick some alky on it and maybe some "bruce" tuning and you got yourself one mean daily driven RELIABLE street machine as for the tranny and rear end, billet-ize them too (at least the trans) or go th-400 with a Gear vendor gear splitter and have a 6 speed trans with lockup. of course all this is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay outta my price range, maybe yours is different.

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

if you want to go 10's its not that hard to do but it is hard on parts...


if you want to do it reliably you gotta spend some $ on the whole drivetrain...most like me just make power but its not the most reliable thing to do ..picture my case with stock tranny internals I seem to break one every time I go to the track in kill mode

I havent yet broke the motor but I did come close this time..pulled it down tonight and caught a messed up main bearing before it was too late.

so far my luck has been pretty good with going fast and I'm working on things to make even more power now but I'm one who's not all that concerned with breaking something....If I had to drive it all the time or couldnt build my own stuff I'd never think of pushing it as hard as I do.

 

[Pronto]

I think this is true across the board for all cars too, not just TB's. The more hp you make above the stock rating the more your streaching the designed parameters. Go too far and you'll have a lot of maintainance or a bucket of parts that was an engine.