is this crazy?

ok here goes. thought i would go to the peanut gallery on this one.

up north here myself and a couple of other guys run a kind of 'poor mans alcohol group' nothing official. just a few local cars that a some local tracks have in for match races. i want my car to be just a bit different. i want to run a little of the yellow stuff but on a budget if possible. will this work?

iron 4 bolt big chevy block, aluminum heads, 8.0:1 compression (am i close?), use my current 14 standard blower, mallory mag, 110 pump, and 50% fuel?

is the percentage close? is it feasible?

i run all alcohol now in the high 6sec range. not looking to go a lot quicker... just want that 'cack'!!

 

I don't see why this would be a problem, as long as your fuel system was flowed for the 50%. Keep in mind that you couldn't just go back to straight alky without making changes in the fuel system. You can get some "pop" and smell out of 25% for less cash in fuel cost and probably less work on the flow bench.

 

yeah, i figured the fuel system would take some careful tuning to sneak up on a safe and effective tune up. my biggest question was concerning the odds of the bottom end living more than one pass? like i said i'm not looking to make a lot more hp. i figured i would start by running the blower 50% of what i am currently running it on alcohol then adjust to bearings?

'back in the day' i know a lot of guys did the nitro deal with the old iron blocks. just wanted to try to apply a little old school tech to my set up.

any more ideas??? i'm all ears.

 

Assuming your current bottom end is comprised of good quality parts that are living well with your current alky combo, it's my opinion that you probably won't hurt those parts much more than normal as it's my understanding that you don't start to see the BIG BIG numbers from fuel until you start getting over 75%. Also keep in mind that I don't know anything about your drivetrain, {clutch or powerglide type deal} so this info could be useless. If you're running a clutch and wind up loading the engine harder, your going to burn more fuel, and nitro loves a load. If you just leave your stuff alone and flow your fuel system you probably won't have any problems. Of course this is nitro we're talking about so anything is possible.

 

The short answer is YES it is crazy. Even with low percentages (20to25) it will be death to your cast iron bottom end. Even if you "intend" to run it fat and lazy. That never seems to happen for too long.

 

Well, so far the bottom end has been really 'happy'- good steel crank and aluminum rods (mainly concerned about the chevy block itself).

While I do play with the tune up some, I tend to stay on the conservative side (I'm more interested in running the car than fixing it). I pull the bottom end about every 10-12 passes and I've got 36 runs on these bearings with no real negative signs. I've gotten 'greedy' on tune ups before and 'gotten burned' but I'm pretty content with just maintaining a steady pace with the car as it is now, would just like to run the good stuff.

I know some of those altered guys down south run a decent percentage of fuel and I kinda wanted to go that route.

 

You need to call Brendan Murray, he runs nitro on chevy motors in nostalgia top fuel and i think he has run iron blocks in the past. He also buys and sells parts. www.racecarparts.com (408)266-3324