Free HP/Cheap tricks (Anybody have any?)

[BD74SS]

Just curious if anybody had any free/cheap tricks that they have found to gain horsepower, on a SBC....

Thanks A racer on a low budget..

[curtisreed]

This may sound over simplified, but the cheapest and best thing you can do is spend more time than the next guy making your clearances, (decks, piston to valves, bearings, ring end gaps, etc.) the best you can. Our motors usually make more power and last longer than a lot of peoples who do their own work because we spend the time it takes. No offense to the many on here who do their own stuff, I'm talking about people around my area.

Don't fall into the trick of the week. There are many tried and true methods for the SBC that will keep the cost down when working on a budget. Don't look for HP in the oil system of a bracket motor whatever someone tells you. Build a solid bottom end and look for HP in the top end. How much HP are you looking to make? Are you bracket racing or shootout racing. Shootout racers on a budget are still over my bracket money :wink: :wink: .

There are some really good resources here and do a search on speedtalk.com. Ed Wilson is on both (very knowledgable), Joe Sherman is on speedtalk, and there are others here that have added useful things to many posts. Use the search function over there and you will find a ton of info.

Curtis

[Tod74]

cc the heads maybe...not sure if that does much or not to be honest. I'm not qualified to say either way on that one but I know people that are believers.
:?

[edvancedengines]

Tell us exactly what you have and what is it used for?

Ed

[bjuice]

don't know about the FREE part of the HP...

but i will say what i have been told and experienced myself.

"power is in the top end of a small block".

i agree with clearences on long life of a motor.

[tcarda]

Spend a little money and dyno the engine. You can find out a lot about your setup on dyno. Try different carbs and spacers if the dyno guy has them. Good luck. :D

[slowmotion]

A really cheap way is to look at the car for ways to lose weight.

[bjuice]

A really cheap way is to look at the car for ways to lose weight.

i was gonna go there...so since you did..i will too...lol.

shed weight as mentioned above,getting the car to free roll ( no brake drag) properly greased bearings etc....

getting the chassis of the car to work well..with least AMOUNT OF PINION ANGLE as possible..TOO MUCH pinion angle effects hp.
chassi dyno's have discovered 1 degree of pinion angle was responsible for 10 hp loss at the wheels.

run the smallest tire you can without compromising your chassis hooking..if you can run a radial and get by with it..do it ..its the FASTER SLICK...no growth on tire.
Last the more tire pressure in the rear you can run the faster it will be ..while maintaining proper front air pressure

i know this is not engine stuff but its a direct connection of the end result you are ultimatley shooting for.

[lively]

i was taught 100 lbs equals one tenth of a second/---my ranchero should weigh 2470 or less with me in it when finished--it don't take alot of horses to make it fast in that state :lol: :lol: :lol:

[olds48]

I'm not trying to hijack this thread,but doorracer mentioned not fooling around with looking for hp in the oiling system.Do you mean windage trays and crank scrapers?That was something I've been wanting to look into.

[cepx111]

Proper oil control doesn't make HP but it does free some up.
Anytime you can control windage you will benefit by gaining the HP that you were losing in the first place because of the windage.
A well managed oil control system would include a crank scraper, windage tray, trap door baffling etc.
JMO
Charles

[edvancedengines]

No one has yet answered my question.

While all of you are mostly giving good answers in response the fact still remains we don't know diddly about what he has or is wanting to do. That will depend on what will work better for him.

Ed

[curtisreed]

When I say don't look for hp in the oiling system I'm talking about super thin oils, old ss tricks of running low oil levels. But I'm also looking at it from a bracket racer perspective. If you are racing heads up then it is a different story. Oil control as stated by Charles is a good idea to free up hp and protect the engine from losing pressure. Sorry I wasn't more specific. Like Ed stated we don't really know what the intended use is. I wish people would check back more often when they ask for info. The plus is that I learn alot from people experiences that they share.

Curtis

[nofear57]

(No one has yet answered my question.

While all of you are mostly giving good answers in response the fact still remains we don't know diddly about what he has or is wanting to do. That will depend on what will work better for him.

Ed.)

Like Ed said we know nothing about your engine. You could have many different sbc's and freeing up HP could be different in each one of them. A street engine compared to an all out drag engine could be different. An engine combination could have different variables. We would need to know everything about the engine,from carb to pan,to give a calculated answer. Different carb jets,spacers,oils,rocker arm ratios,valve springs,crank scrapers,headers pipe sizes,cross over pipes,etc etc the list goes on and on. Its hard to guess,but a dyno or chassis dyno is the best way to figure things out.
Staying with one engine and knowing how to produce more HP is an awsome thing. Small cubes can surprise a lot of racers!

[caprice327]

A few ways to free up some horsepower at little or no cost :idea:

Index the spark plugs-

Homemade ram air with home depot parts-

Get as much advance out out of your distributor as you can without pinging-

Port/gasket match the heads to the intake-

Make the secondaries on your carb open faster-

Lighten up the vehicle-

Hollow out the catylytic converter(s)-

Unplug the AC compressor clutch-

Air up the tires-

Use full synthetic oil if your cam allows it-

Remove that rubber seal under the hood so all the heat will flow out over your windshield-

Then if you save up a few pennies you could swap out the stock clutch fan for a flex fan and get a set of under drive pullys if it applies to you

[rlgodbold]

"When I say don't look for hp in the oiling system I'm talking about super thin oils, old ss tricks of running low oil levels"

I wouldn't run super low levels, though you certaintly don't need to run it full most of the time. But if you switch all of your fluids over to Synthetic then it has been shown to give around 5 extra HP. Not a whole lot but it could make a difference in the outcome of a race. I'm actually an AMSOIL dealer and if you are interested in Synthetic oils you can visit www.lubedealer/com/lgoil or just pm me. As for the windage tray. Your primary reason for getting large oil pan and windage tray should be to protect your engine. It keeps the oil down in the pickup for the pump. Horsepower gain should be an added benefit, though you might gain another 3 or 4 HP depending on the engine. The best oil system improvement you can make is obviously going to a dry sump system, though then we are getting out of the price range that began this post.

[curtisreed]

"When I say don't look for hp in the oiling system I'm talking about super thin oils, old ss tricks of running low oil levels"

I wouldn't run super low levels, though you certaintly don't need to run it full most of the time. But if you switch all of your fluids over to Synthetic then it has been shown to give around 5 extra HP. Not a whole lot but it could make a difference in the outcome of a race. I'm actually an AMSOIL dealer and if you are interested in Synthetic oils you can visit www.lubedealer/com/lgoil or just pm me. As for the windage tray. Your primary reason for getting large oil pan and windage tray should be to protect your engine. It keeps the oil down in the pickup for the pump. Horsepower gain should be an added benefit, though you might gain another 3 or 4 HP depending on the engine. The best oil system improvement you can make is obviously going to a dry sump system, though then we are getting out of the price range that began this post.

Are you talking to me or the original poster. I already run Amsoil in my car. And I use an oil accumulator so I don't have to worry about low oil levels.

Curtis

[olds48]

What are the best windage trays to use?Crank scrapers and pan baffles are pretty much cut and dried.But trays can run anywhere from $25 to $120.Not trying to hijack your post BD74ss.Figured it was on topic.

[kw89425]

i do not like nor trust a flex fan. go electric

[BD74SS]

Thanks for all the advice. I posted this a few days ago and I amazed by the response. What I was looking for was little things like caprice327
listed. My mostly stock motor is already built, and I was just looking for some cheap tricks to find some h/p. The "circle track" class I run in, require the motors to be all stock. But im getting killed on the track.

[johnracer]

The guys that are killing you probably don't make much more power. In circle track, the chassis is the advantage...

[slowmotion]

Many years ago when we ran circles, we found tire size and gearing made a big difference. We tried several sizes to get the right stagger.

[bjuice]

Thanks for all the advice. I posted this a few days ago and I amazed by the response. What I was looking for was little things like caprice327
listed. My mostly stock motor is already built, and I was just looking for some cheap tricks to find some h/p. The "circle track" class I run in, require the motors to be all stock. But im getting killed on the track.


not to sitr anything but its been proven that indexing spark plugs ( DO NOT) increase HP levels..
its done to create clearance in tight areas with the piston and spark plug ground strap may make contact...
if you need to index plugs for this reason then place back of strap of plug in the 12 o-clock position.

just wanted you to have the correct info here.

Brian

[Cogburn]

Loosen the chassis up so it doesn't push at all and is just to the loose side beginning with corner entry. If you push at all especially going into the corner you will use up a lot of power. Alignment will eat power also-front and rear.

Keep in mind that "stock" classes still have a lot of room for a good builder to make power. I have built engines for the pure stock class that were around 3500$-that one won 22 of its first 24 races and has been torn down repeatedly. A decent set of stock legal heads could easily break 1k$. A good carb can be worth 20hp+ over one that seems to work good. The right cam makes a world of difference.

Common errors are too much piston to head clearance. Bad hone jobs and cheap rings. Poor valve jobs. Wrong cam. Carb with bad mixture curve.

[jimboscarbs]

I know this may sound biased but don't take my word for it, ask any major engine builder. They know there's a ton of horsepower to be had in a good carburetor.
This is especially true in stock class racing where most guys build there own stuff. I am not telling you this to sell you a carb. I have more work than I can do now.
I just want you to be informed. I spend allot of time on the dyno developing carbs for stock class racing and the difference between a purpose built carburetor and an off the shelf or junk yard item is huge.
If you can afford it, by a professionaly built carburetor. By professoinaly built I mean a carburetor that has been developed for circle track racing.
This carburetor will have been dyno tested and checked for A/F ratio as well as horsepower and torque production.
I have seen carburetors have a perfect air/fuel curve but not make any where near the horsepower and torque they should. That is why it is imperative to have a carb dyno tested.

CHASSIS
As for chassis you want your chassis as free as you can get it. Any time you are racing a horsepower limited class you need to free your car up as much as possible and be as fast as you can from corner entry to corner exit this is where races are won.

I would venture to say that most of the cars in your class are very close on the stopwatch down the straightaway, but if you clocked the front runners they are probably 1/2 second or faster through the corners
5 MPH faster through the corners is worth about 15MPH down the straightaway because the momentum is not lost.

There is allot more to this... I urge you, if you plan on staying in racing... I think I can speak for most of us once you're in you never leave. You may take a hiatus from time to time but racing will alway call you back! It is the sickness we live with, I regress.. anyway do yourself a favor and attend a chassis school it will be the best money you have ever spent.

I attended when I first started racing and I promise it was the best racing dollar I have ever spent. You cannot spend this minimal amount on any hard part that will make you as fast as the knowledge gained will.


I will get off my soap box now and give someone else a turn

Jimbo
www.jimboscarbs.com


P.S Bill Gordon has an excellent chassis school that is geared toward new racers and entry level classes that is excellent for a minimal price and he is a great guy you will not be dissapointed.

www.thedirttrackracingschool.com

[quikcars]

Underdriven pullies,cold air induction,battery to the trunk,go light on the fuel load but,for Gods sake,throw away the cooling fan on front of the motor-has been shown to free up 7-15 HP.Run external oil and trans coolers.Just a few that comes to mind.EVERY little bit helps. :?

[cncmotorsports]

Depending on you ignition and compression ratio, changing you plug gap can pick up 6 - 8 horsepower