350 LT1's in the 11's?
.I run 11.7xs on DRs on ported stock castings w/ a "baby" custom grind cam(similar to alans cam in his 383) and minimal weight reduction. Also worth saying that I am at sea level or lower DA(central florida), so of course that helps. 3200 stall and stock 3.23 gears. Hoping with slicks and 3.73s to hit mid 11s N/A as the temps drop, we will see. Oh and stock unmolested 10 bolt. Wheel hop is the true enemy, and with full UMI suspension and spohn 25mm rear sway bar(stock is 19) I can launch hard and straight, with very little wheel hop. Personally, I sometimes wonder if many of the broken 10 bolts were from people with self installed Adj tq arms who did not set pinion angle correctly...but that is a whole 'nother topic.
A lot of the slow LT1 times - besides from being overcammed and under headed - are because of lack of supporting mods. Headers/K&N FIPK/catback isnt full supporting mods - you need a quality dyno tune, injectors, good tires, and lots of suspension, etc to run good times in a full weight car.
Look at 96caprice - mild but well matched out setup, would be mid 11s with good weather I would guess in a slightly lightened up f-body. 11.9s is hauling in an over 2 ton boat.
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
On the "custom cam" thing, the problem with most off the shelf grinds is that the cam companies know what Puck said above, most guys will overcam. As such they compromise the grinds ofyen by widening the LSA to maintain some drivability with too much duration, in the process they hurt output a fair amount. The average guy never realizes how much power his motor is missing with the poorly spec'd cam, but is happy with the drivability so he is a happy customer.
It is not some custom magic or anything it is just a willingness to spec the cam right and talk the customer down from the 242 intake duration cam they want to put in a stock shortblock.
Now sometimes for say emmissions purposes a wide LSA is appropriate but with the smaller hydraulic stuff we should all be running on the street the 112-114 seen in all the catalogues is usually spread from optimal. Not that LSA is a spec that should be choosen, just that if the lobes are in the right place these are usually not the numbers that will result.
Last edited by kinglt-1; Oct 27, 2007 at 03:21 PM.
. If I was really stuck on numbers I most definetly wouldn't have choosen an LT1 to build up
.It is true about the saying that their are more 10 second cars on the internet then on the streets, but still the automotive world is much more wide spread then the internet!
. If I was really stuck on numbers I most definetly wouldn't have choosen an LT1 to build up
.It is true about the saying that their are more 10 second cars on the internet then on the streets, but still the automotive world is much more wide spread then the internet!
LOL, i see your point. It was just kinda funny to me that after I ran my times, I checked the list and saw that I'd actually make it on there. I figured a lot of guys were hiding out somewhere, and i made the post to see if I could find out where. The LS1 guys live and die by those lists, just take a look at how competitive they get, everything is 'top 50" with bump spots and so-on. It's just nice to know where you stand against other cars with similar mods/setups, but i can't really tell when I'm in the middle of a list with 383's on nitrous, or prochargers and whatnot. Again, I originally intended the title to be N/A cars 350 (stock) in the 11's, that would weed it out a bunch.
.I run 11.7xs on DRs on ported stock castings w/ a "baby" custom grind cam(similar to alans cam in his 383) and minimal weight reduction. Also worth saying that I am at sea level or lower DA(central florida), so of course that helps. 3200 stall and stock 3.23 gears. Hoping with slicks and 3.73s to hit mid 11s N/A as the temps drop, we will see. Oh and stock unmolested 10 bolt. Wheel hop is the true enemy, and with full UMI suspension and spohn 25mm rear sway bar(stock is 19) I can launch hard and straight, with very little wheel hop. Personally, I sometimes wonder if many of the broken 10 bolts were from people with self installed Adj tq arms who did not set pinion angle correctly...but that is a whole 'nother topic.
A lot of the slow LT1 times - besides from being overcammed and under headed - are because of lack of supporting mods. Headers/K&N FIPK/catback isnt full supporting mods - you need a quality dyno tune, injectors, good tires, and lots of suspension, etc to run good times in a full weight car.
Look at 96caprice - mild but well matched out setup, would be mid 11s with good weather I would guess in a slightly lightened up f-body. 11.9s is hauling in an over 2 ton boat.
You know thats not the case, its bad head ports and cams that are not matched well to the heads also
And there are alot of big camonly LT1 running around putting down fast times
Its all about how you setup the car, and what it is ment for
I see hogged out heads, with baby dick cams putting out weak times and even weaker numbers....Goes both ways
On the "custom cam" thing, the problem with most off the shelf grinds is that the cam companies know what Puck said above, most guys will overcam. As such they compromise the grinds ofyen by widening the LSA to maintain some drivability with too much duration, in the process they hurt output a fair amount. The average guy never realizes how much power his motor is missing with the poorly spec'd cam, but is happy with the drivability so he is a happy customer.
It is not some custom magic or anything it is just a willingness to spec the cam right and talk the customer down from the 242 intake duration cam they want to put in a stock shortblock.
Now sometimes for say emmissions purposes a wide LSA is appropriate but with the smaller hydraulic stuff we should all be running on the street the 112-114 seen in all the catalogues is usually spread from optimal. Not that LSA is a spec that should be choosen, just that if the lobes are in the right place these are usually not the numbers that will result.
And there are alot of big camonly LT1 running around putting down fast times
Its all about how you setup the car, and what it is ment for
I see hogged out heads, with baby dick cams putting out weak times and even weaker numbers....Goes both ways
On a street application, almost always small cam'd car with great heads will run faster times then a huge race grind with crappy stock heads.
I'm not talking huge "square lobe" race LT1s with 5k stalls, 4.33 gears, and a 2900lb race weight here, but the majority of our modded LT1s that see street duty.
Here is a link to the 94-96 Impala SS 1/4 times page (and other related b-bodies).
Sorted by "power" (scroll until you see the motor guys).
http://dan.esteban.com/impalass/Retu...SelectedClass=
Lotsa good LT1 combos can be found on that web page even though these are in B-body Chevy cars.
But note:
Only 4 Impala SS cars are in the 11's all natural with heads/cam 350LT1.
The combo variety is nice to see in that list.
One guy, (Ryan Ahart) hit 11's in Texas at 77F/89% humidity with heads some would say are too big (AFR 210cc) and a cam that is too big, (Comp 306).
I would say they are too big for the heavy car and the 350LT but they worked for him.
Hopefully there will be more and more Fbodies and Bbodies in the 11's (natural heads/cam 350LT1's). The head and cam quality seem to improve every year and people are finding all kinds of neat combos that work well for the street and strip.
I've had doggy combos in the past until I found the right torque converter to seemingly breath new life into the motor. (wake it up in a big way). Sometimes it seems my motor is a slave to the torque converter.

Karl Ellwein
PS:
Only 3 Impala SS (and other cool bbodies) are in the 10's all natural











Yep I went 11's back in Feb of 03 I think it was, fun stuff!