thatK30guy said:
Wes,
The Mitchell catalogs are what got me started on this whole thing... (I'd like to see any articles you find though). The crate stuff he builds is RAD, but as discussed earlier his focus is on high HP engines (drag racing, full WOT type stuff)....my idea is really to do what that "Chevy High Performance" article did, take an HP-motor, throw away about 100 Peak HP, but gain all sorts of bottom end torque in the process.
I've been playing with an "evaluation" version of DesktopDyno that somehow appeared in my InBox this AM (thanks mystery helper!

) and I already have a 632 producing over 720Lbs of torque from 2000RPM on up to around 4500RPM. The torque is falling off at higher RPMs but maybe with more work on the cam and head selection I can get the overall TQ curve even wider and flatter!!!
RJF,
I find it surprising that I have to extoll the virtues of "wretched excess" to a guy with a 3000 watt stereo system! Of all people, I figured you'd understand....
Let's face it, this '69K5 is not going to be my "daily driver" or anything (I've got about 4 other vehicles I could use for that).....this project is all about building something really unique and truly wicked (and I don't mean "wicked" like they say here in NH, I mean "wicked" like EVIL). A Blazer that can pull the front tires off the ground from a roll, just by mashing the throttle.....or that can do a 4WD burnout on dry pavement.....or something that can climb the steepest hills in 4LO with no gas pedal because it's got 700Lb/Ft of torque at idle and a 130:1 crawl ratio. Nobody
needs a vehicle like this......but it's something I've WANTED to build for a while. The idea of using Mog axles, and a 6-Speed Manual are really strange and cool things I'm excited to do. There are about a million engineering problems to solve to make all of this work the way I want. I've been building this truck in my head for about the last 2 years....and I hate to admit that it will be probably 2 more years before I get the space to start assembling all of these parts into what I've imagined.
I see this project as an expression of "the best of what I've learned" type deal. I've only been into K5s since 2001, but I've been spending every free moment thinking about ideas, issues, (building things like ExcelCAD to teach myself suspension theory)...I'm even building the entire tube frame chassis in 1/4-scale right now on my dining room table a few feet away from where I'm sitting now (BTW -> it's about 40" long!)....I guess you could say I've got an ADDICTION???
Anyway, it's the kind of thing that I'm excited about....and it sounds like there are a lot of other people who get excited about stuff like this too (no matter HOW impractical it ultimately might be)