Who does Sand Drags

[JDNobodi]

Torque Converter is big one that even I am struggling with. I bought a data logger, and come to find out I have 20% slippage. So the little gains I did by losing weight and adding more nitrous was going up in heat at the converter. I was making about 900 to 1000hp depending how big a pill I was running. I hardly saw a difference because I was losing over 100hp just in slippage. Granted I started with a way loose converter and working to a tighter converter.
For your application, I would start with something higher than stock. Converters are one the difficult things to get right.
Losing weight is helpful. 6000lb is way to heavy. 1/4 steel rock slider and other stuff like the the bumpers are heavy.
Aggressive mud tires don't to well in the sand. Switch to an All terrain. I've always like Dick Cepek fun countrys for the sand. Take a look at what the most successful guys are running.
Sand seems to like wheel speed
**** I'm tired. I discuss motor and gearing later.

 

[Blue85]

I always though the old M/T Baja Belted tires looked like they would be the ultimate sand tire, but they seem to be pretty hated on in recent years. Of course you can't get them anymore, so it doesn't really matter. But my point is that a wider tire should be better - just like airing down makes that surface longer. The less sand you displace the less work there is to do. Any idea what the ideal width would be for a rig?

 

[GRINCH]

Found some vids. I lost all of these races but I weigh 6000# racing against #3500 trucks.

 

[JDNobodi]

What are your competitors and your times?
The jeep really blew by you but it seems you were much closer to the full size rigs even though they were way striped down.
edit - re-watched the jeep vid again. The jeep had a way better reaction time then you did.

 

[GRINCH]

I will see if I can find my time slips. I think they were in the 6 or 7 range though
If you will notice the jeep run was done for fun and using a flager. He cheated!!! He is running a modded 454 in the jeep. I have another vid of the jeep that is a little closer.
He is running 33 1250 street tires on it. Hence the lack of digging and spinning. I had a good day on the lights though. My reaction times were from .450 to .600. It was a 4/10 tree.

I have decided to retire the Grinch for sand dragging and keep it as a trail truck. It was fun but I'm to competitive, so I'm planning on building a dedicated Racer. Unfortunately it's not going to be a Chevy, but will be Chevy powered. I am thinking about either a 4runner or a Cherokee. Both small and light. I want to stay in the sportsman class for now. I also want to be able to use it for timed obstacle courses.

 

[JDNobodi]

LoL, With a 454 in a small vehicle, he didn't need to jump the start when the flag was being raised.
Well, I say it is good choice going to a dedicated vehicle. I was planning to build a multipurpose vehicle, but after losing a few races at the beach, I went overboard in building a dedicated sand drag blazer. I wish I had more money to build another vehicle for general purpose. Truth be told, building a dedicated vehicle means you can build a dedicated motor which makes the biggest difference.

 

[Avery4jc]

Truth be told, building a dedicated vehicle means you can build a dedicated motor which makes the biggest difference.

Speaking of which, finish that thing so we can play! I'll be there for New Years but I won't have my truck and I'll be in a cast still from my ankle surgery so I'm thinking trash bag and some duct tape to keep sand out of the cast and I'll sneak out of the condo for a ride.

 

[JDNobodi]

uh oh, the whips are cracking.

 

[GRINCH]

On page 10 the Headache build....

I thought about pulling the 500 Cad and use it for the racer but it will also make a nice grunt motor for the Grinch trail rig.

I'm lacking in skills and knowledge of Motor building and have to depend on my local machine shop for advice and work.

I have a 96 350 Vortec 4 bolt main that only has 70K on it. Problem is it took a little drink of Coolant. I haven't taken it down yet but suspect only a main went. Still ran when pulled. With a little knock Knock..

Can the Vortec heads be ported Meaning is it worth it? Who to send them too. Should I build a 383 out of it? Suggestions and lessons learned..

 

[folkenheath]

Big block!

If you can't go big block go as big of small block as you can afford. And the heads and cam are going to be where you make your power.

It takes a lot of torque/hp to spin 4 tires, small blocks are just that...small.

 

[79rustyk10]

I would guess the knock is a rod, but that doesnt concern anything if it needs a rebuild anyway.

How much power are you looking for out of the 350?

 

[GRINCH]

I thought about another caddy build but they cost a little more to build due to parts being limited demand. My 500 only weighs 50# more than my 350 does. Another problem with the cad is all the power is usually done around 4500. Not a high revving motor. Although I am impressed that it pushed my 6000#'s down the track pretty good and kept up with the light guys.

I figured a 400HP 350 in a lighter vehicle would launch good off the line and pull the whole 300 feet. That's why I was leaning towards stroking it. I dunno!!

 

[79rustyk10]

What are the limitations for the class you want to run engine wise?

400 horse from a 350 should be fairly easy to get with good heads, and the right combination of parts