Torque under control :)

[dorin48]

I'm going the american v8 route soon and I'm laying out the plan for the engine build and drivetrain in the intrest of budgeting. This will be a long term project that will involve several stages and the final product should be pretty fierce. My gramps is giving up his 77' f100 to me. Currently it sports a rebuilt 351m in all its factory 163hp. I honestly think its making more like 80 to the wheels. Ive never driven anything that slow. ever. >_>

So the engine build list is already done. I know what route im going. With that said I am going to have serious traction issues. I want this thing to hook as well as possible.

1. It will have a 9" wide wheel in the back for rubber. Its gonna sport street tires. (compromise, its not going to be a track machine, its a truck for crying out loud)
2. Limited slip is on the list.
3. Its going to have 4" of stroke so a whole lot of torque at very low engine speeds.

Questions:
1. What gear should I use for this torque monkey to not spin on the line all day?
2. Is it very expensive or necessary to move away from a leaf spring rear-end in this situation? I dont want wheel hop owning my ass when I punch it.

Reps for good info. :goodjob: thanks for reading mah storiez

[Kaiser]

I'm going the american v8 route soon and I'm laying out the plan for the engine build and drivetrain in the intrest of budgeting. This will be a long term project that will involve several stages and the final product should be pretty fierce. My gramps is giving up his 77' f100 to me. Currently it sports a rebuilt 351m in all its factory 163hp. I honestly think its making more like 80 to the wheels. Ive never driven anything that slow. ever. >_>

So the engine build list is already done. I know what route im going. With that said I am going to have serious traction issues. I want this thing to hook as well as possible.

1. It will have a 9" wide wheel in the back for rubber. Its gonna sport street tires. (compromise, its not going to be a track machine, its a truck for crying out loud)
2. Limited slip is on the list.
3. Its going to have 4" of stroke so a whole lot of torque at very low engine speeds.

Questions:
1. What gear should I use for this torque monkey to not spin on the line all day?
2. Is it very expensive or necessary to move away from a leaf spring rear-end in this situation? I dont want wheel hop owning my ass when I punch it.

Reps for good info. :goodjob: thanks for reading mah storiez

1.) Depends on your trans gearing really. I'd go with something midrange to start out with, someling like a 3.5-3.8 range I guess? Without knowing your gearbox I couldn't give you a better starting point than that.

2.) If you're talking about seriously tracking the machine, buy a second set of tires and run bias ply competition tires on them. The rear-end suspension of a truck is, if in good condition, very stiff compared to the rear end of a car. You're simply going to have a very different weight transfer than something like a Mustang.

[dorin48]

1.) Depends on your trans gearing really. I'd go with something midrange to start out with, someling like a 3.5-3.8 range I guess? Without knowing your gearbox I couldn't give you a better starting point than that.

2.) If you're talking about seriously tracking the machine, buy a second set of tires and run bias ply competition tires on them. The rear-end suspension of a truck is, if in good condition, very stiff compared to the rear end of a car. You're simply going to have a very different weight transfer than something like a Mustang.

Its a stock C6 trans.

I realize its stiff just was wondering if there is a viable option for enhancing it like a 4-link or something. I realize the 4 link is costly.

I'll be following the build on this page plus some improvements - :eek: http://forums.hotrod.com/70/1378717/general-topics/sept-1998-article-on-400m-ford-build-in-hot-rod/index.html


If all goes well looks like i should make 400 on motor only :D

[03RCode]

Ladder bars will help, as well as getting some type of weight over the rear axle. A few companies actually make a weighted bag for the bed of a truck, a buddy of mine ran one before in his drag S10 before he went 4 link.

[dorin48]

Didnt even realize in the article that the engine was in a ranchero so I guess i can follow it to the t. Im going to look into ladder bars now thx.

[Kaiser]

If you go ladder bars and some rear-axle ballast I'd probably go with a 3.8. Above that you might not find it as fun on the streets.