Drag Racing Online: The Magazine

Volume VIII, Issue 4, Page
HEADS-UP

Reher-Morrison Racing Engines' David Reher and Darin Morgan answer your questions about cylinder heads or anything else concerning your racing engine building problems. Remember who you're are dealing with so no soft-ball questions.

4/10/06

I have a chance to pick up a set of Dart 360 heads cheap. I want to use them with a tunnel ram and 2 holleys and 2 foggers spraying 300/300 nos.  Is it worth the effort or should I save up and invest in big chiefs and high price rockers and pistons? I have a Quick8 car P-glide wt 2600lbs.

Edward Johnson
Augusta GA

Edward,

When planning an engine combination you first have to ask some hard questions and be honest with yourself. All too often I see individuals get into a particular discipline of racing that far exceeds there budget and the end result is a lot of wasted time and money. On the other hand, there are people who try there best to take a cost effective approach but end up being penny wise and dollar foolish. If I have to give some advice it would be to invest in the best quality components you can buy within your budget but don’t let your budget dictate the quality of the components.

  1. How fast do you need to go in order to be competitive?
  2. What is my budget for this project?

These questions should answer your question.

Taking a speculative approach, a set of Dart heads on a 540 will easily make 820HP with low compression nitrous pistons. With two shots at 300 each you will make a maximum power of 1420HP give or take 50HP. Since the nitrous is applied in stages you can break the ET down to about 7.50s at 176MPH. If this is fast enough for your local bump in the quick 8 class, then you’re fine investing in the Dart 360s. If not, you need to consider going with the spread port heads like the Raptor 12° or the Dart 11.7°.

“It is unwise to pay too much, but it’s also unwise to pay too little. When you pay to much all you loose is a little money. When you pay to little, you stand the chance of loosing everything because the thing you bought is incapable of doing what need it to do! The common law of business prohibits the paying of a little and getting a lot- it just doesn’t happen. So, when you deal with the lowest bidder, it would be wise to put a little something aside to take care of the risk you run but if you can do that, you can afford something better.” - John Ruskin, English Professor

David Reher asked Darin Morgan to answer this question because it is his area of expertise.

Reher-Morrison Racing Engines
1120 Enterprise Place
Arlington Texas 76001
817-467-7171
FAX-468-3147
Visit our web site at http://www.rehermorrison.com


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