What would a mid 80s sbc nascar engine consist of?

[Tom68]

What power did they make back then and at what rpm's.

Today, when sometimes 500 miles is run with no engine failures, we forget how fragile they were back in '80s. There was an inverse relationship between power and finishing the race. Back before purpose-designed race engines and the gear rule, wasn't unusual for half the field to drop out with engine failures.

By '86 we had bowtie blocks, several aftermarket cranks and rods to choose from, we were even using 7/16 rod bolts, of course nobody does now. So blowups for us were really only from pushing tune limits. We still had people that believed lean was mean.

[dannobee]

... i know it doesnt look like nascar ...

-juhana

Obviously you've never seen nascar Street Stockers run . And where Fins can "claim" the whole car, in the lower nascar divisions, "claiming" someone's engine is a common rule with the intent of keep costs down.

[juuhanaa]

... i know it doesnt look like nascar ...

-juhana

Obviously you've never seen nascar Street Stockers run . And where Fins can "claim" the whole car, in the lower nascar divisions, "claiming" someone's engine is a common rule with the intent of keep costs down.

Nice

[Walter R. Malik]

Curious about short track or road course set up. What kind of rpm they turned. Compression, general cam specs, heads mostly used (862 pontiac style?). And what kind of power they tended to make. Any help is appreciated kind of hard to find out about these things. Mostly interested about mids 80s to late.

I guess this would also greatly depend upon the vehicle brand ...

[PackardV8]

So blowups for us were really only from pushing tune limits. We still had people that believed lean was mean.

IIRC, the Crew Chief always wanted one less pit stop under green and the Chief Engine Guy wanted to go rich enough to finish the race and not be blamed for another DNF blowup.

[hoffman900]

Here is a cool period piece:
https://www.racingjunk.com/vintage/1819 ... p_offset=6

[PackardV8]

Probably the best money could buy in 1991; however if one had $10,000 to spend today on a SBC short block, would he choose 1991 piston/ring/cam technology?

[Tom68]

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