How To Run 13’s At The Drag Strip. A Muscle Car Builders Guides
So you just bought a V8-powered American muscle car. And you want to go have fun at the race track but don’t want to feel embarrassed cause you won’t be fast enough? In this guide we will talk about the milder side of building a street car that virtually anyone can do with spare parts and used part finds so that you can run 13s in your old muscle car and feel like you have a little thump under the hood!
Our Build Options:
Because I am a Chevy guy and this is my blog site, I will be discussing how to build a small block Chevy 350 as they are one of the most common engines guys will start with. This information can also be transposed to any make or model of car as many of the parts and packages can be adapted for a Ford 302, Chevy 4.8L LS, or a 340 Dodge to name a few.
The Car:
Since we are basing this off of a Chevy drive train we will be looking at GM cars and parts, but again this can be based on anything. We can look at any generation of Camaro, Chevelle, Nova, Impala, El Camino, they all share similar parts so we can generalize and give a really good ballpark plan to run deep into the 13’s. Because as we will learn, having the correct combination of parts is the cheapest way to go fast.
Another note is that for the car’s suspension and general overview is that this is based on a 13-second car, so in that, most of this will be fairly basic and doesn’t take a lot, it’s more about making a fun and comfortable street car.
Rear End
Starting at the back of the car, you will find either a 10 or 12-bolt rear end that will likely have freeway gears and an open differential. You “can” use these to run into the 13’s but it will be a lot harder. This is also a fine line as far as mixing between driver car and race car. Too tall of a gear and you won’t accelerate, too short of a gear then you will find yourself gritting your teeth and wincing from the high rpm you turning on the freeway.
Gears
As we just mentioned, there is a fine line to the gearing you run in your car. This will also depend on your tire sizes and final drive in your transmission. If you have an overdrive transmission like a 4l60 or 700r4 then you can get away with having a shorter gear. But if you are running a 1:1 final drive transmission then you should try to maintain more reasonable driver gears.
Shorter gears I would say start at 3.73 to 4.11s
Taller Gears Would Be 3.23’s to 3.55’s
Here are a list of brands that I recommend for gears:
8.5 10 Bolt 3.73 Rear Gears USA Standard Gear
8.5 10 Bolt 3.73 Rear Gears Yukon
Posi
More fun than necessary but will make your car more consistent is adding a positraction into your rear end. This essentially converts your car from a one-tire fire to making train tracks anywhere you go.
Here are a few options for posi-carriers that are available,
Yukon Dura Grip Limited Slip 8.5/8.6 10 Bolt
(Rear-end work is finicky and should be done by someone who has a decent understanding of it before attempting as it can lead to unwanted noise and pre-mature part failure.)
Shocks
Shocks are never a bad idea to invest in anyway as they can dramatically change the way your car can perform not only on the track but can be a much nicer ride on the street too. Obviously, double adjustable or could-overs would be your best options but they are not necessary for our purposes. If you are looking for nicer budget shocks single adjustable or better non-adjustable will both work well on and off the track.
Here Are A Few Shock Options For You To Choose From
Camaro Rear Shocks Single Adjustable
BellTech Street Performance Shock
Competition Engineering 90/10 Drag Shocks
Tires
You can certainly run very fast on street tires but one thing that is much like the posi rear end is that you will be much more consistent and find it is much easier to race on a drag-specific tire. You can choose between a radial compound or a bias-ply compound as the two main drag tire types. If you are looking to pick one set of tires for your car as a sort of one-and-done tire I would choose a radial as they are more meant for the street. But it’s hard to go wrong with the look and style of a Hoosier on the back of your car!
Here are a few choices below:
Engine/Transmission Combos
Now that we have figured out a basis for the chassis and suspension of the car we will look at the fun stuff and that is what’s under the hood. Running 13s is not overly difficult to accomplish but does require a little bit more power than a stock 350 can offer you. So here is a quick basic part selection that can give you a good setup for a solid mid-13-second car that is still a perfect driver's car.
At the end of the day to mid-13-second pass in a 3,200lb car, you will need about 300 horsepower to the crank. That may sound deflating but is nothing to laugh at and will give you a really fun driving car.
Small Block Chevy (350)
Arguably one of the most common engines in the world. The small block 350 is a very affordable option to start your racing venture with and can hold quite a bit of power and can run 13s for a long long long time (when treated correctly of course)
Cylinder Heads:
Running 13s doesn’t require overly special cylinder heads. You can get away with many GM heads with little work done to them. Here are a few options to use in your build sheet. As a rule of thumb when looking for cylinder heads is to make sure your intake valve is 1.94 or 2.02 and has a runner size 155cc or bigger with a 64-70cc combustion chamber (basically make sure you don’t find a set of 283 power pack heads or a crappy 400 smogger heads.)
These cylinder heads listed below can be remanufactured or used for less than 800 dollars for a pair.
GM Vortec Heads - id #’s: 906 or 062
Made in the late 90’s as part of the last small block Chevy 350 that was mass-produced. It was also arguably one of the best 350s made ever because of the cylinder head. The Vortec head design was built to give truck engines great torque and midrange power and is perfect for street-plus muscle cars. Just make sure you get the late model intake to match this intake.
Amazon Referral Link to Vortec Heads: Click Here
Camel Hump Heads - Last Three ID #’s: 462, 461, 291, 186,
Camel Humps are the old-school Vortec head and were the go-to cylinder for performance in the 60s and 70s. Factory they came with 1.94 intake valves and have a good runner design with a small 64cc combustion chamber.
Intake Manifolds:
For a 13-second car, you are not planning on running the engine to very high rpm, realistically we will keep it under 6,000/6,500rpm for our shifts so we will match the intake for an off-idle to around 6,000rpm operating range. This puts you at essentially using a short single-plane intake or a good dual-plane intake.
Single Planes:
Dual Planes:
Cam Shaft Selection and Valvetrain
It is probably one of the most important parts of piecing your engine together, as your camshaft can influence what RPM range it operates at and can increase power. This is where it matters of the combination of the rear gear, the converter, cylinder heads, and even intake and headers. For our purpose, we will choose a milder camshaft to maintain driving ability. Here are a few general number ranges and then cams you could run.
Hydraulic Roller vs Flat Tappet:
If you have the money the go-to would be to purchase a hydraulic roller camshaft kit for your car, however, they do cost excessively more than flat tappet camshafts. the issue with flat tappets is they are prone to early cam or lifter failure and can end up costing you more than the hydraulic roller was to start with. So just be weary if you try to save a few dollars by rolling with the flat tappet camshafts.
Cam Spec Ranges
Power Range: idle/1,800 - 5,500/6,500 RPM
Valve Duration: 270/270 - 292/292
Valve Duration @ .50 224- Low 230’s
Valve Life: 470/470- 500/500
Lobe Separation: 109-110 - To maintain vacuum from the engine to allow power brakes to work properly.
Camshafts: Smaller To Larger. Note: The larger cams may require specific gears/converters/headers etc.
Retro-Fit Hydraulic Roller Camshafts
Ignition:
Good Ignition is very important for your car and once you buy good ignition it can help both overall performance and even fuel economy. You can go a more economical route with a HEI distributor that essentially runs everything or you can run a CD Box like an MSD 6AL with a Billet Distributor as a more expensive but better option.
Amazon Referral Links:
MSD CD Box: Click Here.
MSD Ignition Coil: Click Here.
MSD Billet Distributor: Click Here.
HEI Distributor: Click Here.
Carburetor/Fuel Injection:
This is a fairly open and broad part as it is basically whatever your preference of carburetor or EFI is at this point as they all should work in the power category. My personal preference is FiTech Injection or Edelbrock Carburetors for what I have run my entire life. However, if you are looking for peak power then Holley may be the way to go.
Here are a few options below:
Edelbrock 1405 600 CFM Carburetor
Edelbrock 1407 750 CFM Carburetor
Headers
A Crucial part of this whole thing and a very cheap way to pick up horsepower is to throw a set of headers in your car. As they flow far better than exhaust manifolds and help unrestrict the exhaust system. Therefore creating more power. Several options are available for headers and are car or truck-specific pieces so be sure to pickup your vehicle-specific header setup.
Block Hugger Headers: A great economical option that is one of the more universal headers that fit on many vehicles.
Bottom End
In all honesty, if you have a healthy small block Chevy short block (pistons, rods, crank, and block) with good oil pressure, then you shouldn’t have to do much of anything. I would recommend running a high-pressure or high-volume oil pump to ensure proper oiling and lubrication.
Transmissions
First off, for the time we are trying to obtain in this article (that will change as we go faster in future articles) we don’t have to do a whole lot here, whether you have a Powerglide transmission, th350, th400, 700r4, etc. They all should work fine basically stock or if you want to add a shift kit to route fluid better and firm up the shifts will help and are easy to do.
Transmissions Shift Kit Is a basic way to improve your transmission for very little money.
Torque Converters
Arguably just as important as the camshaft is not the transmission itself but the torque converter. (Note: If you are running a manual transmission then there isn’t much of a combination issue here) The torque converter is that magic boat propeller that attaches to the flexplate and helps transfer or "convert” power through the transmission. The converter can make or break a build and be the difference between a fun hot rod and stepping on a wet plum.
The best way to choose your converter is to match your converter to the camshaft you decide to run, however, a safe bet would be a converter that is around 2,000 to 2,800 stall converters (Stall is the rpm that you can footbrake the engine to in gear before the tires spin).
Here are a few converters in that range I would suggest (of course check which transmission you have and what the camshaft recommends)
Conclusion
At the end of the day, running 13’s a fairly easy and affordable task for many wanting to build a fun street car and are not wanting to break the bank. I hope this helped you work through how to build a fun and easy street car that I have no reason to believe wouldn’t rip down the quarter mile and run at least a 13 second pass.
This was obviously a very Chevrolet-oriented article but many of these tips can be translated into small-block or big-block ford or Mopar, and can help give you a great idea on where to start with your project car.
Please check out the rest of the website and our other blogs that will be coming out very soon! Til then see you guys next time.
