The people who populate the NHRA’s Competition Eliminator class are among the craziest and braniest in the sport. They have not problem looking convention in the eye and spitting. They have no issue coming up with weird and neat engine combos to make their stuff faster and they have absolutely no qualms to spinning whatever engine they are running harder and faster than us mere mortals think is a good idea. This engine dyno video was shot at Westech Performance out in California. Steve Brule and the guys were on the scene for this pull of a 510ci engine that has been built especially for the NHRA’s Comp Eliminator category. We’re guessing that it is going to end up in an altered or a dragster of some type. A/Dragster, perhaps? We don’t know the name of the owner or the end destination of the engine but we do know, thanks to the overlaid dyno screen that the thing turns to 9,500 RPM and makes nearly 1,400 naturally aspirated horsepower. That’s big steam with no forced induction or other help.
The second thing that is really neat about this video is paying attention to what happens to the front mounted distributor when the RPMs climb to their stratospheric highs. Because the distributor is not tightly locked down, it starts to wander and move a pretty fair amount. This of course screws with the timing and the reality is that the engine is probably capable of making even more power than is shown because of the distributor issue. Advancing and retarding itself at those RPM levels is potentially scary stuff and as you will see, the pull was nearing an end when that happened anyway.
We love the sights and sounds of Competition Eliminator at NHRA national events and those sounds range from 12,000 RPM four bangers to near 10,000 RPM big block this like one. It sure sounds like chained thunder on the dyno and it’ll sound even better assaulting the NHRA Division 7 series next year!
PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THIS ENGINE RIP AND ROAR ITS WAY TO 9,500 RPM ON THE DYNO AT WESTECH –
Timing is not screwed. That kind of distributor is almost empty, it just points each ignition spark to right cylinder. The timing is handled by Crank Trigger system.
It absolutely messes with the timing. The ignition box still relies on proper rotor phasing for proper timing. I have a Powergrid with a msd crank trigger on my sbc, and have to properly index the distributor in relation to crank position.
Incorrect. The timing box has zero knowledge of the physical location of the rotor or cap. Timing only changes if the cap rotates so far that it passes the plug wire contact point, passes the gap to the next cylinder, and contacts the plug wire contact of the next or previous cylinder in the firing order. It clearly did not move far enough to misfire, much less fire the fore/aft cylinder. So, power would be the same.
Wrong. In order to set proper timing, you put the engine at TDC, then advance it to the TOTAL timing you want, I have mine sat at 38* in the box, so 38* advanced on the dampener. Then you want the very leading edge of the ignition rotor just meeting the contact in the cap. It’s why any decent builder uses a drilled cap to verify. If the distributor moves either direction you ARE changing the timing. The box will think it’s advancing the timing 35*, when in reality the tower contact has moved 4* advanced, so now timing in reality is 39*. This is basic stuff. When you make the rotor chase the tower contact beyond the actual intended degrees you are changing timing.
This does not change timing at all. It will change rotor phasing which can be just as bad id it hits the next cylinder. The crank trigger sends a timing signal to the ignition box, the box has no idea where the rotor is when it fires the coil.
I understand that, but you are MECHANICALLY changing the timing by moving the tower further from the rotor! If the distributor has to turn an additional 4* to reach the leading edge of the tower, you have effectively added 4* timing mechanically. The box has no clue and believes it’s still running at whatever timing.
That theoretical additional 4* is 4* in crank rotation, and therefore you are changing timing. The box is irrelevant.
food for thought,if the cap and rotor are moving as an assembly together how would this effect timing with a trigger system
The cap and rotor would have to be spinning at the same speed to NOT affect timing.. Not possible.
I misread what you said, it wouldn’t so long as the cap and rotor stayed phased the same.
If the box was being triggered by the distributor and you moved the distributor this would change timing. Timing changes because the pickup moves in relation to the reluctor. This has nothing to do this the location of the rotor in relation to the cap.
When using a crank trigger the distributor is only used to distribute the spark energy to the correct cylinder and has nothing to do with timing. The location of the pickup in relation to the magnet on the crank wheel is what sets timing.
If you move the distributor 4* how does the box know to change timing by 4*? It doesn’t because you only changed rotor phasing not timing.
If it in fact had a crank trigger set up one would be able to see a crank wheel, my eyes aren’t the best but I sure cant see any crank trigger wheel which as we all know is usually fixed to the front of the balancer, so I say WTF with all the above BS, and seriously why does such an exotic engine not have a crank trigger anyway.
The engine does have a crank trigger. That’s one of those balancer’s with the magnets embedded in it. You can see the pickup on the lower right side (left in the picture) of the engine, you can also see the pickup wires hanging.