Jeep Engines - Oljeep

478 MOPAR PERFORMANCE PARTSAnother item to note in your plan is what you expect thevehicle to do; that is, how much highway mileage, howmuch mileage around town, how many trips to the track,and other requirements. Unlike many brands, Mopars domake excellent dual purpose vehicles. The answers to thesequestions will affect the parts that we use, eliminate someand demand others. A general characteristic of bracketracers is that they want to race and race often. This isobviously a strong reason for choosing a Mopar racevehicle. Bracket racers are not particularly interested inmaintaining, rebuilding, or testing the vehicle on a frequentbasis. Class racing demands maintaining, rebuilding, andtesting, which means the amateur racer doesn’t race asoften because he or she needs time to do all this. How oftenyou want to race should be noted on your plan. You shouldalso list what you already have available as far as Moparengines and bodies. Using one or both of these, if available,may result in the lowest cost approach.One of the most important considerations in laying out yourbracket racing plan is to be realistic concerning how fastyou want to go. Overstated, this means that you shouldn’texpect a 150 horsepower engine in a 4,000 pound vehicle togo 150 mph. You also shouldn’t expect to convert a 150 hpengine to 800 hp. An error in basic choice such as this canbe extremely expensive, and in most cases, disappointing.As we progress through this section, we will try to provideguidelines for various performance characteristics. Later inthis chapter we will put all the various Mopar engine partsinto groups that will work well together. It’s important thatall the parts on the vehicle work together as a team. Thiswill increase overall performance, keep costs down, andmake the owner happy with his or her package.The final item in our preliminary plan is to determine howgood your current package is running. Since the rules arenot restrictive, you should be sure that your current Moparrace vehicle is capable of reaching the goal you set beforeyou invest more money in it. If you don’t have a currentrace vehicle, this step is somewhat academic. To keep fromfalling into the poor execution category and spending moremoney than is required, it is necessary to set performanceguidelines and determine if you are getting the most fromthe package that you’ve put together within yourguidelines. This a complex matter and not an easy one tosolve. Basically, with a given horsepower output and agiven vehicle weight, the vehicle should go a certain speed.Stock Eliminator Trucks1991 was the first year for the new NHRA Stock Truckclasses that allow 1980 and newer pickup trucks to competein Stock Eliminator. Trucks in general are red-hot thesedays, so allowing them to compete in drag racing was anatural. And there’s a lot of interest among drag racingenthusiasts because the trucks are rear wheel drive. Thismakes them naturals for drag racing events.In 1998 there were 20 classes for trucks in StockEliminator: ten manual and ten automatic classes. The topclass (ATE, AT/SA) has a class weight break (based onpounds per NHRA factored horsepower) of 12.00 to 12.99.With several different classes, there is room for everyone tobe competitive. Complete NHRA factors andclassifications are published in Ncitionul DRAGSTER. TheIHRA publishes their numbers in DRAG Review.Note: Always be sure to check the rules with your localtrack and sanctioning body before you begin building yourdrag racing truck.How to Build a Stock Eliminator TruckThe first step is to get the Tech Sheet and the WeightClassification Sheet for the vehicle that you have picked.The second thing that you need is the service manual foryour truck. Then, you’ll need a copy of the most recentNHRA or IHRA rule book.The Tech Sheet allows you to check your engine andhave the specifications by which to build it. These arelegal specifications - the sanctioning body’s minimums/maxiimums for head cc’s, deck height and cam lift, and muchmore. The Tech Sheet also has the casting numbers forintake manifolds and cylinder heads. These must be checkedagainst the parts that you’re going to put on the engine.Now that you have gathered all the necessary writteninformation, you can start gathering your parts. We assumethat you already had a truck or that you just bought one. Forthis discussion, we’ll assume that you have the right engine.If yolu bought a separate/spare engine assembly, then youhave to make doubly sure that the numbers match beforeyou start putting it together!As you start to gather parts, it’s a good idea to keep anotebook full of all the information on your particularengine. The first thing to put in the notebook is a name forthe project/engine, or a number, or other description. Thesecond thing is to list all the casting numbers as you takethe engine apart.