Advice needed on my project

[WhiteSnake]

Hey guys, my current project is my 96 SS Camaro. The car is going to be a street/strip car that I plan to run out at the track as much as possible throughout the summer as well as using it as my daily driver when the weather is nice. I don't really have a budget as I have been slowly buying pars whenever I have extra money and since it the racing season here is pretty much all over I have all winter to get this thing up and running. The car currently has a Moser 9" in it and for the suspension I just received my order from Wolfe Racecraft for the Torque arm, control arms, panhard rod, subframe connectors, sway bar, mini tubs and roll bar. I have a set of Qa1 shocks as well and I am waiting for the k member and control arms from PA racing to show up.

I am currently getting the parts for the motor together. I already have all of the bottom end stuff, Scat crank, rods and diamond pistons 4 bolt main caps. It is going to be 396ci with a good shot of nitrous. Now where I could use some advice, I picked up some new AFR 227 heads from a friend at a really good price almost too good to pass up. After doing some research today I am starting to think that they are a little on the big side and they will push the power band too far up for a car that I want to drive around daily. I will also have to get new rocker arms for it. I will be running it with a ported stock intake and duel 58mm throttle body for now and the PCM has been converted to an OBD1 setup.

So my question would be what kind of heads would you be putting on this thing if it was your project?

Also if I when everything running good I would like to get up to a 250 shot. Should I do a half fill of the block?

And the last question, I have never run a car with solid lifters. I know you have to adjust them periodically but what are the benefits? Do they just make a bit more power and make the motor more responsive?

The competition for my car is my brothers 06 Z06 vette, it has a full exhaust including long tubes, CAI, tune, twin disc clutch and 345/30/19 drag radials I only got one pass out of it this year as the clutch pedal stuck to the floor on the second pass. It ran a 11.7@127 on a terrible 60'. We got the new clutch in it but there are no more track days left that we can make it to.The start of next season should be interesting.

[firebird_1995]

On a 396 I would say those heads are fine. Has there been any work done to them? What trans are you running? Solid rollers were a big thing back in the day if you needed to spin an engine up high to make power. Nowadays, modern hydraulic roller lifters have pretty much eliminated the need for solids except in high level competition engines. If you don't already have the cam I would hit up @NightTrain66 Lloyd Elliott and see what his recommendation is for the heads and cam. He will not steer you wrong.
And no need to fill the block IMO

[Chopstix]

I am running a very similar combo to what you are building...396, 227s, solid roller, nitrous, etc...the solid roller combo is just coming together, but my last combo had most of the same parts and a hydraulic roller...would have had no issue driving the car anywhere. Even drove it on hour and a half home frome the track one night to let a buddy use my trailer to get his "street" car home after it broke.

[MEAN LT1]

Good luck with the build. Are your AFR's the Eliminator versions?

[WhiteSnake]

Thanks! the AFR's are the race ready eliminators and they are untouched. I would like to keep the car a 6 speed, if I can make it work I would like to convert it to an LS1 Style trans and clutch. The Super magnum TR-6060 conversion from Tick Performance looks like a solid unit that would work well with Ram's duel disc 10.5 force clutch.

I will have to give Lloyd a call, a few people now have recommended getting my cam from him as he really knows his stuff when it comes to the LT1's.

[popo8]

@NightTrain66 ^^^

[NightTrain66]

sorry, I have been super busy lately and my uncle has been in ICU for about a week.

I have not been on the forums at all lately.

AFR 227's (or any head with offset rockers) would be a good choice for the 396.

Just make sure what chamber size they are and what compression ratio you will end up at.

Lloyd