You may want to check with the School of Automotive Machinists. Another option is to look into WyoTech trade schools; an official sponsor of the NHRA, they do place graduates into the racing community in areas ranging from drag racing to NASCAR to the IRL. They may be able to give you some direction. Good luck with your search, and hope to see you at the races soon.
Sources: nhra.com, samracing.com, wyotech.com
Head Gasket Worries
Q I'm coming to the assembly of my small-block engine buildup. I had the engine bored 0.030 over. Do I need a special head gasket for the larger bore, or will the stock gaskets work fine? I don't want to mess this up and have to take the engine apart after all this work. Any help would be great.Fred Miller
Via e-mail
A Running the incorrect head gasket in an engine can cause real problems in several ways. Most production head gaskets are well over the bore size in the proper application. For instance, a small-block 350 composition head gasket from GM has a diameter of 4.100 inches. A small-block 350 has a bore size of 4.000 inches. You can easily use the factory head gasket for up to a 4.060-inch overbore with no worries. GM pretty much figured this into the equation when it built the gaskets.
As for performance head gaskets, Fel-Pro's very popular 1003 and 1010 head gaskets are built to a gasket diameter of 4.166 inches. As you can see, this is well over the bore size at the largest 350 overbore. I really prefer to use the smaller-bore size gaskets because this larger gasket allows spent exhaust gases and carbon to live in this crevasse. During the exhaust stroke, there is no real way to evacuate this area, and the remaining spent combustion gases can mix with the incoming charge and reduce the power potential.
The bottom line is that the head gasket must be at least 0.020 inch over the bore size to prevent the fire ring of the gasket from protruding into the combustion space. If the fire ring gets into the combustion space, the stainless fire ring will be superheated and act as a glow plug and cause pre-ignition. This can be disastrous for your engine. Follow these simple recommendations and you'll be able to keep your fresh, clean engine sealed up.
Compressive Power
Q I have a set of 305 heads off an early-'80s small-block. I'd like to install these on my 350 to raise the compression. Shouldn't this make my 350 run strong, since it's increasing the compression ratio, and compression equals more power? My 350 is a mid-'70s smog engine with 76cc combustion chambers. The 58 cc on the 305 should really wake this thing up. Any help would be appreciated.Phil Mathews
Via e-mail
A Compression ratio squeezes the fuel and air in the combustion space, creating more heat, which equates to more power. There are several rules to the amount of power you can expect. Most people believe that if you change the compression of an engine 1 point, you should realize a power gain or loss of 4-6 percent. When we've done these compression drills, the most we've seen on the dyno is around 4 percent. On most 350-cid engines, 10 cc of change works out to about 1 point of compression change. This is a pretty good rule to follow on a 350 small-block.