Fast burn 385

[SINISTER68]

Anyone know how to squize more power out of a fast burn 385 with a hot cam kit in it? Only info I could find was 430 hp and not to much on lbs. I have heard pros and cons about porting the heads. One article says mild port work will increase hp but only just a basic clean up is needed. Other articles say don't touch the heads because it will ruin the way the head works. Any feed back would help.

[Fast01]

Anyone know how to squize more power out of a fast burn 385 with a hot cam kit in it? Only info I could find was 430 hp and not to much on lbs. I have heard pros and cons about porting the heads. One article says mild port work will increase hp but only just a basic clean up is needed. Other articles say don't touch the heads because it will ruin the way the head works. Any feed back would help.

I believe it's 424 ft.lbs. of torque. Head work will help, but if you don't know what you're doing you could do more harm than good. You could research vortec intake manifolds, but I don't think you'll gain too much there if anything. You've already got 1.6 rockers, so that's not an option. The only other thing I can think of outside of swapping heads and cams would be raise the compression. You can do this one of two ways. One requires you to take the heads off and bring them to the machine shop and have them milled. I don't know the thickness of the head gaskets, the volume of the valve reliefs or how far the pistons are down in the bore, but based on the Fast Burns 9.6:1 rating I'm using a 4.00" bore, 3.480 stroke, .040" gasket, .025" in the hole and piston volume of 8cc's coupled with the 62cc combustion chambers to come up with 9.59:1. If you milled the heads to 58cc's your compression would be 10.02:1. Your other option to raise the compression a bit is to swap out the head gaskets with the Fel-Pro steel shim gaskets that are .015" thick, but MUST be re-torqued after the first heat cycle. These will bring you to 10.15:1. Either way I think that'll put you into the mid to high 390's as far as horsepower goes. I wouldn't be running crazy nitrous or boost on those gaskets, but they'll work for a driver. Of course the easiest way to add power is boost or nitrous!

[SINISTER68]

I have had a nitrous car before and loved it until lost compression in a piston. I am really considering a 100 shot with a Zex perimeter plate wet system. What is your take on putting a nitrous sym on a fast burn 385 with hot cam kit? My car will be a street car with limited track use. Maybe three to four times a year at the drag strip. I wouldn't put anything more than a 100 shot. I don't want to damage a brand new engine with it. I would like it to last for as long as possible.

[Fast01]

I don't think adding a 100 shot will be a problem at all. You've had a nitrous motor in the past, so you already know the most important thing is to keep it out of detonation. The short block you've got is pretty good, but I could never understand why they keep using those hypereutectic pistons. That's gonna be your weak link. Good luck and have fun with it!