Mopar 440 racers - time to legalize that shortblock!

[RocketBlock]

Originally Posted by Chris Hill

Rocket,

I went back and checked the 2000 NHRA rulebook, and a 400 block with 440 crank is legal is SS only, grey area though.

It's legal if the correct length approved rods are used. The rule book does not state compression height must be certian diminsion, same thing with the distance from deck to C/L of the crankshaft. Mains and rods diameters are not checked any more, so your point there is not valid. Same thing for pushrods, intake manifolds, and piston compression height, as you don't care with a SS.

And Jim has a good point, protest next time you see it, but I think you'll be donating to the Steve Wann racing fund instead.

But a 400 block for a 440 engine in stock is illegal as hell.

I don't know about you, but when I race I look at a current rulebook, not a 7 year old rulebook. Racing in 2007 and probably in 2008 you will find under page 55 under stock engine and page 67 under SS engine both say the same thing "crossbreeding of parts prohibited"
The B engine mopar and the RB engine mopar are from two families, they share no major components other than cylinder heads. Therefore, it is not neccessary for NHRA to explicitly state the deck height must be OEM. If they did, they would need to provide a tolerance.

Also, this RB 383 sited is not listed in the NHRA official blueprint publications so is not an issue to discuss as it is not relevant to the conversation. But thanks for the information.

To the prior argument by Bill Dedman that "crossbreeding" denotes taking Ford parts and putting them into a Chevy, that doesn't make sense. At the start of the Stock sectionand SS section as well, there is a section titled Blueprinting which states "stock factory OEM components (unless otherwise specified) must be retained and unaltered (i.e., connecting rods, pushrods, crankshaft, etc.).

Good gawd men, I should have made that recital at the beggining of all this mess!

With that in mind, why would I have to go around protesting anybody? The rule is so damn explicit it is not even open for interpretation.

NHRA, take it from here!