Well, I found out the difference between a flat top 355 and a flat top 406 this weekend: .388 seconds. My best run Saturday night was 4.791, and my best run this year with the 406 was 4.403.
The difference is out of the hole. This motor doesn't have near the torque of the 406. Its like driving a street car out of the hole, but man once it gets some RPMs built up and gets into high gear, its coming on strong. You can hear it winding up, lol. I think part of that is the type converter I run. Its a tight converter and this little 355 just don't have the power to turn it like that 406 did.
But, aside from being slow, it done good. I went 3 rounds last night. The car was very consistant. Off the trailer it ran 4.904 but the valves were WAY off and I had a plug wire about ready to come off. We fixed the plug wire and it ran 4.87. After that run, we then adjusted the valves (they were way too tight) and it ran a 4.819. We wound up gettin 4 time runs because the track screwed up the tree in our first run, so my 4th time run, it ran a 4.816 and I cut a perfect reaction time (.500). That gave me the bye run for the 1st round eliminations (best light gets the bye run here) and in that, I dialed a 4.81 and ran 4.818.
That was 3 straight 4.81s. In the 2nd round, I raced an S-10 race truck whose driver was bound to be new or just "in bad shape" if you know what I mean. Anyways, he was dialed a 4.99 and cut a .600 light and ran 5.91! I dont know what happened to him. Anyways, I was dialed...you guessed it, 4.81, and cut a .56x light (gave myself some slack with him) and ran 4.870 (got way out of it).
In the 3rd round, I got put in the left lane (had been running the right lane becuase most of the fast cars run the left, so they'll put ya in the right anyways) and I had only ran it one time before (4.819) so we dialed a 4.80 and I wound up running 4.791. So I broke out and that lost the race.
Anyways, the motor done good considering what it is, and how much car its having to lug around (2700 lbs worth as it sets). And I never realized just how strong that 406 I had was, lol. I think I was seriously under estimating its hp. I always figured on it having 500, but now I think it had more like 550, lol. I figure this enigne makes 425-450 hp or so. Either way, it'll do untill I can either get a set of high compression pistons for it, or get my 406 back in running shape.
Cliff Notes
-run the new engine, flat top 355 with the heads, intake, and cam from the 406.
-went 3 rounds Saturday night, broke out 4.791 on a 4.80 dial
-about 4 tenths slower then the 406.
-although its slower, it still done pretty good and was very consistant: 3 straight 4.81 runs.
-best run was 60': 1.624, 330 ET: 4.791