Kenne Bell on road course

oilspill

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Been thinking about taking my car to a HPDE event and I just got an ad for track night in America at road Atlanta coming up on the 31st.

My biggest fear is the kenne bell on a 302 and heat. I do have methanol, 180 tstat, and a fluidyne radiator but I am running 11 psi.

Anyone think running a track day is motor suicide or should I be ok?

Open to any feedback or opinions.
 

RAU03MACH

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The kenne bell is good on a drag strip
The car has time to cool off
I think on long hauls like constant on the throttle
The engine will lose a little

Mine performs well when I am getting on it in short runs
Green Light to red light
If you keep your foot out of it there ok
 

r3dn3ck

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Do you have an IAT gauge? Do you have an intercooler? If not I'd be looking at adding those.

If you're really worried you could do something like a water mist sprayer for the front mounted air:air or air:water heat exchanger. It doesn't take a lot of water to have a big effect thanks to water's really high specific heat. That's the intake side and will only make the combustion side problems worse.

On the combustion side outside of having enough radiator and fan there's not much you can do but watch that water temp gauge (you should have one other than the one that the car comes with so you know the actual numeric temperature). 11psi isn't that much but running WOT under boost and then mashing on the brakes to enter a corner and then going WOT again is exactly how to build up heat and all things have limits.
 
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oilspill

oilspill

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Do you have an IAT gauge? Do you have an intercooler? If not I'd be looking at adding those.

If you're really worried you could do something like a water mist sprayer for the front mounted air:air or air:water heat exchanger. It doesn't take a lot of water to have a big effect thanks to water's really high specific heat. That's the intake side and will only make the combustion side problems worse.

On the combustion side outside of having enough radiator and fan there's not much you can do but watch that water temp gauge (you should have one other than the one that the car comes with so you know the actual numeric temperature). 11psi isn't that much but running WOT under boost and then mashing on the brakes to enter a corner and then going WOT again is exactly how to build up heat and all things have limits.
Unfortunately no to iat gauge and no easy way to intercool the pushrod kenne bells. I would love to go custom a2a intercooler but wayyy above my skill level.

I do spray methanol post blower but assume that only does so much.

I do have an auto meter water temp gauge. So I guess if getting to hit I can exit.
 

r3dn3ck

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Unfortunately no to iat gauge and no easy way to intercool the pushrod kenne bells. I would love to go custom a2a intercooler but wayyy above my skill level.

I do spray methanol post blower but assume that only does so much.

I do have an auto meter water temp gauge. So I guess if getting to hit I can exit.
Methanol does a lot (normally it's 50:50 mixed with water) to help cool intake charge temps pretty dramatically. If you can drill and tap for a temp sensor for the manifold you'll be able to see how much. Then again, intake charge cooling really only exacerbates the problem of engine heat soak.
 
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oilspill

oilspill

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They think highly of these gauges! Not even sure where I would mount that sending unit post blower.


CC6B7AB2-E15C-4194-920A-5EB01A06B524.png
 

white95

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Gotta pay to play, I’m afraid. Is this what you have? What about this port right here? Looks like a threaded plug. You could also drill/tap on of your lower intake runners for an IAT sensor.
 

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oilspill

oilspill

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Gotta pay to play, I’m afraid. Is this what you have? What about this port right here? Looks like a threaded plug. You could also drill/tap on of your lower intake runners for an IAT sensor.
That’s it. I’ve got FPR, vac/boost, bypass, and most importantly meth running off those ports.

I do have my stock iat sensor in the #5 runner in the lower so at least the computer sees the temps I guess.
 

white95

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That’s it. I’ve got FPR, vac/boost, bypass, and most importantly meth running off those ports.

I do have my stock iat sensor in the #5 runner in the lower so at least the computer sees the temps I guess.

You could piggyback off that sensor to monitor with an external gauge.
 
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oilspill

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interesting....i assumed the sending units would be some proprietary BS scaling and wouldnt work by tapping the existing wires.
 

r3dn3ck

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It's just voltage. It's a just a thermistor or thermocouple with a display interpreting the voltage. May have to characterize and calibrate but that's pretty simple stuff. Electronics is not a lot different to plumbing. Not rocket science. Don't let wires intimidate you.
 

ttocs

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the holley systems allow you to use different gauges that are already programmed, or you can set them up for what you have. I have mine running off of the #5 intake on the lower for if/when I ever get meth. I can't remember the details but it was not a big deal at all.
 

ttocs

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I assumed it since he was worried about running a factory AIT sender. While the fox body is a different style from the mounting I thought the impedance curve was the same IIRC.
 

Fabman

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Been thinking about taking my car to a HPDE event and I just got an ad for track night in America at road Atlanta coming up on the 31st.

My biggest fear is the kenne bell on a 302 and heat. I do have methanol, 180 tstat, and a fluidyne radiator but I am running 11 psi.

Anyone think running a track day is motor suicide or should I be ok?

Open to any feedback or opinions.
I did it for years.
You can do it, but it helps to be prepared. e85, Fluidyne radiator with really good rad ducting, good heat exchanger, big water tank, good tune, no A/C condenser, it is possible.
Dropping the boost will help a lot and if this is your first track day horsepower is not going to be the limiting factor.
Its tires, suspension and brakes that will be the issue.
Go, have fun. Learn stuff, watch your temps. Bleed your brakes and flush your power steering fluid before you go.
These things tend to boil if not fresh.
 

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