Running my new 351W at Pocono on Saturday. Advice?

[klayfish]

Looks like we're going to just sneak in under the wire and have my new 351W installed in my car before Saturdays' Pocono run with PDA driving school. What a disaster!! Many of the 302 parts aren't interchangable. New distributor, new clutch, had to have an adaptor custom machined for the crankshaft pulley, the headers didn't clear the left side of the car..... Oh well, it's in and almost ready.
Obviously, I haven't had a chance to dyno the motor, so I have no idea where the power band of the engine is.
My questions are about how hard I can push the 351W, also given that I have a new clutch. The clutch is a heavy duty truck clutch, if that matters. The motor was used when I bought it, so it should be already broken in. How fast can the 351W spin, and at roughly what RPM does it fall on its' face? If it helps, some motor specs: 1983 351W, bored .040, high volume oil pump, engine internals polished, Windsor Jr. heads, 9.3/1 compression, Crane Roller Cam, 216/224 duration and .520/.542 lift, Edelbrock intake and Holley 750 double pump carb.

Steve

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Steve;

On any new parts such as your clutch I'd take it easy for few laps to let everything "seat" before hammering on it....As for as the rpms of your motor goes,there are a number of factors to determine what it will turn,cam specs for one,my cam is a 484 lift,272 duration cam and I have accidentaly turned it to 7100rpms while not looking at the tach and doing a burnout at the dragstrip one time. Do not like to spin it that much,usually never rev it over 6000rpms,cause that's where the cam really falls off...

Also, vavle spring seat pressure and valve springs will determine what rpm you'll have vavle float,lifters if you are using hydraulic lifters will also partly determine how many rpms the motor will turn.... Because of the large diameter crank journal of the 351-W,I like to keep my rpms at no more than 6000,I know they will turn more and many people turn a lot more rpms,but that is my preference....

Hope this helps;

David