Lots of general questions

First post on this site, sorry if some of these aren’t relevant for here, I simply would like to get some answers for questions I’ve had for a while. Also sorry if some of these are stupid questions, im a 17 year old who has only recently gotten into trucks in general within the past year.
So, I own a single cab 98 c2500 Cheyenne, it’s 8lug, 8600 gvwr with the 4l80 trans and a 350 crate engine swap. It was designed to be just a heavy duty work truck and tow. I’ve done a ton of fix up and mechanical work on it and I love it, wouldnt trade it for anything in the world. But I’m not sure what I want the end goal to be. I’ve thought long and hard about it being built to drag race, which is where my questions start. 1. Would this truck even be worth building for a race as it weighs about 8000 lbs and being built mainly to haul? yes I know weight reduction is an option but could I even reduce the weight by a significant amount as I feel most of the weight comes from the frame and drivetrain. 2 How good can I build the engine? It’s a 350 vortec. I’ve heard Ls engines can be built for crazy power but I’m not aware of the differences between the 2 other than i know ls are made from aluminum and vortec from cast iron. It’s also ohv, would this be a roadblock? I’ve always been told pushrods struggle with valve timing, air flow in the cylinders, performance and things like valve float at high rpm’s. Would it be worth sinking money like a bigger cam into it? 3 how aerodynamic is the truck? I’ve also always heard obs trucks are not very aerodynamic, I feel like this combined with the weight would limit how quick the truck can run. If this is the case, is there a way to combat it besides lowering the truck?

The frame is substantially heavier on the 8 lug trucks, you would want to start with a c1500 for drag racing. Use that truck to tow said c1500 to the track. The L31 is a great sbc block to start with. LS motors have aluminum heads but come in aluminum and iron block flavors. They are durable, but the secret sauce is really that the stock heads flow quite well and they are cheap to acquire with a robust aftermarket. OHV limits your maximum rpm in the sense that the valvetrain mass is far greater than OHC applications, likely your motor won't spin much over 7k if at all. This doesn't matter because large displacement v8s make power everywhere all the time. The truck is not very aerodynamic. This does not affect you very much below 100mph, and I'd recommend you go ahead and trap speeds like that in the 1/4 with a full size truck before you worry about it.

Welcome to the forum from Oregon.

I have one question, at 17, how many speeding tickets do you want to get and draw the attention of the local police to that truck?

The insurance will sky rocket.

An 8-lug truck is mis-purposed as a drag vehicle.

This is why everyone that wants to go fast in a truck are snapping up C1500 regular cab shortbed V6 trucks, tossing the engine, and LS-swapping. The exact opposite of expecting a big, heavy 8 lug longbed to be fast.

Like Komet said, leave the 2500 alone, use it to tow the race vehicle to the track and back.

Richard

You can't drop enough weight off a 3/4 ton to make it worthwhile. For racing, start with an S-10, or at least a C1500 short-wide. Don't go for the stepside - the beds are heavier than the fleetsides.

If you want a fun truck without busting the bank build a 350. If you want a serious race truck, light your wallet on fire and build a big block or a turbo LS. Get used to eating ramen.

Pushrod versus OHC is more of a theoretical argument than a practical argument until you get to the high dollar racing. Run what you can afford.

Never race a truck you can't walk away from. Blown engines and wrecked chassis are a way of life, and you'll still need a way to get to work on Monday. You'll want a cheap daily driver that takes no time nor money to maintain. Good fuel economy is a serious plus.

Your truck is not 8,000 lbs. My 4wd dually big block extended cab is not that heavy, your single cab 2wd small block is definitely not. That being said, you have the basis for a great work truck.

If you want something different than stock but want it to still make sense, a mildly lowered 2wd 3/4 ton would be an awesome work truck. Easy to get crap in and out of the bed, and a lowered truck is more stable while towing.

movietvet said:

Welcome to the forum from Oregon.

I have one question, at 17, how many speeding tickets do you want to get and draw the attention of the local police to that truck?

The insurance will sky rocket.

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My insurance is already pretty high from an accident I had last year, but right now I haven’t done any real power upgrades to it other than the exhaust and a k&n filter. 0-60 averages 10-11 seconds. I can assure, they’re more worried about making the kids in their squatted cateyes and straight pipes running around

Komet said:

The frame is substantially heavier on the 8 lug trucks, you would want to start with a c1500 for drag racing. Use that truck to tow said c1500 to the track. The L31 is a great sbc block to start with. LS motors have aluminum heads but come in aluminum and iron block flavors. They are durable, but the secret sauce is really that the stock heads flow quite well and they are cheap to acquire with a robust aftermarket. OHV limits your maximum rpm in the sense that the valvetrain mass is far greater than OHC applications, likely your motor won't spin much over 7k if at all. This doesn't matter because large displacement v8s make power everywhere all the time. The truck is not very aerodynamic. This does not affect you very much below 100mph, and I'd recommend you go ahead and trap speeds like that in the 1/4 with a full size truck before you worry about it.

Click to expand...

After reading the replies we can scratch drag truck off the list. But if the pushrods aren’t going to really affect it’s power, could I build the engine to make good power? Are the only real differences between the vortec and ls the cylinder heads? Even though it was meant to be a work truck, it’s in such good condition that if it couldn’t be a drag truck I’d rather just completely fix it up, make it faster and more fun to drive, and kinda just turn it into a hot rod if I’m being honest.