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The Formula is a WS6 car, stiff springs, big sway bars, fast steering box, they don't wallow in corners like crapmaros do. All I did to get it in the 12s is stuff the 455 in it, remove the front sway bar, and put on sticky tires. Later I dropped from 12.30s to 11.90s by dumping the power steering, going to a manual box from a 66 ElCamino, aligning the front end, truing the rotors, and repacking the wheel bearings. It had 4.10 gears in it with 28" tall tires, which meant it was all done by 1000ft and went the last 300 ft maxed out in RPM. It was running 7.80s- 7.7s in South Carolina at an 1/8th mile track through the mufflers on BFG drag radials and driving it to the track. I put a 3.42 rear under it and it picked up to 7.40s because the 455 pulled harder and spent more time in each gear, these aren't small chevys that need lots of gear. Roughly, at that performance level, every .10 you pick up in the 1/8th is .20 to a little bit more in the quarter. So it would have picked up a lot in the quarter, especially on slicks where it used to pull 1.6 short times. That particular car is getting some attention later this year. It has the Butler 467 in it that blows off every tire I have put under it. I've done lots more to the suspension since then, but haven't spent much time tuning on it. With the 467 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGcr4Sh9lUU Same car before I painted it when it was racing in South Carolina. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbIHIy0a1FQ
The 70 has a hydraulic roller, its the only Pontiac I have with one. The rest have flat tappets other than the 467, it has a solid roller, a big one. Use the break in lube and you should be fine with a flat cam. Even without ported heads, the 455 will run, unless you do it like a chevy, in which case you will run slower and probably break something. Mild RPM, mild gears, not a huge cam, and usually no more than 2400 stall is all you need to run 11s. Jim Hand ran mid 11s in a 4000+lb 72 wagon with a GTO front end on it. He was running a mild 455 with the 96 heads, RA IV cam, headers, and a Continental converter that flashed to about 2800. 3.55 gears, later he had ported heads and nearly got tens. I have built most of my street engines like his or his brother Floyd, who ran low 12s high 11s with a 3.07 rear, L88 converter, 96 heads, and the 068 cam in a 70 LeMans. Both of them ran stock intakes with Qjets. They were doing that in the 80s and 90s.
Having the compression will make a difference too. Not so much on gasoline, but definitely on ethanol. You want it to shove you in the seat all the way through the quarter? This way of building them will do it.
The 70 has a hydraulic roller, its the only Pontiac I have with one. The rest have flat tappets other than the 467, it has a solid roller, a big one. Use the break in lube and you should be fine with a flat cam. Even without ported heads, the 455 will run, unless you do it like a chevy, in which case you will run slower and probably break something. Mild RPM, mild gears, not a huge cam, and usually no more than 2400 stall is all you need to run 11s. Jim Hand ran mid 11s in a 4000+lb 72 wagon with a GTO front end on it. He was running a mild 455 with the 96 heads, RA IV cam, headers, and a Continental converter that flashed to about 2800. 3.55 gears, later he had ported heads and nearly got tens. I have built most of my street engines like his or his brother Floyd, who ran low 12s high 11s with a 3.07 rear, L88 converter, 96 heads, and the 068 cam in a 70 LeMans. Both of them ran stock intakes with Qjets. They were doing that in the 80s and 90s.
Having the compression will make a difference too. Not so much on gasoline, but definitely on ethanol. You want it to shove you in the seat all the way through the quarter? This way of building them will do it.
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