running aluminium engine

Hey all. Just curious, We have just dropped a jacketed Donavon small block into a dragster with a PSI on top. We just stepped up from a bowtie iron block. just curious how long these things can comfortably run for before the run. With the iron block there was always a sense of urgency about getting it to hot. The gauge was sitting on about 120 degrees after the burnout and into stage. Will this drop much with the alloy block. Just curious as we have our 1st run coming up this weekend with the new combo and dont want to rush it to much. All comments appreciated.

Cheers
Jason

 

Do you run coolant? Ours was a Rodeck/with water (Now a Brodix) and our temp was at around 210 - 220 F after a pass. We run water to try to even the cyl temps. mainly the centre 4 cylinders with the 2 exh valves together. If you are running water and its getting that hot it may be a little lean and this can occour in the burnout with a lot of rpm and the barrel valve not fully open. We only use around 6-7000 rpm and at the end of the burnout were around 180-190F.
Good Luck with the SBC
Frank